Top union officials in the Australian state of Tasmania believe the state government needs to set up an official registry to track those who have been exposed to asbestos.

According to an article in The Mercury, cases of mesothelioma among residents and workers in the city of Railton, once the site of the Goliath cement works, continue to rise, and experts say they are expected to peak over the next 10 years, Unions Tasmania secretary Simon Cocker said in an announcement yesterday.

Mr. Cocker, speaking at a ceremony to honor those who have died of workplace accidents or industrial diseases, predicted a sharp rise in people falling ill from exposure to asbestos in the town.

“Railton is a time bomb waiting to happen,” he said. “There is a need now for the government to map the sites with asbestos in them.”

“We need workers who have been exposed to asbestos at sites like the former Goliath cement plant at Railton to be notified of that exposure and have their health monitored,” Cocker added. “A program must be established for them.”

“We know there’s probably a 30-year lead time in contracting mesothelioma and we know those people are just now starting to show the first signs of that disease,” he pointed out.

At the ceremony, politicians from Australia’s Greens party vowed to re-introduce the tough workplace safety laws the Labor Party had shied away from in the past and said they hoped to address the asbestos issue head on. Australia currently has the highest rate of malignant mesothelioma of any country in the world.

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