The harmful legacy the asbestos industry left in UK universities

Universities continue to spend millions on asbestos management, compensation, and removal, decades after the carcinogen was fully banned in the UK.

Confront’s report in January (The lethal impact and current status of asbestos in British universities) found evidence of large amounts of asbestos, including ‘high-risk’ or ‘medium-risk’ asbestos-containing materials, still on university campuses, dozens of claims brought against universities from asbestos exposure, and evidence of improper asbestos management in some universities. The University and College Union called our findings “deeply troubling”, while the National Union of Students said they were “really worrying.”

Since then, Confront approached nine additional universities with Freedom of Information requests and obtained further information from some universities profiled in January. Our new findings reveal these nine universities have received a total of over 38 claims relating to asbestos exposure, sometimes from people with terminal cancers, bringing the known total of claims brought against universities for asbestos-related diseases to at least 103 claims.

Asbestos still widespread on some campuses

The nine additional universities we received information on are: University of Manchester, Ulster University, Aberystwyth University, Cardiff University, Queen Mary University of London, King’s College London, University of Sussex, University of Dundee, and Wrexham University.

The University of Manchester – which had the highest number of asbestos-related health claims among universities we’ve contacted – also has, by far, the highest number of items containing asbestos still on its campus. It has records of 13,079 asbestos-containing materials, which is a way of referring to items on campus where materials containing asbestos are found. Of these, Manchester says 84 are classified as medium-risk, 1 as high-risk, and 549 are classified as inaccessible. “High risk” means that the item containing asbestos is at a greater risk of having asbestos fibres airborne, which is how people can contract asbestos-related diseases.

Much of this asbestos is in buildings constructed in the 1960s and 1970s on Oxford Road, including Humanities Bridgeford Street, the Schuster Building, and the Williamson Building. (The asbestos industry knew asbestos causes mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis by 1960, but universities, schools, housing developers, and hospitals continued to use it for decades).

A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “Like all historic universities, asbestos is in some buildings at The University of Manchester and it is an issue we take incredibly seriously. Our dedicated Asbestos Management Team remains committed to student and staff welfare, as demonstrated by its ongoing robust and effective programme of asbestos surveys, remediation, removal and disposal.”

The Williamson Building at the University of Manchester, which still contains extensive amounts of asbestos. Shutterstock.

The University of Sussex reported 2,589 known asbestos-containing materials in its buildings, including 403 instances of asbestos-containing materials classified as high-risk – the highest of any university we contacted. A further 201 asbestos-containing materials were classified as medium-risk, 1,724 as medium/low-risk, and 261 as low-risk across 59 buildings.

When asked why the university had so many instances of high-risk asbestos-containing materials, we were told, “The University of Sussex was built during the early 60’s – a period when asbestos was widespread – however we are very vigilant and conscious of this and take our health and safety responsibilities to our campus community with utmost seriousness and importance. As per UK HSE [Health and Safety Executive] safety regulations, areas deemed high-risk are inspected every six months and other areas every 12 months. This ensures our campus is safe and there are no concerns or risks for our community.”

Cardiff University had 7,142 asbestos-containing materials across 196 of its buildings. Three of these were categorised as high-risk, 219 as medium-risk, and 48 were presumed due to being inaccessible. Aberystwyth University has 2,564 asbestos-containing materials across 129 sites on its campus, including buildings, greenhouses, and sheds. Of these, five were classified as high-risk. A university official said higher-risk asbestos “are encapsulated and contained in a restricted part of the University, which is not accessible to anyone apart from authorised, specially-trained personnel.”

Ulster University told Confront it has 75 buildings, 92% of which contain asbestos. While a full breakdown was not provided, it shared some information for five buildings. One of these, a building on the Jordanstown campus had 391 asbestos-containing materials, including asbestos-containing materials classified as medium-risk.

King’s College London said it had a total of 3,744 asbestos-containing materials across its campuses; including extensive asbestos categorised as medium-risk (1,287) in its North and South Strand campuses.

