Who Faces Asbestos Exposure? High-Risk Occupations in Western NY

First and foremost, anybody who’s working with an asbestos-containing product is going to be at risk. Even if you can’t see them, you’re being exposed. So, we talk about insulators, millwright, or pipe fitters. These are people who work on equipment like pumps and valves. When you go into these factories, this equipment is covered with asbestos insulation. Has to be ripped off, torn off, creates visible dust that they’re exposed to. Then when you take these equipment apart, you’re going to have gaskets in there that are made out of asbestos. And they’re about 80% by weight asbestos. And they get baked on like a cookie on a cookie sheet. And you got to scrape them off. They got to peel it all off. And again, there’s more exposure. So if you’re doing that day in and day out, you’re having a lot of exposure to asbestos.