Garage Mechanics

Garage mechanics take advantage of a variety of diagnostic tools and procedures to identify the cause of an issue with vehicles ranging from motorcycles to large trucks used for transporting goods over land. Upon diagnosing the problem, garage mechanics take advantage of electronic and hand tools, and when necessary call on welders to fix complex issues. Additionally, garage mechanics provide preventative maintenance services, stock the garages in which they work and provide services to the customers whose vehicles they work on.

Garage mechanics work in a field that requires continual learning. As technology advances, as vehicle systems change - such as an increasing number of vehicle produces making hybrid engines - and as new materials are used, garage mechanics need to ensure that they have all of the current, relevant information.

When it comes to risks that garage mechanics may face, a number of them come from working on the brakes of cars and trucks. This is because a number of brakes that are available on the market contain or once contained asbestos. As of the year 2000, however, the federal government had not issued any blanket warnings about the risks associated with asbestos and working on asbestos-containing vehicle brakes. Since then, an increasing number of garage mechanics have followed the EPA's lead and now wear respirator masks to prevent inhaling asbestos fibers while working on brakes.

On-the-job Dangers

It is accepted that almost all jobs come with some chance of job-related injuries. Still, in modern America, we have come to expect that jobsite hazards will be minimized, risks will be clearly understood, and companies will make every effort to maintain a safe work space. In terms of exposure to asbestos, however, this was not always the case, and even in recent history people were subjected to conditions that had serious, sometimes deadly, consequences.

Asbestos and How It Affects Health

Asbestos is divided into two types. The most highly used was chrysotile (sometimes called "white" asbestos), or serpentine asbestos. Usually not associated with mesothelioma or asbestos cancer, it is a relatively soft form of the mineral. Abrasions on the inner surfaces of the lungs can happen if serpentine particles are breathed in, however. Asbestosis may then be the result when scar tissues build up in the pulmonary system.

The second category is called amphibole asbestos and is considered deadlier. A fairly unusual, but often fatal, disease linked to asbestos called mesothelioma is linked to inhaling asbestos, particularly the amphibole varieties. The pleural form of mesothelioma, which attacks the lining between the lungs and the chest cavity, is the most prevalent. Exposure to amphibole asbestos is also linked to pericardial or peritoneal mesotheliomas, diseases that damage tissue surrounding the heart and stomach, respectively.

The Strengths of Asbestos

Asbestos was, ironically, generally utilized to safeguard people's lives. Serpentine asbestos is one of the best insulators known when it comes to fire and temperature extremes and has been used for this purpose since ancient times. Amphibole forms of asbestos also had other properties that made them useful in industry. Amosite, for instance, has a high iron content, making it impervious to chemical corrosion. "Blue" asbestos, or crocidolite, is very good at insulating against electric current and was generally used whenever high voltage was an issue. ACMs (asbestos-containing materials) that could protect people against flames, heat, electrocution and caustic chemicals could be formed by combining different types of fibers.

For the most part, new items built with asbestos were innocuous as long as the asbestos particles were encapsulated in something solid. As these ACMs aged, however, they were prone to becoming friable (i.e., easily reduced to powder by hand pressure alone). Friable asbestos is dangerous since in this form the fibers are easily dispersed into the environment; once they enter one's body through inhalation or ingestion, they may result in numerous diseases. Unfortunately, it was not just workers who were at risk; secondary exposure frequently happened when people carried asbestos fibers home on their skin, in their hair or on their clothing.

Asbestos Exposure - a Hidden Danger

One of the insidious aspects of exposure to asbestos is the resulting diseases can take ten, twenty, or even thirty years to manifest - frequently decades after the worker has retired from the employer. The symptoms of asbestos-related diseases - pain in the chest or abdomen, a chronic cough and difficulty breathing - can easily be mistaken for those of other disorders. Especially with mesothelioma, the sooner the diagnosis, the better the chances of survival or at least of improved quality of life. Therefore, if you were employed as a garage mechanic, or spent significant time near someone who was, it is important to tell your health care professional about the possibility of asbestos exposure. Often the mesothelioma survival rate is grim, yet early diagnosis and using treatments such as mesothelioma radiation can improve the prognosis for this disease.

Sources

Bowker, Michael. Fatal Deception: The Untold Story of Asbestos (New York: Touchstone, 2003)

City of Southaven, Mississippi - Job Description Garage Mechanic
http://www.southaven.org/page.cfm?pid=13&sid=63&ssid=363

Education Resources Information Center - Learning in the Workplace for Garage Mechanics and Technicians
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/...

eHow.com - Job Description for a Motor Garage Mechanic
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5887308_job-description-motor-garage-mechanic.html

Seattle PI Special Reports - Nation's Mechanics at Risk from Asbestos
http://www.seattlepi.com/uncivilaction/brks16.shtml

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