Posts Tagged ‘Manufacturing Industry’
Working with steel
Before asbestos was found to have such dangerous repercussions to humans being exposed to it, the material was used by many industries and with many different applications. Asbestos can lead to many asbestos related illnesses as well as the rare form of cancer mesothelioma. Asbestos has many desirable qualities in many different applications as well as asbestos having the ability to be manufactured and refined into any number of products. Mesothelioma, the rare form of cancer caused by asbestos, has a long incubation period and can lay dormant for decades before a host has visible symptoms. This is one reason why asbestos was able to gain such wide popularity of use before realizing it’s deadly affect on human beings. The steel manufacturing industry worked very closely with asbestos due to it’s amazing heat resistance properties. Asbestos is a very good insulator and served in many steel manufacturing and refining plants to protect workers from dangerous levels of heat exposure. In fact, asbestos probably made working in the sweltering heat of the steel mills tolerable. Asbestos was also spun into thread and used in different clothing applications throughout the steel industry. Due to its fire resistance it might have saved many a life, although it still exposed people to asbestos, possibly causing other illnesses or mesothelioma. Luckily now we have newer materials that are not toxic to our bodies as mesothelioma is, yet still give us the same useful properties that asbestos is known for.
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Chemical Production
Asbestos is a naturally occurring material that has a great many features to it that make it an extremely useful material in many different facets. The problem with asbestos is that it can be extremely harmful to humans due to some of it’s microscopic features. Chemical manufacturing plants have used asbestos in many different applications from products they produce to products that are used for production of chemicals. Asbestos has a natural resistance to fire and heat as well as being resistant to many different chemicals. These desirable properties have lead to asbestos being used throughout the chemical manufacturing industry. The down side is that asbestos causes many respiratory and other illnesses in people. Asbestos also causes a rare and deadly form of cancer; mesothelioma. Chemical plants have used asbestos as insulation for boilers, around ovens and pipes, extruders, driers, and even pumps. Although direct contact with the asbestos in these forms is not that common, these items can still pose a dangerous threat. Most chemical plants high exposure risk to asbestos items tend to be counter tops coated with an asbestos related lining, other coating materials, and protective garments. Since asbestos can be woven into a thread and thus have garments made from it’s threads, it was used as protective clothing until it was realized that the exposure to the asbestos in the fibers probably did more harm than good. It is important that when working in a chemical manufacturing facility that areas with the risk of asbestos exposure be clearly marked and all proper precautions be taken if one must venture into such an area. When it comes to asbestos and protecting yourself from exposure in any capacity, one can never be too safe.
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