Kitsons work to improve the quality of the built environment and remove environmental hazards to public safety - working To Protect Life.

The clearest impact that such threats pose to public safety is best shown by one of the most common - asbestos.

Valued for its inert nature, tensile strength, thermal and electrical insulation qualities and inflammability, asbestos became the wonder material of 20th Century construction. As its use increased, so did evidence of the risk its fibrous structure poses to human health.

Now largely banned in the developed world, the legacy of the asbestos boom is far from past:

• Worldwide it is estimated that 125 million people remain exposed to asbestos in the workplace
• It is a killer. Each year some 4,500 people currently die from asbestos related diseases in the UK, alone, with deaths likely to be up to 7,000 before 2025 (HSE, 2010)
• Actuaries estimate that the cost of asbestos claims to the UK insurance industry will top well in excess of £11 billion over the next 40 years

With asbestos forecast to remain a risk well into the second half to the 21st Century and a growing public awareness of other environmental hazards to health and safety, these are issues not restricted to trades people and construction industry workers. They affect us all.