Asbestos, work environment and employer’s civil liability

Abstract

Despite its wide use in the most varied industrial processes, in several countries, asbestos is a substance that is proven to be harmful to human health. Observing this contradiction between the use of asbestos in the productive processes and, therefore, its presence in the labor environment, in the face of the knowledge of its risks, this article aims to understand the employer’s civil liability for the work environment, especially when asbestos in the economic activity it undertakes. From a bibliographical and documentary research, in this text, it’s analyzed: the work environment based on a propedeutic approach, outlining its concept, as well as the legal principles that guide its study and legal treatment; the evils caused by the use of asbestos at work and the regulatory possibilities of the subject, with attention to the analysis of the Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) filed by the National Association of Labor Magistrates (ANAMATRA) and the National Association of Labor Prosecutors (ANPT) and for the judgment, by the Superior Federal Court (STF), on the prohibition of the use of asbestos in Brazil; the civil liability of the employer in cases of labor-environmental imbalance due to asbestos. In conclusion, it is important to highlight the need for environmental protection based on preventive mechanisms in the face of accidents and diseases from work.