Concrete crisis: Officials thought asbestos in schools was safe too—the same mistakes have been made over Raac

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The decision to close some schools and erect emergency structural supports in others just days before the start of a new term appeared to come about suddenly. The announcement followed three recent failures of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), in particular the collapse of a beam in late August at a primary school in Leicester.

to commit to a 40-year deadline to remove all asbestos in schools. Central to this reasoning is the idea that there is an"acceptable" level of risk for asbestos exposure in schools. The government said that it"currently has a mature and comprehensive plan to managing legacy asbestos risks".

The danger of the approach of managing—but not removing—risks can be seen in the rapidly spiraling Raac crisis. Like asbestos, a known problem with potentially devastating consequences was considered to be manageable until it was suddenly proven not to be. Nancy Tait's report on the Enfield school included a wealth of evidence, including detailed summaries and reviews of technical literature on asbestos products. It also gave a voice to those directly affected, through the names and stories of 16 people who had died fromPutting names to the numbers is an important way to challenge ideas about managing acceptable risk.

The Raac scandal lays bare the fallibility of expert evaluations, at significant risk to the public. What is considered safe one day can be considered critically dangerous the next. Continuing to rely on the management of risk only will not result in a

 

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