The memory of the man is still working very well. He is now seventy-five years old. But he can still tell exactly how he did his job as a carpenter forty years ago. In new construction projects he was mainly engaged for the installation of window frames and doors. Did he also work with asbestos-containing material? "I do not know that," he replies. "You must remember that asbestos used to be a very common material. Very different from now. You did not pay attention when you worked with asbestos.
I am witnessing an interview in which the man's employment history is mapped out. Last week he was diagnosed with the pulmonary doctor as 'malignant mesothelioma'. This term stands for pulmonary cancer. Pulmonary cancer is caused by contact with asbestos in the past.
Malignant mesothelioma
Malignant mesothelioma is diagnosed annually in the Netherlands with more than five hundred people. The number has been fairly constant for years and is not decreasing, even though there has been a ban on the processing of asbestos since 1993. After exposure to asbestos, it takes decades before the disease develops.
But once the disease has been diagnosed, things will go very fast. Pulmonary cancer is a very progressive condition for which no cure is possible. Ninety percent of the cases of illness die within one year.
In the late nineties of the last century, the use of asbestos was banned, but it turned out that society was still saddled with a bitter legacy from the past. After a lifetime of hard work, the asbestos victims are confronted with a medical agony. In addition, they also have a legal agony. Because most people are exposed to asbestos during their work, they can hold their (former) employer liable for the damage incurred. But due to the progressivity of the disease one is usually already deceased before the legal steps have been carried out. In 1999, therefore, social partners, together with the government, patient organizations and insurers set up the Asbestos Victims Institute.
The Asbestos
Victims Institute Victims can report to the institute. There is a check on the diagnosis of the disease. In addition, all the victim's employment contracts are recorded and questions are asked about where contact with asbestos took place. In that context, the conversation with the carpenter who was involved in new construction projects also takes place.
The Asbestos Victims Institute therefore has a database with thousands of employments where asbestos victims have worked. It appears that most employment contracts come from the construction and installation. In total, this involves more than 4,500 employment contracts where, in the past, exposure to asbestos has certainly or probably occurred.
Leading position of the construction sector
The fact that this dubious honor happens to the construction industry is not surprising if we include the enormous use of asbestos materials in construction in the second half of the last century. In 1986, for example, more than forty percent of the total drinking water network consisted of asbestos cement pipes. Most professions in the construction industry came into contact with asbestos in one way or another. Plasterers used asbestos-based coverings to process on walls, ceilings and floors. They were exposed by sawing, grinding, milling and drilling of asbestos cement products. Another special group were the painters in the renovation, where the risk lay in sanding asbestos cement sheets.
The head position of the construction sector when it comes to exposure is of course primarily a matter of the past. Yet this bitter legacy still has a meaning in the present. First, it appears that due to the large amount of asbestos used in the construction industry, exposure still remains a risk during renovation, renovation or decontamination work. We do not have to be hysterical, but vigilance and monitoring procedures are required.
Secondly, asbestos is not the only dangerous substance in the construction industry. Harmful substances are, for example, in paint, glue or removal agent. They can also arise in a process or during work, such as diesel engine emissions or welding fumes. All hazardous substances must be controlled, this must be recorded in the risk inventory of the company. Now that we see how much misery dangerous substances from the past can cause, alertness to risks is not an unnecessary luxury.
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