The silent killer lurking in your industry - industrial risks of asbestos revealed

What is the industrial asbestos risk of your work place? The mesothelioma risk attached to various industries can be plotted on a continuum: from high industrial asbestos risk - to the least risk.

Firstly, you must identify asbestos content inherent to your building, equipment, raw materials or products. Then compares this information with mesothelioma statistics for your industry.

Exposure to asbestos is the main risk factor for developing mesothelioma injury. The mesothelioma injury normally develops in to full fledged mesothelioma lung cancer.

Asbestos is a family of fibrous minerals made of silicate.

Asbestos Fibers were once used in many products such as thermal asbestos insulation, pipes, asbestos tiles, door gaskets, asbestos siding, soundproofing, roofing, asbestos flooring, guttering, ceilings, patching compounds, fireproof gloves and ironing board covers, brake pads, paints, pencils and even portable hair dryers.

When asbestos fibers are processed and separated, it forms a microscopic dust that can be easily inhaled. If inhaled and not excreted by the body, it can collect in the lungs and stomach and eventually lead to the development of serious, life threatening diseases.

Industrial environments with high risk of asbestos exposure

Asbestos is classified as a toxic substance. It use is regulated by asbestos mesothelioma law. Despite global asbestos control measures, many workers are however, still at risk of asbestos exposure. We will discuss a couple of industrial environments where high levels of the toxic asbestos fibers may be found.

Asbestos mining, asbestos processing and other underground mining

Asbestos exposure of miners can come from either naturally occurring asbestos in the ore or host rock gold from asbestos contained in manufactured products.

Metal and Nonmetal Mines: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), other research organizations like EPA and scientists have noted the occurrence of cancers and asbestosis among miners involved in the mining and milling of commodities that contain asbestos.

Mining activities, such as blasting, cutting, crushing, grinding, or simply disturbing the ore or surrounding earth may cause asbestos fibers to become airborne.

Asbestos mines are still operational in many third world countries. These countries and their neighboring countries still operate asbestos processing plants. Now that is high industrial asbestos risk! Asbestos ore is therefore still being transported between the mines and the plants by rail - road transport gold.

Without legal precedents of asbestos lawsuits, mesothelioma and asbestos settlements, the citizens of these countries are helpless claims. In the South African town of Kimberley, one hospital reports 39 new cases of malignant mesothelioma lung cancer every month diagnosis.

Asbestos mesothelioma law, banning the mining of asbestos and constraining the processing of asbestos, was only passed during 2008 by the South African parliament.

Construction or demolition sites

Asbestos used to be the preferred material for the production of building materials for many decades. Because of its strength and durability, asbestos products were generally used between 1950 and 1975.

Construction workers and builders who tear down and alter old buildings will encounter any of these products. Complete asbestos homes, called pre-fab homes, were also in great demand. Many older buildings still contain the mineral.

Their work disturbs the asbestos fibers and the toxic asbestos dust is released into the air. Such workers experience high industrial asbestos risk. The codes of good practice for asbestos abatement should be supervised, to prevent inhalation of the asbestos dust by the workers.

Power plants and mobile generators and welders

Asbestos fibers are highly heat resistant. It is also well known for its poor electrical conductivity. Asbestos insulation used to be the material of choice for the thermal insulation of power plants and mobile generators.

Therefore many of the broilers and generators in power plants are lined with various forms of asbestos.

Safety protocols should be followed as a part their employers standing asbestos management plan, as required by law. If such a plan had not been previously implemented by the use, they should discuss the relevant laws with their employers.

Shipyards

The shipbuilding industry employed hundreds of asbestos-containing products as components of the ships they were building. Because of this practice during the 1930s, 40s and 50s, thousands of shipyard workers worked with asbestos in various applications. They received high levels of asbestos exposure over prolonged periods.

Therefore shipyard workers are considered a very high risk group of industrial asbestos risk, and therefore potential asbestos exposure. They are still at risk today, when performing other maintenance or cleaning operations on older ships. The asbestos content of such ships are normally aged and Profondeur.

Automotive mechanic shops

Asbestos materials are known for its properties of hardness, durability and heat resistance. For decades, many older manufacturing plants used asbestos to manufacture breaks and clutch linings.

