STAFF at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool could have been exposed to the deadly building material asbestos.

The Daily Post can today reveal the substance was found in service ducts beneath the hospital during a routine safety check.

The ducts have now been sealed off. Health chiefs said tests confirmed wards and offices had not been affected.

They added the risk to people who have worked in the ducts – those employed in the hospital’s estates team – was low.

The 13 staff in question have been briefed on the situation, a spokeswoman for the hospital said.

A statement from Judith Adams, chief operating officer at Alder Hey, read: “The safety of everyone at Alder Hey is paramount whether a patient, visitor, an employee or contractor.

“We have been advised that the health risks to our staff from any potential exposure are minimal but we have put in place arrangements to further protect the health and safety of everyone at Alder Hey.”

Asbestos was routinely used as a way to insulate and fireproof buildings from the 1950s through to the mid-1980s.

In good condition it is safe but if its fibres become airborne, it can be dangerous.

Chiefs knew it lay in the ducts, but in the 1980s it was made safe through an “encapsulation” process to prevent these fibres escaping.