Buildings across the country will be checked for Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), asbestos and fire-hazards such as adequate ventilation and cladding associated with the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
The inspections are being undertaken to coincide with the run up to Workers’ Memorial Day on Sunday (April 28) – when those who lost their lives due to work-related illness or injury are remembered.
The inspections will be carried out by 600 representatives of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and General Secretary Paul Nowak said it is important to ensure everyone is safe at work.
He said: “Everyone should be safe at work. But when some people step through the door of their workplace, they step into danger.
“This week trade unions are taking action by inspecting the safety of hundreds of workplace buildings. And we are calling on government ministers to speed up the removal of RAAC and asbestos from schools, hospitals and other public buildings.
“If you’re worried about safety at work, get together with colleagues to join a union. Unions give workers the power to protect themselves. And the health and safety reps that we train can be life-savers.”
The TUC said many buildings that contain RAAC, including lots of schools and hospitals, are now at risk of collapse and the cladding associated with the Grenfell Tower tragedy is still present on some office blocks, schools, and hospitals.
The union also highlighted more than 5,000 people die in Britain each year from diseases linked to asbestos exposure and that the Covid pandemic revealed the importance of ventilation in workplaces to prevent infections from spreading – which has seen strengthened regulations put in place since.
They want the government and employers to make workplace buildings safer by publishing a national risk register about where hazardous building materials are located, establishing a ‘remove and improve’ plan for RAAC and other materials causing structural deficiencies in public buildings and committing to a 40-year deadline for removing asbestos from public buildings – starting with schools.
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