Asbestos products were used in the ironworks and metal works industry for much of the 1900s. Before strict safety measures were enacted in the 1980s, ironworkers and related workers did their difficult work in places that were rife with asbestos exposure.
The major reason ironworkers were exposed to asbestos so often was that the process of working with iron and other metals involves temperatures up to 3000 degrees F. Asbestos was often made into the factory machinery that ironworkers used.
Lagging full of asbestos was wrapped around pipes, furnaces, ovens, tanks, rolling mills, cranes, boilers, and generators to prevent fires. Asbestos also was used to make protective clothing for workers, such as mitts, aprons, coats, and pants.
It also is thought that ironworkers who worked in the shipbuilding industry and around construction sites also had higher exposure to asbestos because the toxin was mixed with thousands of construction products.
Doctors were aware of the connection between asbestos and mesothelioma since the 1930s, but ironworkers were seldom warned of the dangers. Family members of ironworkers also were at risk because the workers brought home asbestos fibers on their clothes, which could be inhaled by spouses and children.
There are many jobs in metal works, including ironwork, that had high asbestos exposure dangers. Some metalworkers were employed in large factories, and others did nobs in smaller shops or construction sites. Some of the metalworkers most exposed to asbestos were:
Because of the high use of asbestos in ironworks and other metalworks occupations, there have been many in the industry affected by mesothelioma. They have filed many lawsuits to pay for their medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
At least 60 trusts with $36 billion in assets have been established to pay mesothelioma victims. One example is from 2010 involving a former steel mill worker. His family was awarded $2 million after he died from mesothelioma. The company that exposed him to asbestos was Oglebay Norton, which made asbestos-containing products for the steel mill where he worked. That family also settled with two dozen other companies for an undisclosed sum.
Oglebay Norton is just one US metal works factory that was contaminated with asbestos. There are many others in virtually every US state.
Some of the companies that have been the subject of litigation in the ironworks and metalworks industries are:
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