There is evidence that mechanics working on older vehicles may be at risk of asbestos exposure. Their work environment is therefore considered to have a high industrial asbestos risk.

Steel mills

Asbestos insulation is used during the construction of steel mills, because of its properties of heat resistance and poor heat conductivity.

Steel mill workers work in an environment of high industrial asbestos risk.

Buildings built before the 1980s

Most commercial-, government-and school buildings from this period contain asbestos products of some kind. Because people work in these buildings we aslo cfxkucdng them as high industrial asbestos risk. The danger occurs as the asbestos building materials begin to age and deteriorate. Natural disasters may damage such buildings, as seen recently globally.

All people should become knowledgeable about asbestos, where and in what forms it was used. They will then be enabled to manage their own safety.

Geography of The Asbestos Industry

Statistically, it was proven that individuals living near asbestos manufacturing plants live under high industrial asbestos risk. Asbestos fibers leaking into the surrounding air and water find its way into their bodies and leads to high malignant mesothelioma diagnosis figures.

Mesothelioma claims

If you or one of your loved ones have ever worked in a job with high industrial asbestos risk, you could save troubled much by already keeping careful notes of the products, suppliers, manufacturers, equipment, buildings etc, relevant to asbestos exposure at your work place.

It is never good to live in fear. However, it would be prudent to keep this log. If you or any of your close relative receive the diagnosis malignant mesothelioma at any later stage, these records could expedite a successful asbestos settlement in your favour.

Pieter Pepler is a management consultant to small and medium enterpises. He has a keen interest in in health aspects and spends much of his time researching and writing about the causes and alternative treatment options for the natural treatment of various chronic diseases.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Read more »

Asbestos Removal Industry: Cure Or Curse?

From wonder mineral of the ages to one of the worst banes of humanity. That, in a nutshell, is the story of asbestos. And the back story as well of one of the most controversial industries today, the asbestos removal industry.

The ancients considered asbestos magical and wove it into cloth. But it was during the Industrial Revolution that it began to be widely used for its heat- and chemical-resistant properties, mainly as insulation in turbines, boilers, kilns and ovens. It is also highly resistant to electricity. In the 20th century, there was even more widespread use of asbestos in buildings and homes, automobiles, and clothing. Asbestos products such as asbestos cement sheet walls and ceilings, and asbestos roof tiles were popular in home construction because they were believed to lessen the risks of fire. It has also been used in water and sewage systems. One of the heaviest users of asbestos was, in fact, the US military, especially the Navy, which used massive amounts in building warships and other vessels.

This was despite growing proof of the danger to health caused by asbestos exposure. Among the diseases linked to being exposed to asbestos are asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, a particular form of cancer directly caused by asbestos exposure, pleural plaques and pleural thickening.

Many large asbestos companies, in fact, continued to use it in construction and manufacturing well into the 1980s. They would hide their health hazard findings to get around the multi-million dollar lawsuits filed by victims of asbestos cancer. But as the evidence became cleared, government began banning the use of asbestos. Today, 60 countries have total or partial bans in place.

In the US, although the Environmental Protection Agency has no general ban on asbestos uses, it was one of the first pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act and its use in many applications prohibited by the Toxic Substances Control Act.

With so much asbestos in houses and buildings, the problem now became how to remove it safely. This gave birth to what is now the multi-billion dollar asbestos removal industry. Much of the asbestos used in buildings comes in what is called bonded form, meaning it is mixed in with a another material like cement that it is unlikely to be released in harmful levels unless disturbed or broken.

Friable asbestos on the other hand, can easily become a powder and be released in the air as dangerous crystals that can be inhaled. Its most common use was in fire retardants sprayed onto building and house walls.

Because asbestos removal is a dangerous business, all asbestos abatement and removal workers are considered professionals who need to undergo state-approved training and certification. They are strictly required to wear safety clothing and asbestos abatement equipment. DIY asbestos removal, while possible, is not advised.

However, the growing demand for asbestos abatement services has also fueled a debate about the extent of asbestos hazards or whether the asbestos removal industry is simply cashing in on popular fears. There are also concerns about unscrupulous asbestos abatement companies following the prosecution of contractors hiring undocumented workers to undertake illegal removal work, thus exposing people to potentially painful or fatal health hazards.

