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Asbestos | Asbestos Industry
Occupations > Plumbers
History of the Plumbing Trade
Plumbing is a subset of a larger group of construction trades that also includes pipelaying, pipefitting, and steamfitting. Plumbers are responsible for installing, maintaining and repairing water, waste and gas pipe systems on residential and/or small commercial properties. Pipefitters work primarily on large commercial sites and steamfitters specialize in pipes that transport highly pressurized substances.
Though the history of plumbing dates back to Ancient Times, it wasn't until the mid-1800's that somewhat effective plumbing systems were developed and employed in the United States. Early pipes were made of wood until the nineteenth century, when a change was made to iron. Indoor plumbing made its first known stateside appearance in luxury hotels, and Boston's Tremont Hotel led the way in 1829. Five years later, pioneering architect Isaiah Rogers brought an improvement to his initial design at New York's Astor House.
Unfortunately, until more sanitary sewer systems were constructed in the 1840's, many people in the USA thought bathing to be a health hazard. Ever the trendsetter, Benjamin Franklin is said to have imported America's first bathtub. The first of many plumbing companies still in business today appeared in the 1890's with businesses such as American Radiator (which then became American Standard), The Kohler Company, and Crane Corporation. And from the late 1920's to the early 1950's, the plumbing trade really began to flourish, as sales of plumbing supplies increased by a staggering 367 percent.
Plumbers are at Risk for Asbestos Exposure on the Job
For about forty years, from the 1940's to the 1980's, plumbers were frequently exposed to asbestos on the job because asbestos products were widely used as insulation or to prevent condensation on boilers, tanks, ducts, pipes and other plumbing systems. Asbestos-containing materials (ACM) such as pipe block, pipe coating, cement insulation, and gaskets were regularly utilized in plumbing projects. Since plumbers often worked in close, cramped spaces without protective gear, they often inhaled asbestos particles as they cut asbestos paper, sawed, soldered and joined pipes or sanded down block insulation, resulting in the release of tiny and sometimes lethal airborne asbestos fibers. Sadly, this kind of toxic inhalation often results in asbestos-related lung diseases such as asbestosis, mesothelioma and lung cancer.
Plumbers Use a Variety of Asbestos Products
There are a number of standard products that plumbers use on a routine basis. Many of these products contained asbestos which increased their risk of exposure to asbestos dust and on the job for developing pleural mesothelioma later on in life. Provided below is a representative cross-section of products that plumbers typically used that may have contained asbestos.
Aircell - corrugated asbestos paper, looks comparably like gray cardboard (Trade names: Asbestocel and Carcycel, among others). This product is usually high in concentration, anywhere between 50 - 90% asbestos. It was also wrapped around air supply ducts.
Block Insulation - a combination of asbestos with other binders that was then hardened to create blocks for insulation. The outside surface was commonly covered with cloth made from canvas or tar paper, but it was occasionally used without any covering at all.
The following are types of block insulation commonly used by plumbers:
- Amosite Sheeting: amosite (a type of asbestos) that was processed and covered with felt that was mainly used for pipe insulation.
- Carbonate of Magnesia: asbestos combined with magnesium carbonate.
- Diatomaceous Earth with Asbestos Fiber: a combination of diatomaceous silica (the remains of microscopic diatoms) and asbestos fiber that could withstand temperatures up to 1900° Fahrenheit.
- Hydrous Calcium Silicate: known as 'Calsil', made primarily of lime and silica but with a small amount of asbestos that was included for mechanical purposes.
- Joint/Elbow Fillers: also called 'insulation cement' or 'insulation mud' made up of asbestos combined with bonding clays. This product was often poured into inaccessible spaces or used to seal pipe joints or elbows.
- Laminated Asbestos Felt: known as 'asbestos sponge felt', made with asbestos and magnesia.
Mesothelioma, Lung Cancer and Asbestosis are Common Diseases Contracted by Plumbers
Frequently, inhalation of asbestos fibers can not only lead to fatal diseases such as mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis but also to non-fatal conditions like pleural plaques, pleural effusion, and pleural thickening. A great deal of time can elapse from the end of one's asbestos exposure to the beginning of an asbestos-related disease. Lung cancer sometimes does not materialize until ten years after a person was exposed to asbestos, and it can take up to fifty years for asbestosis and mesothelioma to appear.
By the mid 70's a more widely known and accepted connection between asbestos exposure and pulmonary diseases such as pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma, asbestosis and asbestos-related lung cancer was becoming apparent. This was particularly applicable to workers who had extensive exposure to asbestos dust and fibers in an occupational setting. As a result, plumbers and at times family members (who received second hand exposure to the asbestos dust from dirty clothes, shoes and hair) developed asbestos-related diseases.
A more-detailed explanation of each of these illnesses is as follows:
Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining around the lungs (and sometimes the lining of the stomach and/or the heart). Since it often takes thirty to fifty years or more for asbestos inhalation to result in disease, this once-rare and severe form of cancer is sadly becoming a more frequent diagnosis for plumbers and other specialized tradespeople. As mesothelioma is only contracted by those who have previously worked with ACM, plumbers who were exposed in the 50's, 60's and 70's are just now finding themselves with the symptoms of occupational lung disease. About 75 percent of the time, mesothelioma occurs in the lining of the lungs (also known as the pleura), but it can also appear in the linings of the abdomen (peritoneum) or heart (pericardium). Loss of appetite, unwanted weight loss, shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, lower back pain, coughing and difficulty swallowing are common symptoms of pleural mesothelioma. The common symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma are loss of appetite and/or weight, weakness, nausea, abdominal pains and abdominal swelling. Regardless of where they occur in the body, cancerous mesothelioma tumors can be extremely aggressive and spread quickly to other areas in the body.
Lung Cancer due to Past Asbestos Exposure
Unlike mesothelioma, lung cancer can develop from exposure to a variety of substances. However, a combination of asbestos exposure and cigarette smoking greatly increases a person's risk of developing lung cancer, by magnitudes of up to 90 percent over non-smokers who have been exposed to asbestos. As with mesothelioma, there can be an extended incubation period, and plumbers sometimes find themselves contracting asbestos-related lung cancer over thirty years after their initial exposure to asbestos. Lung cancer sufferers may sometimes have no easily-discernable symptoms, but more often they will experience shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, discomfort when breathing and/or swallowing, loss of appetite and/or weight, coughing up of mucus and blood, hoarseness and chest pain.
Asbestosis (a respiratory disease)
Also exclusively a result of working with and around asbestos containing materials, asbestosis is the inflammation, cell damage, and scarring of the lungs, resulting in shortness of breath and sometimes even leading to complete respiratory failure as one's lungs are rendered increasingly inefficient. Asbestosis can appear in both lungs and usually will spread throughout each. It usually takes between five to ten years for symptoms of asbestosis to appear following asbestos exposure. More than half of asbestosis sufferers also develop pleural plaques (scarring of the lung's lining), and it is common for people with asbestosis to go on to contract lung cancer or mesothelioma.
