Asbestos Exposure
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More than 9 million workers are estimated to be at risk of asbestosis. People exposed to asbestos include workers in mining, milling, manufacturing of asbestos and its products and those who installed asbestos products. People who installed asbestos products include pipe fitters, boilermakers, ship-builders and construction workers.
Asbestos was one sprayed on steel girders of building to prevent them from buckling in a fire. It also was used in fire-smothering blankets and safety clothing, as filler for plastic materials, in brake and clutch linings and in cement and some floor tiles.
The problem with asbestos is that its particles flake off. When disturbed during routine maintenance work, the tiny fibers easily release from the surface. These loose fibers may stay airborne for some time. The vast majority of the people who work in or go into buildings containing friable asbestos have a very small risk of contracting respiratory illness from the fibers, but the safe level of asbestos exposure is uncertain.
You don’t need to handle the material yourself to be exposed to the fibers. Electricians, painters and others who worked next to the person handling asbestos are at risk, as are people who handle and wash the clothes of someone who works with or near it.