Berlin, Aug. 10, (dpa/GNA) – Millions of tons of carcinogenic materials are lying dormant in residential buildings in Germany and pose a threat to construction workers in the wave of renovation work planned for the coming years, a report by a German trade union warned on Thursday.
The new study, conducted by the Pestel Institute on behalf of the Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (IG BAU) union, found that there are about 9.4 million residential buildings in Germany that were built between 1950 and 1989. During this period, building materials containing harmful asbestos were used intensively, IG BAU said.
“It can be assumed that there is asbestos in every building that was built, modernized or converted during these four decades. Sometimes more, sometimes less,” according to the union, which represents many construction workers and other tradesmen.
Older buildings in particular are a “storehouse of asbestos weighing millions of tons,” according to the study.
“We are at the beginning of two decades of renovation,” said Carsten Burckhardt, head of IG-BAU. “Residential buildings are being modernized, converted to suit the needs of senior citizens and families, or expanded. With the wave of renovations, there is therefore now a threat of a wave of asbestos in construction.”
Asbestos generally poses no health risk for residents and only becomes a problem when buildings are being renovated, rebuilt or demolished. Asbestos fibres are then thrown into the air, along with dust, and enter workers’ respiratory tract and lungs.
German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the building trade estimates that about 320 construction workers died due to an asbestos-related occupational disease in the country over the past year alone.
The trade union called for better efforts to label the potential asbestos contamination danger from buildings and stricter workplace health and safety inspections by government authorities.
GNA