Checks are being carried out on businesses in the Chichester district this week by council environmental health officers to make sure they are not exposing employees, contractors or visitors to harmful asbestos fibres.
"Preventing asbestos-related disease is still a vital issue," said a statement issued by the district council.
"With around 4,000 deaths each year – over 16 times the number of deaths from accidents at work – asbestos-related diseases remain the
largest occupational killers in the UK, and numbers are continuing to rise."
Around 25 per cent of those dying from asbestos-related disease had worked in the building maintenance and repair trades at some time during their working lives.
Asbestos could cause a number of diseases, including mesothelioma, which was specifically linked to the exposure of asbestos fibres.
According to the British Mesothelioma Register, 48 people from the Chichester district died from the disease between 1985 and 2004, and this number was increasing.
The Chichester officers would be making visits as part of a Sussex-wide campaign, working in partnership with other councils and the Health and Safety Executive.
The regulations required all those with responsibilities for control or repair and maintenance of buildings to: look for and identify any asbestos present; keep a record of its location and condition; assess the risks from its presence; manage and control those risks by either removal or sealing and monitoring its condition; and inform anyone who might accidentally disturb it.
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