Four Industries With the Highest Risk of Asbestos Exposure

by HSQE UK professional online training courses

Formerly used in many products such as building materials, paints, and even portable blow dryers, asbestos has been completely banned in the UK since 1992. Exposure to asbestos is the main risk factor for developing mesothelioma injury, which usually leads to lung cancer. This mineral substance is life-threatening and that is why training programs such as the IOSH managing safely training course have become more or less a standard in multiple industries based out of the UK.

Even with the ban, many industrial environments are still at a great risk of asbestos exposure, such as:

Mining

Some minerals and rocks naturally contain asbestos, and there is a considerable amount of it in manufactured products used in mining as well. Many mining activities like crushing, blowing up, grinding, and cutting or merely disturbing the ore or the surrounding region can cause asbestos fibers to become airborne.

Construction

Asbestos used to be the preferred substance for the production of building materials for many decades. Because of its strength and durability, these products were commonly used between 1950 and 1975. As a result, many older structures still contain this dangerous mineral substance. Construction workers and builders who level and remodel these structures can run into the risks of a deadly exposure. Their work may interfere with the asbestos fibers and lead to the lethal dust to get released into the air.

Power plants

Asbestos fibers are extremely heat resistant and as such, it used to be the material of choice for the thermal insulation of power plants and mobile generators. Therefore, many of the broilers and generators in power plants are even now lined with various forms of this mineral.

Automotive mechanic shops

Asbestos materials are well-known for their properties of rigidity, durability and heat resistance. For decades, many older manufacturing plants used it to manufacture brakes and clutch linings. There is evidence that engineers, technicians, and repairmen working on older vehicles may be at risk of its exposure.

If you or one of your loved ones has ever worked in a job with high industrial asbestos risk, you could save much trouble by keeping careful notes of the products, suppliers, manufacturers, equipment, buildings etc, relevant to its exposure at the workplace.

It is never good to live in fear. Safety protocols such as asbestos awareness coursemust be followed as a part of a health and safety management plan. The codes of good practice for asbestos abatement can be supervised in order to prevent inhalation of the dangerous dust by the workers.