Masonry Workers

Many people believe that asbestos exposure is no longer a risk, but unfortunately this is not true. The risk of asbestos-related disease is low for the general public, but some groups of workers are still at risk of exposure to asbestos. Generally, those most at risk of heavy asbestos exposure in the past are people who worked in construction, maintenance or custodial trades, and in shipyards. This is because of the heavy use of asbestos in the construction and shipyard industries between the 1940s and 1980s.

The masonry profession, which involves building structures made from stone, is one of those professions that had an increased risk of asbestos exposure during the decades of asbestos use. Masonry workers do not generally have a high risk of asbestos exposure any longer, but those who are working in older homes and commercial, public, or industrial buildings should take note that these buildings may contain asbestos, and precautions should be taken.

People working in masonry prior to the 1980s may have been exposed to asbestos in the course of a normal workday if they were not in the habit of using protective safety equipment to prevent exposure. For masonry workers, asbestos exposure risks can come from working with older heat-resistant bricks, cement, and similar manufactured products. Asbestos was often added to such products to improve their heat tolerance and stability.

Asbestos Exposure

While construction products are no longer manufactured using asbestos, masonry workers may still be exposed if they are involved in repair, maintenance, or removal of stonework that contains asbestos. Whether you worked in masonry before the 1980s, when asbestos was in use, or after the 1980s, when its used was discontinued, awareness of the risks of asbestos exposure is an important concern.

One issue of particular concern for masonry workers is that their work often involved cutting, breaking, and sanding bricks and other asbestos-containing products such as cement sheets and blocks. These types of activities are highly likely to produce quantities of asbestos-laden dust, which was likely to be breathed in by anyone not wearing a protective mask. Even those wearing such masks may have been at risk, because the tiniest asbestos fibers - those that are most dangerous to human health - are thousands of times smaller than a human hair, and may have been able to penetrate some dust masks.

Another important issue to be aware of is that many masonry products, such as bricks, cement products, and mortar mixes, contain a type of asbestos known as chrysotile. The common belief among many people has been that chrysotile asbestos is much less dangerous than other types; however the results of some studied have indicated that this is not necessarily the case. Chrysotile asbestos is in fact capable of causing serious diseases, although perhaps at a slightly lower rate than amphibole asbestos.

In addition some deposits of chrysotile asbestos have been found to be contaminated with other types of asbestos (including amphibole asbestos, commonly believed to be a particularly dangerous kind).

This means you can't discount the risks of asbestos exposure on the basis that your exposure was to chrysotile asbestos. Exposure to any kind of asbestos, even a small amount of exposure, can be dangerous, and if you are working around materials that are suspected to contain asbestos of any kind, protecting your health should be a primary concern.

Masonry Asbestos Uses

Asbestos is a fibrous mineral that has high tensile strength, and is very resistant to chemical and thermal degradation. Prior to the 1980s, asbestos was often added to construction products, to provide strength, stability, and thermal insulation to the materials. This was true of both bricks and mortar mixes.

Asbestos was added to these products to provide increased thermal stability in locations where extreme heat was a risk. Industrial structures subjected to high heats can reach temperatures of up to 3,200 degrees Fahrenheit. Under these circumstances most bricks and mortars can quickly degrade or even explode. Heat-resistant "fire-bricks" that contained asbestos were often used in industrial structures, and these were also used in residential fireplaces.

This means that masonry workers involved in building construction weren't the only ones who might have been exposed to asbestos. Masonry workers involved in the construction of structures such as furnaces, kilns, and industrial or commercial ovens may also be at risk of developing asbestos-related diseases.

What Masonry Workers Should Know

Exposure to asbestos is the sole known cause of mesothelioma and asbestosis (which are commonly referred to as asbestos-related diseases for this reason). Both of these are extremely debilitating diseases that are eventually fatal. However, while some people may be able to live with asbestosis for many years, mesothelioma is a highly aggressive type of cancer that kills around fifty percent of its victims within two years or less.

However, asbestos-related diseases have very long latency periods. Mesothelioma in particular may take between three and five decades to present noticeable symptoms. This means that masonry workers who were exposed prior to the 1980s (by which time most uses of asbestos were discontinued) may appear healthy yet still be at risk of developing this type of cancer.

Asbestos exposure is still a risk for some construction workers due to the widespread use of asbestos in the twentieth century. If there is any chance you may be exposed to asbestos in the course of your work, protecting yourself from inhaling dust is important. This means using a respirator, wearing protective clothing, and if necessary, monitoring for signs of airborne asbestos contamination.

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