"Without these actions the tragedy of asbestos in schools will be left to fester and continue to kill the lifeblood of our society. Teachers and pupils continue to live with the deadly legacy of having once worked or studied in a school containing asbestos" said Mr Nimick.
Addressing a conference on "Directors Duties, Corporate Manslaughter and Health and Safety Enforcement" - organised by the Centre for Corporate Accountability - Mr Nimick disclosed that there had been 228 asbestos-related deaths among teachers over the last 14 years - an average of 16 members of the teaching profession dying every year.
Mr Nimick referred to the recent obituary of Peter Gowan, the esteemed Professor of International Relations at London Metropolitan University, who died of mesothelioma aged 63 years. "Mischa Glenny, in his obituary in the Guardian, wrote of Peter Gowan's time spent teaching in East London Schools, "It was within the crumbling infrastructure of public education that he was most likely exposed to the asbestos that led to mesothelioma.".
"In 2009 it is estimated that more than 4,000 people who die from cancers caused by past exposure to asbestos in the workplace - making it the greatest single cause of work-related deaths in the UK.
"In the short-term school heads and chairs of Governors may want to ask themselves this question: "Would you allow members of your family to attend a school or college where the asbestos risk had not been assessed?"
