Industrial disease

Almost 1 in 10 Scots do not know what asbestos is

Almost 1 in 10 Scots are unaware of asbestos and, by extension, the dangers it could bring to their health.

14 March 2025

Once highly valued as a cheap and robust insulator, asbestos was widely used in building and construction right across Scotland until it was banned by the government in 1999. Due to the most common approach of the Scottish government towards asbestos, in that ‘Each case is assessed individually, and it is often recommended to be safer to leave asbestos in place than to remove it’, it can still be found in many buildings all over the country. Yet despite this, our research found that nearly 1 in 10 Scots said that they did not know what asbestos is.

What is asbestos?

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that has fibres that are heat and corrosion resistant. This made it a great choice for insulation and construction materials before it was known to cause illnesses.

What diseases can asbestos cause?

Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in Scotland and only 60% of Scots know that asbestos can cause it. Further to this, just less than 50% (47.83%) know that asbestos can lead to mesothelioma, a specific type of lung cancer.

Asbestos fibres can cause years of irritation after being inhaled or ingested. It is important to be aware of the dangers and life-threatening health implications asbestos poses.

There are several asbestos health risks including:

asbestosis,
mesothelioma,
lung cancer,
pleural thickening
and an increased risk for other respiratory diseases.

The health risks associated with asbestos are usually related to long-term and repeated exposure. However, even short-term or minimal exposure can potentially lead to health issues.

How a diagnosis could help you make a claim

With your permission, your solicitor will obtain and review your medical records, and they will arrange for you to see an independent medical expert who specialises in your illness. This expert will then prepare a report formally confirming your diagnosis and if appropriate, linking your diagnosis to your employment history.

A confirmed diagnosis in your medical records will strengthen your case and help prove if your employer may have been responsible for your exposure and how they failed in their duty of care. The law states that every employer has a duty of care to protect employees from suffering harm in the workplace.

Where your employer failed to foresee the harm that could be caused by your occupation, or provide the correct protective gear specified, they could be said to have failed in their duty of care.

We are here to help

If you, or a family member, have been exposed to asbestos, our specialist industrial disease solicitors will be able to advise you on next steps. We understand that it might not be possible for you to know where you encountered asbestos fibres, but Slater and Gordon have an excellent success rate of tracing companies and their insurers, thanks to our many years of experiences dealing with asbestos related illness cases.