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Workers 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. What are the hazards of asbestos?
5 Min Read. Fact Checked. Short-term asbestos exposure involves incidents that last less than a few days. Certain extreme events, such as the toxic exposure caused by the 9/11 attacks, can lead to a high risk of illness later in life. But in general, the health risk from short-term asbestos exposure is low. Get Help Finding a Top Doctor.
If you believe that you’ve been exposed to asbestos at work, there are several steps you can take to protect yourself moving forward. Wash your body and your clothes. If you’ve been exposed, immediately washing yourself and your clothes will help limit your exposure.
• Never smoke, eat, or drink in areas where asbestos exposure is possible. • Avoid dry sweeping, shoveling, or other dry clean-up of dust and debris containing asbestos. • Wet materials before and during cutting, breaking, or other work that might release asbestos ibers into the air.
According to WHO and the International Labour Organization (latest WHO/ILO Joint Estimates), exposure to asbestos at work causes more than 200 000 deaths globally every year (based on estimates for 2016). This represents over 70% of deaths from work-related cancers.
Controlling the exposure to asbestos can be done through engineering controls, administrative actions, and personal protective equipment (PPE). Engineering controls include such things as isolating the source and using ventilation systems.
Protecting Workers from Asbestos. Workers can be exposed to asbestos fibers during activities that disturb asbestos-containing materials including during home or building construction, renovation or demolition.
Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for asbestos is 0.1 fiber per cubic centimeter of air as an eight-hour time-weighted average (TWA), with an excursion limit (EL) of 1.0 asbestos fibers per cubic centimeter over a 30-minute period. The employer must ensure that no one is exposed above these limits.
People may be exposed to asbestos in their workplace, their communities, or their homes. If products containing asbestos are disturbed, tiny asbestos fibers are released into the air. When asbestos fibers are breathed in, they may get trapped in the lungs and remain there for a long time.
Asbestos leads to lung disorders & other potential health hazards including lung cancer. Learn how exposure to asbestos fiber can take a toll on your health.