The Problem of Asbestos In Poland as Seen by Labour Inspectors
Overall description of asbestos products manufactured in the past and being used in Poland was given. Attention was drawn to the medical records of asbestos related diseases and to the drawbacks of revealed data. Existing Polish law and regulations relevant to asbestos ban and safe work with asbestos related products have been discussed. Polish Threshold Limit Values for asbestos were compared with existing in European Union countries. An attempt has been made to describe National Labour Inspection activity, i.e. inspections and promotional tasks carried out in the year 2000. Attention was drawn to malpractice of enterprises dealing with removal or repair of asbestos–containing products, malpractice that caused asbestos hazards both for the employees and for the public. Low common awareness concerning harmful effects of asbestos was highlighted, an attempt was made to find the root causes of the phenomena. Effects of labour inspections and examples of promotional activities were quoted.
Asbestos in Poland
There are no asbestos deposits suitable for industrial exploitation in Poland. Manufacture of asbestos products in the years 1950 – 1997 was based on raw asbestos imported mainly from the former Soviet Union – about 96% (chrysotile) and from Africa (crocidolite, amosite).
The decade 1970’s was the period of peak production of asbestos products in our country, with an annual consumption of about 100 thousand tons of raw asbestos. But in 1991 this consumption was much lower and amounted to 30 thousand tons of raw asbestos. In the middle of 1980’s an annual consumption of 60 thousand tons – according to the Working Environment in Sweden, 1992 – made Poland, when calculating per capita, the sixteenth user of asbestos after such potentates as i.a. the former German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Japan, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg.
In the period of 52 –97 almost 100 enterprises dealt with the manufacture of asbestos – containing items and some 9 thousand people were employed in that sector of production.
Two third of raw asbestos, mainly chrysotile was used by four enterprises for the manufacture of products chiefly for the needs of construction sector. These were flat and corrugated roofing panels, cladding and façade panels. It is estimated that the output of enterprises producing these items was approximately 1,5 billion square meters of panels made during 30 years of their operation.
Crocidolite was widely used for the manufacture of pressure and large diameter pipes.
It is difficult to estimate the number of companies which applied asbestos items. Every year each manufacturer used to trade with a few hundred or more customers, both wholesalers and retailers. Construction asbestos materials were commonly used both in residential and industrial buildings.
Asbestos materials were used in other technical applications as well.
Plants which used asbestos goods, were to a large degree scattered. As estimated by the National Labour Inspectorate, they used up from several kilograms to a few hundred tons of asbestos goods annually. As early as in 1995, a certain number of companies using asbestos materials began replacing them with asbestos-free products, however it has been noticed that the pace of progress of such actions differed a lot depending on a plant. Restraint of companies in this respect can be explained by economic reasons.
Health effects of occupational exposure to asbestos
According to the Register of Asbestos Related Occupational Diseases in the period of 76 –96 in Poland there were1314 cases of asbestosis, 154 cases of lung cancer and 52 cases of mesothelioma classified as connected with occupational exposure to asbestos.
Time distribution of these diseases is shown in Table I.
|
Year |
Asbestosis |
Lung Cancer |
Mesothelioma |
|
1976 |
10 |
- |
1 |
|
77 |
11 |
- |
- |
|
78 |
28 |
1 |
- |
|
79 |
24 |
2 |
- |
|
1980 |
33 |
1 |
1 |
|
81 |
74 |
2 |
- |
|
82 |
129 |
2 |
- |
|
83 |
118 |
1 |
- |
|
84 |
56 |
1 |
- |
|
85 |
81 |
4 |
- |
|
86 |
77 |
2 |
4 |
|
87 |
86 |
9 |
2 |
|
88 |
76 |
13 |
3 |
|
89 |
52 |
7 |
3 |
|
1990 |
42 |
12 |
3 |
|
91 |
76 |
11 |
4 |
|
92 |
82 |
4 |
7 |
|
93 |
87 |
12 |
7 |
|
94 |
61 |
12 |
6 |
|
95 |
65 |
32 |
4 |
|
1996 |
46 |
26 |
7 |
|
Total |
1314 |
154 |
52 |
|
Table I. Asbestos related occupational diseases in Poland, in the period 1976-1996 Ref: Register of Occupational Diseases, Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lódz, 1997 |
According to that table, reflecting official statistics, mesothelioma is a very rare malignant disease in Poland. Mesothelioma has been considered as an occupational disease since 1986. In the period 86 – 96, the total registered number was 2,096 deaths cases of people who suffered from mesothelioma, of which only 52 cases were recognised as occupational disease. It makes only 2.4% of the total number of mesothelioma cases discovered in the said period. This low percentage proves that knowledge about asbestos as etiological factor in the origin of mesothelioma is lacking, that in its recognition international standards are not applied, and that occupational questionnaires concerning patient’s health are filled-in incorrectly. This situation may also be attributed to the long, many years delayed occurrence of that disease after ceasing of work activity.
