ASA Adjudication on Health & Safety Executive

Ad

Five radio ads, for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), warned of the dangers of asbestos exposure to tradesmen.

a. The first radio ad stated "Day in and day out, countless tradesmen confront a hidden killer. A killer that could be lurking in any building built or refurbished before the year 2000. Every year there are more people killed by asbestos, than in road accidents, including joiners, electricians, plumbers, heating engineers and plasterers."

b. The second ad stated "Any second now, this joiner will come face to face with a hidden killer by cutting into a wall panel that contains asbestos. And one day, the effects will kill him. Every year more people die from exposure to asbestos than in road accidents and that includes six joiners every week."

c. The third ad stated "He doesn't know it but this electrician is about to confront a hidden killer by drilling into a wall that contains asbestos. And one day, the effects will kill him. Every year more people die from exposure to asbestos than in road accidents including six electricians every week."

d. The fourth ad stated "He has no idea but this plumber will soon face a hidden killer. By replacing old piping under these floorboards, he'll be exposed to asbestos. And one day, the effects will kill him. Every year more people die from exposure to asbestos than in road accidents, including three plumbers every week."

Ads (a), (b), (c) and (d) ended with the statement "Protect yourself. Call 0845 ... for your free Health and Safety Executive Asbestos information pack."

e. The fifth ad stated in a female voice-over "My bloke thinks he knows it all. But yesterday I told him something that made him think about asbestos and how you can still find it in anything built before 2000. He's a plasterer so he could come into contact with it. He actually said he'd look into it to check if it's in any of the buildings he's working in. So, there you go. Sometimes they do listen." A male voiceover continued "Every week, 20 tradesmen die from asbestos exposure. Call 0845 ... for your free Health and Safety Executive information pack."

Issue

The Asbestos Watchdog challenged whether:

1. the claims "Every year there are more people killed by asbestos than in road accidents" and "Every year more people die from exposure to asbestos than in road accidents" in ads (a), (b), (c) and (d), and

2. the references to the number of tradesmen that would die each week in ads (b), (c), (d) and(e)

were misleading and could be substantiated, because they believed they were based on flawed calculations and exaggerated the likelihood of tradesmen contracting an asbestos-related disease.

BCAP Radio Code

Response

HSE said the radio ads were part of a large, wide-reaching campaign which they had run since the introduction of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations in 2002.  The campaign aimed to warn building owners, and those members of the workforce most likely to be exposed to asbestos, of the risks posed by the inhalation of asbestos fibres.  HSE added that asbestos-related deaths among tradespeople continued to rise while deaths in traditional industries were reaching a plateau.  The members of the focus groups, consisting mainly of tradespeople, consulted as part of HSEs research did not consider asbestos to be relevant or an immediate risk to them.  HSE therefore developed hard-hitting and direct messages without adding qualifications which they believed would reduce the attention-grabbing nature of the ads and weaken their impact.

1. HSE calculated the basis for their claims "Every year there are more people killed by asbestos than in road accidents" and "Every year more people die from exposure to asbestos than in road accidents" by firstly counting the number of male and female death certificates that quoted mesothelioma (a form of cancer where the main cause is recognised as being inhalation of asbestos fibres) as the cause of death in 2004, 2005 and 2006: 1979, 2047 and 2056 respectively, and then estimating and adding on the number of male and female deaths caused by lung cancer attributable to asbestos exposure.

HSE explained that, because lung cancer deaths caused by asbestos were clinically indistinguishable from those caused by other factors, such as tobacco, the number of those deaths had to be estimated.  They therefore commissioned research to calculate those estimates which showed a ratio of one asbestos-related lung cancer death to every mesothelioma death for the period 1980 to 2000.  They sent us a copy of the research which was carried out by researchers at Imperial College London (ICL) and was published in 2007.  

HSE added that a number of people died from other asbestos-related, non-cancerous diseases every year, such as asbestosis which killed 111 people in 2006.  

Using these figures and the ratio of 1:1, HSE were able to conclude that around 4000 people died from asbestos-related cancer every year between 2004 and 2006.

HSE then compared those figures to figures published by the Department for Transport which showed there were approximately 3200 road deaths every year between 2004 and 2006.  They therefore believed the claims "Every year there are more people killed by asbestos than in road accidents" and "Every year more people die from exposure to asbestos than in road accidents" were factually accurate.  

2. HSE said the figures for the number of joiners, electricians and plumbers who died each week from asbestos-related illness were based on the number of male mesothelioma deaths during the period 2002 to 2004.  