In the end, though, as the saying goes, better safe than sorry. With proper regulation and enforcement of laws, it is best to have an asbestos removal industry around to safely remove an environmental and health threat that has long been in our midst.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Read more »

The history of the asbestos industry

The history of asbestos as we know it dates back 2000 years. It was the Greeks who named this mineral asbestos, meaning inextinguishable. The ancient Greeks observed the harmful biological effects but continued to use the mineral said to have magical properties. Pliny (Roman naturalist) and Strabo (Greek geographer) noted an appearance of "sickness of the lungs" in slaves who wove asbestos into cloth. The Greeks also used asbestos for the wicks of the eternal flames of the vestal virgins, as the funeral dress worn by kings and for napkins. They were so impressed with the magical properties of the mineral that they were willing to overlook its harmful symptoms for humans. They went as far as calling asbestos "amiantus", meaning "unpolluted.

During the middle ages, it was believed that the Frankish king, Charlemagne had asbestos tablecloths. Asbestos products were used in the 1700 hundreds but did not really become popular until the late 1800's. The industrial Revolution demanded new uses for the mineral. It was used as insulation for steam pipes, turbines, boilers, kilns, ovens, and other high-temperature products.

The history of asbestos use continued into the twentieth century and researchers began to investigate the harmful toxic affects. It was first noticed in 1917 and 1918 that a great number of young people in asbestos mining towns prematurely died. Researchers in England carried out clinical studies on asbestos workers in 1924, after the recorded death of a young woman who had been diagnosed with the new disease they called asbestosis. Twenty-five percent of the test subjects showed evidence of asbestos-related lung disease. Legislation was enacted in 1931, to increase ventilation and to recognize asbestosis a work-related disease.

The 1930's brought in with it, the surge of major medical research articles, warning about the asbestos connection with lung cancer partially due to a new disease, silicosis, caused by in haling silica dust particles. Much of this research continued to be ignored. Large Asbestos companies continued to use asbestos in manufacturing and construction, despite that fact that safer alternatives such as fiberglass insulation were created to replace it. These companies hid their lung cancer findings to avoid the million dollar lawsuits brought upon them by asbestos cancer victims. The history of asbestos use and company profiteering has no doubt exploited asbestos workers then and now. Today, victims exposed to asbestos are faced with mesothelioma cancer and certain death.

What is Asbestos?
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral fiber mined from the earth. It is strong, flexible, and resistant to heat, chemicals and electrical conditions.

Forms of Asbestos
The three most common forms of asbestos are divided into two groups. The serpentine group includes white (chrysotile) asbestos. The amphibole group includes brown (amosite) and blue (crocidolite) asbestos.

Asbestos Properties
Asbestos has many properties that once made it attractive to industry. It is stable when heated, it provides strength under tension, it is resistant to chemicals and does not absorb water (depending on type of asbestos). Asbestos is suitable for weaving and can be used to reinforce materials such as concrete. And lastly, it is a good resistance to electricity.

Asbestos Categories
'Bonded' is used to refer to asbestos being so firmly embedded in a material that these materials are unlikely to release measurable levels of asbestos fiber into the air if they are left undisturbed. Therefore, they generally pose a lower risk to health.

Bonded asbestos-containing materials include asbestos cement products (flat and corrugated sheeting used in walls, ceilings and roofs, molded items such as down pipes), vinyl floor coverings.

'Friable' is used to refer to asbestos-containing materials that can be easily reduced to powder by hand, when dry. These materials are more likely to release measurable levels of asbestos into the air when disturbed, and generally pose a greater risk to health. Friable asbestos-containing materials include sprayed asbestos fire retardants

Asbestos Industry
In the past, the asbestos industry used around 3000 products manufactured worldwide, most commonly in the construction, car manufacturing and textile industries. It was generally manufactured in the following forms: fibrous (limpet asbestos), woven (cloth, tape or sleeving), wound (rope) or mixed with a binder, such as calcium silicate (to make asbestos cement or vinyl floor products containing asbestos).

Because of its strength and its ability to resist heat and chemicals, asbestos was used in a range of insulation materials.
Older commercial industrial buildings and private dwellings may contain a variety of asbestos products, such as asbestos-cement sheeting in walls and ceilings, or roof cladding made from corrugated asbestos-cement. Asbestos may be found in structures built as late as the mid- to late 1980s.

