Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

As a part of Asbestos Awareness Week, Unions Tasmania investigated 326 workplaces. The survey concluded more than four out of ten workplaces contain asbestos and that compliance with safety regulations in the workplace is inadequate.  Asbestos is known to have toxicity. The inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious illnesses, including malignant pleural mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis. Since the mid-1980’s, many uses of asbestos have been banned in several countries.

 

A decade ago, Workplace Health and Safety legislation was introduced in Tasmania requiring an asbestos management plan which included a provision that employers make a register of any buildings containing asbestos. The asbestos register would act as a map of how much asbestos there is in any given workplace, what the products are, and in what condition they are in. Only about half of the workplaces surveyed had an asbestos register or management plan and, of those, nine percent could not easily locate their registers.

 

Unions Tasmania secretary Simon Cocker said, “The level of complacency around this product (asbestos) is high in Tasmania. Because employers don’t have to lodge their register with Workplace Standards, clearly many of them are just not fulfilling their obligations and may be putting their employees at risk.” 

 

Unions Tasmania is again calling upon State Government to create a central register to better map asbestos and to fund an asbestos education program.   Workplace Relations Minister Lisa Singh plans to hold a public forum early next year. She says the survey results should be a reminder to employers that they have an obligation to safely manage asbestos in their workplaces.