UK Asbestos Law not up to EU Standard
21 February 2011
The TUC February newsletter reports that the government has been told that the UK version of a European Union-wide law on asbestos safety is illegally lax and must be amended.
The UK legislation currently focuses on the measurement of exposure to asbestos and not enough on the how the material will be affected by the work itself, while the directive deals with both exposure and the material.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said "this is another nail in the coffin of the myth that the HSE has been 'gold-plating' regulation. European regulations are there to protect workers and governments should see them as being minimum standards rather than trying to weasel out of their commitments."
For more on this article see TUC Risks Newsletter #494