105739Integrated automated asbestos fibre-counting and digital certification technologyClosedStudyInnovate UKAsbestos presents a major occupational and public health risk, both in developed regions (where the material can be disturbed in buildings), and in developing regions where extraction, processing and use shows no sign of abating. The epidemic that the UK in particular is experiencing is set to be replicated globally over the next 30 years, with 250,000 deaths per annum currently, and rising. When disturbed asbestos breaks down into extremely fine-sized, invisible fibres, and it does so in huge numbers: one breath may easily contain 10,000 fibres; a few hours unwitting work with asbestos may result in a lifetime's dosage. Controlling the airborne fibre is however very easy - but only if you know it is present. A key risk management step for such an invisible fibre then, is air monitoring - to alert the worker to its presence and to help understand the level of risk presented. The most common technique for monitoring asbestos fibres worldwide comes from the 1960s. It is slow and insensitive and - because it relies on close input of an expert microscopist user - is prohibitively expensive. As such regulators around the world are unable to stipulate its use for any but the most high-risk situations. The test method is also prone to unwitting bias , but also - given the commercially-conflicted environment in which much testing is undertaken - fraud and corruption, an unspoken credibility challenge for the industry and regulator. There have been many attempts to automate the manual method but none have matched the performance of the human analyst. We have developed a technology that has demonstrated potential to match and exceed the accepted regulatory performance standards of the human analyst. We are now looking to incorporate this into an integrated air sampling/analysis device. This will be incorruptible, delivering secure, near real-time data to the non-specialist user more cheaply and reliably than the existing technique. This has the potential to disrupt the existing markets and extend the role of air monitoring as a risk management tool significantly. Developing regions still using asbestos lack the health & safety infrastructure to maintain the quality control systems to support the existing method. This technology will place a cheap, "point&shoot" but high-integrity capability into the hands of workers, employers, regulators and local communities to help them implement and monitor the simple risk controls essential to avoid the global spread of an asbestos mortality epidemic.