Legal regulations
The Law prohibiting application of asbestos-containing products came into force in September 1997.
In connection with that law, in 1998 the Minister of Economy issued the Ordinance which specifies the way of safe use and provisions for the disposal of asbestos waste. It states that disposal of asbestos waste or preventing asbestos goods from damage shall be conducted depending upon the physical condition of these products, being assessed according to a three-point scale introduced in that regulation. This Law defines the rules of occupational health and safety while preventing asbestos goods from damage and when disposing asbestos waste. A training programme for the employees and their supervisors dealing with the removal or repair of asbestos contained materials has also been developed.
Apart from the above–mentioned, a significant legal regulation is the Ordinance by the Minister of Health and Social Welfare of 1996 concerning carcinogenic factors in the working environment and health surveillance of employees exposed to these factors at work. It specifies the employer’s obligation to inform employees about health hazards caused by asbestos, and about undertaken preventive measures aimed at reduction of occupational risk resulting from exposure to asbestos.
Binding from 1st January 1998 there is a law on the disposal of waste, regulating i.a. rules of dealing with waste, including those with asbestos.
It should be noted that in our country, the permissible maximum concentrations of asbestos dust are as follows: 1.0 mg/m3 (total dust) and 0.2 fibre /cm3 (respirable dust – fibres of length over 1µm) for all kinds of asbestos excluding crocidolite, and respectively - 0.5 mg/m3 and 0.2 fibre/cm3 for dust containing crocidolite (exposure during 8–hours working day). These values are in accordance with the standards existing in the European Union Member States i.e. Directive 91/382/EEC of 15 June 1991, amending Directive 83/477/EEC concerning protection of employees from hazards at work related to asbestos exposure.
The problem of asbestos in Poland as seen by labour inspectors
In the year 2000, two years after the Law on the ban on application of asbestos products in Poland came into force, labour inspectors conducted inspections in two groups of enterprises where asbestos–containing products were dealt with.
In result of co-operation with the Environmental Protection Inspectorate and district offices for construction supervision, the number of inspected firms which worked on the removal or repair of asbestos-containing products increased by almost 60% in comparison with the previous year. Nevertheless, due to their short duration, such works are difficult to spot.
Inspections were carried out according to uniform guidelines. Totally, these inspections covered 266 various enterprises employing 111 thousand employees.
In the first group of companies labour inspectors assessed the observance of regulations binding for works on the removal or repair of asbestos containing products. Those firms employed 45 thousand people, including 497 directly exposed to asbestos during work on its removal or repairing products containing asbestos. Moreover, it was discovered that in those workplaces 1,244 persons had contact with asbestos dust released in result of the conducted activities.
In that group of enterprises, irregularities found were the following:
unrestricted and/or unmarked ‘asbestos’ working area
– such situations led to exposure to asbestos dust of other employees and/or the public;lack of register of employees exposed to carcinogenic factors
– these were aimed at avoiding compensations for persons affected by asbestos;enterprises having permissions and undertaking works with asbestos commissioned the removal of asbestos products to other companies without such a permission
– most often reason of that was to ‘dump’ of work costs;lack of the work plan of asbestos removal which caused work without risk analysis and preventive measures to minimise occupational risk;
improper handling of asbestos waste and contaminated, dirty clothing
– it would cause possibility of exposure to asbestos of third persons (other employees or the public;lack of prophylactic examinations of employees exposed to asbestos.
Inspections in the second group of enterprises were of preventive nature and were limited to identification of buildings and construction installations as well as technological devices and processes involving asbestos.
In most of those companies it was discovered that assessment of the physical condition of existing asbestos elements was not conducted or was conducted improperly, which led to the faulty classification of the product to one of the three hazard categories and finally resulted in the risky exposure to asbestos of the existing buildings’ users.
In most companies the discovered irregularities were as follows:
failure to assess the building’s physical condition, as required by the law, mostly in order to postpone the necessary repair or removal of asbestos elements;
technical inspection were conducted by persons without qualifications; such assessments led to improper classifications of the building to the group ‘suitable for further use’; Improper technical inspection - without specification of the type of asbestos in products (chrysotile, crocidolite);
Improper technical inspection - without the assessment of the physical condition and the possibilities of further use of products containing asbestos.
