I arrived at A&AEE Boscombe one morning in 1989 to find a workman putting up a sign (using drills) at one of the old sheds of Nav/Radio division in the dip (I was the Jaguar RTS officer at the time). I asked him what the sign said. It was "Danger asbestos - do not drill into the wall"! Five months later we arrived at same shed, after particularly heavy storms, to find white powder all over the desks - not too worry they said very officially. Six months later, I organised my leaving barrel at the community centre and no-one turned up. It transpired that they had done the checks and determined that it was asbestos after all and that all the top/secret material had to be transferred to some HASs by the staff xthat day - some leaving do!
30 years later, after some scans on my lungs following a diagnosis of bowel caner, the consultant informed me that I had asbestos scarring and did I know of any asbestos incidents. The moral being - asbestos is a serious long term poison of which the MoD were blissfully (or determinedly) unaware over many years.
The Sweep