Dust to Dust

In this fourth and final episode, ResPublica outlines the flaws in the UK’s approach to the management of asbestos in our built environment and the failures of accountability. We explore workable alternatives to the Health and Safety Executive’s current regulatory regime, drawing on best practice solutions from both the UK and abroad.

In Part three of the series, ResPublica questions the efficacy of the Health and Safety Executive's management regime around asbestos in public buildings, and speaks to several victims of the most commonly linked illness to the material, mesothelioma. Special thanks is owed to Mesothelioma UK for its help in making contact with the sufferers who appear on this episode.

Part two of Dust to Dust tells the story of Nellie Kershaw, an asbestos worker whose death in 1924 set an important precedent for the diagnosis of asbestos-related disease, as well the culture of cover-up around its dangers that would continue throughout the 20th Century until the final ban in the UK in 1999.

In the first of this four-part series, ResPublica's podcast producer Jack Aldane gives a short introduction to the history of asbestos, from its discovery and use in the Stone Age to its role in the industrial revolution, when the first evidence of its deleterious effects on human health was unearthed (featuring voice-over by Annika Heath).