Hidden Asbestos Risk in Denmark
Complacency about the asbestos hazard is not uncommon in industrialized countries that unilaterally banned asbestos in the 1980s and 1990s. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous use of asbestos and asbestos-containing products throughout national infrastructures prior to bans being introduced means that the pursuit of a current policy which lacks vigilance is as short-sighted as it is dangerous. Developments which unfolded in Denmark towards the end of last year (2006) are a good example.
Trade unionist Lars Vedsmand reported on December 18 that the Danish media had been flooded with reports that crocidolite (blue) asbestos was still present on urban trains currently operated by the National Railway Company (DSB) despite the company's assurances that contaminated carriages had either been withdrawn from service or remediated years earlier. Ineffective encapsulation and lack of labelling of asbestos materials in railway wagons endangered train drivers, cleaners, mechanics, electricians and passengers over a number of years. Twenty-two former DSB employees who worked on Copenhagen's local S-trains have been awarded compensation for asbestos-related illnesses. It is true, Mr. Vedsmand noted, that the DSB withdrew some contaminated railway carriages from service; in the mid-1990s, 150+ of them were sold to Iran for one million euros.
An article published in the Copenhagen Post in December contained more bad news: the DSB's negligence extended to asbestos-contaminated ferries. As the story escalated, the Labour Inspectorate became the target of angry politicians and trade unionists; Jorgen Arbo-Baehr, spokesperson for the Red-Green Party said:
“The Labour Inspectorate issued a ban on asbestos in 1988. They knew for certain that DSB had it in its trains, and anyway they let the railway handle it themselves for 10 years.”
Having admitted its failure to inspect railway cars from 1988 to 1998, last month (December 2006) the DSB promised it would compensate all injured workers, many of whom are now filing personal injury claims against the DSB.
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January 16, 2007
