Electrical Engineers
Electrical engineers work on any product that involves the use of electricity. This includes the manufacturing of electrical equipment for communication systems, medicine and even everyday appliances. The design and installation of wiring is a significant component of electrical engineering, in both homes and commercial buildings, as well as in automobiles and aircraft.
To be successful in electrical engineering, any worker must pursue a college education. Many top universities offer electrical engineering programs. Pre-university education and continuing education and professional certification can be ongoing throughout an electrical engineer's career. Many of these opportunities are guided and even run by the IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Exposure Risks
As there are countless products that have been designed by electrical engineers, most of them included asbestos in their electrical wiring up until regulations were enforced in the middle part of the 1970s. Industrial brake pads used asbestos, but it has also been used in hairdryers and in heat-resistant pads in kitchens. Wiring in homes built up until the 1980s and commercial buildings up until 1990 may still have this asbestos installation.
Before asbestos was regulated, electrical engineers were often in contact with it. Many in fact were in constant contact with the fibrous material. Whether they were working on home or commercial wiring, appliances, and in boiler rooms or installing equipment, workers were exposed to asbestos in and on products. They unknowingly breathed in fibers that were constantly shed into the air. Electrical engineers are still at risk in old buildings and in places where strict regulations are not followed.
Dangers at Work
It is a given that most jobs come with some risk of work-related injuries. Still, in today's society, we have come to expect that on-the-job dangers will be minimized, risks will be clearly explained, and companies will make every effort to maintain a safe workplace. In terms of asbestos exposure, however, this was not always the case, and even in recent history people were subjected to conditions that jeopardized their well-being.
Asbestos and Its Health Effects
There are two major categories of asbestos. The most frequently utilized was "white" asbestos, or serpentine asbestos. It is a relatively soft variety that is usually not linked to asbestos cancer or mesothelioma. However, when inhaled, serpentine fibers can cause irritation to the inner surfaces of the lungs. Asbestosis may then be the result when abrasions build up in the lungs.
Amphibole asbestos is the second category and is considered deadlier. Being exposed to amphibole asbestos is the primary cause of pleural mesothelioma, an unusual and frequently deadly cancer of the mesothelium (the lining between the lungs and the pleural cavity). Less common forms of mesothelioma include pericardial and peritoneal mesothelioma, which are also caused by being exposed to amphibole asbestos.
Why Asbestos Was Used
Asbestos was generally utilized to safeguard people's lives. Serpentine asbestos is one of the most effective insulators known when it comes to combustion and heat and has been used for this purpose for centuries. In addition, the amphibole varieties had other useful qualities. For instance, amosite, sometimes called "brown" asbestos, has a high iron content, making it impervious to caustic chemicals. "Blue" asbestos, or crocidolite, was often utilized on electrical equipment because of its resistance to electricity. By combining different kinds of fibers, many different ACMs (asbestos-containing materials) could be made that protected people against fire, heat, electrocution and caustic chemicals.
Asbestos did not present a health risk so long as it remained solid. However, as ACMs aged, they were prone to becoming friable, or able to be reduced to powder by hand pressure alone. Friable asbestos is a problem since in this form the particles can be readily released in the air, where they can cause health problems after they are inhaled or ingested. Unfortunately, it wasn't just electrical engineers who were at risk; secondary exposure frequently happened when workers carried asbestos particles home on their skin, in their hair, or on their clothing.
The Hidden Hazard of Asbestos
One of the insidious aspects of exposure to asbestos is the associated illnesses may take many, many years to develop - often long after the worker has left the employer. When a former electrical engineer begins exhibiting symptoms such as pain in the chest or abdomen, dyspnea (i.e., shortness of breath) and a chronic cough, his or her physician might not at first identify asbestos exposure as a cause, leading to a delay in diagnosis and treatment. New ways to combat mesothelioma are being developed, and early detection gives the patient and his or her doctor the best chance to beat the once deathly disease. Accordingly, it is extremely important for men and women who worked as an electrical engineer, as well as those who resided with them, to tell their doctors about the chance of exposure to asbestos. Usually, mesothelioma survival rate is low, yet early diagnosis and utilizing treatments like mesothelioma radiation can improve the prognosis for this disease.
Sources
Bowker, Michael. Fatal Deception: The Untold Story of Asbestos (New York: Touchstone, 2003)
Bureau of Labor Statistics - Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Engineers
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, South Dakota State University - What Do Electrical Engineers Do?
http://www.engineering.sdstate.edu/~eeweb/whatdo.htm
University of Wisconsin - Asbestos Containing Material (ACM) - Laboratories and Shops
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/EHSRM/ASB/acmimages3.html
University of Wisconsin - Asbestos Disposal
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/EHSRM/HAZEXCEPTIONS/a.html
