Recently, media coverages of the asbestos were gradually increased. In fact, serious problems have been found in asbestos removal. This study was performed against 375 workers from 30 asbestos removal firms from August 7 to December 10, 2010 in order to find out work conditions for asbestos removal. Then, the following results were obtained:
In terms of area, Seoul/Gyeonggi was the highest with 218 workers (58.1%). In terms of age, '41-50' was the highest among 140 workers (37.3%). The mean age was 50.3. When asked if they smoke cigarette, 272 respondents (72.5%) said 'YES.' When asked how many cigarettes they smoke a day, 11-20 (190 workers, 73.2%) was the highest, followed by 10 or less (43, 15.8%) and 'a pack or more (30, 11.0%).' In terms of average off-days per year, '1 month or less (257 workers, 68.5%)' was the highest, followed by '1-3 month(s) (77 workers, 20.5%)' and '3 months or more (41 workers, 10.9%).' In terms of annual income, 'KRW 10-20 million' was the highest with 162 workers (43.2%). No one was able to earn more than KRW 50 million. In terms of the workers' knowledge of the danger of asbestos, when asked if they were aware that asbestos can cause lung cancer, 348 respondents (92.8%) answered 'YES' while 7 workers (1.9%) said 'I am Not Sure.' According to multi-response analysis on protective clothing and gear, 369 respondents (98.9%) put on 'dust respirator' while 364 workers (97.6%) wore 'helmet.' In addition, 220 respondents (59.0%) answered that they wore 'protective clothing.' When asked how the protective clothing and gear were handled after use, 'seal them up in a designated bag and have them disposed of properly' was the response that has the highest percentage (360 respondents, 96.0%). The questionnaire consisted of 13 questions. Cronbach's alpha, which was performed to assess the reliability of the survey, was 0.858.

Unit cost for asbestos removal work which have been made out at government contract award for recent three years has been reviewed and shown with table. And the cost have been compared with ones made out by two agencies, American asbestos removal specialists, government ministry for making out comparison tables. First, legal and practical work status survey have been made to determine reasonability of introducing separate contract-awarding system, as a part of ensuring reasonable unit work cost. And then, two different status have been compared and there in introduction possibility of separate contract-awarding system, it is found out. In interior removal work case, it is thought that 50% by owner, 60% unit work cost by the expert of which removal specialist think as reasonable unit cost. the results for exterior and spray work method are shown with almost same context. Impact factors for determining unit work cost such as project mount, project kind, contract-awarding method, subcontract method have been compared with parties. Removal specialist and expert group have almost same ideas for project amount which has been hightestly weighed but owner's recognition has partially lower than specialists idea. There are almost no difference of recognition between three(3) parties for project kind. Idea comparison of reasonable unit work cost for asbestos removal work between three concerned parties has been analyzed and found out that expert group do unit work cost, 65% of which removal specialists estimate, in interior tex removal. And there is almost no difference between them in exterior roof slate removal. But there is considerable difference between them that owner estimates 50% unit cost of specialist one while expert group estimate 50% of specialist idea of unit removal cost.

Project owner, asbestos removal specialist, experts on asbestos removal work, as counter parts to be defined in the study to make out research goals have been asked with questionnaire survey and replied with 65, 275, 32 cases, respectively. And additionally, direct interview 73 sheets have been collected to find out current status of required engineers and equipments assigned and provided to the field, from them, three(3) concerned parties. Questionnaire subjects are composed of common items, reasonable unit cost, need of separate contract-awarding system, status of performing standard contract, status of providing legal engineers and equipments. Concentrated review of two~three questions by subject has been made to find out and compare idea results between three(3) concerned parties. First, legal and practical work status survey have been made to determine reasonability of introducing separate contract-awarding system, as a part of ensuring reasonable unit work cost. And then, two different status have been compared and there is introduction possibility of separate contract-awarding system, it is found out. The possibility of separate contract also has been confirmed by comparison of domestic legal grounds. Justificating grounds to introduce separate contract-awarding system have been shown. Standard contract status between asbestos removal specialists has been compared using two cases of providing removal work contract and receiving it. It is shown that case of 50 percent or less contains 38.5% when they receive contract, but only 10 percent reduction of original contract amount has been made when they provide it. It means that asbestos removal specialists do not keep occupational safety and health regulations.

This study has attempted to investigate current asbestos laws in the amended Occupational Safety and Health Act on the removal and disposal of asbestos. Among 800 registered asbestos removal and disposal companies, 499 firms were investigated from August 7 to December 10, 2009. The qualified inspectors (those with Industrial Hygiene Engineer’s License or higher-level technical license) are educated for more than three hours before starting the inspection. In terms of regional distribution, Gyeonggi / Incheon was the highest with 105 companies(21%), followed by Daegu / Gyeongbuk(100, 20%), Chungbuk(97, 19.4%), Jeonbuk(37, 7.4%), Gwangju / Jeonnam (35, 7.0%) and Seoul(33, 6.6%). In terms of the number of education and technical assistances(1,348 in total) among 499 asbestos removal and disposal companies ,‘personal protective equipment and putting it on(287, 21.3%)’ was the highest, followed by ‘safety & health actions by asbestos removal and disposal work(171, 12.7%),’ ‘hazard of asbestos(168, 12.5%),’ ‘NO SMOKING and NO FOOD(164, 12.2%)’ and ‘prevention of asbestos fibers from being airborne(12, 0.9%).’A questionnaire consisted of 11 questions regarding the obse tance of enforcement ordinances associated with the removal and disposal of asbestos. According to an investigation on the current status of the workplace based on inspectors’ checklists, 3 scores were maintained in average. This paper has limitations because it has failed to randomly investigate the workplace because it is very strict to visit the asbestos removal and disposal sites.

This paper has attempted to analyze asbestos dismantlement and removal companies' licensing procedure and their work satisfaction and observance of laws and regulations and discover problems for improvement of the current system. In terms of the number of asbestos dismantlement and removal companies by region, Seoul and Gyeonggi (32, 43.2%) were the highest, followed by Jeonnam, Jeonbuk and Jeju (19, 25.7%), Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk / Chungnam and Chungbuk (8 apiece, 10.8%) and Gangwon (7, 9.5%). In terms of the number of asbestos dismantlement and removal works, it has rapidly increased from 33 cases (1.4%) in 2005 to 598 (25.1%) in 2007 and 1,599 (67.2%) in 2008. In terms of preliminary investigation on asbestos, asbestos-related education and work environment by region, a significant statistical difference has been observed. According to analysis on the asbestos dismantlement and removal companies' satisfaction (in terms of the appropriateness of dismantlement and removal cost), 'unsatisfied (35 companies, 47.3%)' was the highest, followed by 'not bad (20, 27.0%)' and 'satisfied (19, 25.7%),' showing high dissatisfaction on the cost. In terms of the asbestos dismantlement and removal companies' satisfaction at work, Factor 1 accounted for 39.3% while Factor 2 was 16.8%, which showed 56.2% in total.