Here at Simmons Hanly Conroy, we have helped over 1,000 steelworkers file mesothelioma lawsuits who were exposed to asbestos while working in steel mills around the country.
Even without the dangers of asbestos exposure, working in a steel mill is fraught with dangers between the molten hot steel and intense heat from various equipment like coke ovens and hot tops. Sadly, one of the ways many steelworkers were exposed to asbestos was through the very clothes that were supposed to protect them from the heat.
Steelworkers wore special heat-resistant clothing. That protective gear was often made from asbestos cloth because of asbestos’s natural heat shielding abilities.
Steelworkers could have also been exposed to asbestos in other ways, through the stoves and furnaces used to heat the metal, boiler equipment, and other building materials used to construct the mills.
Some of the asbestos products used in steel mills include:
- Boilers
- Turbines
- Hot Tops
- Brakes
- Gloves and other Clothing
- Refractories
- Pipe Covering
- Gaskets
- Packing
- Mud
- Coke Ovens
- Masks
- Pumps
- Asbestos Cement Board
- Asbestos Cement Pipe
The asbestos companies who made their asbestos-containing products were often aware of the dangers, but failed to warn their employees working in the steel mills and their families of the dangers of exposure the deadly toxin. As a result, decades later, steelworkers are now being diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma.
Read more about the occupations that pose the biggest risks for asbestos exposure in the workplace.