Heat and Frost Insulators News and Events

Sixty kilometers east of Turin, Italy, nestled on the shore of the Po River sits the Italian town of Casale Monferrato. For centuries this community has been the important centre of the Piedmont Region of Italy and today boasts a beautiful bounty of rich history and beautiful architecture. However, for over 80 years Casale Monferrato and all its’ citizens were buried in clouds of asbestos fibres from the manufacturing of fibre cement products by the Eternit factory. For those eight decades the community was destroyed by the cynicism of those who, for the sake of profits, did not hesitate to put in danger the health of the employees, their relatives and of all of those, who by simply living in the town, were forced to breath this dust of death. The last century has resulted in Casale Monferrato being known as the epicentre of mesothelioma and asbestos disease.

Spring Hill, Tenn. — The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) has honored International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers (Insulators) Local 14 Member John Stahl with the 2019 Insulators Conservation Steward of the Year Award for his exemplary commitment to conservation and community service.

Cambridge, UK, and Lanham, MD, USA June 05, 2019: Owlstone Medical, a global diagnostics company developing a breathalyzer for applications in early disease detection and precision medicine, announced today the formation of a partnership with the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers (IAHFIAW), formerly known as the Asbestos Workers, a building trades union in the United States and Canada, to identify and verify breath-based biomarkers for the early detection of malignant mesothelioma.

Training coordinators and instructors from all the Building Trades attended the third annual Apprenticeship Conference, hosted by the North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, MI.

BALTIMORE (March 14, 2019) – The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation today announced new registered apprenticeship programs and apprenticable occupations, expanding opportunities for Maryland workers in high-wage skilled trade jobs and non-traditional apprenticeship industries. At the March meeting of the Maryland Apprenticeship and Training Council (MATC), two new sponsors became part of the state’s apprenticeship program, three existing sponsors added a new occupation, and one sponsor reactivated an occupation within its program.

For roughly three weeks in January, a few dozen instructors attended advanced training classes at the HFIAW Local 17 Training Center in Chicago to help better equip them to teach specialty crafts that make our trade an art form.

Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA)

CBTU Commends Federal Government’s Commitment to Workers Health and Safety
- Banning Asbestos important step forward to protecting Canadians and reducing workplace death and disease -


January 3, 2019– Canada’s Building Trades Unions are pleased with the Federal Government’s steps to close out 2018 with a ban on the use of asbestos and products containing asbestos. Canada now joins 55 other countries that have banned the use of asbestos.

“The Federal Government’s announcement to ban asbestos reflects their commitment to the health and safety of the Canadian workforce, and shows they have delivered on another one of their commitments since coming to office,” said Robert Blakely, Canadian Operating Office, Canada’s Building Trades Unions. “The CBTU has been lobbying on this issue for years, because workplace exposure to asbestos is one of the leading causes of workplace-related death within our affiliated unions. We now need governments at municipal, provincial and territorial levels to work with the Federal Government to develop a comprehensive strategy to account for and remove – safely – this substance from our existing buildings to lessen the impact on future generations of workers going forward.”

Mesothelioma, the cancer related to asbestos exposure, can take 20 to 40 years to develop and begin causing symptoms. The mortality rate is devastating, about 60 per cent of those affected die within a year of diagnosis, and the five-year survival rate is less than seven per cent.

Blakely went on to say, “While this announcement will reduce the chances for asbestos exposure in the next generation, we still have a lot of work to do around the legacy of asbestos which includes a public registry of buildings with asbestos, regulations around asbestos exposure, safe removal and disposal of asbestos from current buildings and compensation for victims.”

Les SMCC appuient les engagements du gouvernement fédéral au profit de la santé et de la sécurité des travailleuses et des travailleurs
- L’interdiction de l’amiante est une étape importante vers la protection des Canadiens et la réduction des maladies et des décès au travail -