The London Assembly Environment Committee has today written to the Mayor with recommendations on how to better understand and protect Londoners from potentially harmful Tube dust.
The Committee’s letter to the Mayor makes a number of recommendations on Tube dust including:
- Transport for London (TfL) must keep the Committee informed of progress on the studies it commissioned on Tube dust and confirm the timelines for the publications of the results.
- TfL must ensure that the exposure to Tube dust of all station staff is monitored, whether they are contractors or directly employed by TfL.
Chair of the London Assembly Environment Committee, Caroline Russell AM said:
“When Sadiq Khan became Mayor in 2016 he pledged to tackle pollution and poor air on the London Underground. However, three years on it is clear from our investigation that little progress has been made in understanding the possible health risks from Tube dust. There are very high concentrations of small particles in the underground and worryingly we just don’t know if they are harmful or not.
“While we know TfL has commissioned studies on the matter, the findings must be publicly available as soon as possible.
“We are particularly concerned about contract cleaners working on the Tube. The Committee has been told that no one is monitoring the health of these cleaners simply because they are not directly employed by TfL. This is unacceptable.
“We have called on the Mayor to urgently instruct TfL to make Tube dust a bigger priority than it currently is. We need to see real action being taken to identify any health harm and to tackle Tube dust on all Underground lines. We have asked the Mayor to respond to our recommendations by 7 February 2020.”
Related documents
Tube Dust - letter
Notes to editors
- The letter is attached.
- Caroline Russell AM, Chair of the Environment Committee is available for interview. See contact details below.
- The Environment Committee looks at what additional measures could be taken to help improve the quality of life for Londoners and investigates topics ranging from airport expansion and burst water mains, to noise from the Night Tube and the environmental impacts of plastic water bottles.
- As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and balance on the Mayor.
For media enquiries, please contact Aoife Nolan on 020 7983 4067. For out of hours’ media enquiries, call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the London Assembly duty press officer. Non-media enquiries should be directed to the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.