Copyright Tony Rich (Asbestorama)

Our industry is blessed with a handful of inspirational people whose work advances the cause, and helps each of us achieve more. Dr Yvonne Waterman is the perfect example. The driving force behind the European Asbestos Forum and its unrivalled yearly conferences, Yvonne has now set her sights on the world, rebranding her organisation into the Global Asbestos Forum (the updated website is under construction).

But Dr Waterman’s quest to deepen the international understanding of asbestos, its risks and remediation, has taken another step forward with the Global Asbestos Forum magazine. Launched at the FAAM Conference in May, the first edition is a glossy, high-quality publication, packed full of expertise and information. It’s an outstanding first issue, and typical of the excellence that Yvonne brings to everything.

The Global Asbestos Forum magazine will be available on line soon, but will also be printed in limited numbers. It’s a free, quarterly publication this year, although the plan is to accelerate to six issues a year on a subscription model.

Inside the cover 

So, what can you expect from Yvonne’s remarkable new publication? This is the first true coffee-table quality magazine to shine a spotlight on the global fight against asbestos.

The front cover of this first issue is dedicated to Tony Rich, who some of you may know for his asbestos photography under the Asbestorama moniker. A fellow asbestos professional by day, Tony is a true artist with a camera in his hands. Yvonne publishes a full interview with him, and showcases the terrifying beauty of his work.

This issue also contains an article from Dr Jukka Takala, renowned for his many contributions to the sciences of occupational health – specifically occupational diseases, and occupational ergonomics. With an illustrious career serving the Ministry of Social Affairs in Finland, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the EU, and the Ministry of Manpower in Singapore to name but a few, he is the previous president of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH). Dr Takala has written an incredibly interesting article on the global burden of asbestos-related diseases.

Dr Olha Bohdanova, a leading expert in occupational health and safety with a career spanning over two decades. She is the founder of the European Society of Occupational Safety and Health (ESOSH), and serves as secretary-general of the International Section of ISSA for Prevention in the Construction Industry. Dr Bohdanova talks in depth about Ukraine’s fascinating but terrible challenge with asbestos in the context of the Russian invasion. As the built environment is damaged and destroyed, asbestos of course becomes widely broken up and distributed, creating an incredibly worrying long-term health risk.

Yvonne also writes about the UK National Asbestos Register, and the amazing progress that the Asbestos Information CIC (Community Interest Company) has made. In just three years it’s managed to move the dial from “A national register is just too difficult and costly to create” (which was the official position of the last government) to “Here it is, and using AI we can do amazing things with it”. It makes for remarkable reading.

I’ve only really scratched the surface of this incredibly informative and rounded first edition. With 87 pages it contains a vast amount more than I can cover here. And very impressively, only just over 10% of the magazine comprises adverts – it’s not the usual online-only, content-free commerce fest that we’ve become so used to in our industry.

I really do recommend that you get hold of the magazine and support this bold and important new venture. Contact the Global Asbestos Forum to request your copy on [email protected].