Students to be targeted as part of HSE's asbestos initiative

Students training to go into the trades will be targeted as part of the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) Asbestos: The Hidden Killer campaign.

Disease reduction programme manager at the organisation Mark Lawton will address Glasgow learners with the message.

He claims tradespeople believe asbestos is "yesterday's problem" and do not understand the relevance to their own position.

"The reality is that here in Great Britain we are in the midst of an epidemic," he warns.

He adds: "There is a real risk of inhalation which may cause their early and painful death."

Members of Cardonald College will be warned the number of deaths due to exposure to asbestos is likely to exceed 5,000 annually.

Suggesting the material is present in half-a-million buildings in the UK, he says the problem is still pertinent.

The HSE's regional director for Yorkshire and Humber Dr David Snowball recently said the risk asbestos presents means people must change the way they work to protect themselves from it.