A construction company whose asbestos products were used in schools, hospitals, public buildings and offices should be banned by government contracts that MPs and colleagues said.
Altrad-Das Cape, one of the largest asbestos products in Great Britain, bought in 2017, should be excluded from all work work on the public sector, unless it donates £ 10 million for researching the cancer caused by the building material, a report by the Allparty Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the safety of the professional security and health.
Asbestos is the UK's largest job killer who is responsible for 5,000 deaths per year. It causes asbestosis and mesothelioma cancer, both incurable.
Demonstrators outside the High Court in October 2002, when Cape was instructed, pay 21 million pounds of compensation to 7,500 employees
Chris Young/Pa
At the beginning of this year, a public hearing of 11 witnesses of the “catastrophic heritage” of the Cape heard. On Tuesday, the AppG will publish a report CAPE describes the refusal of the refusal to corporate the oppression of important health information and the refusal to take on responsibility “and a state ban on the award of contracts to Altrad, which resulted in sales of 4.5 billion pounds last year.
Since 2012, Altrad, which sponsors the French and New Zealand Union teams, has won £ 6.67 billion in Great Britain worth £ 1.67 billion worth £ 1.67 billion. This includes 18 contracts worth 1.5 billion pounds, with Sellafield for the renovation of the nuclear area, a contract for £ 30 million for the decommissioning of Berkeley nuclear power plant, which also included the removal of asbestos, as well as with the Ministry of Department of Defense, Universities and Local Councils.
Last year, an investigation by Sunday Times, as Cape knew that exposure to dust from his boards, a product called Asbestolux, caused cancer, but took the risk of protecting profits for decades.
Activists have asked Altrad to donate £ 10 for Mesotheliom research – but so far it has refused. Three of the world's leading medical experts in asbestos cancer and the managing director of Asthma + Lung UK, the charity organization of breathing health, have previously explained to his chief executive oren that a donation of £ 10 million would be “transforming”.
At the public hearing in March, in March, it turned out that the asbestos victim -support group Altrad had rejected less than a third of the £ 10 million sought by activists, which included a provision that all legal claims and criticism of the company stopped.
The founder of the forum, Tony Whitston, read the “strict conditions” presented by Oren in the negotiation. He said the company refused to take on moral responsibility and seemed motivated by avoiding bad press and tried to “silence” mesotheliom victims.
In the appG report, the light of evidence states: “For the committee, it is clear that Cape/Altrad will not recognize his role in the widespread damage caused by its asbestos products and will continue to hide their participation. He is therefore to intervene in the government for public health.”
In addition to the request for the ban on altrad contracts, the government also asked “to build and finance a national asbestos distance strategy through the development and financing of a gradual removal of asbestos from all public buildings, starting with schools and hospitals”.
The Sunday Times campaign also called for the gradual removal of asbestos, a national strategy for identifying all buildings with asbestos and for routine monitoring air quality in buildings with the material.
Almost 18,000 school goods in England and Wales still contain asbestos. Sarah Lyons, head of health, security and environment at the National Education Union (NEW), said that more than 400 teachers have died of Mesothelioma since 1980. “The new clearly explained that this policy of administration of asbestos in Schools does not work,” says the report. The hearing was also announced that “the students are simply endangered in the classroom due to asbestos in crumbling blankets or heating channels”.
Altrad, which employs 12,000 employees in Great Britain, has paid more than 60 million GBP to former employees who have developed cancer due to exposure to asbestos and have put another £ 70 million aside for future claims. It is said that 100 percent of the legitimate claims paid and is the only company that has a compensation system, while other companies have become insolvent and not insured victims without compensation.
The AppG committee of six, including Labor, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPS, two work colleagues and a Crossbench colleague, Liz Kendall, the Foreign Minister for Labor and Pension, is now considered the Minister of Education Bridget Phillipson and the Minister for Kabinettsbüro, Nick Thomas Symonds, and the recommendations.
Ian Lavery MP
Dinendra Haria/Alamy Live News
The laboratory MP Ian Lavery, who heads the group, said: “I hope this report and its recommendations are accepted by our government and Cape, in the interest of justice for asbestos and for health and security to the public.”
A government spokesman said: “We have a robust system to ensure that government contracts are suitable for purposes. The Procurement Act enables the government to exclude organizations of the award of contracts in which cases of misconduct or the like are available.”
Altrad said: “We are deeply disappointed with the AppG's recommendation, which is no less than compulsion under the guise of the public health.
“Altrad has consistently recognized the historical heritage of Cape, a company that acquired it in 2017 – decades after the manufacture of asbestos products.”