Australian Asbestos Laws 'Too Tough'
According to BHP Billiton, Australia's largest company, which last year recorded a net profit of 17.7 billion Australian dollars, Australian asbestos laws are too tough.
The company claims that the SA Dust Diseases Act 2005 is unfairly slanted against employers such as itself, facing compensation claims. The SA legislation, passed in January, 2006, stipulates that companies are presumed to have known the dangers of asbestos from 1971 onwards, and allows a court to impose 'exemplary damages' over and above normal compensation claims if it finds that an employer knew of the dangers of asbestos but failed to protect its employees.
It might be relevant to the company's cries of 'not fair' that thousands of it's workers were exposed to lethal asbestos fibers at BHP's former Whyalla shipyards, which closed down in 1978.