Ban asbestos now! Asbestos major reason for rise in Canadian work-related deaths

Ban asbestos now! Asbestos major reason for rise in Canadian work-related deaths

18 December 2006

http://www.imfmetal.org/main/index.cfm?n=47&l=2&c=15279&nb=2

CANADA: A newly-released study clearly links a startling rise in work-related fatalities in Canada to asbestos, reinforcing the call for an international ban of asbestos.

Five Deaths a Day: Workplace Fatalities in Canada, 1993-2005, was released in December by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards in Ottawa, Canada.

Data from the Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada shows 1,097 workplace fatalities in Canada in 2005, up from 758 in 1993. This represents nearly five work-related deaths for each day of work and one death for every 15,000 workers.

Significantly, this rise was due almost entirely to an increase in occupational disease, which rose from 1.5 to 3.4 per 100,000 workers between 1996 and 2005. This rise was almost totally driven by the 65 years and over age group.

Moreover, the report reveals that asbestos is responsible for much of the increase in occupational disease, as the fatality rate from asbestos-related disease rose from 0.4 per 100,000 workers in 1996 to 2.1 in 2005.

Asbestos-related deaths alone accounted for about 340 deaths in 2005, or 61 per cent of deaths from occupational diseases and 31 per cent of total workplace fatalities.

Canada is one of a few countries that continues to produce and export asbestos products.