Asbestos — A Carcinogen That Is Still Among Us

Asbestos is often treated as a closed chapter. Since its use has been banned in Poland since 1997, it is tempting to assume the topic belongs to the past. In practice, the opposite is true: millions of tonnes of asbestos-containing products are still present in roofs, façades, insulation and installations, and any interference with these materials risks releasing fibres with proven carcinogenic effects. For OSH services, asbestos therefore remains one of the most serious carcinogenic factors in the working environment — not because of production, but because of maintenance, renovation and demolition work.

Why asbestos is a carcinogen

Asbestos has the highest confirmed carcinogenicity class. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies all forms of asbestos in Group 1 — substances with proven carcinogenic effects on humans. There is no “safe” variety: both chrysotile asbestos and the amphibole forms (crocidolite, amosite) are carcinogenic.

The harmfulness mechanism results from the structure of the fibres. Thin, durable and biopersistent fibres, once inhaled, settle in the lungs and pleura, where they trigger chronic inflammation and cancerous processes. Exposure to asbestos is linked above all to lung cancer, pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma (a cancer almost specific to asbestos), laryngeal cancer and ovarian cancer, as well as non-cancerous occupational diseases such as asbestosis and pleural changes.

The long latency period is crucial here. Diseases often only become apparent 20–40 years after exposure, which is why the effects of exposure from decades ago are only being recognised today. This is also why risk assessments should not assume any threshold below which exposure is harmless to health — every exposure counts.

A ban does not mean the risk is gone

A ban does not mean the end of the problem. The Act of 19 June 1997 on the prohibition of the use of asbestos-containing products (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1680) eliminated the production, import and use of such products, but did not remove them from the environment. Materials installed earlier — mainly corrugated and façade panels, pipes, insulation — remain in use.

A national programme sets the target removal date. The National Programme for Asbestos Removal for 2009–2032 assumes the removal of all asbestos products by 2032. In practice, this means that in the coming years the risk is concentrated not in production, but in renovation, demolition and removal work. As long as the material is so-called “bonded asbestos” in good condition, fibre emission is low; the risk rises sharply when it is damaged, cut, crushed or dismantled.

Asbestos under the carcinogen regime — employer obligations

Asbestos is subject to the general regulations on carcinogenic factors. In the working environment, it is covered by the Regulation of the Minister of Health of 26 July 2024 on chemical substances, their mixtures, agents or technological processes with carcinogenic, mutagenic or reproductive-toxic effects in the working environment (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 1126), which replaced the earlier 2012 regulation as of 28 July 2024. The new act covers — besides carcinogenic and mutagenic factors — also reproductive toxicants, and for asbestos it maintains the full catalogue of obligations for employers whose workers are exposed to asbestos dust.

The most important of these obligations include: keeping a register of work performed and a register of employees exposed to carcinogenic factors; reporting data to the relevant State Provincial Sanitary Inspector and District Labour Inspector; retaining this documentation for 40 years after exposure ends; carrying out measurements and occupational risk assessments; referring employees for preventive medical examinations; and providing training on the hazard and protective measures.

Special rules apply to the frequency of measurements. These are set out in the regulation on testing and measuring factors harmful to health in the working environment (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2023, item 419, as amended by Journal of Laws of 2024, item 1110). For asbestos, tests and measurements are carried out at least once every three months; if the results of the last two measurements did not exceed 0.5 of the maximum admissible concentration (NDS), the frequency can be reduced to the general rule for carcinogenic factors, i.e. at least once every six months.

The substitution obligation has limited application here. Since asbestos is no longer used, exposure is mainly linked to its removal — so the emphasis shifts to minimising exposure, sealing off work areas and personal protective equipment, rather than replacing the substance.

Permissible exposure level — 0.01 fibres/cm³

EU requirements have recently been tightened. Directive 2009/148/EC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos was amended by Directive (EU) 2023/2668. The key change is lowering the permissible occupational exposure value from 0.1 to 0.01 fibres per cm³ (as an 8-hour weighted average) — a tenfold reduction.

This value already applies under Polish law. The current regulation on maximum admissible concentrations and intensities of factors harmful to health in the working environment (Journal of Laws of 2026, item 447) sets the maximum admissible concentration (NDS) for asbestos at 0.01 fibres per cm³. At the same time, the regulations provide for a special transitional arrangement in force until 20 December 2029 — related, among other things, to the measurement method and the inclusion of thin fibres, where electron microscopy will eventually replace the current phase-contrast microscopy.

Safe removal — the rules that must be met

Work involving asbestos may only be carried out by a properly qualified contractor. The rules are set out, among others, in: the regulation on the methods and conditions for the safe use and removal of asbestos-containing products (Journal of Laws of 2004, No. 71, item 649, as amended by Journal of Laws of 2010, No. 162, item 1089), the regulation on occupational health and safety when securing and removing asbestos-containing products and on the related training programme (Journal of Laws of 2005, No. 216, item 1824), and the regulation on requirements for the use of asbestos-containing products and the cleaning of installations and equipment (Journal of Laws of 2011, item 31). The basic requirements include:

• preparing a work plan and notifying the relevant authorities of the intention to carry out the work (including building control, labour inspection and sanitary inspection);
• fencing off and marking the work zone and restricting access to unauthorised persons;
• using methods that limit dust release — wetting the materials, prohibiting mechanical processing and crushing, dismantling in whole pieces;
• personal protective equipment: disposable clothing and respiratory protection with class P3 filters (e.g. FFP3 half-masks);
• treating removed materials as hazardous waste — sealed packaging and labelling, records in the BDO system, a waste transfer note, and delivery to an authorised landfill;
• cleaning and decontaminating the site and — if necessary — control measurements of fibre concentration after the work is completed.

What OSH services should keep in mind

The role of OSH begins long before the work starts. In ongoing supervision, it is worth paying attention to several points:

• an inventory of asbestos-containing products in buildings and an assessment of their technical condition;
• whether planned renovations and demolitions take the presence of asbestos into account at the design stage, and not only once work is already under way;
• whether registers of work and of exposed employees are kept, and whether the data reaches the State Sanitary Inspection (PIS) and the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP);
• whether exposed employees undergo preventive medical examinations and are trained on the hazard;
• whether the contractor carrying out the work has appropriate qualifications and a work plan, and provides proper protective measures;
• whether asbestos waste management is properly documented (BDO, waste transfer notes, landfill).

The practical conclusion is simple. Asbestos is not a relic, but an active carcinogenic factor whose risk has today shifted to the stage of use and removal. Consistently applying the rules laid down for carcinogenic factors — registers, medical examinations, sealed-off work areas and proper waste management — is the most effective way to limit exposure whose effects may only become apparent decades from now.