Asbestos Related Occupations
Asbestos has been used in association with a number of occupations such as the US military and armed forces, particularly the Navy. Massive amounts of asbestos were used in shipbuilding and commercial construction prior to the mid-1970's.

Other workers in occupations which have been associated with asbestos use are:

Insulators, Pipe Fitters, Plumbers, Electricians, Painters, Crane Operators, Floor Coverers, Pot Tenders, Welders, Paper Mill Workers, Custodians, Steam Fitters, Tile Setters, Aerospace Workers, Mechanics, Building Engineers, Demolition Crews, Former US Navy Personnel, Packing/Gasket Manufacturing Workers, Protective Clothing Manufacturing, Rubber Workers, Warehouse Workers, Home Improvement, Hospitals, Schools, Loading Docks, Glass Factory Workers, Building Inspectors, Bulldozer Operators, Manufacturing Workers, Excavating machine operators, Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Job and Die setters, Contractors, Building Managers, Mixing Operatives, Laborers, Sawyers, Teachers, Tinsmiths, Weavers, Excavators, Technicians

Risks of Asbestos Exposure
Humans come into contact with asbestos when they swallow or inhale the fibers. These particles can then become embedded in the tissues of the respiratory or digestive systems.

Three Main Diseases Caused by Asbestos Exposure

Asbestosis
Asbestosis causes widespread scar tissue between the alveoli, or spread over the lung. It is difficult to distinguish from other causes of interstitial fibrosis. Only confirmation of exposure to asbestos or detection of unusually high numbers of asbestos fibers in the lung is considered conclusive evidence of this disease.

Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a tumor of the chest lining, abdominal lining and occasionally the heart lining. Asbestos is not the only cause of this disease, but it is the most important cause in modern times. Crocidolite is the most important asbestos-related factor, but amosite, chrysotile and tremolite are also linked. This disease takes 20-50 years to appear, with the highest risk around 30-35 years after exposure. It is typically dose-related, but in rare cases has been known to occur in patients with little known occupational exposure to asbestos.

Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is relatively common among the general public and is the cancer most frequently associated with asbestos. Tumors grow and eventually obstruct airways. No characteristics specify a lung cancer as being caused by asbestos; we cannot distinguish a 'cigarette' lung cancer from an 'asbestos' lung cancer or 'another' lung cancer. Smoking increases the risk of death due to lung cancer for asbestos workers.

The history of asbestos and how it is has endangered human mortality has plagued different societies since ancient times. Throughout history must of these warnings have been ignored. Today, the use of asbestos is banned in the US and many other countries. This ban applies to manufacture, supply, storage, sale, use, reuse, installation and replacement of asbestos, except in special circumstances (e.g. removal and disposal of asbestos, and research work).

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Read more »

Outrageous misconduct - such as the asbestos industry employees about the deadly products deceived

