The Asbestos Epidemic
Asbestos is virtually everywhere in America. It is a mineral that exists naturally in a fibrous form and is resistant to heat, water, chemicals and electricity.
Throughout the 20th century, asbestos was incorporated into thousands of construction, commercial and household products, including fire-retardant coatings, concrete and cement, bricks, pipes, gaskets, insulation, drywall, flooring, roofing, joint compound, paints and sealants. It exists in electrical appliances, palastics, rubber, mattresses, flowerpots, lawn furniture, hats and gloves.
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Occupational Groups
Exposed Workers to Asbestos
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Asbestos Regulation
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) didn’t regulate asbestos exposure in the workplace until 1971. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, OSHA progressively reduced permissible asbestos concentrations in the workplace, which helped limit the risk of workers developing the disease. However, the consequences from the lack of regulation are still lingering.
Asbestos Today
Asbestos still can be found across the country in buildings, roads, homes, schools, factories, ships, trains and automobiles. It’s regulated in the U.S., but it is not banned. A surprising number of products are still made with asbestos, including automobile brakes and clutches, roofing materials and several other construction products.
Other Pages About Asbestos Exposure
Top Five At-Risk Occupations
Construction Worker
- Thousands of construction products contained asbestos prior to the 1980s.
- Demolition crews and home renovators are among the most at risk of exposure.
- Roofing and flooring materials are still made with asbestos, placing current workers on new projects at risk of exposure.
Firefighter
- Fires quickly damage asbestos products, causing asbestos fibers to become airborne.
- Asbestos was used to make protective firefighting clothing, helmets and boots.
- Many firefighters were exposed to asbestos during and after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Industrial Worker
- Industrial workers include mechanics, foremen, trade laborers, chemical workers and machinery operators.
- Workers were exposed to asbestos products such as asbestos paper, textiles, gaskets, insulation and fireproofing.
- Industrial insulators are among the most at risk of asbestos exposure in the industry.
Power Plant Worker
- Heat-resistant products, such as fireproofing spray and pipe insulation, were the most common sources of asbestos exposure.
- Cutting old asbestos pipes remains an exposure threat to power plant workers.
- A study found nearly 33 percent of power plant workers had asbestos in sputum samples.
Shipyard Worker
- Nearly 30 percent of mesothelioma lawsuits are filed by veterans and government shipyard workers.
- Boiler workers and those working on the construction, demolition and repair of vessels experienced the most exposure.
- Juries awarded shipyard workers multimillion-dollar verdicts in lawsuits against asbestos product manufacturers.
High-Risk Occupations
Workers in high-risk jobs tend to handle asbestos in significant concentrations on a regular basis. Mining is the profession with the greatest potential for dangerous asbestos exposure. Although asbestos is no longer directly mined in the U.S., many American miners over the years have suffered from asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma because asbestos contaminated the substances they mined.
The most notorious incident occurred in W.R. Grace and Co.’s vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana, where hundreds of vermiculite miners and their families died of asbestosis and mesothelioma. The R.T. Vanderbilt talc mines in upstate New York are other examples. Both of these mines had dangerous levels of tremolite asbestos interlaced with the extracted minerals.
A 1979 study found blue-collar occupations were more heavily associated with asbestos exposure.
Occupations with a high risk of asbestos exposure include:
Top industries and jobsites whose workers’ death certificates showed asbestosis and mesothelioma as causes of death include:
- Construction
- Ship and boat building and repairing
- Agricultural
- Industrial and chemicals
- Railroads
- Hospitals
- Miscellaneous nonmetallic mineral and stone products
- General government (not elsewhere classified)
- Electrical light and power
- Elementary and secondary schools
- Blast furnaces, steelworks, rolling and finishing mills
- Other manufacturing industries
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, construction jobs were listed on the death certificates of almost 25 percent of workers who deaths were caused by asbestosis.
Moderate-Risk Occupations
Moderate-risk jobs place employees in conditions where they may work directly or indirectly with asbestos materials. The concentration of asbestos fibers in such working environments can range from low to high and may vary by day and jobsite.
Some jobs in this category expose workers to low levels of asbestos, but the frequency is enough for workers to inhale or ingest harmful amounts of asbestos over time. Other jobs may infrequently expose workers to high levels of asbestos. Regardless of the concentration, asbestos fibers can accumulate in the body over time and cause biological changes that lead to cancer.
Occupations with a moderate risk of asbestos exposure include:
Low-Risk Occupations
Low-risk jobs infrequently place workers at risk of asbestos exposure. The concentration of asbestos in the workplace may be low or moderate. It may spike if a more dangerous project, jobsite or product is encountered. Even low-level asbestos concentrations can cause mesothelioma if someone is exposed regularly for years.
Occupations with a low risk of asbestos exposure include:
Other At-Risk Occupations
Asbestos Cover-Up
Find out who concealed asbestos risks from their employees.
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U.S. Navy Veterans
Because asbestos was commonly used in the building of battleships and destroyers throughout most of the last century, a large number of Navy veterans were exposed to asbestos as shipbuilders or sailors. In fact, all divisions of the U.S. Armed Forces used asbestos in the construction of buildings, aircraft and automobiles.
Fortunately, the Navy Public Works Center (PWC) Lead and Asbestos Abatement Team in June 1999 began reducing the presence of lead and asbestos in shipyards using ice blasting technology. This technique is favored in the cleaning of historic structures because it decreases the amount of hazardous waste produced and minimizes dust, decreasing the risk of dangerous asbestos exposure.
Demolition Crews
Another occupation that places workers at risk for asbestos exposure is asbestos remediation and decontamination. As older buildings with asbestos in their walls, floors, attics, ceilings and roofs are torn down, demolition crews, bulldozer and crane operators, and other laborers can become exposed to asbestos dust.
Other Occupations
More recently it was discovered that mechanics and operators of Linotype machines used in large-scale printing operations are susceptible to asbestos exposure. Workers in several unlikely occupations, such as baking and painting, also faced asbestos exposure.
Other occupations where asbestos exposure was common include:
- Aerospace workers
- Bakers
- Building inspectors
- Excavator
- Floor coverers
- Glass factory workers
- Job and die setters
- Longshoremen
- Machinists
- Mixing operatives
- Painters
- Refinery workers
- Road workers
- Rubber workers
- Sawyers
- Technicians
- Tile setters
- Tinsmiths
- Toll Collectors
- Warehouse workers
- Weavers
- Brake and clutch manufacturers
- Packing and gasket manufacturing workers
- Protective clothing manufacturers
- Contractors and building managers
OSHA enacted laws in 1997 that further limited the presence of asbestos to 0.1 fibers per cubic centimeter at any jobsite. Employers are required to provide safe working conditions and protective clothing and equipment to employees working around asbestos. If you suspect an employer isn’t providing safe conditions to protect workers from asbestos exposure, file a complaint with OSHA by calling or visiting a local OSHA office.