A registry for former Baie Verte asbestos miners is being created to identify mine employees who have developed asbestos related diseases.
Former mine employees are being asked to join the registry which will be monitored by the SafetyNet research unit of Memorial University. Those employees will be asked to provide the following:
- 1.5840 or 1.5945 Employment history
- Asbestos exposure information
- Current health status
The Baie Verte Asbestos Mine employed approximately 3,000 people from the time it opened in 1955 to its closure in 1992. In 1976, Dr. Irving Selikoff examined mine workers after a successful request by the United Steelworkers of America. Selikoff discovered that of the 485 workers he examined, 10 percent had an asbestos-related disease and numerous other workers showed possible signs of illness.
30 years later the United Steel Workers, Baie Verte Peninsula Miners' Action Committee and the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission are coming together to build the registry which was finalized in October 2006.
The registry proposal has been criticized by the leader of the New Democratic Party for not including immediate family of miners. Workers who brought home asbestos fibers on their clothes have in some cases exposed family members to asbestos fibers which resulted in them contracting an asbestos related disease. More information on second hand asbestos exposure.
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