UKNAR (UK National Asbestos Register) Celebrates Its First Anniversary

UK National Asbestos Register logo This month as UKNAR (UK National Asbestos Register) celebrates its first anniversary, we would like to thank our early adopters and key supporters who have been instrumental in helping shape our achievements so far. We’ve learnt a lot over the last 12 months and we look forward to continuing to work with you in 2021.

We would also like to share some key highlights from our first year and celebrate the progress we have made towards achieving our social mission:

“To protect people from avoidable and potentially deadly exposures to asbestos fibres and save lives."

UKNAR is a social enterprise dedicated to sharing vital information to help save lives.



Hundreds of thousands of UK workplaces, public buildings, schools, hospitals and homes still contain asbestos and despite improved legislation, there are still many thousands of accidental exposures to asbestos every year: mostly because people are unaware of the presence of asbestos or its danger. We are encouraging organisations to adopt the use of Asbestos SMART QR code technology to make vital information regarding any already identified asbestos in their buildings simply and easily available to maintenance teams, staff and visiting contractors whenever and wherever it's needed at site.

By doing this we hope to reduce the number of accidental disturbances and potentially life threatening exposures to asbestos fibres that occur each year in the UK.

Key highlights - At a glance

  1. In February 2020 UKNAR received regulatory approval to become a Community Interest Company. As a CIC UKNAR must exist primarily to benefit a community, with a view to pursuing a social purpose, rather than to make a profit for shareholders.
  2. UKNAR formally agreed to work in partnership with Mesothelioma UK, the national specialist resource centre for asbestos related cancer. The partnership with Mesothelioma UK represents a significant milestone in UKNAR’s commitment to protect the health of the general public. UKNAR will donate 5% of its license fees to Mesothelioma UK, as well as raising awareness of the charity’s aims in support of key beneficiaries
  3. Asbestos SMART has now been adopted in over 200 workplaces and schools, better safeguarding 1000’s staff, pupils, visitors and contractors.
  4. Asbestos SMART has also been adopted by one of the top five UK Managing Agents; further demonstrating their corporate social responsibility and commitment to reduce asbestos exposures.
  5. We are now engaged with over ten additional multi-academy trusts and an Archdiocese with collective responsibility for the safe management of asbestos in over 500 UK schools.
  6. A strong community of supporters and followers has been built up and alliances forged with a wide range of organisations – mesothelioma support groups, asbestos industry organisations and consultancies, surveyors, universities, schools and multi-academy trusts, commercial property and IT companies.
  7. UKNAR’s Co-founder Andrew Paten has been invited to speak at several conferences and the proposal for a National Asbestos Register was incorporated into the public policy think tank paper “Airtight on Asbestos”.