The Mine at Wittenoom: Blue Asbestos,Labour and Occupational Disease

Australia and South Africa are the only countries to have mined crocidolite or blue asbestos. Crocidolite was mined at Wittenoom in Western Australia from 1944 until 1966. Although production levels were modest, Wittenoom has become the site of Australia's worst occupational health disaster. The labour regimes in South Africa and Wittenoom were very different and yet the rates of occupational disease were probably similar. The hazards facing miners arose from the nature of the labour process, the technologies of production and the limitations of state regulation.