History / Background timeline
The negative health effects caused by asbestos have been known to some degree for thousands of years. In fact the Greeks were aware of the harmful effects.
The Greek geographer Strabo and the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder both mentioned a sickness of the lungs in the slaves that wove asbestos into cloth. Although they noticed this sickness in those who worked with asbestos, they were in such awe of asbestos's magical properties that they ignored this. However the use of asbestos was small, and certainly not on the international commercial scale to be seen in the twentieth century.
The use of asbestos re-emerged from distant history during the 1700’s, but it did not become popular until the late 1800’s, and specifically during the Industrial Revolution. Asbestos then began to be used as insulation for boilers, steam pipes, turbines, ovens, kilns, and other high-temperature equipment. Clearly the ancient observations of the health risks from asbestos exposure has been well and truly forgotten.
By 1900, Dr. H. Montague Murray, a physician in Charing Cross Hospital, London, performed a post-mortem exam on a 33-year-old man who worked for 14 years in an asbestos textile factory. The patient was suffering from pulmonary fibrosis. He was also the last survivor of a group of 10 men who were working in the carding room of the factory in 1886. Dr. Murray found traces of asbestos in the man's lungs. He concluded that the man died because of his occupation. A milestone judgement by any measure.
In a 1906 study, from France they determined that there was an uncommonly high mortality rate among asbestos workers. They concluded that this was probably due to the amount of dust that accumulated in the poor working conditions. They made recommendations that there be steps taken to increase ventilation and decrease exposure to dust. Again more evidence and more concern raised.
In 1917 and 1918, it was observed by several studies in the United States that asbestos workers were dying unnaturally young.
In 1924, the first true diagnosis of asbestosis was made. An English doctor determined the cause of death of a 33-year-old woman (Nellie Kershaw) to be what he called "asbestosis." She had been working with asbestos since she was 13 in the Turner & Newall factory in Rochdale. Based on this diagnosis, a study was done on asbestos workers in England and it was found that 25% of them showed evidence of asbestos-related lung disease. By 1931 laws were passed in England to increase ventilation, and to make asbestosis a compensable work-related disease.
The Asbestos Industry Regulations 1931, set a “safe” level that allowed one worker in three to get asbestosis after 15-19 years exposure! The 1931 regulations, which came into force on the 1st March 1932, were only partially enforced, there being only 2 or 3 check prosecutions between 1932 and 1968. Their focus on only parts of the manufacturing process meant that other riskier activities had been neglected.
1933 In the Donnelly report it described short exposures as a definite and serious industrial hazard and it was determined that protective equipment in use was inadequate.
1933-34 The Merewether report noted that, risk in milling and manufacturing processes were patent and serious, and concluded that affected workers face inevitable death.
1939 - 45 The war years intervened and the amazing properties of asbestos were used in the war effort. Everything from gas masks, fire retardant insulation and even socks were made to capitalise on its beneficial properties.
Through the 1950’s there was a growing emergence of the link between lung cancers and asbestos exposure. Professor Richard Doll published his first significant evidence regarding this in 1955.
During the 1960’s a link between mesothelioma and asbestos exposure was found. Professor Chris Wagner published evidence following study of South African miners.
By 1966 A voluntary ban was imposed on the importation of crocidolite asbestos. This was in response to growing medical evidence that use of asbestos was highly dangerous. In fact crocidolite fibres were seen as one of the worst offenders, which was the root cause of this ban.
In 1968 The British Occupational Hygiene Society suggested a safety standard for white (chrysotile) asbestos of 0.2 fibres/ml. The asbestos (manufacturing and processing) industry conducted a single survey at Turner and Newall's Rochdale plant and came up with the level of 2 fibres/ml to be incorporated into the 1969 Asbestos Regulations. Later work suggests that 1 in 10 workers would contract asbestos-related disease at this level.
By 1969 the Asbestos Regulations were enacted. They were the first quantitative limit for asbestos dust exposure.
1974 - Health and Safety at Work Act. This imposed duties on employers and the employees to ensure their ongoing safety in the workplace.
1983 - The Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations are enacted, covering the most hazardous jobs such as asbestos stripping or removal.
1985 - Import of brown and blue asbestos banned.
1987 - CAW Regulations 1987 – further tightening of dust limits and controls.
1999 - Import of white asbestos banned – use permitted for exceptional cases until 2005.
2002 - Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations (“CAWR”).
The links to the more serious cancers were made through the 1950s and 1960s, but it still took nearly 40 years from the first asbestos regulations in 1931 until regulations controlling the amount of asbestos exposure were passed.
One reason, other than the Second World War, why asbestos regulation was not regarded as an important political or social issue during this time was probably the low number of deaths actually involved. The total recorded number of UK deaths in relation to asbestos in 1960 was only 31, compared with 1,503 in the mining industry, and hence the pressure for reform was more pressing in other areas. However, this short-sighted measure conceals that 700,000 were employed in the mining industry compared to 15,000 in asbestos manufacture, so the actual frequency per employee was very similar (0.207% compared to 0.215%). A more holistic view of risk / safety in different industries could have saved many lives – a point which may still have relevance today.
2006 - Control of Asbestos Regulations ("CAR") 2006
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