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Home | Radon: The new asbestos?
Radon: The new asbestos?
28 July 2009
Most organisations are aware of the consequences of exposing their workers to asbestos. Fewer appreciate the risks of exposing employees to radon, an odourless, colourless, and tasteless gas that seeps through the ground and becomes trapped in buildings.
Like asbestos, it can take many years of exposure to cause ill health. When it does, the results are often fatal, as exposure to high levels of radon, which is naturally radioactive, leads to a greatly increased risk of lung cancer.
Small amounts of radon are naturally present in the air and in buildings of all types, ages and locations. It has long been recognised as a health problem and workplace exposure levels are set by the Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999.
But it is not just in the workplace that the risks have been recognised. The Housing Health & Safety Rating System published by the Government under The Housing Act 2004 describes exposure to radon gas as a health hazard and recommends testing for public sector housing.
There is evidence that radon is likely to occur at higher levels within buildings in certain areas of the UK. The Health Protection Agency publishes maps of the areas where it has been estimated that such high levels occur.
However, these can often be misleading. Any building, whether or not in an affected area, can be susceptible to high levels of radon, particularly any property with a basement or underground levels which have large surface areas in contact with soil, through which radon gas can permeate.
There are set maximum levels for radon inside buildings. These levels are the point at which it is advised, or indeed required in the case of workplace, that action is taken to lower the concentration. The level for domestic properties is set at 200 Becquerel's per cubic metre (bq/m3): In commercial properties it is 400bq/m3.
The European Union is currently considering lowering the action levels to 100bq/m3 and 200bq/m3 respectively, later this year.
Current consideration of a revision of building regulations may lead to a requirement for non- permeable gas barriers to be installed in all new housing. These barriers – a low cost solution which prevents exposure – have to date not been a requirement. This is somewhat surprising given the health risks.
Employers and house owners should not just rely on maps of radon affected areas alone to assess risk. Tests for radon can be carried out easily and cheaply. Testing for radon is the only way to know whether health is at risk from the gas.
The Health & Safety Executive can and does enforce compliance with radon levels in non-domestic properties, and has a team of specialist radiation inspectors that visits workplaces to ensure that radon risk assessments have been completed. Environmental health officers have identical powers in local authority enforced sectors. If high levels of radon are detected, then there are measures and techniques which can successfully reduce those levels.
According to research, the estimated number of occupational cancer deaths in the UK linked to radon is 370 per year, or almost 150 more than the average numbers of work-related deaths that occur each year whilst people are at work.
Asbestos has been seen over recent years to be a significant cause of litigation between organisations and their former employees. Exposure to radon gas has the potential to follow suit. Employers would therefore be well advised to carry out tests – particularly in work areas below ground level or adjacent to earth retaining walls – complete assessments, and take remedial action where necessary.
Ron Reid is a partner at national law firm Shoosmiths, and director of the Radon Council, an independent not-for-profit regulatory body governing the radon industry.
© Shoosmiths. This page is for general information: it is not legal advice. Please read our full terms and conditions for details of the disclaimers and exclusions which apply.
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