Many workers are confronted with life-threatening asbestos during demolition and renovation work
Photo: dpa/Andreas Arnold
On the edge of a construction site in Berlin-Friedrichshain, three Polish construction workers take a break and smoke a cigarette in the sun. The demolition workers don’t speak German, one of them speaks broken English. When asked about asbestos, he says they’ve never heard of it. “Ask management if you want to know anything about it,” he says. They do not appear to have been sufficiently informed by the responsible company about the dangers emanating from the building material.
Shortly before, a press conference by the construction industry union on the “invisible danger of asbestos” had ended on Thursday. “It’s awesome stuff, has an extremely good binding effect. But it is carcinogenic and life-threatening,” said Carsten Burkhardt impressively at the start of the conference. He is part of the national board of the building trade union and is responsible for occupational safety. Asbestos fibers have been used in construction for decades because of their binding properties. According to the trade union, companies imported and installed around 4.4 million tons of asbestos between 1950 and 1995.
According to the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, more than 1,500 people die in Germany every year as a result of long-term exposure to asbestos at work. Lung cancer is most common among workers. In most cases, these are long-term effects that only appear decades after contact with the construction additive. Until then, the disease usually remains undetected. It is therefore usually difficult to hold companies liable for occupational diseases.
Due to the life-threatening dangers emanating from asbestos, it has been banned in Germany since 1993 to import or process the material. Since then, strict regulations have also applied to the renovation or demolition of old buildings. Companies must provide their employees with personal protective equipment and dust locks. In addition, they must explain the dangers and train the employees. Strict regulations apply to the disposal of contaminated waste.
Nevertheless, it happens again and again that companies do not adequately protect their employees. “Knowingly or unknowingly,” says the trained bricklayer Wolfgang Leihner-Weygand at the press conference of the construction union. In the 1980s, he came into contact with asbestos at work and developed lung cancer. »After my work as a bricklayer, I worked in occupational safety«, he says when asked »nd«. »It is always a challenge to get companies to work safely. Special machines have to be used for this.« The protective material can cost up to 10,000 euros.
Carsten Burkhardt from the construction union criticizes companies that circumvent the protective measures on construction sites because there are not enough staff. “One inspector is currently responsible for over 23,000 employees.” However, around twice as many would be needed. The union has no figures on how many companies are circumventing health and safety regulations. But migrant construction workers from Eastern Europe, especially Bulgaria and Romania, who are mostly precariously employed, are particularly affected, says Burkhardt after the press conference in an interview with “nd”. »The number of unreported cases is huge.«
That’s why the construction union is demanding not only stricter controls, but also state subsidies for the safe removal of asbestos and an information campaign for the forthcoming renovation wave. It is important that the information is available in the mother tongue of the respective workers. For example in Polish, as for the three demolition workers in Friedrichshain, who go back to work after their break.
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