The costs of ignoring asbestos

The Asbestos Time Bomb
By George Wragg
Catalyst Press, 1995, 81 pp., $12 (pb)
Reviewed by Kim Linden Publicity about the harmful effects of asbestos reached its peak during the 1980s. Since then, the issue has slipped from public view. Asbestos-related problems have not gone away, however, and the deadly effects of this material will still be felt for some time. The Asbestos Time Bomb is an easy-to-read and gripping account of the impact of asbestos on the health of Victoria's Latrobe Valley community, in particular its electricity workers. Wragg provides a chilling account of the way in which asbestos particles are transported around a power station, which becomes a labyrinth of death. He documents the huge potential for asbestos-related diseases in the Latrobe community, arguing that it will probably cause more deaths and illnesses than the disastrous blue asbestos mine at Wittenoom in north-west WA. Wragg estimates that approximately 100-150,000 people in the Latrobe Valley, including State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV) workers, subcontractors and power station tourists, were exposed to asbestos fibres between 1921 and 1980. The Wittenoom disaster is estimated to have affected 2000 workers. Wragg worked for the SECV in the Latrobe Valley as a fitter and turner. He was a union health and safety representative, a shop steward and a member of the Gippsland Trades and Labour Council. He was also on the SECV's joint management-union Asbestos Task Force until his retirement and still helps dying workers with asbestos-related claims. Wragg suggests that Yallourn township in the Latrobe Valley was demolished, not in order to mine the coal underneath as the SECV claimed, but because of the growing number of cases of asbestos-related illness recorded by local doctors. All that remains of Yallourn is its cemetery. Wragg argues that the silence of business and governments on the asbestos question is due to the huge amount of compensation they would otherwise have to pay. He also suggests that the health problems resulting from smoking — which are similar to the symptoms of asbestos-related illnesses — are used by companies and governments to dodge compensation claims for asbestos-related damage to health. The publication of this book is timely — the Yallourn W power station is about to be sold off while still containing asbestos in its boilers and turbines. The Asbestos Time Bomb not only contributes to our understanding of an inadequately researched and publicised problem, but also serves as a reminder that health and safety issues in the workplace should not be ignored. Wherever governments and companies abrogate their responsibilities in this regard, they do so at the expense of workers' lives.