Asbestos fact that came to light on a glass paperweight purchased from a flea market

We recently received an email from Alan Lock, the NDTG Demolition Manager Course NVQ assessor, about a paperweight that his wife Maggie purchased for him from a flea market that was etched with a chilling reminder of how much asbestos was used in the UK in the early part of the 20th Century.

Unfortunately, because the paperweight is glass we cannot include a photograph as the engraving is not clear in a photograph, but we can reproduce the wording as follows;-

"Bells Pollite"
Asbestos Pollite Cement Sheet
Tiles & Sheets
60,000,000 Square feet supplied to Govt Depts in 1915
Bell's United Asbestos Company Ltd
Southwark Street, London, SE

60 million square feet is a lot of asbestos sheet and tile!

Who knows where that product ended up and whether it has been removed since.

Asbestos was banned in the UK in all buildings constructed after 1999 but if you are working on a building constructed before that date then there is a very good chance that asbestos, maybe from Bell's United Asbestos Company, may be in that building. If, therefore, you are going into that building for any reason and you may disturb the building fabric which could expose asbestos then you need Asbestos Awareness training.

The awareness training offered by C&D is the NDTG course, that is UKATA approved, delivered by one of our NDTG approved trainers. For dates and costs please contact john.woodward@demolishdismantle.co.uk