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These Are The Reasons
Asbestos Screening Are Important
Asbestos is made up of several minerals,
including chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite,
anthophyllite, actinolite, and any of these that have been
chemically treated or altered. The risk to humans comes when the
mineral fibers become airborne and are inhaled or ingested.
Clinical evidence of adverse effects associated
with exposure to asbestos is present in the form of several
well-conducted studies of occupationally exposed workers, family
contacts of workers, and persons living near asbestos. These
studies show definite association between exposure to these fibers
and an increased incidence of lung cancer, cancer of the lining
around the lung and belly, lung scarring or "asbestosis", and
gastrointestinal cancers. Exposure has also been associated with
increased occurrence of throat, mouth, esophagus and kidney
cancers. The illnesses associated with exposure generally occur
about 20 years after exposure. These
same studies show that the risk of lung cancer among exposed
workers who smoke cigarettes is greatly increased over the risk of
lung cancer among non-exposed smokers or exposed nonsmokers. It
appears that stopping smoking will help to decrease this risk.
The signs and symptoms of lung cancer and
gastrointestinal cancer in people exposed to asbestos is the same
as the symptoms of these in other people and includes shortness of
breath, chest pain, a persistent cough, coughing up blood,
abdominal pain, blood in stools, weight loss, etc. Asbestosis or
scarring of the lung is experienced as shortness of breath, cough,
fatigue, and vague feelings of sickness. Usually the shortness of
breath begins only with exertion, but as the disease worsens it
can even occur with rest. Because of
the risks of occupational exposure to asbestos, employers are
required to utilize work practice controls, personal protective
equipment, and medical surveillance to protect employees. Work
practice controls are methods to keep the workplace free of
airborne fibers as much as possible. These can include engineering
interventions such as ventilation and simple measure such as
vacuuming instead of sweeping asbestos fibers into the air.
Because these measures are not 100% effective though, employees
are fitted with masks that filter the particles out of the air and
protective clothing to limit contact where necessary.
The third part of protecting employees is
medical surveillance and screening. There is no way to know who
will get cancer or problems from asbestos. Chest x-rays, pulmonary
function tests, and physical exams may help to determine
overexposure in the past, potential intolerance to wearing a
respirator, and maybe even early cancers or scarring. A good
medical history, family history, and occupational history helps
the physician to know more about the individual's risks and
potential work capacity. These exams by law must be provided at
least annually by the employer at no cost to the employee. The
physician you will be seeing has read the OSHA standards on
asbestos and will provide a written opinion to your employer
regarding his/her opinion as to whether you have any detected
medical condition that would place you at an increased risk of
exposure-related disease, and any recommendation as to limitation
of your work load or use of personal protective equipment. He/she
will let you know what they have found at the end of the exam and
when the x-ray results have been interpreted by a radiologist, a
letter will be sent to the employer. A copy of this opinion will
then be provided to the employee by the employer.
Remember, follow the instructions of the safety
officer and if you have questions about the personal protective
equipment (including respirators), be sure to get them answered.
Quitting smoking and maintaining proper weight loss and exercise
programs are other good ways of decreasing your safety risk.
Here are a few links to OSHA's web pages
pertaining to the subject of Asbestos safety.
OSHA
general page on Asbestos
OSHA
standards on Asbestos |
