PAST OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS: TECHNICAL EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR THE GRANTING OF SOCIAL SECURITY ALLOWANCES

The paper investigates the problem connected with occupational exposure to asbestos in companies that already closed down or modified their activities since more than 20 years after the Law 257/1992 forbidding the use of asbestos was enacted. However, the question continues to be up-to-date as there are legal proceedings still pending in order to obtain social security allowances as provided by the above law. The rules officially acknowledge all workers dealing with activities intended for the direct production or manufacturing of asbestos and/or goods containing asbestos as workers exposed to asbestos. As for workers whose main activity was not the asbestos manufacturing, the achievement of a yearly average value of exposure higher than 0.1 fiber·cm-³ has to be considered.