The Rough Path to the Compensation of Asbestos Damages in China

Nadia Coggiola

doi:10.3390/su9081431

Abstract

The article investigates the issue of asbestos damages compensation in China. Today, China is a major player in the global market of asbestos production and consumption. Therefore, a large number of Chinese workers are employed in the asbestos industries and an even larger number of individuals are exposed to asbestos for non-occupational reasons. Although there is no official data on the numbers of asbestos-related diseases in China, it is estimated that a significant part of the population developed asbestos-related diseases and that there will be an augmentation of those diseases in the future. This article examines the Chinese legal provisions on the prevention, control, and compensation of asbestos related diseases; both in cases of environmental and occupational exposures, and analyzes if and when those provisions are applied. This research shows that although the laws and the regulations enacted by the Chinese government provide protection for those exposed to asbestos dust, and entitle them to some compensation or indemnity where those exposures caused damages, the implementation of those rules is actually very difficult, due to a variety of different reasons. Those reasons can vary from problems in the interpretation and implementation of the laws and regulations, to difficulties in the access to justice and in the adjudication by the courts, regarding occupational and environmental damages. In most of these cases, the consequences of these problems are a poor and inefficient protection of the victims of the asbestos exposures for the damages suffered.

Highlights

China is a major player in the global market of asbestos production and consumption
Two-thirds of the reserves are located in the north western provinces of Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, and Sichuan, and 99%of them are of chrysotile, which is the only asbestos currently mined in China [2]
The working conditions of asbestos workers are often characterized by high levels of asbestos exposure [13,14], frequently exceeding the Chinese official occupational exposure limit (OEL), those exposure limits have steadily decreased over time [5] (p. 549)

Summary

Introduction

China is a major player in the global market of asbestos production and consumption. It should be observed that the officially reported incidence of asbestos related diseases, especially mesothelioma, does not properly reflect its large use and the actual relatively high exposures to asbestos; the reason probably resides in the fact that Chinese workers employed in dangerous and laborious occupations have a lower life expectancy, and can die before the mesothelioma, characterized by a very long latency, develops and in the fact that, due to a poor diagnosis quality, mesothelioma cases can be misdiagnosed for lung cancers [5]

Results

Conclusion