Asbestos Laws

Asbestos laws are laws and statutes which have been established by both state and federal governments in order to regulate occupational or household exposure to asbestos. Asbestos laws also serve to enable victims of asbestos exposure to seek legal compensation for damages related to adverse health conditions brought on by asbestos exposure.

Asbestos laws are created by the government to protect people who have suffered and died due to the harmful consequences of asbestos exposure, which are now well known. Dangerous and even fatal levels of exposure to asbestos dust and fibers can lead to asbestosis -an affliction of the lungs brought on by a gradual building-up of scar tissue, due to the inhalation of asbestos fibers that impede lung functioning and can lead to death or disability. More serious still is mesothelioma , a  deadly cancer that is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure. Due to the lengthy latency period of the illness, people who were exposed to asbestos as far back as the 1940s are still susceptible to developing mesothelioma.

OSHA enforces asbestos laws that protect workers and their families. The law defines permissible exposure levels for asbestos in the workplace (0.1 fibers per cubic centimeter for an eight-hour work period and one fiber per cubic centimeter in any given thirty minute time period). Asbestos laws also ensure that employers conduct regular exposure monitoring and create regulated work areas. Employers must also provide their employees with protective respiratory and clothing equipment, adequate hygiene facilities, training on how to safely work with asbestos, and routine health exams. All of this is to ensure the health and safety of workers who work with this deadly mineral.