Until the late 1990's, Ironworkers and mesothelioma went hand in hand. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that nearly 100,000 people currently hold jobs as ironworkers involved in erecting, retrofitting, or demolishing structures and infrastructure.
Materials used by ironworkers include structural steel, reinforcing iron, and precast concrete. Prior to the 1980s, certain of these materials contained or were coated with asbestos to make them capable of withstanding intense high heat. Unfortunately, it did from time to time happen that tiny particles of the asbestos composited into or applied over structural steel, reinforcing iron, and precast concrete managed to enter the air, where they were inhaled or ingested by unsuspecting ironworkers.
Accordingly, ironworkers employed in the trade between the 1940s and possibly as late as the 1990s became potential candidates to develop mesothelioma, asbestos lung cancer, asbestosis, and other conditions scientifically linked to occupational asbestos exposure. If you have been diagnosed with
Ironworkers employed in the trade from the 1990s through today no longer handle asbestos products in the routine course of their jobs. Makers of structural steel stopped adding asbestos in the 1970s and supplies of construction products containing asbestos were used up within a decade after that. Even so, ironworkers now still can come into contact with asbestos if they help retrofit or demolish structures and infrastructure erected prior to the 1990s.
The concern with regard to asbestos exposure is it can set the stage for the onset of mesothelioma and other asbestos diseases 10 to 50 years down the road. Owing to that long latency, when these diseases develop, ironworkers and their loved ones are often caught off-guard.
The good news is that mesothelioma and other asbestos diseases can be fought. What’s more, ironworkers locked in that battle need not wage the fight alone. Among others standing ready to offer aid and comfort are mesothelioma lawyers and law firms dedicated to seeking compensation to help fully pay for the medical care and other financial needs of asbestos-injured ironworkers.
An ironworker is anyone who is or was engaged in the erecting, retrofitting, or demolishing of buildings and infrastructure constructed with structural steel, reinforcing iron, and/or decorative/architectural steel and iron.
Tasks typically performed by ironworkers include:
Ironworkers help build many types of projects. These include:
Asbestos was added to structural steel in order to make girders, beams, and other metal members lighter, stronger, and fireproof (or at least flame retardant).
Girders and beams are cast from pig-iron ore heated to a molten state in a gigantic furnace. Impurities are removed by blowing oxygen-rich air over the molten mass (the techniques for doing this are now highly advanced compared to the way it was done by its British inventor, Henry Bessemer, in the 1800s). Back in the 1940s and extending into the 1970s, asbestos was often mixed into the refined molten steel to improve the performance and aesthetic characteristics of the finished product.
Asbestos composited into the pig iron (or applied afterward as a coating) posed a serious health problem for ironworkers. The problem began when finished steel goods were cut, drilled, riveted, hammered, or otherwise worked on at the job site.
The finished steel goods were perfectly safe for workers to use and be around. However, whenever the asbestos was disturbed by the cutting and drilling at the job site, the asbestos would break free from its bonds and float up into the air. The asbestos then floats in the air, similar to dust, often for hours before it settles back down.
Ironworkers might walk into these dust clouds and inhale or ingest the fibers, often without even knowing. The risk of being exposed to asbestos was pretty small if the ironworkers were working in an open area, because the wind would handle the asbestos if work was being done 500 feet in the sky on a high rise.
However, if the ironworker was working in an enclosed area with no wind and no ventilation, then the asbestos fibers could get into the air and stay there until they are ingested and inhaled, which is almost impossible to avoid in the small space.
The fibers will then slide down into the lungs and abdomen and begin to cause problems for the healthy cells inside the body. Often this leads to cancer and other problems, but they aren’t found until decades later because the process is so slow.
Fireproof insulation was applied over structural steel so that, in the event of an intense blaze after project completion (or even during construction) the girders and beams holding the place up wouldn’t melt before firefighters could quell the flames.
In the eyes of many, asbestos was the ideal insulator. The mineral was plentiful and cheap. As well, it was very effective at preventing structural steel during a fire from reaching a temperature high enough to permit weakening and eventual structural collapse.
There were two main ways to fireproof structural steel.
The paints were known as intumescent coatings. One advantage of intumescent coatings was they created more distance between the flames and the steel. In the event of fire, the paint would react to the rising heat. The hotter things became, the bigger the reaction. The manifestation of the reaction was a swelling of the paint. The amount of swelling was considerable—upward of 10,000 percent of the paint’s original applied thickness. By keeping the flames from getting too close to the steel, the integrity of the steel could remain unaffected for a longer time before the flames were extinguished.
