Global Asbestos Awareness Week

Global Asbestos Awareness Week (GAAW) runs from April 1st to 7th. It is an annual initiative aiming to increase awareness and help prevent asbestos exposure. Asbestos is a known carcinogen, and there is no safe level of exposure. Yet, asbestos mining and use continues to this day, and far too many people remain in the dark about their risk of exposure. Asbestos-related diseases continue to kill more than 200,000 people globally each year. Most of these deaths are caused by work-related exposure.

Goals of Global Asbestos Awareness Week

• Advocate for better compliance with existing asbestos laws and regulations
• Advocate for stricter asbestos laws and regulations, including asbestos bans
• Increase awareness of the dangers of asbestos exposure
• Increase awareness of safety measures to manage asbestos products and asbestos in buildings

Asbestos awareness holds dear to us as Pinchin’s original focus was to train on the assessment and safe removal of asbestos building materials, to survey buildings for asbestos, and to inspect remediation projects. In 1986, we opened our first asbestos laboratory in Mississauga which is now the largest of its kind in Canada. Pinchin offers superior lab services as part of our full service environmental consulting and health and safety business. We provide reliable, confidential lab results on a fee-for-service basis either at our state-of-the-art facilities or in the field, if required. On average our asbestos laboratory analyzes approximately 75,000 samples per year.