Asbestos Exposure Jobsites

Since the 1920s Asbestos has been widely used in manufacturing and industry. Asbestos containing products include joint compound (mud), gaskets, auto brakes, rope, plaster, and insulation. Plastics companies such as Durez Plastics in North Tonawanda, NY manufactured plastic molding compounds, which it then sold to other manufacturing facilities. These facilities used the plastic molding compound supplied by Durez to make a wide variety of products that included hard plastic handles for irons and other small appliances and a variety of automotive parts.

Durez molding compounds contained raw asbestos, which was incorporated as a filler in order to add strength and durability to its compounds. The North Tonawanda Durez plant was also heavily insulated with asbestos insulation in order to contain heat from steam pipes, chemical lines, boilers, kettles and reactors. Anyone who has worked with or around products containing asbestos is at risk for developing an asbestos-related disease like mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer. Another industry where workers were exposed to asbestos is the steel industry. The Bethlehem Steel Lackawanna Plant was covered with asbestos-containing materials. The north mill, south mill, strip mill, bar mill, annealing and blast furnaces, open hearth furnaces, heating furnaces, boilers, soaking pits and coke ovens all contained asbestos refractory materials.

A refractory material is a non-metallic material that is capable of resisting high temperatures and other destructive forces, such as corrosion and abrasion. Asbestos was an ideal component for refractory materials, as it was utilized as insulation surrounding high heat surfaces. Asbestos pipe covering was also applied as an insulation material, which lined the outside of steam pipes throughout the Lackawanna job site.

Prolonged exposure to raw asbestos or to materials containing asbestos can lead to terminal illness. However, many individuals have been diagnosed with mesothelioma years after a brief but intense exposure to asbestos—for example, during a summer job. There are also many documented cases of mesothelioma resulting from second-hand exposure to asbestos carried home on a worker’s clothing. Family members who were exposed to dust on a family member’s clothing, are at heightened risk. Steel and plastics plants are only two of many industries and manufacturing facilities where workers were exposed to asbestos. Industries such as automotive, oil refineries and shipyards are addressed below.

This situation posed a significant risk of exposure to workers. Even today, asbestos continues to exist in old products, machinery, and various materials at these job sites.

Workers who encounter asbestos in such environments are exposed to potential health risks, including diseases like mesothelioma.