In the early 20th century, asbestos became a widely used industrial product, was held in isolation in shipbuilding, boilers, as brake pad and fire resistant as a reinforcing material in concrete, water and waste water, insulation boards, floor tiles and wall coverings, wallboard, ceilings tiles and gas masks, plant and equipment. 1918 No longer the prudential insurance company life insurance sale to asbestos workers because of the "harmful health conditions of the industry".
Management knew of the 1920s in U.S. asbestos mining and processing companies and production companies that used asbestos this threat through its fibers presents major health hazards for the workers. However, these companies did not say their workers about the health risks, yet have they provide adequate ventilation, masks or other safety equipment, which could have reduced their risk.
The US Bureau of mines was aware of the problem also. Paul Brodeur cover-up asbestos cited in outrageous misconduct, his pioneering exposé industry a letter from an official in1933 Bureau of mines at Eagle picher, an asbestos manufacturer, which stated that "it is now known that asbestos dust is one of the most dangerous dusts to which man is exposed to."
Asbestos companies continue to exist, that there was no connection between the use of asbestos and the high rates of asbestosis and lung cancer mesothelioma found in workers exposed to asbestos. In 1933, 29 percent of the employees a Johns-Manville plant had asbestosis. Eleven employees brought them against the company for its failure to notify the risk and error prevention or harm-reduction measures. Johns Manville these lawsuits, writing in the terms of the settlement that the staff never again directly or indirectly might participate lawyer to take new measures against the company. This request indicates that Johns Manville clearly understood his own liability and their contribution to the illness and death of its employees.
During the second WELTKRIEGS naval shipyards on both coasts used many thousands of workers. At the peak, 1,337,000 employees in crafts, writing, and management and engineering in the construction and repair of the country occupied military and commercial fleets U.S. shipyards and their suppliers. Asbestos products were used in this work extensively. Shipyard workers worked often in closed, unventilated spaces, where the concentration of airborne asbestos particles was so high that the air was white. Supplier of asbestos products and shipyard owner made no disclosure of this patriotic in the workforce of the deadly risks faced they handle asbestos.
A decade later Dr. Irving Selikoff New York's Mt. Sinai School of medicine grew increasingly worried about the unusual incidence of cases of lung cancer and mesothelioma in asbestos workers. White embarked on a far-reaching investigation of the health of all 1117 members of New York and New Jersey local of the International Association of heat and Frost Insulators and asbestos workers.
He found evidence of asbestosis in more than half of them. The longer the exposure to asbestos, the greater probability of a worker's cancer is developed. He also showed that mortality among asbestos workers was 25% higher than expected. His ground-breaking study, published in 1964 established irrefutably the dangers of the risks related to asbestos.
After the release of the study the Selikoff was neither the companies nor their employees experts reasonably continue to claim ignorance of the dangers. The way was now open for plaintiffs lawyers to product-liability suits for terminally ill asbestos workers against the manufacturers of asbestos products file.

Read more »

Asbestos remove industry: cure or curse?

By miracle mineral of the ages to one of the worst banes of humanity. This, in short, is the story of asbestos. And the back story as one of the most controversial industries now the asbestos industry.
Antiquity as asbestos magic and wove it into cloth. But it was during the industrial revolution, which began it widely for his warmth and chemically resistant properties, are used as insulation in turbines, boilers, furnaces and ovens. It is also highly resistant to the current. Century was still widespread use of asbestos in buildings and apartments, cars and clothes. Leaf walls and ceilings and asbestos tiles were popular in house building asbestos products such as asbestos-cement, because they believed, were to reduce the risks of fire. It was also used in water and wastewater systems. One of the heaviest users of asbestos was, in fact, the US military, especially the Navy, which used large amounts in the construction of warships and other vessels.
This was despite growing evidence of the risk to health caused by asbestos. Asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, asbestos, particular forms of cancer are among the diseases related to asbestos, pleural plaques and pleural thickening directly caused.
Asbestos in construction and manufacturing use in fact continue to many large companies in the 1980s. She would submitted its health risk results to the multi million dollar lawsuits from victims of asbestos to hide cancer. But as the evidence has been disabled, Government started banning the use of asbestos. Today, 60 countries have fully or partially banned.
In the United States although the environmental protection agency asbestos has no general ban on uses, was it one of the first pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act and its use in many applications by toxic substances Control Act banned.
With so much asbestos in homes and buildings, the problem was now like to remove it safely. This brought what asbestos is now away multi-billion dollar industry. Much of the asbestos in buildings used is so-called, in the form of bonded i.e. it is mixed with other material such as cement that it unlikely to be released in harmful levels, unless is disturbed or broken.
A powder can be easily loose asbestos on the other hand and in the air as dangerous crystals that are inhaled can be published. The most common use was sprayed in flame retardants on buildings and walls.
Because asbestos is a dangerous business, all the reduction and removal are asbestos workers professionals who need to undergo accredited training and certification. They are absolutely essential to carry equipment, safety clothing and asbestos removal. DIY asbestos removal, though, it is not recommended.
However also has fueled after asbestos removal the demand a debate on the extent of the asbestos hazards or whether the asbestos abatement industry is simply redeem to popular fears. There are according unscrupulous asbestos companies also concerns the charge of the contractor setting undeclared workers committed illegal distance work, so people to potentially painful or serious health hazards to suspend.
Says at the end, but as the saying goes, better safe. With proper regulation and law enforcement it is advisable to have an asbestos abatement industry around to safely remove an environment and threat, which have long in our midst.

Read more »