Asbestos: A Health And Safety Nightmare

The mere mention of the word conjours up images of suffering and death. It is synonymous with all manner of lung related diseases, but over recent decades it has become outlawed in many countries. It may surprise some people to find out that asbestos is a naturally occurring crystalline material, composed of many fibres. It has proved popular in the past due to its heat resistant, flame proof properties. In various manufacturing processes it was interwoven with concrete and matting. It is a health and safety issue across the world.

Despite being great for many factory related processes, it transpired that it was also potentially deadly if inhaled in sufficient amounts. There is a basic background level of asbestos all around us, but this is not dangerous – it is only when people are surrounded by the material for extended periods that it starts causing health and safety issues.
The health and safety issues that arise include the possibility to develop asbestosis malignant mesothelioma and lung cancer.

In the mid 1980s governments around the globe started to ban the use of asbestos in all processes – as the health and safety implications of doing nothing were too much to contemplate. Many nations began the costly process of removing it from public buildings – including schools, hospitals and municipal buildings. When the true effects of it became known, many buildings could not be used and either had to be carefully altered or indeed pulled down.

Different countries have reacted at different levels of speed to the problem. The first country to recognise Asbestosis was Great Britain in 1924, after it was noticed that towns mining the substance suffered from a very high number of lung related diseases. It was recognised in the UK ten years before America began recognising the disease as a genuine reason for being off work.

Nowadays, health services around the globe know the health and safety implications and realise, along with governments, that prevention is best cure – as little can be done for people who have been exposed to a large quantity of fibres.

Car brake pads used to be made from asbestos but are now made from a variety of materials including Kevlar – the material that bullet proof vests are made of – and ceramic, metallic and carbon materials. The fact that asbestos is such a versatile material made it very useful for all manner of products – and some countries were correspondingly reluctant to let go of it, despite the health and safety implications.

Notably, Japan did not completely ban asbestos for many years, as it was such a lucrative business. Now of course, Japan’s government has accepted that many people have been adversely affected by asbestos and it posed, and still poses, a big health and safety risk.

Anna Stenning is an expert on health and safety, having advised various organisations on this issue. For more information visit http://www.britsafe.org/