The problem is that there is still a LOT of it out there which needs to be removed, that's where the work is now. 

Gbemi Agbaje said:

How much progress has been made in protecting people from exposure to asbestos?

Huge amounts! Have a look at The Asbestos (Prohibitions) (Amendment) Regulations 1999:

 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/2373/made

and The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 regulations:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/632/contents/made

As soon as even suspected asbestos is found on a work site things get very serious...many of us will have stories of projects we've been involved with which had to be stopped following asbestos surveys, and which then required specialist removal teams.

Gbemi Agbaje said:

Why are there still tenders advertised for removal of asbestos by hired staff?

See the very first point, as long as there are still buildings and installations (ships etc) built pre-1999 which have asbestos in then there will need to be specialist work done on them when they are demolished / dismantled / rebuilt / modified etc.

I'm writing this in my living room which has (hard sheet) asbestos on the walls. One day someone is going to have to remove it...at the moment we're keeping it sealed and not messing with it. And that neatly sums up the problem - as long as this type of asbestos is sealed in place it's actually safer there than being removed (due to the risks in the removal process). So even if economically we could have a mass drive to remove all asbestos form UK infrastructure, almost certainly that's actually going to expose more people to risk than the present process of removing it with specialists when it needs to be removed for other purposes.

P.S. Also remember there's more than one issue here, hard sheet asbestos is not too dangerous as long as it isn't broken, drilled, cut etc. Fibrous asbestos is awful stuff, and it's probably fair to say that most organisations that know they have fibrous asbestos on their premises are working hard to eradicate it. But often it's not even known to be there until demolition / building work starts.

Gbemi Agbaje said:

Would automation and AI be useful tools in projects where asbestos is involved?

Yes these are being explored, from a quick Google (although sadly none of these are in the UK):

https://innovation-radar.ec.europa.eu/innovation/21699

https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/418003-robotic-extraction-of-asbestos-fibres-from-buildings

https://www.inria.fr/en/telemovtop-asbestos-removal-robotics

https://robotnik.eu/projects/bots2rec-en/#:~:text=Mobile%20manipulator%20for%20the%20removal,asbestos%2Dremoval%2Dtasks%20autonomously.

What a lot of us do get upset about is the historical exposure of workers to asbestos even once the risks were known. This from my local area:

https://www.shieldservicesgroup.com/figures-reveal-396-people-died-of-the-asbestos-related-disease-mesothelioma-in-devon-and-cornwall-in-the-last-5-years/

There's lots of risks we're not very good at managing in the UK (and, imho, many we're actually getting worse at managing), but asbestos does seem to be one we're pretty good at? That said, the projects I see are public projects which are heavily monitored, if someone was to come here and say that small companies ignore the regulations I won't be totally surprised...but they are acting illegally.

Thanks,

Andy

The problem is that there is still a LOT of it out there which needs to be removed, that's where the work is now. 

Gbemi Agbaje said:

How much progress has been made in protecting people from exposure to asbestos?

Huge amounts! Have a look at The Asbestos (Prohibitions) (Amendment) Regulations 1999:

 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/2373/made

and The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 regulations:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/632/contents/made

As soon as even suspected asbestos is found on a work site things get very serious...many of us will have stories of projects we've been involved with which had to be stopped following asbestos surveys, and which then required specialist removal teams.

Gbemi Agbaje said:

Why are there still tenders advertised for removal of asbestos by hired staff?

See the very first point, as long as there are still buildings and installations (ships etc) built pre-1999 which have asbestos in then there will need to be specialist work done on them when they are demolished / dismantled / rebuilt / modified etc.

I'm writing this in my living room which has (hard sheet) asbestos on the walls. One day someone is going to have to remove it...at the moment we're keeping it sealed and not messing with it. And that neatly sums up the problem - as long as this type of asbestos is sealed in place it's actually safer there than being removed (due to the risks in the removal process). So even if economically we could have a mass drive to remove all asbestos form UK infrastructure, almost certainly that's actually going to expose more people to risk than the present process of removing it with specialists when it needs to be removed for other purposes.

P.S. Also remember there's more than one issue here, hard sheet asbestos is not too dangerous as long as it isn't broken, drilled, cut etc. Fibrous asbestos is awful stuff, and it's probably fair to say that most organisations that know they have fibrous asbestos on their premises are working hard to eradicate it. But often it's not even known to be there until demolition / building work starts.

Gbemi Agbaje said:

Would automation and AI be useful tools in projects where asbestos is involved?

Yes these are being explored, from a quick Google (although sadly none of these are in the UK):

https://innovation-radar.ec.europa.eu/innovation/21699

https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/418003-robotic-extraction-of-asbestos-fibres-from-buildings

https://www.inria.fr/en/telemovtop-asbestos-removal-robotics

https://robotnik.eu/projects/bots2rec-en/#:~:text=Mobile%20manipulator%20for%20the%20removal,asbestos%2Dremoval%2Dtasks%20autonomously.

What a lot of us do get upset about is the historical exposure of workers to asbestos even once the risks were known. This from my local area:

https://www.shieldservicesgroup.com/figures-reveal-396-people-died-of-the-asbestos-related-disease-mesothelioma-in-devon-and-cornwall-in-the-last-5-years/

There's lots of risks we're not very good at managing in the UK (and, imho, many we're actually getting worse at managing), but asbestos does seem to be one we're pretty good at? That said, the projects I see are public projects which are heavily monitored, if someone was to come here and say that small companies ignore the regulations I won't be totally surprised...but they are acting illegally.

Thanks,

Andy