Frank Maguire Senior Partner with Thompsons Solicitors and a prominent campaigner for the rights of asbestos victims has welcomed the Health and Safety Executive's new asbestos awareness campaign.
Mr Maguire said: "No-one should forget the terrible toll asbestos continues to take on Scottish workers and their families.
"We currently represent 650 men and women who have mesothelioma or have died from and it and the figure continues to rise.
"One of the most disturbing trend is that construction workers, joiners and electricians have overtaken those from shipbuilding and heavy engineer as the largest group affected.
"That's because asbestos was ubiquitous not just in ships but in the construction industry generally, and workers are particularly vulnerable when renovating older properties."
Launching "Asbestos, the The Hidden Killer" Campaign at Hampden Park on October 23, the Health and Safety Executive revealed that every week 20 tradesmen die from asbestos-related diseases, and this number is set to increase.
Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy has given his support to the campaign which is running throughout October and November and aims to reduce the rising death rate by educating today's tradesmen about the danger that asbestos presents to them.
Mr Murphy, said: "I was shocked to learn that the number of deaths is on the increase year on year.
"Any steps we can take to reduce that number are to be welcomed. These are not just statistics, and each number represents a person with families and dependents and represents an avoidable human tragedy.
"If lives are saved by letting tradesmen across Scotland know the simple facts we should all spread the word."
Greg Haywood, Head of HSE's Asbestos Licensing Unit says, "We need to educate tradesmen about how asbestos and its dangers are relevant to them. We want them to change the way they work so that they don't put their lives at risk."
Greg Haywood explained why a major campaign has been launched to raise awareness of the real risk that tradesmen face,
"Exposure to asbestos is the biggest single cause of work-related deaths, with around 4,000 people a year dying from asbestos-related disease. The overall number of deaths is rising because a large number of workers who have already been exposed to asbestos dust around 40 years ago will go on to develop mesothelioma, a terminal cancer or other asbestos related diseases."
1,000 (25%) of the 4,000 now dying each year are tradesmen and while the number of deaths in traditional industries has plateaued, deaths in trades continue to rise.
West Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and Glasgow have among the highest rates of deaths from mesothelioma in Great Britain, with 1106 people in these areas dying from the cancer between 1981 and 2005.
