Although asbestos is no longer mined or used in South Africa, there is extensive environmental contamination and workers that demolish and refurbish asbestos structures are potentially at risk of being exposed to it.
This is according to the National Institute for Occupational Health’s Jim Phillips, who spoke at the tenth anniversary of the Asbestos Relief Trust at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, last week.
He explained that South Africa was the third-largest producer of asbestos in the 1970s and that, as countries banned the use of asbestos, exports shrank and mines closed. Although many of these mines were small, there had been extensive contamination.
“South Africa has a dual legacy of asbestos- related diseases and environmental contam-ination. At least three medical cases a month are diagnosed. “
Also, the contamination near the Kuruman mines, in the Northern Cape, is extensive,” he stated.
According to bulk samples collected from the mining sector, there is a 47.5% presence of asbestos. The largest presence of asbestos is in the construction sector, with 76.9%.
A study showing the activities associated with air filters and the proportion on which asbestos was identified revealed that 32.4% of asbestos was positive during the renovations of power stations.
“There is a large range of asbestos products that contain asbestos, but not all provinces are sending samples through for analysis. Power station refurbishing is well monitored and Eskom has a policy to be asbestos-free by 2033. Further, asbestos waste dumps appear to be well managed and monitoring shows that very few fibres are released,” Phillips concluded.