The new EU measures to limit the damage to health of asbestos

Protect people and the environment from asbestos is the aim of the European Commission, which proposes to amend the directive on exposure to this dangerous carcinogenic material at work. The proposal, along with other measures, will be discussed by the European Parliament on 20 October, hoping for a swift approval. Once the directive has been adopted, Member States will have two years to transpose its provisions into national law.

Although all forms of asbestos are banned in the EU since 2005, this material is still a ruthless killer that has caused 78% of recognized occupational cancers in the Member States. In 2019, more than 70,000 Europeans died from the consequences of exposure to asbestos in the workplace. It is estimated that 4.1 to 7.3 million workers are currently exposed, of which 97% in the construction sector and 2% in waste management.

Over 220 million real estate units they were built before the 2005 ban. Asbestos is still present in older buildings and poses a daily threat, especially in renovations. When the materials that contain it are disturbed, they release fibers into the air. If inhaled, they can cause mesothelioma and lung cancer, with an average incubation period of 30 years between exposure and the first signs of the disease.

The package of proposals perhaps arrives a little late given that, in Italy, more than 139,000 Superbonus 110% yards are still open. If, on the one hand, the renovations allow residents to enjoy better health conditions and of life and to pay lower energy billson the other hand, i disease risksespecially for construction workers.

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The modification, therefore, provides a reduction of the limit of exposure to asbestos during work to a value 10 times lower than the current one (from 0.1 fibers per cubic centimeter (f / cm³) to 0.01 f / cm³), based on the most recent developments scientific and technological. As it claims Stella KyriakidesEuropean Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, “prevention is more effective than any cancer treatment. Considering that 40% of cancers are preventable, this is the most efficient long-term strategy”.

The Commission has presented a series of measures that “will not only offer better protection for workers, but will also be a huge step towards an asbestos-free Europe”, he says. Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Labor and Social Rights. In fact, the ambitious package also aims to:

• Better support for victimsrecognizing additional asbestos-related occupational diseases and cancers, and recommending related prevention screens.
• Improve information on asbestos in buildings, through a legislative proposal for the detection and registration of the quantity of asbestos present in buildings. This would be possible with the introduction of digital registers, in order to improve the sharing and use of data from design, construction, up to demolition.
• Manage the safe disposal of asbestos, reviewing the EU protocol for the management of construction and demolition waste, the guidelines for waste testing and new treatment technologies.

To this end, the EU would make substantial funding available to Member States through the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the European Social Fund Plus and the European Regional Development Fund. Now, the word is for the MEPs, who will discuss it in plenary in the coming weeks.