logo white

e-Toolkit

Asbestos-related disease

A note from our CEO
Section I: Taking action to eliminate asbestos-related diseases
Actions leading to national bans on asbestos
Towards a global ban on asbestos
International bilateral & multilateral mechanisms
History of Mining, consumption production and use of asbestos
Transitioning to alternative non-asbestos materials
Proactive removal of ageing legacy asbestos materials
Section II: Country summaries, case studies and resources
Country summaries
Case studies
Research on ARDs
Section III: What asbestos is and the risks it poses
What asbestos is and how to identify it
Exposure pathways
Asbestos removal, management and disposal
Asbestos in fibres in drinking water
Public health risks from asbestos cement products
Section IV: Health impacts of exposure to asbestos
What are asbestos-related diseases
How are asbestos-related diseases diagnosed?
Can ARDs be treated?
Patient support, care and information
Reporting, coding and registration of ARDs

What is asbestos? Etymology, physical/chemical properties

Asbestos is the name given to six naturally occurring minerals made up of tiny, needle-like fibres that are resistant to heat, electricity and corrosion. For these reasons, it was lauded as the ‘magic mineral’ and widely used in building materials in the past 100 years. Australia was the highest per-capita user of asbestos for decades – and particularly between the 1940s and 1980s. While asbestos was banned in 2003 – 20 years ago – we have a huge legacy issue of deteriorating asbestos materials in our built environment.

Historically, asbestos has been used for more than 4,500 years by humans for their flexibility, strength and insulation qualities. The Romans used asbestos for its flame-retardant and insulation properties by weaving asbestos fibers into fabrics and the Ancient Egyptians also used asbestos to improve durability in their clothes.

During the reign of Peter the Great, in the 1700s, asbestos was discovered in the Ural Mountains, Russia, and the first factory for manufacturing asbestos products began. Asbestos originated on a commercial scale in Italy at the beginning of the 19th Century. In Canada mining of white asbestos (chrysotile) started in 1878. Blue asbestos (crocidolite) was discovered in South Africa in 1815 and the first crocidolite mines opened near Prieska in 1893. The name ‘crocidolite’ means a stone with a woolly appearance. Amosite (brown asbestos) was discovered in Transvaal, South Africa, and the name was derived from the initials of the Asbestos Mines of South Africa.

The asbestos minerals belong to two distinct mineralogical groups:

Serpentine including: chrysotile (white asbestos), and

Amphibole including: amosite (brown asbestos) and crocidolite (blue asbestos), as well as a number of less known types such as tremolite, actinolite and anthophyllite.

The distinction between these two groups is important when it comes to asbestos-related diseases. Asbestos fibres are up to 200 times thinner than a human hair. The amphibole fibres are thin and straight and the serpentine are curved fibres.

Naturally Occurring Asbestos

Naturally Occurring Asbestos (NOA) is found in some rocks, sediments, and in soils and is not easy to identify. A sample collected by a competent person can be tested by a National Association of Testing (NATA) accredited laboratory to confirm the presence of asbestos in its natural form. Less than one percent of land in NSW is believed to contain NOA within 10 metres of the grounds surface. In rural and regional NSW where NOA is known, or suspected, property owners, managers, workers, and the general public who may disturb the ground surface will need to take appropriate precautions to ensure NOA is identified and managed safely in accordance with regulations.

Find out more about Asbestos

Read more

Guidance: Asbestos – toxicological overview

Read more

Sign up to our newsletter

Sign up
Skip to content