Le risque amiante

Title translated into English

Asbestos-related risks

Film: Duration in minutes

9 minutes

Product description

Intended for electricians, for roofers and for plumbers and heating engineers, professionals who are exposed to asbestos risks every day, the video briefly summarizes to what extent asbestos can nest in buildings. In the interview with Prof Alain CANINEAU from the professional pathology department of the university hospitals of Strasbourg, he warns about the risks and specifies the circumstances and consequences. This warning is strengthened by the voluntary testimony of Eric Putel, a heating engineer suffering from lung cancer who will die even before having seen the film... His daily business consisted of using asbestos plates to protect the walls from necessary welding. The purpose of the film is to reassure the professional spectator by presenting the correct practices that need to be adopted in order not to become an asbestos victim. The film shows how the "Diagnostic asbestos before work" is realized. This will allow the craftsman to work with full knowledge of the evidence on his construction site. Then two specific operating modes to be implemented are presented: the realization of a grooving by an electrician and the removal of an asbestos-covered cap from the chimney by the roofers. Finally, the film presents the modalities of eliminating asbestos waste before leaving the construction site.

Aims and objectives

In their maintenance work, electricians, just as roofers, plumbers and heating engineers and sanitary fitters, are constantly exposed to asbestos risks. This material, which was largely used in constructions between the years 1950 and 1980 and which has provoked a number of cancers and deaths in the ranks of certified professional builders, is a real scourge and the subject of sensational trials. This film was made in order to warn the craftsmen and inform them about the protection measures to be observed in their daily activities (for their employees and for themselves) but also in order to sensitize their clients. On their own initiative, two Alsatian corporations in the sub-trade management decided to raise the awareness amongst their members about asbestos risks. The Chair of one of these corporations, Christian Meyer, makes clear: "Now that this film exists, I would say it’s a professional mistake not to show it to the colleagues. Bringing the responsibility of the clients onto the screen assists colleagues who seek to be more successful in not integrating asbestos in their specification."

As the centre of the crafts’ innovation for the digital medium, the CTAI (training agency in Alsace) has accompanied the corporation of electricians in the Lower Rhine region as well as the Copfi who have taken the initiative on the project (http://www.elec67.com/le-risque-amiante.html). We have produced this medium because we are a professional crafts organization. It is our mission to help to inform all craftsmen and their employees to avoid the professional risks which are incurred in carrying out their profession. The support film was most adequate to raise awareness of asbestos, as a result of the need to show the implementation of concrete prevention procedures. The aim was to collect the testimony of a heating engineer who testified devastating effects of asbestos on his hospital bed, three months before he died, diagnosis with cancer after having been unaware of the prevention practices of that risk. This moment of the film is serious and the spectator needs to find himself in the scenario in order to be able to judge the gravity of the asbestos risk. This is another reason the video was privileged. This film, realized by CTAI media, is a coproduction of Carsat Alsace-Moselle Risques Professionnels and DIRECCTE (Direction régionale des Entreprises, de la Concurrence, de la Consommation, du Travail et de l’Emploi). The film also received strong support by OPPBTP. CTAI was the coordinator of these bodies, in particular for taking recommendations about the technical, legislative and preventative orders.

Target audience

Tradesmen from the building sector, their employees, their spouses and their clients are the target group of this communication action.

Contact details Editor

CTAI – Centre Technique d’Application et d’Innovation de l’Artisanat
- Maison de l'Artisanat , France-68000 COLMAR
33(0)389236565 jcschreiber@ctai.fr http://www.copfi.org

Contact details Production company

CTAI – Centre Technique d’Application et d’Innovation de l’Artisanat
- Maison de l'Artisanat , France-68000 Colmar
+33(0)30389236565 jcschreiber@ctai.fr http://www.ctai.fr