Tradespeople, including construction workers, carpenters and painters and decorators, could come into contact with deadly asbestos more than 100 times a year on average, according to a new survey commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

As well as illustrating how often tradespeople can be exposed to asbestos, the survey revealed that just under a third (30%) of those at risk were able to identify all the correct measures for safe asbestos working. More than half (57%) made at least one potentially lethal mistake in trying to identify how to stay safe.

Twenty tradespeople, on average, die every week from asbestos related diseases. To encourage tradespeople to think about asbestos on every job, HSE has launched a new safety campaign.

Mark Harper, Minister responsible for Health and Safety, launched the campaign at the TradePoint store in Cricklewood. TradePoint is supporting the campaign by distributing asbestos safety kits to tradespeople through their stores across Great Britain.

A key feature of the campaign is the creation of a new web app for phones, tablets and laptops that helps tradespeople easily identify where they could come into contact with the deadly material as they go about their day-to-day work and gives them tailored help on how to deal with the risks.

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