Ban-Asbestos-India: USOSHA imposes fine for lack of asbestos monitoring

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

USOSHA imposes fine for lack of asbestos monitoring

Note:One has never heard of any asbestos company being fined for such charges in India. While asbestos might not be beyond monitoring, Indian asbestos companies are so powerful that no government institution dares to monitor them. In fact they compete with each other to public relations work for these companies so that no one can pose any public health document or study or observation to jeopardize brutal quest of their profit at any human cost.

In the US, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and Environmental Protection Agency work in tandem despite that 10, 000 people are dying of asbestos diseases there but in India, the relevant agencies National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) are defunct Both the Indian agencies have adopted an Ostrich Policy and sought refuge in a make believe world wherein they work overtime to ensure that there is no documentation of asbestos diseases in India.

Asbestos cleanup begins

Brooklyn developer State Assets LLC began asbestos cleanup at 1175 State St. on January, 6 after a multi-agency probe into allegations of unsafe working conditions there resulted in 18 violations from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

OSHA fined the firm $48,100 in November,2008 for lack of asbestos monitoring, exposed live electrical wires and unlabeled containers of hazardous chemicals, among other citations."

Where Can Asbestos be Found?: USEPA
Asbestos has been commonly used as an acoustic insulator, thermal insulation, fire proofing and in other building materials. Asbestos fibers are incredibly strong and have properties that make them resistant to heat. Many products are in use today that contain asbestos. Most of these are materials used in heat and acoustic insulation, fire proofing, and roofing and flooring. USEPA has identified the following asbestos product categories. Many of these materials may still be in use. These include asbestos-cement corrugated sheet, asbestos-cement flat sheet, asbestos-cement pipe asbestos-cement shingle roof coatings, flooring felt, pipeline wrap, roofing felt
asbestos clothing, non-roof coatings vinyl/asbestos floor tile, automatic transmission components, clutch facings, disc brake pads, drum brake linings, and brake blocks .
Commercial and industrial asbestos friction products like sheet and beater-add gaskets (except specialty industrial) commercial, corrugated and specialty paper, millboard
rollboard.

According to US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an estimated 1.3 million employees in construction and general industry face significant asbestos exposure on the job. Heaviest exposures occur in the construction industry, particularly during the removal of asbestos during renovation or demolition. Employees are also likely to be exposed during the manufacture of asbestos products (such as textiles, friction products, insulation, and other building materials) and during automotive brake and clutch repair work. Asbestos is well recognized as a health hazard and is highly regulated. OSHA and EPA asbestos rules are intertwined.

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Ban on Asbestos is a Must

A study in a peer-reviewed journal had earlier estimated that there could be more than 6,000 workers affected by asbestosis (an untreatable lung ailment) and another 600 suffering at the minimum from asbestosis-related lung cancer in India at present. Occupational cancer from asbestos, the disease caused by emissions at the work place, poses an increasingly serious health problem. But the subject has attracted relatively little attention from industry, labour, public health bodies or the medical profession. Asbestos is one of the single largest sources of occupational cancer. Indian polticians are acting as if they are bonded workers of asbestos industry.

World Trade Center, New York collapsed Thousands of tons of asbestos became airborne.

Back in 1981, there was research coming out that Asbestos was cancer causing and this ad was in rebuttal to that research touting the benefits of using Asbestos. The text over the Twin Towers states, "When the Fire Alarm Went Off, It Took Two Hours to Evacuate New York's World Trade Center." I do not need to remind anyone of the images of September 11th and this ad. The copy below the ad goes on to mention all of the places that Asbestos was used in the World Trade Center. I can not not think of all of the innocent victims in the area that were exposed to all of the dust, smoke and inherent asbestos that was in the air after the buildings collapsed. The cloud of smoke went across the entire city and potentially exposed hundreds of thousands of individuals to asbestos. Hopefully there can be a cure or treatment for Mesothelioma before all of these potential victims are diagnosed.

Apex Court allocates meagre compensation for asbetsos victims

In 1995, the Supreme Court of India fixed Rs 1 lakh compensation amount and identified National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) as the final authority to certify asbestosis cases. Compensations are given through the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). Two workers in Ahmedabad Electricity Company diagnosed as having asbestosis by NIOH have been compensated by Gujarat High Court. Twenty-five workers in asbestos jointing and packing industry at Mumbai were compensated by the Special medical board of ESIC. The court ruled that the industrial units must maintain a health record of every worker up to a minimum period of 40 years; insure workers under the Employees State Insurance Act or Workmen’s Compensation Act and give health coverage to every worker.

Asbestos Victims

Every day estimated 30 deaths in India is under way due to the ongoing trade and use of white asbestos. 'Asbestos' in Greek means 'indestructible'. Greeks called asbestos the 'magic mineral'. Asbestos is a generic term, referring usually to six kinds of naturally occuring mineral fibres. Of these six, three are used more commonly. Chrysotile is the most common, accounts for almost 90 per cent of the asbestos used in the industry, but it is not unusual to encounter Amosite or Crocidolite as well. Though Crocidolite asbestos is banned in India, it can still be found in old insulation material, old ships that come from other countries for wrecking in India. All types of asbestos tend to break into very tiny fibre, almost microscopic. In fact, some of them may be up to 700 times smaller than human hair. Because of their small size, once released into the air, they may stay suspended in the air for hours or even days. Asbestos fibres are virtually indestructible. They are resistant to chemicals and heat, and are very stable in the environment. They do not evaporate into air or dissolve in water, and they do not break down over time. Because of its high durability and with tensile strength asbestos has been widely used inconstruction and insulation materials - it has been used in over 3,000 different products. Where do we use it? In India, asbestos is used in manufacture of pressure and non pressure pipes used for water supply, sewage, irrigation and drainage system in urban and rural areas, asbestos textiles, laminated products, tape, gland packing, packing ropes, brake lining and jointing used in core sector industries such as automobile, heavy equipment, petro-chemicals, nuclear power plants, fertilizers, thermal power plants, transportation, defence.

Make India Asbestos Free

Ban-Asbestos-India

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

USOSHA imposes fine for lack of asbestos monitoring

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