Clydeside currently has one of the highest rates of asbestos-related disease anywhere in Europe, and it has been estimated that in the region of 25,000 Scots will have died from asbestos-related diseases by the year 2025.
This book traces the history of this tragedy back to the first asbestos factory established in Scotland in the 1870s. The occupational and geographical patterns of mortality are defined, the nature of workplace exposure explored and the attitudes and role of the key players discussed - including the state, doctors, employers, trade unions, the asbestos pressure groups and the workers themselves. Drawing on interviews, the authors look, through the eyes of those directly affected, at the impact which asbestos has had on Scottish society. Drawing on a unique blending of oral history testimony and previously unused primary source material - including asbestos company and employers' association records - they locate the asbestos tragedy within the wider context of Scottish occupational health. Asbestos dust 'fell like snow' in the shipyards and building sites, and working conditions were so bad at times that one trade unionist interviewed commented: 'It was like fighting an atomic war with a bow and arrow'. It is a moving human story.
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