Hundreds of trade union reps are inspecting workplace buildings this week for safety issues including RAAC, asbestos and fire hazards.
The TUC has organised a nationwide inspection of workplace buildings, with more than 600 union health and safety reps taking part.
The full extent of buildings containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) is not yet known but it has already been identified in thousands of public buildings, including hundreds of schools and hospitals.
Surveys have so far found RAAC in 234 education settings, and the government says that in 119 schools one or more buildings will have to be rebuilt or refurbished. Used mainly in public buildings between the 1950s and 1990s it has a safe lifespan of only 30 years.
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TUC general secretary Paul Nowak 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.”
The building safety inspections, in the run-up to Workers’ Memorial Day on Sunday 28 April, will also focus on asbestos (exposure to which is linked to more than 5,000 deaths in Britain each year), workplace ventilation and fire safety.
The Covid pandemic revealed the importance of adequate ventilation in workplaces to prevent infections from spreading. Regulations on workplace ventilation have been permanently strengthened following the pandemic; and the cladding associated with the Grenfell Tower tragedy is still present on some office blocks, schools and hospitals.
The TUC is calling on the government and employers to make workplace buildings safer by:
- Publishing a national risk register with transparency about where hazardous building materials exist
- Establishing a “remove and improve” plan for RAAC in public buildings
- Committing to a 40-year deadline for removing asbestos from public buildings – starting with schools – as called for by the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
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