The Environmental Protection Agency, after studies 20 years ago, found that the process used to regrind older brake block linings allows seven million asbestos fibers to enter one cubic meter of surrounding air. This makes grinding machine operator employment very dangerous. When new linings are ground, about five million asbestos fibers per cubic air meter are released. Inhaling any asbestos fibers or dust has been proven to lead to disease or malignancy, and grinding machine operators usually have long term and frequent exposure at high levels of asbestos exposure.

Asbestos Exposure

Since a grinding machine operator's job is to operate machines that grind metals, they are at risk when shaping metals with asbestos coatings. As they attempt to meet the goal of obtaining specific shapes and dimensions, they must constantly maneuver the metal. If the metal with which they are working contains a coating of asbestos, a significant quantity of asbestos dust is released as the metal is ground, placing the grinding machine operator at high risk of exposure. If the project involves the grinding of auto mechanisms such as brakes, which utilize asbestos in pads or linings, the grinding machine operator's position is even more dangerous.

Grinding Machine Operation Asbestos Uses

Although grinding machine operators do not produce, employ or otherwise depend on asbestos for their livelihood, they come into frequent contact with its toxicity. The very nature of their job requires them to re-engineer brakes, which can legally utilize asbestos. Even attempting to remove asbestos from such equipment before grinding causes asbestos dust to be disturbed and sent into the air.

Since it's usually impossible to remove it all from the metal ahead of time, grinding makes the remnants worse by reducing it to tinier fragments. Grinding machine operators are required to follow government regulations such as wearing a respirator and using a Local Exhaust Ventilation system to remove asbestos dust while grinding. But, numerous employees are not aware of these safety standards. Exhaust fans cannot always suck the fine asbestos dust into their bags, so often workers frequently perform tasks in a haze of white dust. They also may be responsible for sweeping asbestos dust off floors or emptying the vacuum bags filled with asbestos fibers. Obviously, either chore can easily cause the poisonous dust to waft into the air. Once it flies into the ventilation system, it can affect employees throughout the building, or if it is carried outside, it may even affect the community. (There have been documented instances of populations suffering a higher incidence of cancer in areas around asbestos-utilizing industries.)

What Grinding Machine Operators Should Know

Asbestos fibers can remain airborne for unusually lengthy durations, sticking onto surfaces, hair, clothing, shoes and skin, then being carried into the home, where it can affect family members. The fibers are microscope, and therefore, invisible-in addition to being lightweight, flexible and strong. Due to its fire resistance and ability to be woven into cloth, asbestos has been used for centuries as a fire retardant. With its availability as a natural mineral, and its inexpensive versatility, asbestos has been used in over 300 household products. Its properties as an insulator of electricity, sound, chemicals, and heat caused it to be viewed as mandatory in construction, and the first century Greeks who minded it called it the "miracle mineral". Unfortunately, due to its chemical composition, asbestos fibers easily come apart, throwing off minute dust particles. Occasionally, a great deal may appear as dust. Each clump of "dust" can contain thousands of fibers, which can be inhaled or swallowed. After the fibers find their way into the host's lungs or stomach, they usually become embedded, where they remain for up to 4 or 5 decades. Embedded in the tissues, scarring occurs, followed by other responses from the body occur.

In many individuals, these responses include the onset of disease. The disease can be asbestosis (a non-malignant but often fatal disease) or a malignancy such as lung cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, or mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is cancer of the lung membranes and/or linings, and is not noticeable until the victim discovers he or she is short of breath, frequently after exercising. Eventually, the patient becomes winded even without physical exertion, at which point he or she usually sees a doctor, and gets a series of tests. In thousands of instances, they hear a diagnosis of mesothelioma. Sadly, if the disease has begun to spread, surgery will not help, but chemotherapy and radiation may slow it down. Pharmaceutical companies have recently developed drugs specifically for mesothelioma, but even with those and alternative treatments, victims' mortality rate is fairly high, and most patients' survival rate does not normally exceed another 2 years. Therefore, any garage worker (or family member of one ) who experiences unusual physical problems should obtain medical assistance as soon as possible. If the diagnosis is an asbestos-related condition, it is also recommended that the victim consult with a mesothelioma lawyer as well.