Blacksmiths - Mesothelioma Risks

Blacksmiths engage in a centuries old occupation, heating and shaping iron and metal into useful and ornamental items. These days, when most metal work is done by machine, a skilled blacksmith is most often an artisan or artist, working with metal and fire. Because blacksmiths work with hot metal and fire, it's not surprising that asbestos would be used in various ways in their work. Blacksmiths, particularly those who worked as blacksmiths in the years before the 1980s, were at risk of being exposed to asbestos in a number of different ways.

One of the biggest occupational dangers to blacksmiths often laid in the clothing and equipment that was meant to protect them from burns and the heat from the forge. Among the places that asbestos was often used - and may still be used in older forges and buildings - are protective flooring and tiles on the walls and floors, asbestos plates beneath and behind the forge and asbestos insulation around and on top of the furnaces and forge.

Asbestos has historically been used for insulation and fireproofing since early Roman days. Asbestos is a mineral, but when it is broken and pulverized, it breaks into long, fine fibers that can be woven like fabric or mixed with other substances like paint, cement and cellulose or wood fibers. Mixed with other things or woven, it retains its properties to insulate and resist fire, making it an ideal material to use in making protective equipment, barrier walls and protective clothing.

Asbestos was also used in other ways in blacksmith's workshops as well. Asbestos insulation protected the wall behind the forge from the heat and prevented fires. The floor of the workshop, especially the floor around the forge and the work area, was protected by asbestos tiles or asbestos sheets, also to prevent fires and burns to the floor. The forge itself was also often protected by asbestos insulation to hold the heat in the forge and to keep the room cooler.

Blacksmiths may have worn asbestos gloves, asbestos aprons and asbestos face masks to protect themselves from burns while working with hot metals and from sparks flying from the forge or from the metal being worked. Asbestos cloth is far lighter in weight than the more traditional leather used for protective aprons and provides better protection from the heat and fire.

Unfortunately, those fine, nearly indestructible asbestos fibers are also a serious health hazard. When protective clothing like asbestos aprons and gloves start to wear, tiny fibers of asbestos can break off the fabric and become airborne as lint or dust. The asbestos fibers can be inhaled by anyone in the area, most especially the person wearing the protective clothing. Inhaled and ingested asbestos fibers can cause serious diseases, not only in those who work closely around asbestos, but in their family and household members as well.

Asbestos has been proven to cause malignant mesothelioma, a rare aggressive cancer that affects the lining of tissue around the lungs, heart and abdominal cavity. The most common form of mesothelioma, pleural mesothelioma, thickens the very thin layer of tissue around the lungs, making it impossible for the lungs to expand and take in air. Less common but just as deadly are pericardial mesothelioma, which affects the lining around the heart, and peritoneal mesothelioma, which affects the lining of the abdominal cavity.

Other asbestos-related diseases include lung cancer, which occurs at a significantly higher rate in those who have been exposed to asbestos than it does in the general population, as well as cancer of the stomach, colon and esophagus. Asbestos also causes non-cancerous conditions, including asbestosis, a progressive scarring of the lungs.

Nearly all of the diseases caused by asbestos have a long latency period. Symptoms of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases may not become obvious for decades after the exposure to asbestos. Many people who worked with and around asbestos in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s are only now being diagnosed with mesothelioma.

Because of pure negligence, many of the companies who profited from asbestos have been successfully sued for the damage caused by asbestos. Juries around the country have awarded millions of dollars to plaintiffs who developed mesothelioma or lung cancer after inhaling asbestos in the workplace or in public buildings.

If you or someone you know worked as a blacksmith, you may have been exposed to asbestos and are at risk of developing mesothelioma. You should make your doctor aware of your possible asbestos exposure and be aware of the symptoms of mesothelioma, lung cancer and other asbestos-related diseases. If you have been diagnosed with any asbestos-related disease, you should also consult a mesothelioma lawyer skilled in asbestos litigation to find out about your right to compensation for the damages caused by asbestos. For more information, please fill out the request form on this page to receive a free informational packet.