The Asbestos ‘Bomb’ Explodes

The 1969 Regulations had for the first time set a quantitative limit for asbestos dust, yet neither the asbestos industry nor the government felt able to implement or enforce such a threshold immediately. The Factory Inspectorate stepped up its surveillance of asbestos factories and planned a new dust survey of the industry, but the demand for sampling was overwhelming. In industry itself, most of the asbestos textile factories in 1970 were operating over the 2-fibre limit and full compliance would clearly take some time. The situation was dire in Turner & Newall's overseas plants. In 1973, an inspection of the company's Canadian plant showed dangerous and dusty conditions. Of the 166 men exposed to asbestos for fifteen years or more, 91 current employees had asbestosis. The Canadian situation was mirrored in Turner & Newall's extensive African mining and manufacturing interests.