10.8 - Occupationally Related Disease




Asbestos is a known human carcinogen and can cause chronic lung disease as well as lung and other cancers. Symptoms and/or cancer may take many years to develop following exposure.

(from OSHA website)

Workplace Standards: 
  • Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for asbestos is 0.1 fiber per cubic centimeter of air as an eight-hour time-weighted average (TWA), with an excursion limit (EL) of 1.0 asbestos fibers per cubic centimeter over a 30-minute period. The employer must ensure that no one is exposed above these limits
  • Assessment
  • Monitoring
  • If exposure above the PEL or EL , there are procols to engineering controls and work practices that need to be executed. Proper respiratory protecting needs ot mee the PEL standard.
  • Separate decontamination and lunch areas
  • Training 
  • Medical Surveillance
  • Records



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