Manufacture, handling and processing of asbestos and its products

Industries / examples: Asbestos-cement, friction-material, textile and insulation product manufacture; asbestos handling.

Principal hazards & agents

Respirable asbestos fibres (chrysotile/amphiboles)

Health effects

Asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, pleural plaques/thickening (long latency, no safe threshold).

Engineering controls

Strict enclosure and total-LEV with HEPA filtration; wet processing and dust suppression; sealed waste handling; fibre-count air monitoring against statutory limits; restricted/controlled areas, decontamination units; medical surveillance and registers.

PPE

FFP3 or air-fed respirators
Disposable category-III coveralls (controlled disposal)
Gloves and boots
Decontamination/changing facilities
No reuse of contaminated PPE

Statutory vs annotation: only the entry name and its sub-items are First-Schedule text. The hazard, health-effect, control and PPE notes are occupational-hygiene context, not statutory text. First Schedule, the Factories Act, 1948 [See section 2(cb)] — "List of Industries involving hazardous processes" (29 entries). Section 2(cb) defines "hazardous process". Verbatim list confirmed against the official Factory Inspectorate (Government of Puducherry, Labour Department) publication of the Factories Act, 1948 (py.gov.in/sites/default/files/labourfactory.pdf) and cross-checked with the bare-act text at AdvocateKhoj (advocatekhoj.com/library/bareacts/factories/schedule1.php). The Schedule may be amended/added to by the State Government under section 2(cb) read with section 41A.

Reference information for occupational-health professionals — not medical advice, and not a substitute for examination by a qualified physician.

Other hazardous processes

All 29 hazardous processes — First Schedule

MedFactory — Occupational Health Centre software for Indian factories