A health and safety centre has been closed after one of its employees developed lung cancer, reports Eddie Koch
A health and safety centre that has played a major role in highlighting the dangers of asbestos has been shut down by the government — because it failed to report that one of its workers was dying of lung cancer caused by absestos.
Department of Manpower spokesman Francois de Villiers this week said officials inspected a government-owned laboratory at the National Centre for Occupational Health (NCOH) in Johannesburg last week after being informed that one of its employees had contracted mesothelioma, a rare form of lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos dust.
They were also told that health and safety regulations were being breached in the laboratory, which uses baboons to study the effects of inhaling asbestos dust.
De Villiers told the Mail & Guardian that the centre had failed to report one of its workers had contracted mesothelioma. The disease is categorised as “notifiable” and employers are required by law to report all cases to the manpower department so that these can be investigated and compensation for the victims arranged.
Staff at the NCOH have, ironically, conducted pioneering research since the 1950s which has helped victims of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases to be compensated under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.
“The case of mesothelioma was not reported to us as is required in terms of the law and the inspectors found numerous requirements were not being adhered to in the laboratory where asbestos experiments are conducted on baboons,” said De Villiers. “We regard this as a serious matter that could result in prosecutions. For the time being the laboratory has been ordered to close
De Villiers declined to provide details on health and safety safeguards that were not being followed in the NCOH laboratory, but other officials in the department said there was evidence that some workers were not using proper respiratory equipment. The NCOH is run by the Department of Health and the recent action shows that manpower officials are prepared to take action against other government agencies which violate health and safety laws.
Professor Tony Davies, director of the NCOH, confirmed the laboratory had been closed and that one of the centre’s employees had developed mesothelioma. He pointed out that the centre had, over a number of decades, helped lay down safety standards for mines and factories which produced asbestos products. “We don’t expect to be treated any differently. We have recently defined ourselves as an industrial user and the recent inspection was valuable and instructive about what went
Davies said the case of mesothelioma had been reported to the Workmen’s Compensation Commissioner, but that his officials had not notified the Department of Manpower, due to an oversight, because the NCOH had only recently come to see itself as an industrial centre subject to the same regulations as other employers.
The asbestos research unit at the centre was designed more than 25 years ago, at a time when the exact dangers of inhaling asbestos were still relatively unknown. The employee, who has not been named so that his privacy can be respected, was possibly exposed to the dust more than a decade ago, said Davies. Mesothelioma has an incubation period of between 10 and 40 years.
The research laboratory has been using baboons and other primates since 1983 to monitor the rate at which the animals clear asbestos fibres from their lungs. The animals are not exposed to high levels of asbestos, but are kept in a dust environment that is considered to be the safe threshold for factories and mines.
“The aim was to simulate a workplace environment and then test the consequences of exposure to asbestos at the legal limits for industry, which is one fibre for every cubic centimetre of air. We are satisfied that nobody has been exposed to dangerous or illegal levels of asbestos in the laboratory.”
Davies said the centre had, however, decided to close the plant and terminate the experiments, although the baboons would be kept at the NCOH and monitored. “They are a valuable resource for measuring the rates at which asbestos fibres are cleared by the lungs. We are planning to get the maximum amount of information from