Beyond sprays and paints, there also was rigid-board fireproofing—favored in applications where blocking noise and increasing the energy efficiency of interior climate- systems were desired.
Still another steel fireproofing method entailed wrapping structural steel members in an asbestos blanket. The concept was similar to that of intumescent coatings. That is, the blankets created a thick buffer separating steel from fire.
There was also the choice of asbestos-containing concrete. In this fireproofing method, concrete was poured all around the structural steel. This required creating forms into which the concrete could be poured. This wasn’t the most elegant way to fireproof (owing to its poor aesthetics, concrete encasements were mostly used in parking garages).
Still, by whatever means the asbestos was added or applied, it posed a health risk for ironworkers. That was because asbestos fireproof materials could be chipped or in some way marred in the course of onsite installation. That would be sufficient to expel particles of asbestos into the air.
The same would occur were asbestos-protected steel to be cut, drilled, riveted, hammered, filed, sanded, polished, or in any way jostled.
Asbestos released into the air put ironworkers at risk. The risk arose from tiny particles of asbestos becoming lodged in the lungs as a result of inhalation. Alternatively, asbestos particles might become trapped in the intestines as a result of ingestion.
By whatever means this lodging occurred, the consequences of it could be serious. It is widely recognized in the medical field that inhaled or ingested asbestos can cause healthy cells to undergo a transformation that ends with them becoming cancerous. The two cancers most associated with asbestos exposure are mesothelioma and asbestos lung cancer.
Rodbuster ironworkers are those who specialize in installing reinforcing iron for foundations, building exteriors, roads, bridges, and more. Cement pours are a big feature of the job for rodbusters. Decades ago, the cement they used likely contained asbestos to improve performance.
That was one way by which rodbusters could come into contact with asbestos. Another was by welding rebar—the welding rods they used 40 years ago contained asbestos.
In effect, any construction material or piece of equipment containing asbestos was a potential hazard to ironworkers like these from the 1940s onward.
Whenever asbestos is disturbed, then the fibers can break free and rise into the air. Then they can be inhaled or ingested by ironworkers and will get inside the body. Due to their shape, the body can’t easily get rid of them, and they will begin to corrupt the cells around the lungs, stomach, and heart. This will eventually cause mesothelioma or other asbestos-related diseases.
In addition to the risks of asbestos exposure from structural steel and other materials and equipment, ironworkers between the years 1940 and 1990 were at risk of coming into contact with the carcinogenic mineral simply by showing up at the jobsite.
Even if the steel contained no asbestos, the carcinogenic mineral was often a part of concurrent work performed by other trades. For example, electrical systems were usually packed with asbestos and it was not uncommon for electricians to follow close on the heels of ironworkers—as one section of a project’s skeleton was being installed, electricians might be sequencing in a nearby corner of the site.
If a project were tightly sequenced, it could mean ironworkers would find themselves sharing site space with not just electricians but also plumbers, bricklayers, painters, and others. In the period between 1940 and 1990, all of those other trades—and more—made use of construction materials and equipment and tools containing asbestos.
So ironworkers might find themselves working in close proximity to welders who are welding welds made with asbestos, or working with electricians who were installing wiring just a few yards away. This proximity meant that the asbestos each group was releasing was all mixing together, or an ironworker could be breathing in asbestos from another job that happened days ago.
Ironworkers between 1940 and 1990 wore gloves and other pieces of clothing that contained asbestos. The asbestos was incorporated to make those articles of personal protective equipment more durable and protect better against heat.
While the gloves were designed to be, and were, very durable in the face of all the ironworkers put them through, eventually they had to break down. When they did get a rip or a tear, the asbestos inside the gloves would be released and would have been inhaled or ingested by the ironworker.
Then, ten to 50 years or more later, the asbestos fibers that never came back out of those ironworkers’ lungs or intestines might produce mesothelioma, asbestos lung cancer, asbestosis, or other asbestos-related conditions.
Getting exposed to asbestos and then developing mesothelioma, asbestos lung cancer, asbestosis, or other asbestos-related disease can be a real shocker and can derail your entire life. While you can fight against these diseases, you might find yourself wondering where the money for that will come from.
Money to compensate you for the costs of treatment, lost wages, and other damages may be available to you if you can bring a lawsuit against the companies that exposed you in the first place. Most lawsuits will want to settle out of court, which can get you a generous settlement offer as well.
There also is a special system set up to compensate ironworkers when the target of a potential lawsuit can’t be taken to court at all because that would-be defendant filed for bankruptcy protection. These ‘Asbestos Trusts’ are designed to get your the compensation you deserve, if you can forge a link between your asbestos exposure and the company. You don't have to do this alone, contact our office today.
