4.3 Disease in the workplace  (Page 3/3)

Even today there are mines where children play in polluted areas.

Asbestosis

• Origin and nature:It is a very serious lung disease found in people exposed to asbestos over a long period of time. The asbestos fibre is inhaled and then gather in the air-cells where it damages the walls of these cells. This results in poor gas exchanging in the lungs.A person suffering from asbestosis has a five times bigger likelihood to get lung cancer, than a healthy person.

• Signs and Symptoms of an asbestosis patient:A person suffering from asbestosis might display signs or symptoms at a late stage in his life for the first time - sometimes after ten or twenty years.Typical symptoms of asbestosis experienced by a patient:

• short of breath;
• find breathing difficult;
• frequent coughing;
• cough spasms experienced;
• tight chest;
• chest pains;
• patient weak and ill;
• poor sleeping habits;
• poor appetite.

• Treatment:

Unfortunately there is no cure for asbestosis. Doctors can only alleviate the symptoms.

A patient must avoid any contact with asbestos, and immediately refrain from smoking. The lung infection must be treated aggressively.

Asbestosis patients must avoid catching colds or influenza at all costs.

Activity 3:

To identify problematic situations as a group and suggest possible solutions

[lo 3.1; 3.3]

• The following extract is from a speech by the deputy minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mr Mabudafhasi during the public trial of asbestos on 28 January 2003.

Asbestos has been mined in this country for many years. By 1910 five asbestos mines were operating in South Africa. By the 1950’s, in other parts of the world such as Britain, companies have become aware that exposure to asbestos is harmful to human health and causes disease. In South Africa this realisation was not embraced so workers continued to remain ignorant of the true dangers of asbestos.

In South Africa the problem is more acute in the Limpopo Province and Northern Cape where reports indicate that children are forever playing on asbestos polluted and contaminated grounds. South Africa must come to term with the fact that we have an asbestos industry. The challenge is to ensure that all parts of the asbestos chain, from mining to ultimately removal and waste disposal, are handled in a responsible manner to avoid pollution that could be harmful to both the environment and the people.

Looking at the policy approach, the precautionary principle is a key part of South Africa’s environmental management policy. This means that our approach to development and good environmental governance is that where any risks exists, we need to focus our energies on preventive action to counteract any possible harm that could result from such development action.

However, the overall government policy on asbestos is till in its infancy. It is against this policy background that I must announce my profound appreciation of the efforts undertaken by government departments to deal with identified sources of asbestos problem. The Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) has started to deal with the mine dumps, but the issue of secondary pollution into nearby villages still remains unresolved. It is of course unsatisfactory that the mining companies that made huge profits have simply disappeared and did not contribute to this effort.

Since 1996, the National Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs and Tourism took the initiative to investigate the impacts of asbestos within South Africa. The effects of asbestos are felt throughout the country, en every province, either through having mines or mine dumps in their provinces or through the use of asbestos products by consumers in general. Ex-workers and other sufferers of asbestos related diseases contracted due to environmental exposure are also not confined to one particular region but extend beyond our borders. http://www.pmg.org.za

Answer the following questions after you have discussed the contents of the speech as a group.

1. Does the government do enough to address the dangers of asbestos?

2. What is currently being done in South Africa to combat the negative effects of asbestos?

3. What else can be done to protect the inhabitants of the country against the dangers of asbestos?

Assessment

LO 3

EXPLORING ISSUES

The learner will be able to make informed decisions about social and environmental issues and problems.

We know this when the learner:

3.1 identifies challenges to societies and settlements, with a focus on the spread of diseases [identify the issue];

3.2 explains the factors that cause some people to be more at risk of disease than others [factors affecting the issue];

3.3 suggests the best way, from a range of alternatives, to reduce risks of disease [makes choices].

Memorandum

ACTIVITY 1

• The factory recycles the “polluted” water

ACTIVITY 2

1.

Report 1: Employee ill due to job environment

Report 2: Deathes sue to job environment covered up

Report 3: Pollution causes health deterioration

Report 4: Mines pollute soil and rivers

2.

• Low cost housing as well as mine houses situated close to industries – deterioration in health
• Deforestation – lack of oxygen
• People must be informed about dangers. It must be viable that management is taking counter measures.

ACTIVITY 3

1.

• Policy already in place, but not implemented everywhere with success.
• Mine management not sufficiently involved in fight against negative influences.

2.

• A policy has been established.
• Endeavours to act preventative
• Application of policy still in infant stage.