Road Machine Operators

Asbestos-related disease such as asbestosis or mesothelioma most often occur in people who are regularly exposed to higher concentrations of asbestos, either at work or by some other means.

Generally, those most at risk of heavy asbestos exposure are people working in construction, maintenance or custodial trades, and in shipyards, due to the heavy use of asbestos products in the construction and shipyard industries between the 1940s and 1980s.

However, there are some other types of workers that may not seem to be at risk of asbestos exposure, but who do have a higher-than-normal risk. One such occupational group is road machine operators, who may be exposed to asbestos one of two main ways.

Asbestos Exposure

Asbestos and asbestos-like minerals are known to contaminate gravel pits in many locations in the country. The contaminated gravel may be spread along roads and in car parks and other locations, thus presenting a health hazard to road machine operators, and even to people who use the road or space where the gravel is spread.

The issue of asbestos-contaminated gravel was a major problem in California in 2005, when the state recommended that country roads in California be paved over or coated with tar, to prevent the release of asbestos dust.

These recommendations were made because asbestos detectors were able to detect high levels of airborne asbestos almost two hundred feet away from the road, even when dust was not visible to the naked eye. This showed that there was a significant asbestos hazard on roads laid with asbestos-contaminated gravel. In fact, a news release indicated that people who were regularly within 190 feet of such roads had an elevated cancer risk.

More recently, in late March of 2008 around one hundred miles of road in Dunn County, North Dakota were found to be contaminated with an asbestos-like substance called erionite. This substance has been correlated to increased risk of mesothelioma cancer in some studies.

Road machine operators are at considerable risk of exposure when working in locations that are laid with contaminated gravel, simply because the machines they use can kick up an enormous amount of asbestos dust, even if that dust isn't visible to the naked eye.

Road Machine Asbestos Uses

Asbestos dust may contaminate gravel that is spread on roads, car parks, and other public spaces, thus presenting one risk of asbestos exposure for road machine operators.

Another exposure risk, however, lies in the fact that older road machines and other heavy equipment may contain moving parts that actually contain asbestos. The substance was heavily used in equipment and machinery with moving parts, because these parts can generate high heat and friction, leading to possible fire risk. The use of asbestos in such machinery reduced the fire risk because asbestos does not conduct heat and is highly fire resistant.

Unlike many types of workers that once had exposure risks, the risks to road machine operators are still present, because of the use of asbestos-contaminated gravel. Anyone who is currently a road machine operator should be aware that the risk exists, and should take appropriate safety precautions at all times, to prevent exposure to asbestos and asbestos-like substances such as erionite.

What Road Machine Operators Should Know

Asbestos presents a health hazard because tiny fibers that are inhaled into the lungs cannot be removed from the body effectively. These fibers are so tiny they cannot be seen with the naked eye - they are thousands of times thinner than a human hair. Despite their microscopic size, they have the potential to cause enormous harm.

Once inhaled, asbestos fibers can be transported to the lungs where they may become embedded in sensitive lung tissue. Heavy or long-term exposure to asbestos can cause chronic irritation, inflammation, and the eventual development of scar tissue. This scar tissue causes a disease known as asbestosis, which is characterized by reduced lung function, and pain and difficulty breathing.

While asbestosis can be a very debilitating disease, it is not usually immediately fatal. Mesothelioma, on the other hand, is a serious and deadly type of lung cancer that often kills its victims within two years of diagnosis. This disease can be caused by a relatively small amount of asbestos exposure.

One particular danger of mesothelioma is that it can take between three and five decades to present noticeable symptoms. This makes it a particularly dangerous disease for road machine operators and other types of workers who may still be at risk of asbestos exposure in some circumstances.

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