take 5 stay alive

Posted on April 4, 2015

Each year, ADAO dedicates April 1-7 to increasing awareness of asbestos and preventing exposure by bringing together experts and victims from around the world to share, learn, and take action.  To view all 7 days of Global Asbestos Awareness Week (GAAW) contributors and content on our landing page, please click here.

Hear Asbestos. Think Prevention.™

This day of Global Asbestos Awareness Week is dedicated to Mavis, a mesothelioma warrior in the U.K. Click here to read her story, “I fight on for all our Meso Warriors past, present, and future.”  Click here to read her blog.

Today highlights the British Lung Foundation’s powerful “Take 5 and Stay Alive” campaign.  The campaign, which was launched in 2012, targets people who do occupational or personal Do It Yourself (DIY) work around the house and may not understand the dangers involved. This informative, succinct resource of information about asbestos, exposure, and prevention could help you, and can be easily shared with your social network.

Older houses in many countries and even newer houses in unregulated countries may contain asbestos in roofing, insulation, paint, pipes, and furnaces.  Therefore, anyone attempting to construct, update, or demolish a building should be aware of asbestos as a potential hazard and understand how to deal with it safely.

According to the “Take 5 and Stay Alive” campaign, before you do any DIY work around the house, get the answers to these 5 crucial questions:

  • Do you suspect there’s asbestos on site?
  • Can you be sure it’s asbestos?
  • What is the level of risk and how do you handle it safely?
  • Have you had the right type of training?
  • Are you taking precautions to minimize the risks?

Thank you to BLF for this powerful campaign!  We applaud your efforts to protect the public from the dangers of asbestos.

Each year, upon the passage of the U.S. Senate’s “National Asbestos Awareness Week” Resolution, in addition to a week of awareness, the Senate “urges the Surgeon General of the United States to warn and educate people about the public health issue of asbestos exposure, which may be hazardous to their health.”