Asbestos News

Remembering Asbestos Victims

On April 28th countries around the world will remember the countless number of men and women who die every year as a result of occupational accidents and latent occupational diseases. The date marks the anniversary of the 1987 L’Ambiance Plaza disaster where a partially constructed residential tower collapsed killing 28 construction workers in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Just two years later in 1989, trade unions across the world began organizing memorials and rallies to reflect on those lost and campaign for improvements in job safety.

Recently, one of the major goals of memorial organizers has been to publicize the growing calls to ban asbestos throughout the world. In his 2007 keynote speech, Guy Rider the head of the International Trade Union Confederation, stated that they look to, “Build on global union campaigns of previous years in our renewed call to ban asbestos.”

This year nearly 120 countries will be holding events in honor of IWMD.

Recently the UK government released figures that claim around 6,000 people die each year due to occupational cancer with the majority being men. The bulk of these deaths come from workers who were exposed to asbestos many years before safety procedures and equipment were introduced that may have saved their lives.

Overall the International Labor Union estimates that around 2 million people die each year from work related accidents or diseases and another 170 million are injured. Lost time and the costs of providing treatment for injured workers can amount to many billions of dollars that could be saved if corporations and governments follow stricter workplace standards.