Lack of education and a surge of home DIY could result in more asbestos-related disease, warns campaigner Jo Morris.
While COVID-19 rings out around the world, let us not forget ongoing health and safety issues that know no boundaries and continue to affect people in our community every day.
With the highest recorded rates of mesothelioma in the world and likely to have the most in situ asbestos products of all states, Western Australia has a devastating legacy of asbestos and its impact is far from over.
On average, one person dies every 12 hours in Australia from asbestos-related mesothelioma, and it is estimated there are 4000 deaths a year from the effects of asbestos.
The organisation Reflections was established in 2016 to support sufferers and their families, promote research into better treatment outcomes and increase awareness of the risks of exposure, particularly for home renovators and tradespeople.
As Reflections’ co-founder and director, I have spent the past five years working in this area to help reduce the ongoing impact of asbestos.
My father, Barry Knowles, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in February 2010 and given six to nine months to live. Defying medical odds, he survived seven years and wrote his memoir, Reflections Through Reality, which became a catalyst for establishing a foundation of the same name.
Before Dad’s diagnosis, although having lived in WA my whole life and working in the building and construction industry, I knew little about asbestos and had never heard of mesothelioma. It took some practice to even pronounce it.
Through my work, both as a building designer and with Reflections, I hear and see all too often the ignorance and lack of awareness around asbestos. Many people believe it is a thing of the past, that we are no longer at risk or that it takes long-term exposure. I was in that category until Dad’s diagnosis, and I can assure you, mesothelioma is not a word you want to have to learn.
Reflections’ support network currently comprises men and women ranging in age from early 50s to their 70s. Every new sufferer that joins is a reminder that we need to be doing what we can to reduce the ongoing impact of this devastating disease on our community.
Greg was 50 when a dry cough and sore chest took him to the doctor for a check-up. Having not worked for any prolonged periods with asbestos, the diagnosis to follow was the last thing he and his wife expected.
In an interview a few months before his death, Greg said it was all about awareness. “It is also about educating people that you don’t necessarily have to have been a smoker to get lung cancer,” he said.
Lyn said it was a shock to receive the devastating diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma when she had never worked in the building industry. “It is heartbreaking to have to share this awful news with my beautiful family and friends, particularly when it is a preventable disease,” she said.
Over the past 10 years, my knowledge of asbestos and its ongoing impact has grown exponentially. It’s what drives me to work for change for the sake of future generations.
With the average age of first exposure for WA mesothelioma sufferers being 24, we need to be vigilant to ensure young people, particularly those going into the trades, are empowered to make educated decisions when it comes to working with asbestos-containing materials.
An asbestos awareness module into the Certificate II in Building and Construction Trade Pathways has been introduced this year. As exciting as this is, it still puzzles me as to why, so many years after asbestos was banned in Australia, it has taken this long. Sending apprentices and trainees onto worksites without an understanding of asbestos puts them at risk of suffering its devastating effects later in life.
With the DIY culture in Australia, we also need greater awareness in the general community. As we spend time more time at home due to COVID restrictions, will we look back in 30 years’ time and see the start of another wave?
A national asbestos awareness campaign is something that should have been rolled after asbestos was banned in 2003.
We are fortunate to have some of the world’s leading experts in asbestos-related disease here in WA. While they work on finding a long-term treatment for mesothelioma, we need to be doing what we can to ensure people are not exposed to its source.
Asbestos knows no boundaries. While it might be too late for some, there is opportunity to increase awareness and, potentially, save lives. Knowledge is key.