Asbestos is a fibrous mineral which is known to have been mined since Roman Times. The first asbestos products however, did not appear in Britain until around 1857. Asbestos was shipped to the UK from mines in Canada and South Africa.

The asbestos was crushed ready to be transported in powder form in Hessian or paper sacks. Asbestos exposure was common place for Merchant Navy Officers supervising the loading of the sacks. Dockworkers in England who unloaded the sacks of asbestos were subject to asbestos exposure as the sacks frequently split or tore.

By around 1880 asbestos plants were springing up around Great Britain. Asbestos products were in demand due to their unique heat resistant and insulating properties. Products included: asbsestos cement sheets and boards, cloth, rope and asbestos string. Workers involved in the processes involving raw asbestos had substantial daily asbestos exposure.

By the turn of the Century asbestos had been linked to causing disease. Dr. Montague Murray reported to the Governmental Committee on Industrial Diseases in 1906/07 with a death of a worker/patient from asbestos disease.

The protection of workers from the harmful effects of asbestos exposure however, was not brought about rapidly. It wasn’t until after Merrywether and Price (Medical and Engineering Inspectors of Factories) placed a report before Parliament confirming the extent of asbestos disease amongst workers that the 1931 Asbestos Industry Regulations were established. The Regulations set what was thought to be a “safe” level of asbestos dust/fibres. Asbestos exposure at such “safe” levels were later found to be dangerous.

Asbestos products continued to be used throughout the UK. Workers were exposed to dangerous levels of asbestos dust in many industries including: shipbuilding, chemical, iron and steel, railways and building industries.

Many industries employed teams of asbestos laggers, specially trained to mix asbestos from powder form and apply it to plant pipework and equipment such as: boilers, doors and storage tanks. Laggers could carry out their duties by hand or by the use of spray guns, which were frequently used to cover large areas with asbestos.

Whilst the laggers were working, asbestos exposure was not confined to themselves, but effected other workers and tradesmen in the nearby vicinity.

Asbestos products were produced in many forms for various uses. Asbestos was formed into sheets and boards and produced in various shapes and sizes including moulds made to fit easily around different sizes of pipework.

Bricklayers, plumbers, electricians, stokers, welders, machine operators, fitters, boilerhouse workers, workers in electrical generating power stations, industrial painters, scaffolders, carpenters and joiners, laundry workers, all manner of tradesmen and their mates, worked with and were dangerously exposed to asbestos and its dust and debris.

In addition, many of the workers wives and children had significant asbestos exposure when their husbands and/or fathers returned from work wearing overalls covered in asbestos dust.

It was not until 1970 that the Asbestos Regulations 1969 were introduced. By this time workers had been substantially subjected to asbestos exposure, many on a daily basis, without knowing the dangers.

Following the introduction of the regulations many workers still continued to be exposed to asbestos and its dust without any adequate protection.

Sadly, in industrial areas such as the North and North East of England there appears to have been a whole generation of workers subjected to dangerous asbestos exposure. The government and industrial employers failed to protect their vulnerable workers from harmful asbestos exposure.

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