Scotland's asbestos threat

The use of asbestos in Scottish schools has created a health "time bomb", medical and legal experts have claimed. An increasing number of people are coming forward with asbestos-related conditions they claim associated with simply working in affected buildings. Exposure to asbestos dust can cause a deadly cancer called mesothelioma.

Scotland currently has the highest global incidence of the condition, with 175 cases diagnosed in 2014, according to the University of Glasgow.

Laura Blane, a partner with Thompsons Solicitors, said the firm was dealing with about 200 cases of people who have been exposed in hospitals, schools, leisure centres, council headquarters and other public buildings. She said: "It is no exaggeration to say that this is an enormous ticking time bomb and I am seeing increasing numbers of cases..."

Iain Naylor's wife, Sandra, developed mesothelioma which she believed was due to exposure to asbestos dust when she was a pupil at Caldervale High School in Airdrie in the 1970s. She died in 2014 at the age of 52. Sandra didn't work in heavy industries or anything like that.

"I lost my wife because she was a pupil in a school full of asbestos. How could that happen? How many others have been affected?"

Robin Howie, a consultant on asbestos, said hundreds of public buildings could have "significant asbestos content".

"Routine maintenance and general dilapidation of those buildings causes a release of asbestos fibres into the air," he said. "Unless stringent asbestos fibre limits of less than 100 fibres per cubic meter are introduced and enforced in our schools and public buildings then our children will continue to be exposed to an unacceptable level of risk. The threat cannot be overstated."

The current HSE approved level of asbestos fibre is 10,000 fibres per cubic metre.