The Market

Asbestos-related disease is the biggest occupational killer in the UK and the number of deaths is set to rise in the future. The UK government has estimated that UK firms are facing a collective bill of more than £10 billion to ensure their offices are free from asbestos over the next 20 years, which equates to an annual market above £500 million in asbestos survey and asbestos removal.

The asbestos surveying and removal industry is largely driven by two elements:

• Government regulation through the ‘Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006’ (CAR)
• Public liability insurance and law suits

The statistics are compelling:

• The total cost is £10 - £12 billion for removing all asbestos in the UK (Source: HSE). Annual capacity for the asbestos removal and management industry in terms of turnover is only £500 to £600 million pa (Source: HSE and ARCA)
• The cost is in excess of £1 billion for remedial works other than removal (ie encapsulation and labelling) in order to comply with current legislation (Source: HSE)
• The on-going cost for ‘White Coat’ Asbestos control measures is in excess of £1 billion including surveys, testing and management of asbestos (Source: HSE)
• The CAR regulations have put property owners and occupiers on high alert to their potential liabilities
• Over 500,000 workplace properties contain asbestos and 4 million residential properties in the UK contain asbestos (Source: HSE)

Furthermore

• More people die from asbestos related disease per year than are killed on the roads
• Every week 20 tradesman die from asbestos related disease
• Every week 6 electricians die from asbestos related disease
• Every week 3 plumbers die from asbestos related disease
• Asbestos can be present in any building built or refurbished before the year 2000