• There is no safe level of exposure to asbestos fibres!
  • If you don’t kNOw the hazards of working with asbestos materials including fibro and don’t observe safety precautions when removing or working with asbestos, you risk exposing yourself and families to long-term health risks.
  • If asbestos is disturbed it can release dangerous fine particles of dust containing asbestos fibres.
  • Breathing in dust containing asbestos fibres can cause asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma
  • Mesothelioma is an incurable cancer which most often occurs in the lining of the lung.
  • The average time between first exposure and developing mesothelioma is about 40 years.
  • The average survival time after diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma is 10-12 months.
  • The rates of malignant mesothelioma are expected to rise in the next 8-10 years.
  • The risk of contracting asbestos-related diseases increases with the number of fibres inhaled and the length of time (years) that asbestos fibres were inhaled.
  • The risk of lung cancer from inhaling asbestos fibres is greatly increased for smokers.
  • Symptoms of asbestos-related diseases don’t usually appear until about 20 to 50 years after the first exposure to asbestos fibres.
  • Fact sheets about asbestos and health risks can be found at www.asbestosawareness.com.au