Each Year There Are More Asbestos Related Deaths Than Road Accidents — And Most People Still Don’t Know It
Each year there are more asbestos related deaths than road accidents in the UK, yet this silent crisis barely registers in the national conversation. Road deaths make headlines. Asbestos deaths don’t. But the numbers tell a stark and sobering story that every property owner, building manager, and tradesperson in the country needs to understand.
This isn’t history. It’s happening right now, in buildings across the UK — offices, schools, hospitals, and homes built before the turn of the millennium. If you own, manage, or work in a pre-2000 building, asbestos is your problem too.
The Scale of the Asbestos Crisis in the UK
Around 5,000 people die from asbestos-related diseases in the UK every year. That figure dwarfs the annual number of road traffic fatalities, which typically sits below 2,000. Yet asbestos receives a fraction of the public health attention, funding, and media coverage that road safety commands.
Twenty tradespeople die every single week from asbestos-related conditions. That’s not a historical figure from the era of heavy industrial use — those are people dying today from exposures that happened on building sites years or decades ago.
The diseases caused by asbestos exposure have a cruel characteristic: they take between 20 and 50 years to develop. Someone exposed on a job site in the 1980s or 1990s may only now be receiving a terminal diagnosis. The full human cost of past asbestos use is still unfolding, and the death toll is not falling as quickly as many assume.
Why Asbestos Is Still Present in UK Buildings
The UK banned blue (crocidolite) and brown (amosite) asbestos in 1985, and white (chrysotile) asbestos followed in 1999. But banning the import and use of a material doesn’t remove what’s already built into the fabric of millions of structures.
An estimated half a million non-domestic buildings in the UK still contain asbestos-containing materials (ACMs). Add residential properties to that figure and the scale becomes extraordinary. Asbestos was used in everything from roof tiles and floor tiles to pipe lagging, ceiling panels, textured coatings, and artex.
The material isn’t always dangerous simply by existing. Asbestos that is in good condition and left undisturbed poses a lower immediate risk. The danger comes when it is disturbed — during renovation, maintenance, or demolition work — releasing microscopic fibres into the air that, once inhaled, can never be removed from the lungs.
Which Buildings Are Most at Risk?
- Properties built or refurbished between 1950 and 1999
- Industrial and commercial premises from the mid-twentieth century
- Schools and hospitals built during the post-war construction boom
- Residential properties with artex ceilings, textured coatings, or older floor tiles
- Any building that has not had a formal asbestos survey carried out
If a building was constructed before 2000 and has never been surveyed, there is a real possibility that ACMs are present somewhere within it. The absence of a survey is not evidence of absence.
The Tradespeople Most at Risk
Research by IOSH (the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health) has highlighted how widespread the risk remains for working tradespeople. Around 72% of tradespeople are likely to encounter asbestos during their careers. A quarter come across it on a weekly basis, and 8% face potential exposure every single day.
What makes this worse is the awareness gap. Nearly two-thirds of tradespeople don’t know that a persistent cough can be an early warning sign of asbestos-related disease. Many workers disturb ACMs without realising what they’re dealing with, carrying out routine tasks — drilling, cutting, sanding — that release fibres without any visible warning.
The Trades Most Commonly Affected
- Electricians working behind panels and in ceiling voids
- Plumbers disturbing pipe lagging
- Joiners and carpenters cutting through older board materials
- Painters and decorators sanding or scraping textured coatings
- Heating engineers working with older boiler systems and flues
Forty-four per cent of tradespeople report symptoms consistent with asbestos-related conditions, or know a colleague who has been affected. One in twenty know someone who has died from occupational asbestos exposure. These are not abstract risks — they are the lived reality of an industry that has been dealing with asbestos’s consequences for generations.
The Legal Framework: What Duty Holders Must Do
The Control of Asbestos Regulations place a legal duty on those responsible for non-domestic premises to manage asbestos. This is known as the Duty to Manage, and it applies to owners, landlords, and those responsible for the maintenance of commercial, industrial, and public buildings.
Compliance requires duty holders to:
- Identify whether asbestos is present in the building
- Assess the condition and risk of any ACMs found
- Produce and maintain an up-to-date asbestos register
- Implement a management plan to control the risk
- Provide information about ACMs to anyone who may disturb them
The HSE’s guidance document HSG264 sets out the standards for asbestos surveying and is the definitive reference for how surveys should be planned, conducted, and reported. Failing to comply with the Duty to Manage is a criminal offence and can result in significant fines or prosecution. If you are a duty holder and you haven’t acted, you are already in breach of your legal obligations.
What Type of Asbestos Survey Do You Need?
The type of survey required depends on the circumstances of the building and the work being planned. Getting the right survey for the right situation is not just good practice — it’s a legal requirement.
Management Survey
A management survey is the standard survey for occupied premises. It identifies the location and condition of ACMs that could be disturbed during normal occupation, maintenance, or minor works. It forms the basis of your asbestos register and management plan, and it’s the starting point for any duty holder who hasn’t yet had their building assessed.
Refurbishment Survey
A refurbishment survey is required before any major renovation work begins. It is more intrusive than a management survey and is designed to locate all ACMs in areas that will be disturbed. This survey must be completed before contractors start work — not during, and certainly not after.
Demolition Survey
Before any structure is brought down, a demolition survey must be carried out. This is the most thorough and intrusive type of survey, covering the entire building to ensure that no ACMs are disturbed without proper controls in place. Demolition without a prior survey is not just dangerous — it is illegal.
Re-Inspection Survey
A re-inspection survey is carried out periodically on properties where ACMs have already been identified and are being managed in situ. It checks whether the condition of known materials has changed and whether the risk assessment remains valid. Managing asbestos is not a one-off exercise — it requires ongoing monitoring.
If you’re unsure which survey applies to your situation, a qualified surveyor can advise you before any work is booked. Don’t guess — the consequences of choosing the wrong approach can be serious.
The Long Latency Problem: Why Deaths Are Still Rising
One of the most difficult aspects of the asbestos crisis is that the death toll is not simply a legacy of past failures — it is a consequence of exposures that are still happening. Each year there are more asbestos related deaths than road accidents, and projections suggest the toll will remain elevated for years to come.
Mesothelioma, the cancer most closely associated with asbestos exposure, typically takes 20 to 50 years to develop after initial exposure. This means that workers exposed in the 1970s and 1980s are dying now. Workers exposed in the 1990s and early 2000s — when asbestos was still legal and widely present in buildings — will form the next wave of diagnoses.
Asbestosis, a chronic scarring of the lung tissue, and asbestos-related lung cancer also contribute significantly to the annual death toll. These are not quick deaths. They involve years of deteriorating health, breathlessness, and suffering that no amount of compensation can undo.
The urgency of proper asbestos management today is not just about protecting people now — it is about preventing the next generation of deaths from exposures that are occurring in buildings that have never been surveyed.
Asbestos in the Home: What Residential Property Owners Should Know
The Duty to Manage under the Control of Asbestos Regulations applies specifically to non-domestic premises. However, this does not mean homeowners are without risk or responsibility. Any home built before 2000 may contain ACMs, and renovation work carried out without awareness of what’s present can be genuinely dangerous.
Common Locations for Asbestos in Residential Properties
- Artex and textured ceiling or wall coatings
- Floor tiles and the adhesive used to fix them
- Roof tiles, particularly on garages and outbuildings
- Soffit boards and fascias
- Pipe lagging in older heating systems
- Insulating boards around boilers and storage heaters
Homeowners planning renovation work should take the risk seriously. If you’re unsure whether materials in your home contain asbestos, a testing kit allows you to collect a sample safely and have it analysed by an accredited laboratory — without the cost of a full survey, and before you begin any work that might disturb suspect materials.
For more extensive works, or where multiple suspect materials are present, a professional survey is the safer and more thorough option. Don’t assume a material is safe because it looks intact.
How Asbestos Surveys Protect Lives — Not Just Tick Boxes
There’s a tendency in some quarters to view asbestos surveys as a compliance exercise — something you do to satisfy a legal requirement and file away. That mindset misses the point entirely.
A professional asbestos survey is the mechanism by which hidden ACMs are identified, assessed, and managed before they can harm anyone. It protects the workers who carry out maintenance on your building. It protects the occupants who use it every day. And it protects you from liability if something goes wrong.
Supernova Asbestos Surveys carries out every survey in line with HSG264 guidance. All samples are analysed at a UKAS-accredited laboratory under polarised light microscopy, and reports include a full asbestos register, risk assessment, and management plan. Our surveyors hold BOHS P402 qualifications — the recognised standard for asbestos surveying in the UK.
