Asbestos Exposure and Your Job. Exposure to asbestos fibers can cause asbestos-related diseases including mesothelioma cancer and others. A potentially dangerous exposure can result from very small fibers at low exposure levels, it may take up too 40 years for most asbestos-related cancers to develop.
It is well known that many people have come into contact with asbestos fibers via their jobs, or occupational exposure. There is also a risk to the family members of those working in at-risk occupations; this exposure is called paraoccupational exposure. By one estimate*, nearly 80% of the cases of mesothelioma are believed to be the direct result of occupational or paraoccupational exposure to primary asbestos fibers.
Another group of people who live near sites likely to have asbestos around the facility are also at risk: refineries, power plants, factories, shipyards, steel mills and building demolition are types of work sites that can release asbestos fibers into the environment and contaminate nearby residential neighborhoods.
Many occupations have an increased risk for developing mesothelioma lung cancer. For example, asbestos insulation workers have 92 times the risk of developing of lung cancer , and smelter workers have 3-8 times the risk of developing lung cancer . The risk of lung cancer is also increased in people who work in the manufacturing of certain industrial gases, pharmaceuticals, soaps and detergents, paints, inorganic pigments, plastics, and synthetic rubber.
Here is the list of specific industries and occupations with asbestos-exposure risk:
Trades:
Asbestos product manufacturing (insulation, roofing, building, materials)
Automotive repair (brakes & clutches)
Construction/contractors
Maritime
Miners
Offshore rust removals
Oil refineries
Power plants
Railroads
Sand or abrasive manufacturers
Shipyards / ships / ship builders
Steel mills
Tile cutters
Occupations:
Automotive Mechanics
Boiler makers
Bricklayers
Building Inspectors
Carpenters
Drywallers
Electricians
Floor Coverings
Furnace Workers
Glazers
Grinders
Hod carriers
Insulators
Iron workers
Laborers
Longshoremen
Maintenance workers
Merchant marines
Millwrights
Operating Engineers
Painters
Plasterers
Plumbers
Roofers
Sand blasters
Sheet metal workers
Steam fitters
Tile setters
Welders
U.S. Navy veterans
Welders
