Quarry operators say asbestos levels pose no health risk

Operators of quarries in Burgenland say a report they commissioned found asbestos levels well below legal limits and no health risk from the material. The quarries have been closed since the start of the year, and authorities have yet to decide their future, ORF reported.

Frank Eichhorn, operations manager at the closed Pilgersdorf quarry, criticised the authority’s closure order. He disputed its statement that asbestos made up between 5 and 50 percent of all samples, saying natural deposits did not contain 50 percent asbestos. He said the maximum in deposits mined commercially had been 5 to 10 percent, according to published literature.

Eichhorn said the sampling had not followed the required standard and that the wrong testing method had been used. The Burgenland government said Austria’s responsible agriculture ministry does not accept the TRGS 517 standard, which the operators had asked to use to determine the total asbestos content of rock.

The operators’ report found levels well below the applicable limits, Eichhorn said. He called for the quarries to reopen and said the operators wanted to conduct measurements during normal operations, which they had planned for some time but had not been allowed to carry out.

The state said authorities were working towards a prompt decision that would be both technically sound and legally secure, with public health as a priority. Greenpeace called for the four affected quarries to remain closed, saying it was irresponsible to put the carcinogenic material into circulation for profit more than 30 years after it was banned. Eichhorn declined to discuss whether the report might be used in future compensation claims.