The most frequent causes of irregularities were:
still low common awareness of the health effects connected with the exposure to asbestos;
ignorance of legal regulations on asbestos on the part of employers, owners of buildings and local authorities;
poor qualifications (lack of proper training) of employees and their supervisors;
pre-meditated and purposeful saving on expenses connected with work safety, aimed at lowering the work costs when removing or repairing asbestos products.
Actions of the labour inspectors resulted in elimination of offences against the law by issuing decisions, among others on work stoppage or decisions imposing fines. These decisions led to the elimination of exposure to asbestos dust and prevention of occupational risk in relation to 1,700 employees and also 390 pre-school children, and covering with preventive actions many people potentially exposed to asbestos. Also due to these inspections, asbestos was identified in more than 2,400 buildings, i.e. industrial buildings, schools, universities and kindergartens as well as in industrial installations and production facilities.
Carrying out its inspections, labour inspectors made also local authorities aware that risk of asbestos exists also in public sites. Thanks to that local authorities began actions limiting exposure to asbestos in buildings and sites open for public use.
Apart from its statutory obligations, National Labour Inspectorate deals with dissemination of information about good working practices, which may be used in prevention of harmful effects of asbestos in the working environment and in public facilities. As an example of such activity let it be free of charge brochure "How to deal with asbestos mounted in buildings", recently available in our regional offices.
International co-operation of National Labour Inspectorate
Polish Labour Inspection maintains good international cooperation, and we highly appreciate working contacts with French an German Labour Inspections. Due to good relations with these two national inspections number of our inspectors participated in study tours in France and Germany as well as attended asbestos workshops organized in Poland with the assistance of German Labour Inspection. These events gave us the opportunity to learn their methods of prevention of the risk existing in work with asbestos and to get acquainted with the legislation of these countries and ways of its application.
We appreciate very much contacts with International Ban Asbestos Secretariat as it gives us the fresh, worldwide insight of assbestos issues, and to know approaches in that respect elswhere. This information are widely used in attempts in solving our asbestos problems.
Summary and conclusions
As it was mentioned previously, actions of the labour inspectorate resulted in the elimination of irregularities in the inspected places of work. However, we are aware that irregularities still exist and will be more frequent due to the common application of this material in the past and progressing ageing of those products. Concluding from inspections conducted by NLI in 2000, works with asbestos and its removal create not only occupational hazards but also public risk. Such a situation is dangerous and distressful as it makes unaware, not suspecting any danger public to be passively exposed to harmful effects of asbestos due to ignorance of these effects by employees working with asbestos contained elements.
However, last year NLI inspections indicate to the positive shifts in the observance of the current regulations on asbestos by employers dealing with the removal or repair of asbestos goods.
Increases the interest on the part of contractors in information on the technical and organisational solutions concerning safety of work involving asbestos, as well as in the relevant training. Visible is also interest of the local authorities in counter-acting negative health effects caused by the application of asbestos goods.
As it tourned out from our inspections, the legal regulations existing in Poland are not perfect. The National Labour Inspectorate often pointed out to the limited possibilities of its enforcement. Among others, due to the address of the Chief Labour Inspector to the Minister of Economy the "Programme of Removing Asbestos and Asbestos Containing Goods Used on the Territory of Poland" is being developed. The project is to begin in the year 2002. We hope that it will cover both organisational and technical solutions, as well as promotional campaigns in order to raise the level of common awareness of harmful properties of asbestos. We also hope that the programme will also raise the issue of costs for the society resulting from the use of asbestos. Such information should be used to popularise good and safe working practices with asbestos products. It may contribute to the improvement of public awareness of hazards from the existence of asbestos in the working environment, and generally in the environment we live in.
REFERENCES
Asbestos in Working Environment. Working Environment 1992– an annual report of the Swedish Working Environment Association;Stockholm
N. Szeszenia-Dabrowska, J.Siuta. Azbest w Srodowisku, Skutki i Profilaktyka (Asbestos in Environment, Effects and Prevention). OW IMP Lodz, 1998
Rejestr Chorob Zawodowych (Register of Occupational Diseases). Instytut Medycyny Pracy, Lodz 1980-1996
Council Directives 83/477/EEC, 91/382/EEC
Sprawozdanie Glownego Inspektora Pracy (Chief Labour Inspector’s Annual Report) – 2000. Warszawa
June 8, 2001
