asbestos hazards

What you need to know about asbestos

Mesothelioma Awareness Day highlights importance of asbestos prevention in the workplace

September 23, 2020

Mesothelioma Awareness Day is on September 26, and is a day to recognize the importance of asbestos prevention in the workplace.

Medical clinic knowingly exposes workers to asbestos

January 26, 2017

A Monroe, Wisconsin medical clinic failed to inform maintenance workers that they were being sent into areas containing asbestos – which the company had known about since 2008. The company also failed to provide the workers with equipment which could have protected them from asbestos hazards.

Asbestos in the United States

Will it ever be banned?

Jackie Clark

January 19, 2017

Asbestos is a long, thin, fibrous mineral made of up of microscopic crystals. There are six different types that are split up into two different groups: serpentine or amphibole. Serpentine asbestos is classified by its layered structure and curly fibers. One particular type of serpentine asbestos – chrysotile – is most commonly found in building materials throughout the United States.

Chicago roofers exposed to dangerous asbestos hazards

October 23, 2015

OSHA’s Chicago North Area Office cited a contractor and subcontractor for exposing workers to asbestos hazards while replacing a commercial roof in Chicago.

Europe grapples with asbestos issue

47K deaths per year v. billions to remove the substance

July 20, 2015

The total number of asbestos-related deaths in Europe could peak at 47,000 per year -- 50% higher than previously believed and double the number of deaths caused by road accidents – according to an expert who spoke last month at a conference entitled, Freeing Europe Safely from Asbestos.

A FairWarning story

Asbestos found in imported crayons and toy fingerprint kits

Myron Levin Stuart Silverstein

July 9, 2015

Asbestos has been found in several brands of children’s crayons and fingerprint kits made in China and sold in the U.S., according to tests commissioned by an environmental group. The findings are detailed in a report being released today by the Environmental Working Group Action Fund. It marks the third time in 15 years that the cancer-causing substance has been detected in crayons or fingerprint toys marketed to children—apparently, due to the use of asbestos-contaminated talc.

Report from Europe

Asbestos: the long and winding road to a global ban

May 15, 2015

Report from the European Trade Union Institute: An important international meeting on toxic products opened in Geneva on 4 May with, as one of the main items on its agenda, the inclusion of chrysotile in the Rotterdam Convention. In spite of the deleterious effects of this form of asbestos, lobbying by producer and importer states has so far enabled this carcinogenic substance to remain outside the purview of this instrument.

School employee fired after raising concerns about asbestos removal

OSHA sues district for whistleblower retaliation

March 6, 2015

OSHA has filed suit against the Idaho Falls School District, after an employee was fired for questioning whether the timeline of a construction project at a school allowed for the safe removal of asbestos.

Low levels of asbestos exposure linked to lung abnormalities

Long-term changes seen at relatively low exposure levels

January 9, 2015

People exposed to asbestos from mining in Libby, Mont., show long-term changes in lung imaging and function tests, even with relatively low asbestos exposure, reports a study in the January Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

Weekly news round-up

Cruise ship safety, hand injuries and PtD in headlines

February 8, 2014

The ASSE and AIHA weigh in on OSHA’s proposed silica rule, a worker dies from heat stress and good news about air pollution in the U.S. were among this week’s top EHS-related stories as featured on ISHN.com: