Page 106 - Occupational Health & Safety, July/August 2019

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
cancer, and more than half of mesothelioma cases can be attributed back to workplace exposure.4 This cancer almost always has a poor prognosis, with only 9 percent of those diagnosed living five years or more.
Given the potential health hazards and life-threatening illnesses that asbestos ex- posure brings, knowledge is power. Tak- ing the proper safety precautions will help prevent someone from contracting these illnesses and will reduce the number of workplace-related illnesses and deaths.
Worker Protections
An illness such as mesothelioma doesn’t present itself for 10-50 years after expo- sure, so it is extremely important to take the proper safety precautions now to pre- vent an illness from appearing later on in life. There are a number of safety rules that should be followed to ensure the safety of those working on a job site, as well as those who live and work nearby.
According to federal law, employ- ees have the right to know about poten- tial health hazards they may be exposed to while at work. It is also important to make sure workers are made aware of any presumed asbestos-containing materi- als, or PACMs, found in buildings if they were built and installed before the 1980s. Although a minimal amount of asbestos exposure is legal according to OSHA’s per- missible exposure limit (PEL)5, that does not mean it is safe or that employees are not in danger.
A proper workplace assessment must be done to make sure an area is safe for employees to inhabit, and continual monitoring must be completed, as well. Employers must keep records of previous asbestos scares and continue to update these records with each new test. In the end, if the proper protocols are followed and training is completed, employees and their employers should be able to safely
work without concern for this unwanted danger.
Emily Liptak of the Mesothelioma & Asbestos Awareness Center is a health and safety advocate. As an experienced writ- er, she works to spread awareness on the dangers of asbestos exposure and other workplace dangers.
REFERENCES
1. https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/asbestos/ 2. https://www.businesswire.com/news/
home/20190311005640/en/ADAO-Responds- New-USGS-Report-Asbestos-Imports
3. https://www.lung.org/lung-health-and- diseases/lung-disease-lookup/asbestosis/ learn-about-asbestosis.html
4. https://www.maacenter.org/asbestos/ occupational-exposure/
5. https://www.osha.gov/Publications/ OSHA3507.pdf
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