Sheet Metal Workers

Even though asbestos is no longer added to most of the three thousand or more products that once contained it, some groups of people are still at risk of exposure. These include some construction workers, and many types of maintenance and custodial workers. People who work in or around building constructed using asbestos-containing materials are at risk particularly if they're not aware of the presence of asbestos, as they're unlikely to take the needed precautions if they don't know about the risk.

Sheet metal workers are one occupational group that were and still are at risk of asbestos exposure. The nature of their work means they may come in contact with asbestos in insulation and sheet metal, among other products.

Asbestos Exposure

Around two thirds of sheet metal workers are employed in the construction industry, with most of the remaining third working in manufacturing industries. Wherever they are employed, their work primarily involves measuring and cutting sheet metal for the purposes of making and installing ventilation ducts for heating and air-conditioning systems. They may also create other items from metal, including guttering, siding, and roofing materials. Sheet metal workers may also work with fiberglass and plasticized materials.

Sheet metal workers came into contact with asbestos in a variety of different ways. One exposure possibility was for sheet metal workers who installed aluminum ductwork in crawlspaces in residential and commercial buildings. Those spaces often contained asbestos, particularly in insulation. The small spaces where the workers were doing their jobs were often poorly ventilated, making it even more likely that asbestos fibers might be inhaled.

One study of sheet metal workers in the United States and Canada showed that of the 1,300 workers surveyed, more than half had abnormal chest x-rays that indicated damage that might be attributable to asbestos exposure. The study also found that lung damage worsened the longer the workers were employed as sheet metal workers.

Another study tracked 122 sheet metal workers over ten years. This study showed a definite connection between asbestos exposure and lung damage. The study also indicated that a history of shipyard work was also a significant risk factor for sheet metal workers.

Sheet Metal Asbestos Uses

Certain physical properties of asbestos, including high tensile strength, extreme fire resistance, and resistance to physical and chemical degradation, made it a highly desirable substance for many industrial and commercial purposes. Asbestos, when added to metals, concretes, plastics, and other substances, could make those substances more efficient insulators, more fire-proof, and more resistant to very high heats.

It is for these reasons that asbestos was added to sheet metal. The addition of asbestos could make metals used for insulation, ventilation, and heat conduction more efficient and, ironically, safer due to the high fire resistance of asbestos.

Measuring, shaping, and cutting asbestos-containing materials put sheet metal workers at high risk of exposure, because any of these types of activities can create and disperse asbestos dust containing fibers small enough to be inhaled into the lungs.

What Sheet Metal Workers Should Know

Two of the most well-known asbestos-related diseases are asbestosis and mesothelioma. Both of these are known to develop only as a result of asbestos exposure.

Asbestosis is a chronic lung condition that occurs in workers who experience prolonged heavy exposure to inhalable asbestos. Asbestos fibers, when inhaled, can lodge deep in delicate lung tissue. Over time the fibers cause chronic inflammation and irritation, eventually leading to the development of scar tissue. This scar tissue isn't able to properly absorb oxygen as healthy lung tissue can. People with asbestosis experience considerable pain when breathing and have reduced lung function.

Mesothelioma is a very different type of disease, although it too develops in the lungs. Mesothelioma is a type of cancer, and it is believed that it can develop after exposure to very small amounts of inhalable asbestos fibers. Medical experts don't understand exactly how asbestos fibers cause mesothelioma. What is known, however, is that asbestos cancers are very resistant to treatment, and are also difficult to diagnose. These two factors make mesothelioma a very deadly disease, with a mortality rate of virtually 100%.

Both diseases are difficult to diagnose and treat, because they have long latency periods, and non-specific symptoms. Even worse, by the time the first symptoms of mesothelioma appear, the disease may have already advanced too far to be treatable at all. Early detection is the only defense against these diseases, so it is important for sheet metal workers and other at-risk occupational groups to be aware that the risk of past or present asbestos exposure may be present.

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