They said previous analyses of mesothelioma deaths by occupational group suggested that at least 25% of those deaths occurred among trades associated with the construction industry.  They said plumbers, electricians and joiners were among the occupations with the highest mesothelioma risk by occupational group, based on the last recorded occupation of the deceased but pipe fitters, glaziers, plasterers and painters and decorators were also affected.  Between 2002 and 2004 the last recorded occupation for 7.4% of male mesothelioma deaths showed  the deceased as "electrician/electrical fitter".  The figures for "plumber, heating or ventilation engineer" and "carpenter/joiner" were 4% and 8.2%, respectively, for the same period.  HSE added that, as the figures were based on the last recorded occupation, they were likely to be underestimated given that some tradesmen may have moved out of manual jobs in later life.  Taking those percentages as indicative of the proportion of all deaths from asbestos-related disease per year among those trades, and using the figure that around 4000 people died from asbestos-related cancer every year between 2004 and 2006, they were able to calculate the average weekly death rates for joiners, electricians, plumbers and tradesmen as stated in ads (b), (c), (d) and (e).  

The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) believed the content of the ad was accurate and unlikely to mislead.

Assessment

1. Upheld  

The ASA noted HSE calculated the number of mesothelioma deaths by counting the number of death certificates that quoted that disease as the cause of death in 2004, 2005 and 2006.  

We noted ICL had carried out research on behalf of HSE which showed that a ratio of one asbestos-related lung cancer death to every mesothelioma death could be used as a formula to calculate the number of lung cancer deaths caused by asbestos.  We noted these figures were therefore based on estimates.  We also noted the ratio of 1:1 was for the period 1980 to 2000 and that the research indicated this ratio may be decreasing, meaning that the number of asbestos-related deaths was decreasing.  We further noted the research highlighted that a 2006 analysis suggested that the ratio was between two-thirds and one.  We considered therefore that the more conservative ratio of two-thirds should have been used in the calculations.  We noted however that using this ratio, the estimated figures for overall asbestos-related deaths were still greater than the approximate number of road deaths every year between 2004 and 2006.

We noted it was difficult to predict the number of asbestos-related lung cancer deaths because it was impossible to distinguish between those lung cancer deaths arising as a result of asbestos exposure and those arising from other factors, such as tobacco.  We also understood that asbestos-related diseases could occur many years after initial exposure.

We understood that the complainant believed the figures quoted in the ads exaggerated the likelihood of todays tradesmen contracting an asbestos-related disease; the figures upon which the claims in the ad were based included deaths of workers born before 1940.  Those workers were likely to have come into contact with blue asbestos, regarded as particularly hazardous, before its use was banned in 1975.  The complainant said todays tradesmen were less likely to be exposed to blue asbestos and therefore did not face the same degree of risk; they were most likely to come into contact with white asbestos, which he said posed no measurable risk to health.  By using death rates which were, in the main, attributable to blue asbestos, the complainant considered the ads misleadingly exaggerated the likelihood of todays tradesmen contracting an asbestos-related disease.

We noted the complainants concerns.  We considered that, while the chances of todays tradesmen coming into contact with blue asbestos were likely to be much less than those workers born before 1940, they still might come into contact with it and therefore still faced a degree of risk.  We therefore considered that it was reasonable for HSE to highlight the death rates for asbestos-related diseases, including those which were based on estimates, to todays tradesmen.  We considered however that the ads should have made clear that they were based on estimates and the claims should have been made in less absolute tones.  We considered that claims such as "Estimates show that, every year, more people are likely to be killed by asbestos than in road accidents" and "Estimates show that, every year, more people are likely to die from exposure to asbestos than in road accidents" might have been acceptable.

We concluded that the ads could mislead by presenting as definitive figures which were, in part, based on estimates.

On this point, ads (a), (b), (c) and (d) breached CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code section 2 rule 3 (Misleading advertising).

2. Upheld

We considered that the claims in the ads implied that six joiners, six electricians, three plumbers and 20 tradesmen died every week from asbestos-related diseases.  We noted HSE used the estimated number of asbestos-related deaths for males and females between 2004 and 2006 (around 4000 per year) and took the percentage number of male mesothelioma deaths by profession between 2002 and 2004 as indicative of the proportion of all deaths from asbestos-related disease for those professions, to calculate the average weekly death rate for joiners, electricians, plumbers and other tradesmen.  We considered that truer figures would have been gained by using the estimated number of asbestos-related deaths for males only between 2004 and 2006, which we noted was around 3700.  This equated to approximately six joiners, five electricians, three plumbers and 18 other tradesmen.

We again noted HSEs calculations were based on estimates and, as with point (1), we considered that the ads should have made that clear.  We considered that, had the references to joiners in ad (b) and plumbers in ad (d) been prefixed with qualifying terms such as "On average" or "Approximately", they might have been acceptable.  We considered the figures in ad (c) and ad (e), for electricians and other tradesmen, were overestimated and should be revised.  We concluded that the claims in ads (b) and (d) were too absolute and could mislead and the claims in ads (c) and (e) were inaccurate, too absolute and could mislead.

On this point, ads (b), (c), (d) and (e) breached CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code section 2 rule 3 (Misleading advertising).

Action

The ads must not be broadcast again in their current form.  We told HSE to revise the figures for electricians and tradesmen and to ensure that future ads made clear that the figures for the number of deaths from asbestos-related disease were, in part, based on estimates and to amend the tone of the claims accordingly.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)