Document v10QDaZZeMXLg0ogM6dee8rm

ASBESTOS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION 68 GLOUCESTER PLACE, LONDON' W1H 3HL MEMORANDUM pQ. Member Associations FROM: Director-General cc Executive Committee for info. AIA/1/4/19/POL 31 August 1982 Health & Safety Commission's and Mr. Bill Simpson's Press Releases on Asbestos Please find attached press releases C18:82 and C19:82 issued respectively by the UK Health 6 Safety Commission and by Mr. Bill Simpson concerning asbestos. Sir Neville Stack CAPCO JEN 0012097 Health and Safely Commission 255 25 Cfup;-I Street London N'VVI ^OT Te'ephone 01-26; 3277 . ext I 27 August 1S82 Nev Safety Limits for Asbestos The health and Safety Commission is to introduce much tighter control limits for Asbestos from 1 January 1SB3. Work is to be undertaken to identify what further measures can be taken At its meeting on 24 August the Commission decided that the limit for asbestos in general use (chrysotile or white asbestos) should be halved to 1 f/ml. The limit for amositc (brown asbestos) will be quartered to 0.5 f/nl and the strict control limit for crocidolite (blue asbestos) will be maintained at its current level of 0.2 f/nl which effectively rules out its use. Although a great many workplaces are keeping exposure below 1 f/d (chrysotile) a significant number are not yet doing so. If they cannot introduce practical engineering controls to meet the new limit by 1 January J9S3 Che work force will be required to wear suitable protective equipment. The Commission emphasises that these control limits are not absolutely safe levels. Ihey noted that assertions had been made that there was new medical evidence- about the effects of exposure to asbestos. ihey therefore decided that a detailed review of all the medical evidence to cate should be undertaken by an internationally recognised authority in this f-5-1-3 CSF 0022535 In the short terra they have asked the Deputy Director General of the Health and Safety Executive (Dr Duncan) to bring together a group of medical experts to consider whether there had been any substantial changes to medical knowledge since the Advisory Committee on Asbestos prepared its report. The Commission also decided to set up a Working Croup including both sides of industry, chaired by a senior officer of the health and Safety Executive, with the object of identifying and recommending any further measures for the control of exposure to asbestos dust that were not considered practicable at the time of the ACA report. This would include a review of present engineering controls ana systems of work. A review will also be commissioned to assess the adequacy and the problems of wearing suitable respiratory protective equipment and protective clothing. j.;ore/ CAPCO Jf=N 0012098 -2- The Commission will consider the reports of the Working Groups not later than August 1983 when they will take into account Recommendation 10 of the ACA Final Report which states "we recommend that legislation should be prepared making clear that an over-riding requirement to reduce exposure to asbestos oust to the minimum that is reasonably practicable should be applied". The Working Groups will have considered the implications for incustry of the new limit from 1 January 1983. If the reports indicate that further action needs to be taken on the question of control limits, the Commission will then consider how this should be done. The Commission has already decided, at its meeting on 2G July 1982, action to deal with a number of hazards on asbestos. These are: (1) The licensing of asbestos insulation contractors (considered by the ACA to be a group at greatest risk). (2) The prohibition of spraying of asbestos. (3) The prohibition of the use of asbestos in insulation. (4) The prohibition of the import, use and marketing of crocicolite and products containing it. In addition, an Approved Code of Practice and Guidance Note on "Work with asbestos insulation and asbestos coating" was published and cane into effect in. Cxtober I5S1. Since 1980 efforts have been made to achieve common standards in the European Community on the marketing and use of asbestos products and the protection oi the workers in the asbestos industry. Progress has not been as fast as would have been wished. Nevertheless, the possibility of some agreement is ir. sight. In view of this the Commission decided on the present action. CAPCO JEN 0012099 i i The Commission is equally concerned about the public exposure to the hazards of asbestos. However, cost measurements of asbestos levels outside the workplace are already considerably below the new control limits. As the Advisory Committee said referring to the public health risk, "We conclude that | the presence of chrysotile' containing small quantities of acphiboles is unlikely to have produced any material increase in the risk of lung cancer in the general population or any appreciable number of cases of mesothelioma, j The same is certainly true of asbestosis". The Commission will use its powers to ensure that exposure limits generally remain well below the new limit and never exceed it. Kotes to Editors: ** 1. The new control limits will implement Recommendations 14, 15 and 17 of the Final .Report'of the Advisory Committee or.' Asbestos. 2. The existing control limits are based on guidance that was issued following the bringing into effect of the Asbestos Regulations 1969. 3. The Advisory Committee on Asbestos was set up in hay 1976. Its first two reports, dealing with thermal and acoustic insulation and methods of measuirng airborne asbestos, were published in June 1979. The Final Report of the ACA was published in October 1979 and the KSC asked for comments. During the consultation period two .EC draft Directives on asbestos were published. The first, dealing with marketing and use, was published in hatch I960 and the second, on the protection of workers, in October 1980. At its meeting on 17 February 1981 the HSC considered comments received on the ACA's Final Report. It also had to take into account the proposed EC Directives and the need to co-ordinate UK and European action on asbestos. The KSC advised the Secretary of State for Employment on 7 April 1981 on the basis on which an attempt should be made to reach an agreement in the European Community. 4. The proposed regulations on licensing and prohibition follow the IiSC's consideration of responses to the Consultative Document on the "Asbestos Insulation and Coating Draft Regulations", intended to implement Recommedations 1, 2, 3 and 5 of the ACA's First Report, published in June 1981. 5. A statement by the Chairman of the Commission, hr Eill Simpson, has been issued today as I'ress Release C 19 : 82. C 18 : 82 CAPCO JEN 0012100 Health and Safety Commission 2S Chapel Street London NW1 4DT Telephone 01-262 3277 e*t 255 News Release 27 August 1982 ASBESTOS: A COMPREHENSIVE RESPONSE", SAYS BILL SIMPSON Commenting today on the announcement of the Health and Safety Commission's agreement to a package of measures on asbestos, Mr Bill Simpson, the Commission's Chairman, said: ''These decisions are a comprehensive response to public and industrial concern about the dangers from asbestos. "The new limits will operate from 1 January 1983 and I give an assurance that thera-.will be no delay in the medical, engineering and protective equipment inquiries which have been set in motion by the Commission. "The Commission are unanimous in their desire to reduce future exposure levels to the minimum possible and I am confident that the actions which we have initiated will provide acceptable answers to the practical difficulties which have to be overcome in order to make this possible". NOTE TO EDITORS: Press release ClS:82 explains in detail the measures decided by the Health and Safety Commission at its meeting on 24 August 1982 C19:82 CAPCO JEN 0012101