We operate nationwide, with dedicated teams covering asbestos survey London, asbestos survey Manchester, and asbestos survey Birmingham — with same-week availability in most areas across the country.
Beyond Asbestos: The Broader Picture of Building Safety
Asbestos management doesn’t exist in isolation. Duty holders responsible for commercial premises also need to consider their obligations under fire safety legislation. A fire risk assessment is a legal requirement for most non-domestic buildings, and — like asbestos surveys — it’s a practical tool for protecting people, not just a compliance formality.
Combining your asbestos management obligations with a fire risk assessment ensures a more complete picture of the risks present in your building. Supernova can assist with both, helping you meet your legal duties under a single, coordinated approach.
The Conversation the UK Needs to Have
Each year there are more asbestos related deaths than road accidents — and yet the national response to this ongoing crisis remains nowhere near proportionate to its scale. Road safety campaigns, legislation, and public awareness have driven sustained reductions in traffic fatalities over decades. Asbestos has received no equivalent level of sustained public attention.
That disparity has consequences. It means duty holders who don’t know their obligations. Tradespeople who don’t know what they’re disturbing. Homeowners who renovate without understanding what’s in their walls and ceilings. And a steady, largely invisible stream of deaths that continues year after year.
Changing that picture starts with awareness, and awareness starts with action. If you manage a building and haven’t commissioned a survey, do it now. If you’re a tradesperson working in older buildings, understand the risks before you pick up a drill. If you’re a homeowner planning renovation, find out what’s in your property before work begins.
The tools exist. The regulations are in place. The expertise is available. What’s needed is the will to act — because the alternative is another generation of preventable deaths from a hazard that we have understood for decades.
Get Your Building Surveyed by Supernova Asbestos Surveys
Supernova Asbestos Surveys has completed over 50,000 surveys nationwide, working with property managers, landlords, local authorities, schools, and businesses of every size. Our surveys are carried out by BOHS P402-qualified surveyors, reported in line with HSG264, and backed by UKAS-accredited laboratory analysis.
Whether you need a management survey for an occupied building, a refurbishment survey before renovation work, or a demolition survey before a structure comes down, we can help — quickly, accurately, and at a transparent fixed price.
Call us on 020 4586 0680 or visit asbestos-surveys.org.uk to get a quote or book a survey. Same-week availability is offered in most areas across the UK.
Frequently Asked Questions
Each year there are more asbestos related deaths than road accidents — is that really true?
Yes. Around 5,000 people die from asbestos-related diseases in the UK every year, compared to fewer than 2,000 road traffic fatalities annually. The gap is significant, yet asbestos deaths receive far less public and media attention. The majority of these deaths are from mesothelioma, asbestosis, and asbestos-related lung cancer — diseases with long latency periods that make the link to past exposure less immediately visible.
Is asbestos still present in UK buildings?
Yes, in very large numbers. An estimated half a million non-domestic buildings in the UK still contain asbestos-containing materials. Residential properties built before 2000 may also contain ACMs in artex coatings, floor tiles, pipe lagging, and other locations. The material was not banned in the UK until 1999, meaning it was legally used in construction for decades and remains present throughout the built environment.
What is the Duty to Manage, and does it apply to me?
The Duty to Manage is a legal obligation under the Control of Asbestos Regulations that applies to those responsible for non-domestic premises — including owners, landlords, and facilities managers. It requires you to identify whether ACMs are present, assess their condition, maintain an asbestos register, and implement a management plan. Failing to comply is a criminal offence. If you manage a commercial, industrial, or public building and haven’t commissioned a survey, you are likely already in breach.
What happens if asbestos is disturbed without a survey being carried out first?
Disturbing ACMs without prior identification and proper controls can release microscopic fibres into the air. Those fibres, once inhaled, remain in the lungs permanently and can cause mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer — often decades later. Beyond the health consequences, carrying out refurbishment or demolition work without the required survey is a breach of the Control of Asbestos Regulations and can result in prosecution, significant fines, and civil liability.
How do I find out if my building contains asbestos?
The only reliable way to confirm the presence or absence of asbestos-containing materials is through a professional survey carried out by a qualified surveyor, with samples analysed at a UKAS-accredited laboratory. For homeowners with a single suspect material, a testing kit provides a cost-effective first step. For non-domestic premises, a management survey is the appropriate starting point. Supernova Asbestos Surveys can advise on the right approach for your specific building and circumstances.