HSE Statistics Show Asbestos Deaths Are Gradually Falling

STATISTICS published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show annual deaths caused by mesothelioma, the asbestos disease, in Great Britain were lower in 2022 than previous years.

Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by past exposure to asbestos. Annual deaths in Britain increased steeply over the last 50 years, with many deaths attributed to past occupational asbestos exposures because of the widespread industrial use of asbestos during 1950-1980.

Asbestos Deaths

In 2022, there were 2,257 mesothelioma deaths in Great Britain, slightly lower than the 2,290 deaths in 2021, and substantially lower than the average of 2,529 deaths per year over the period of 2012 to 2020.

The total number of deaths in 2022 remains consistent with earlier projections that annual deaths would fall gradually on average during the 2020s.

In 2022, there were 1,838 male deaths and 419 female deaths compared with 1,883 and 407 in 2021, respectively. Predictions for males suggest that annual numbers will gradually reduce on average during the 2020s, whilst predictions for females suggest that there will continue to be 400-500 deaths per year.

The data shows that an earlier decline in annual male deaths may be due to particularly heavy asbestos exposures in certain industries that mainly affected men (such as shipbuilding) being eliminated first – whereas exposures due to the use of asbestos in construction, which affected many men, but also some women – continued after 1970.

Occupational Exposure

A study of mesothelioma in Great Britain showed the high burden of disease among former building workers. That study suggested that about 46% of the mesotheliomas among men born in the 1940s would be attributed to such exposures, with 17% attributed to carpentry work alone.

A key factor in causing the higher risks now seen in these former workers appears to be the extensive use of insulation board containing brown asbestos (amosite) within buildings for fire protection purposes.

Deaths occurring in the latest period (2011-22) still predominantly relate to people who were younger during the period of peak asbestos use in the 1960s and 1970s when controls were less stringent than required today, and where opportunities for unwitting exposure are therefore likely to have been relatively common.

The study suggested that only a minority (around a third) of mesotheliomas in women were a result of either occupational or domestic exposures (such as the risk associated with living with an asbestos-exposed worker). This, together with the overall increase in mesothelioma deaths among women, suggests there was an increase in the ‘background’ risk among those who did not directly handle asbestos at work but who lived through the period of peak asbestos use.

Further guidance on asbestos is available here.

>> Read more about asbestos in the news