The smallest university we contacted, Wrexham University, also had the lowest number of asbestos-containing materials (213) across 11 of its buildings; though 39 of these asbestos-containing materials were classified as medium risk, and three as high-risk.

Illnesses and compensation claims

The impact on university workers, contractors, or students from asbestos exposure today will not be seen for years due to the latency period for asbestos-related diseases.

In total, Confront has records of between 103 and 133 claims linked to asbestos exposure against 43 universities we contacted since its investigation started last year, with some providing records only from the past six years. The University of Kent is the sole university which refused to provide any information on its claims linked to asbestos-related diseases.

To date, the University of Manchester has received 22 claims from people who contracted potentially fatal asbestos-related diseases since 2000. The University did not disclose the compensation paid out, saying it did not have this information. It noted that some of the claims dated back to exposure in the 1960s.

Kings College London has had seven claims linked to asbestos exposure since 2000, but declined to provide more information on settlements and compensation, saying this would violate the privacy of those who filed claims.

Cardiff University had three recorded claims linked to asbestos exposure dating back to 2014, all connected to exposures prior to 2000. Two claims were settled, with compensation totalling £193,600 (paid out by the insurance companies that covered the university at the time of the exposures). The third claim is dormant and unlikely to proceed, according to a spokesperson.

Below is an updated table of every university which has received at least one recorded claim related to asbestos exposure. It is important to note that not every claim was settled, nor is a claim necessarily evidence of wrongdoing by the university.

The University of Dundee said it has received between one and four claims linked to asbestos exposure since 2010. Citing data protection exemptions, it did not disclose further details on compensation or the status of the claims. The University of Sussex has received three since 2013, two claims are ongoing and one was withdrawn, and Aberystwyth University received two claims since 2000, of which one was settled.

Confront also learned further details on claims received by the University of Reading, The University of Bristol, and The University of Oxford.

The University of Reading has now disclosed that they have recorded between one and four claims linked to asbestos exposure, paying out £6,536 in compensation. The University of Bristol clarified it had received between one and four claims linked to asbestos exposure since 2000, refusing to give the exact number, how many were settled, or the compensation paid – citing exemptions under data protection principles.

The University of Oxford, which had withheld the information on claims linked to asbestos exposure initially, upon appeal said it had received three claims since 2000, paying out £850,000 in compensation.

Multiple lawyers have told Confront they believe that the majority of legal claims for asbestos exposure are on behalf of people with the terminal cancer mesothelioma. This is because mesothelioma is almost always caused by asbestos exposure. However, the HSE estimates that for every mesothelioma death from asbestos, there is another death from lung cancer due to asbestos exposure, but victims often lack awareness that asbestos could be the cause.

Ongoing expenses

The impact of contamination on campuses extends beyond illness and death; it means many universities – some of which are also currently laying off staff – have invested and must continue to invest significant resources into asbestos management and removal for the foreseeable future.

For the University of Manchester, the cost was £3,184,938 in the last full financial year. For Queen Mary University of London, it was between £500,000 – £1,000,000. For King’s College London it was £632,656 and for Sussex, it was £409,008.

Based on data seen, Confront estimates that the total spend by universities across the country on managing or removing their asbestos for the past decade is in the hundreds of millions, if not billions, of pounds. Schools, prisons, hospitals, social housing, and railway facilities are all known to be facing similar issues.

Our report in January highlighted successful campaigning by the asbestos industry in the 1960s to discredit and counter the arguments that asbestos was dangerous on university campuses. For years, the asbestos industry continued to produce and defend the safety of its products, despite evidence that even low exposures to asbestos could be fatal. The consequences of this disregard for human health in the quest for profit, enabled by multiple British governments, continue to reverberate across the country’s higher education system today.

Subscribe to Confront to see ‘Part three – further concerns over how universities are managing asbestos’, coming soon.