Asbestos Exposure and Shipbuilders | Risks and Prevention

Asbestos and its Utility 

In ancient times, the Greeks encountered a highly durable substance that had an incredible resistance to heat and fire, and  called it asbestos, meaning “indestructible.” In many ways, asbestos is truly indestructible.

Asbestos is available as a mineral from the earth and typically it is mined in several countries all over the world. It is available in six types –chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, anthophyllite, tremolite, and actinolite.

The main properties of asbestos include heat resistance,fiber strength, friction resistance, abrasion resistance, flexibility, fire resistance, insulation, shape retention, and high tensile strength.

Chrysotile is the most common type of asbestos, but all six types can be found on ships.

The most common type of asbesto is chrysotile, also known as white asbestos. It was an ideal substance to be used in combination with other materials to make more than 3,000 products that are used by a wide variety of industries, including the shipbuilding industry. A product with asbestos in it is known as an asbestos-containing material (ACM).

ACMs were used in roofs, walls, ceilings, floors, piping, and bathrooms of buildings. They were also used in a variety of industrial products ranging from automobile brake linings, gaskets and boiler seals, and insulation for pipes, ducts and appliances. 

It was used in shipbuilding activities extensively.

Asbestos Exposure Risks to People Working in the Shipbuilding Industry

During the 1900s, asbestos was known as the magic mineral, as more than 3,000 products with ACMs in them began to be manufactured and used in all kinds of industries, including shipbuilding. 

Sin embargo, various research studies conducted over the years began to point out the hazardous effects of asbestos on human health, especially those working in asbestos mines, construction, and industries that manufactured and used ACMs. 

This prompted 69 countries to ban asbestos in their country. Other countries like the U.S. resorted to asbestos regulation through various federal and state laws. 

While banning or regulating asbestos use is welcome, its extensive use in ACM products in the 19^° and 20^° century poses a grave risk to people exposed to asbestos and continues to do so because ACMs still are present in buildings, ships, shipyards, and equipmentbuilt or made prior to 1982 and still in use today.

Nature of Asbestos Causing Exposure Risk

The features of asbestos being microscopic and friable are the prime cause of danger to anyone working with asbestos from close quarters. 

ACMs are of two types – friable and non-friable. 

Friable ACMs are those that have asbestos fibers loosely bound and can be easily crumbled by normal hand pressure when they are dry.

Non-friable ACMs are those that have asbestos fibers more tightly bound in a compact manner, posing lesser risk than friable ACMs unless they are disturbed by external stimuli. These can happen because of natural wear and tear and they can turn friable. Non-friable ACMs can also release microscopic fibers and dust when they are disturbed by external pressure like beating, drilling, grinding, cutting, and sanding. 

When asbestos fibers are released into the air as microscopic fibers and dust, they float in the air and people in the vicinity of these fibers can inhale or swallow them, from which deleterious health consequences arise for them.

Latency and Dose-response Phenomena of Asbestos Exposure

The fact that asbestos fibers reside in the body is one dimension of the problems faced by people with exposure to asbestos. The other dimension of the problems deals with the amount of exposure and the time elapsed since the first exposure. 

The people working on all jobs related to shipbuilding and as crew members on ships, including naval staff are subject to what is known as dose-response. The higher the dose the higher is the exposure. Thus, people working throughout their lives on these activities are subject to high dose-response phenomenon, increasing their risk of ARDs manifold as compared to people with other jobs.

Latency: After first exposure, asbestos-related diseases can take 20-50 years to appear.

El latency phenomenon refers to the long time it takes for an ARD to be diagnosed. 

This is because it takes a long time for the scarring of tissues to happen in the lungs or anywhere else in the body as a result of asbestos fibers or dust in the body. Thus, the period between the first exposure to asbestos and the diagnosis is known as the latency period. This could be as high as 50 years in some cases. 

Thus, if crew members on a ship or shipyard workers or naval staff have worked on shipsor engaged in any activity related to ships built prior to 1982, they are at high risk of acquiring ARDs during their lifetime. In fact, many veterans in the U.S. are subject to both latency and dose-response phenomena.

Las personas que trabajaron en estas industrias antes de mediados de la década de 1980 tienen un mayor riesgo de desarrollar enfermedades relacionadas con el asbesto:

Desafortunadamente también lo hacen sus familias.

Protective and Preventive Measures for Asbestos Exposure in the Shipbuilding Industry

After the research studies brought out the sad fact of asbestos as the cause of ARDs, the authorities started regulating the use and disposal of asbestos to protect people working in the shipbuilding industry. 

The measures included replacing the components that had ACMs in them. It was a laborious and expensive process. However, the task is still incomplete and continues to pose a risk of asbestos exposure to people. 

Abatement and Disposal: Replacing asbestos-containing materials on ships

Another measure was the use of alternative material that could provide the same properties as asbestos without the bad effects of asbestos. This too is a work in process. 

One more measure was the setting up of asbestos trusts by recalcitrant companies that used asbestos, without letting the workers know of the bad effects of the mineral. 

The Asbestos Industry: Johns Manville and Asbestos on Ships

A case in point is the one of Johns Manville, a company that manufactured asbestos during the 20^° century. At one time during the war, it diverted all its asbestos manufacturing capacity in the service of the US Navy for its shipbuilding activities to support the war efforts. 

Once the research pointed out the link between asbestos exposure and asbestosis and mesothelioma, it faced several lawsuits and settled them based on court directives or out of court settlements. 

These were seminal lawsuits and the courts’ verdicts against Johns Manville helped establish precedents for victims of asbestos exposure. This also resulted in the formation of the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, which helps victims get compensation.

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Asbestos Exposure and Shipbuilders: Risks and Prevention

The shipbuilding industry in the 19^° and 20^° century was a thriving one made possible by the wonder mineral asbestos. The mineral was easy to mine and convert into usable form to make more than 3,000 products that were used by all kinds of industries as ACMs. 

However, research discovered the effect of asbestos fibers on human health, which caused ARDs that included the cancerous mesothelioma and asbestosis, a non-cancerous ARD.

As mentioned earlier, a large workforce from the shipping industry was exposed to asbestos and this workforce was at the most risk of asbestos exposure.

Spouses, children and other household members may have been exposed to asbestos by a shipbuilder in the family.

Consequently, the families of these people suffered from secondary asbestos exposure, while the family members working in the shipbuilding industry suffered from primary asbestos exposure. It is unfortunate that the younger generation of these family members would be subject to both dose-response and latency phenomena to run the risk of acquiring ARD. 

US Naval Ships Contained a lot of Asbestos Containing Materials

Since the US Navy had employed a huge 4.5m people at the height of World War II, a large number of veterans were affected. The US Navy has taken steps to mitigate the hardships faced by its staff members from the scourge of asbestos exposure. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has devised a policy to review the use of asbestos in los barcos de la Armada, the cost of removing asbestos from Navy ships, compensation programs for asbestos-related disabilities, and selectively replacing asbestos insulation in high-maintenance areas where repairs would be expected during a ship’s next operating cycle.

The families of people affected by asbestos exposure can claim compensation from the companies that were involved in supplying the ACMs used in the shipbuilding industry either through lawsuits or apply for a trust claim.