Are You an Auto Mechanic and a Current or Former Smoker? Know Your Risks.
Auto Mechanics and Asbestos Exposure
The risk to auto mechanics of exposure to asbestos has been well documented. Vehicle components such as brake linings, clutch facings, and gaskets in models older than 1990 almost certainly contain asbestos, and manufacturers were still selling asbestos brakes as late as the 2000s. Routine maintenance on these vehicles, involving brake and clutch inspection, cleaning, and repair often releases asbestos fibers into the air, especially when compressed air or dry brushes and rags are used to clean off the dust that has accumulated during years of use. Such cleaning methods blow the asbestos-containing dust up into the surrounding environment, where it is breathed in by anyone standing or working close by. So if you worked in an automotive garage or repair facility but weren’t working directly with brakes, clutches or gaskets, you may still have been exposed to asbestos dust from them.
Asbestos fibers can hang in the air for days, weeks, and sometimes months, and even those who don’t work directly with the contaminated products are at risk of breathing in the airborne fibers, which can then become embedded in the tissue of the lungs. This is especially true in the harsh New England climate where doors and windows are rarely left open in the winter to allow for air circulation.
Although the use of asbestos in automotive friction and gasket products has decreased, these products are a substantial source of potential exposure even today. As a result, auto mechanics, automotive technicians, and at-home DIY mechanics and tinkerers, who work on brakes and clutches are considered to be at increased risk for developing lung cancer and mesothelioma due to asbestos. We urge anyone working around these types of friction products to remain vigilant about their lung health.
Smoking + Asbestos Exposure Increases Your Risk of Lung Cancer
We all know that smoking is the greatest risk factor for lung cancer. But, according to the National Cancer Institute, the combination of smoking and asbestos exposure exponentially increases your risk of developing lung cancer. The synergistic effect of smoking plus asbestos exposure puts auto mechanics who also smoke(d) at a much higher risk for developing lung cancer than the individual risk factors added together. If you’ve been diagnosed with lung cancer, whether due to smoking, asbestos exposure, or both, we urge you to stop smoking right away. If you need help to quit, the American Lung Association has many available resources.
I’m an Auto Mechanic, How Can I Protect Myself?
When you remove a brake disk, drum, clutch cover, or wheel from a vehicle you can see the dust that has collected, but it’s virtually impossible to tell just by looking if that dust contains asbestos. If you’re working on a newer vehicle OSHA recommends that you consult the manufacturer, the parts retailers, and packaging information, to determine whether or not your brake or clutch components contain asbestos. However, that information might not be readily available for older vehicles. As a best practice, OSHA recommends that mechanics should assume that all brakes have asbestos-type shoes. Although home mechanics are not required to follow OSHA regulations, if you are a DIY-er, we encourage you to take your brake and clutch jobs to a professional.
Can I Get Financial Compensation for My Lung Cancer?
Many people, especially those who are or were smokers, don’t consider that the onset of their lung cancer could have been caused or exacerbated by asbestos exposure. If you worked with automotive friction or gasket products at any point in your job history, we encourage you to call us to help you determine if your lung cancer was caused by exposure to asbestos. You might be entitled to financial compensation.
Manufacturers of asbestos-containing products that knowingly exposed workers to this harmful material should be held accountable, as should tobacco companies. We have helped hundreds of individuals and families obtain justice for their injuries, regularly obtaining settlements and verdicts in the millions.
Shepard O’Donnell is currently accepting cases for people living with lung cancer due to smoking and asbestos exposure that took place mainly in Massachusetts.
Case Spotlight: The Auto Mechanic’s Wife
When someone is diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease such as mesothelioma or lung cancer, they are often asked where and how they were exposed to asbestos. For people who did not work in asbestos-related industries or trades, it can be difficult to determine how they were exposed. This is often the case with women who have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease and were either housewives or worked in fields that did not have obvious exposures to asbestos-containing products.
When determining where a person (who had little or no direct exposure to asbestos) may have encountered asbestos fibers, attorneys often look to family members who lived with the individual for significant periods of time. Husbands and fathers of the sick individual often worked in trades that involved frequent contact with asbestos-containing products. Asbestos fibers from these products were then brought home on clothing and into the family home and car. Anyone washing the work clothing of individuals who frequently worked with asbestos-containing products was at an increased risk of developing an asbestos-related disease.
Our firm recently represented the family of a woman who never worked directly with any asbestos-containing products, and did not work in any commercial or industrial locations where asbestos products were present. In trying to determine how she may have been exposed, the occupations of her family members were explored. Her husband had worked for a number of years as a truck driver and mechanic and was responsible for performing brake and clutch jobs on the trucks he drove. She was responsible for washing the clothes he wore to work every day, clothes that transported asbestos fibers home and into her lungs.
Brake linings, clutch facings, and a variety of gaskets on automobiles contained asbestos until very recently. Brake linings were one of the last products to have asbestos removed from them, and asbestos-containing brake linings were sold as recently as 2001. When old brake linings and clutch facings were removed and replaced, the brake or clutch was often cleaned out with an air hose or cloth rag. The cleaning created a significant amount of dust, which the worker would breathe in and collect in his hair and on his clothing.
Many people want to ask the obvious question: how is it that the wife or other family member of the worker became sick and not the worker himself? The answer is that not everyone who is exposed to asbestos will develop an asbestos-related disease. Some people work directly with asbestos products every day for years and never get sick, while others develop mesothelioma with only limited exposure to asbestos. Additionally, the latency period for developing asbestos-related disease ranges from approximately 20 to 50 years. This means that most people who develop asbestos-related diseases don’t show any symptoms until decades after they were exposed.
If you or someone you know has an asbestos-related disease and did not work in industries that used asbestos containing products, it’s important to find a firm with extensive experience in investigating such scenarios. Shepard Law has extensive experience reviewing and gathering evidence to help determine the source of asbestos exposure for victims such as these. This experience is crucial because proper documentation and investigation strengthens a client’s case in the legal system. As always, if you suffer from an asbestos-related disease and believe that you have a case, contact us for a confidential consultation.