Asbestos Uses

Due to its high level of effectiveness as an insulator, asbestos found many uses in the industrial field. One of these fields was metal works, which utilized the mineral’s natural resistance to heat and fire, along with its tensile strength, to ensure these facilities ran safely and effectively. Metal works products that frequently contained asbestos include thermal insulation, pipes, gaskets, ovens, furnaces, and tanks.

Unfortunately, the material’s inexpensiveness contributed to its wide popularity in these facilities. Plant owners and managers were often unwilling to evaluate the safety of or look for a replacement to asbestos because it might have been more expensive. Despite mounting awareness of the risks of asbestos exposure, these industrial facility owners often denied, downplayed, or even attempted to conceal the risks of asbestos, even as early as the 1930s when some of the first medical reports concerning this material  were published. Unfortunately, that asbestos use continued until the 1970s, when the link between asbestos exposure and the pattern of health issues seen in these facilities finally became too obvious to ignore or deny.  

Risks

Part of the reason asbestos found such heavy use in these facilities was the direct threat other materials posed to these workers. At times, the scene inside a metal works factory might include sparks flashing across the floor, tanks of molten materials, and hissing spouts of steam. For that reason, the less obvious health threats often failed to concern employees or their supervisors, especially during the early days of this industry. During earlier eras, the risk of catastrophic injury faced these employees at all times in metal works, helping to initially justify the use of asbestos materials.

However, by the time a firm connection between asbestos exposure and the numbers of sick workers was made, it was obvious that the use of asbestos could not be justified. Due to the intense strain and heat these asbestos materials underwent, as well as the fiber’s natural friability, small fibers easily fragmented off plant equipment. After years of fiber deterioration and accumulation, worker illness due to exposure to these fibers on a daily basis was unavoidable.

Outcome

Today, past employees of metal works may still experience the negative consequences of asbestos exposure. This is because diseases associated with asbestos typically do not appear for years after that initial exposure. These diseases include respiratory illnesses like asbestosis and lung cancer, as well as another lethal cancer known as mesothelioma. Like lung cancer, mesothelioma frequently develops near the lungs of patients, though it can also develop around the heart and stomach as well.

Mesothelioma generally exhibits a latency period of 20 to 50 years, giving patients an extremely short average life expectancy of just four to 18 months. Though lethal, this form of cancer is highly avoidable through simply limiting contact with asbestos fibers or wearing proper protective equipment. However, intense, prolonged asbestos exposure was unavoidable to employees in fields like metal working in the past, meaning these workers developed related diseases in far greater numbers than other professions which might not have involved such heavy asbestos use.