Hidden Hazards: Learning the lessons of the past
The dangers of asbestos and silica exposure have been known for generations, yet both continue to pose serious health risks for workers around the world. At British Safety Council's 2026 Annual Conference, Hidden Hazards: From Awareness to Action, experts examined the lasting consequences of asbestos exposure, the challenges associated with silica dust, and the practical steps needed to prevent future harm
Asbestos and silica might seem like hazards that belong to Britain's industrial past. However, as discussions at British Safety Council's recent Annual Conference demonstrated, their consequences remain very much with us today.
Decades after asbestos was banned in the UK, people continue to develop life-threatening diseases following exposure many years earlier. Meanwhile, silica dust, a hazard recognised for centuries, remains a serious risk to workers in construction and other industries. This is why British Safety has launched its Hidden Hazards campaign, which seeks to raise awareness of the hidden occupational hazards which collectively are Britain’s biggest workplace killers.
For Richard Blunt, a volunteer ambassador for Mesothelioma UK, the consequences of asbestos exposure are deeply personal.
Speaking to Charlotte Walshe of British Safety Council, Blunt described how his mother, a GP who had spent her career caring for patients in the West Midlands, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in November 2013. Two months later she had died. The cause was traced to asbestos exposure while working as a junior doctor in an NHS hospital in the mid-1980s.
"The overwhelming feeling I had at the time was shock," Blunt recalled. "She spent her whole career caring for the community around her. She was just thinking about retirement and the plans she had for the future. She deserved to enjoy those years of retirement, and she didn't get to."
Click here to watch sessions from British Safety Council's 16th Annual Conference
Blunt's story illustrates the devastation that historic exposure continues to cause to individuals and families. And asbestos also poses an ongoing risk to current and future generations. Asbestos-containing materials remain in place in many schools, hospitals, and other public buildings, raising concerns about the potential for continued exposure.
Charles Pickles, who leads the Airtight on Asbestos campaign, argued that approaches developed for traditional industrial settings are no longer sufficient to address the wider challenge our society now faces.
"Policy really needs to move from dealing with asbestos in the workplace to dealing with asbestos in the buildings where everybody lives and works," he said. "It's switching from thinking about it at an occupational level to thinking about it at an environmental level."
The conference also explored whether lessons from asbestos are being applied to other occupational hazards. Silica, which is found in common construction materials, including bricks, concrete and stone, was particularly under the spotlight.
Kevin Bampton, Chief Executive of the British Occupational Hygiene Society, argued that the continued risks associated with silica exposure were not the result of inadequate knowledge, but of commercial pressures and failures to implement effective safety measures.
"Whenever we have an epidemic of silicosis, we see that the disease is associated not with a lack of technical capability,” he said. “But with market failure, where someone wants something very cheap, and people are willing to cut corners in the essential and achievable controls."
As part of its Hidden Hazards campaign, British Safety Council is calling on the UK Government to ban high-content silica containing materials within five years, alongside import and export controls to stop the problem simply being pushed overseas.
Cutting, grinding and processing materials containing crystalline silica can generate fine dust that penetrates deep into the lungs, potentially causing silicosis and other serious diseases. That makes building sites, where bricks and tiles are routinely cut to fit the design, a particular area of risk.
This was a point expanded by Emily Agyeman, Parliamentary Affairs and Communications Executive at the National Federation of Builders. She highlighted the particular challenges facing smaller construction businesses that might not have dedicated compliance teams or access to specialist advice on safer working practices.
"Smaller businesses don't have this information provided to them,” she said. “Ultimately, they don't know what they don't know. That's a lot of the reason why this issue persists."
Agyeman argued that reducing exposure requires action beyond individual construction sites. Instead, she argued for a wider cultural shift, with greater awareness among customers and incentives for manufacturers and suppliers to provide safer products.
In addition to highlighting the persistence of asbestos and silica risks, speakers also examined the practical and policy changes that could help reduce the likelihood of future harm.
For asbestos, Pickles called for a fundamental reassessment of how the hazard is monitored and managed, alongside a coordinated, long-term approach to removing it from buildings. He advocated a 40-year strategy for asbestos, integrated into wider government planning rather than it being treated as a standalone issue.
"The science is all there,” he said. “We've got all the tools. We just need a change of policy, and we could have an asbestos-free UK in 40 years' time."
As part of its Hidden Hazards campaign, British Safety Council supports stronger asbestos regulations, publicly accessible digital registers, and a phased national removal strategy which protects the workers of today and tomorrow; arguing that better information and long-term planning are essential to reducing the continuing risks.
That need for a more joined-up approach was also emphasised by Sarah Sleet, Chief Executive of Asthma + Lung UK, who argued that the long-term consequences of occupational exposure are too often overlooked by the healthcare system.
She echoed Pickles’ earlier point, arguing that the wider challenge was to look beyond traditional distinctions between workplaces, homes, and other environments.
"Start thinking about what's the nature of the harm,” she said. “Where is it being experienced, and therefore who do we need to involve in reducing exposure to that harm and helping people deal with it?"
Neither asbestos nor silica represents a problem that has been consigned to the past, and neither will be addressed through short-term measures alone. Reducing their damaging impact will require learning from previous failures, applying existing knowledge, and sustaining efforts to prevent future exposure.
Blunt warned that without effective action now, future generations could find themselves confronting the same devastating consequences that affected him and his family.
"There'll be someone else like me sitting at a conference like this in 50 years' time, talking about the fact that they've just lost their parent to mesothelioma or asbestos-related cancers," he said. "And they'll be thinking, why didn't something happen now?"
Click here to find out more about British Safety Council's Hidden Hazards campaign
