During the last decade, the European Union has forbidden the manufacture,
distribution and trading of asbestos and has been regulating activities related
to the removal of this material. However, asbestos remains a deadly material,
and in spite of an extensive ban and extensive efforts made to eliminate it, it
is still present everywhere throughout Europe.

Against this background, the European Social Partner organisations for the
construction industry, European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW)
and FIEC, decided to use the opportunity of the Bilbao Agency's campaign on
safe maintenance to run joint activities on the specific issue of
Maintenance/Asbestos and the instructions required for workers.



Whilst in some Member States very high legislative and training requirements
have been put in place, in other Member States a lot still remains to be done.
Therefore, the main aim of the project was on the one hand to develop
information modules for different professions and activities in question and,
on the other hand, to facilitate the exchange of best practices across the EU.
The project brought together social partner organisations, prevention
institutions and training centers. All partners have an insight in the real
situation at workplaces and expertise on the asbestos issue.



They developed some easily understandable information modules. These modules
will help the employers to inform and to instruct the workers at the workplace
about possible risk situations and about the appropriate measures to be
undertaken for safe working. We tried to avoid technocratic experts language.
Without losing important information and without simplifying the harmful threat
The risk situation is described by means of a "traffic lights model". This
model will help to make distinctions between three different risks situations,
which have to be determined after a careful examination of each worksite before
the beginning of the works. Each of the 3 colors green (no or little risk),
orange (higher risk) and red (high risk - operations done by professional
asbestos companies) are associated to specific operations/materials and to the
respective appropriate measures to be undertaken.

More information

AplusA-online.de - Source: European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW)