
Exposure to asbestos at the workplace
Unfortunately, this is still a current topic.
SW – 04/2021
The EU Commission wants to revise the
occupational exposure limits for asbestos. It announced this in its action plan for implementing the European Pillar of Social
Rights. Subject to the outcome of the ongoing consultations with the social
partners, it will present a legislative proposal in 2022 to further reduce
workers' exposure to asbestos.
Initiative for protecting against asbestos
The European Parliament's committee for
Employment and Social Affairs is working on an unsolicited report with recommendations to be made to the
Commission about protecting workers from asbestos. In a committee debate on 19
April 2021, the concerned reporter, Nikolaj Villumsen (MEP), pointed out that
despite the EU-wide ban on asbestos, around 90,000 people died from
asbestos-related diseases in 2019. In its draft report, it calls on the EU
Commission to present a European strategy for eliminating asbestos, which
should include the following measures:
- a European framework for national strategies for safe
elimination of asbestos in the Member States, including a legislative
proposal to introduce minimum standards for publicly accessible national
asbestos registers,
- updating Directive 2009/148/EU about protecting workers from
the risks related to being exposed to asbestos at work,
- a legislative proposal covering the recognition of occupational
diseases, including all known asbestos-related diseases, with minimum
requirements for the recognition procedures and minimum standards for compensating
victims of asbestos-related occupational diseases,
- updating Directive 2010/31/EU about the energy efficiency of
buildings with a view to introducing an obligation to inspect and
subsequently remove asbestos and other hazardous substances before the
start of any renovation work and
- a legislative proposal for compulsory buildings inspections
before they are sold or rented and for the issuing of asbestos
certificates for buildings constructed before 2005.
Background
It is true that the placing of asbestos on
the market and using asbestos fibres has been banned in the EU since 2005.
However, in the past, asbestos was widely used, especially in the construction
sector, because of its great resistance to acids, heat and physical agents.
Contact with asbestos and inhaling asbestos fibres can cause diseases such as
abdominal, breast and lung and peritoneal cancer in addition to asbestosis. The
issue remains topical because of the very long latency period, possibly up to
40 years, of diseases caused by asbestos. The energy-efficient refurbishment of
buildings envisaged under the European Green Deal is also highlighting the
dangers posed by asbestos.
The EU wants to more than halve greenhouse
gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and even reduce them to zero by
2050. To achieve this, the number of energy-efficient building renovations will
have to at least double by 2030. In practice, this "building renovation
wave" might result in workers in the construction sector as well as
consumers being exposed to materials that could contain hazardous asbestos
fibres.
Outlook
Members of the committee are currently
scheduled to vote on the report at their 30 September 2021 meeting.
Accompanying the work of the Committee, the European Parliamentary Research
Service has produced a report about the existing legal framework as well as an
assessment of the added value of a legislative proposal (available in English
only).