Seoul strives to ease worries over asbestos

Seoul City yesterday announced a comprehensive set of plans to safely manage asbestos in buildings to be demolished in urban redevelopment projects.

According to the plans, the city will set up a group consisting of citizens who monitor the entire process of removing materials containing the harmful substance and handling them after removal.

The process will also be disclosed on the internet to ease public concerns over asbestos, which can cause lung cancer and other serious diseases.

The city decided to organize an advisory group consisting of experts on asbestos to have it check the demolition of each building in the redevelopment areas and offer advice on the safe handling of asbestos.

The city also plans to make and disclose an "asbestos map" of each building to be demolished, which shows how much of the substance the building contains and which parts contain it.

The city will also make it compulsory to hire a supervisor to oversee the handling of asbestos in a demolition site. The building owner will have to give the cost of hiring the supervisor to a district office chief, who will select the supervisor and check if he or she properly carries out the supervisory work.

The city will regularly check the amount of asbestos in the air near demolition sites and immediately notify the Labor Ministry to take action if the amount exceeds a safe level.

(sshluck@heraldm.com)By Song Sang-ho