As asbestos was used in so many ways, many people in various occupations suffered from exposure to the material. Workers from practically all trades were involved with asbestos at some time or another, even those of the unlikeliest professions. Asbestos was used in shipyards, petrochemical plants, paper mills, factories, steel mills, building construction, and the telephone industry. Asbestos was used so widely that virtually all that was involved with construction or design, of any kind, had exposure to asbestos in one form or another.

• Asbestos textile mill workers came in contact with asbestos while weaving it into cloth, as did protective clothing and glove makers.

• Automobile manufacturing production workers, including automobile mechanics and brake repairers, used asbestos on brake linings and clutch pads, as did brake and clutch manufacturing and assembly workers.

• Building engineers, building material products manufacturers, cement plant production workers, construction workers (including insulators, boilermakers, laborers, steel/ironworkers, plumbers, steam fitters, plasterers, drywallers, cement and masonry workers, roofers, tile/linoleum installers, carpenters, HVAC mechanics and welders) all used asbestos in many products that they worked with.

• Electrical workers, including electricians, electrical linemen, and telephone linemen came in contact with the asbestos insulation around electrical products.

• Shipyard workers (including electricians, insulators, laborers, laggers, painters, pipefitters, maintenance workers, and welders), Coast Guard personnel, merchant mariners, longshoremen, and U.S. Navy personnel worked and lived in ships that employed the use of asbestos.

• Demolition and wrecking crews of all trades are at risk when they destroyed buildings that used asbestos, since the disturbance would stir the asbestos fibers to become airborne.

• Custodians, insulation manufacturing plant workers, insulators, machinists, packing and gasket manufacturing plant workers, pipefitters, and powerhouse workers all came in contact with asbestos day to day.

• Railroad workers, steamfitters, refinery workers, sheetmetal workers, refractory products plant workers, rubber workers, and warehouse workers also worked with asbestos on a daily basis.

• Asbestos was used in the flight industry, so aerospace and missile production workers, aircraft manufacturing production workers, and aircraft mechanics are all at risk.

• Basically all trades of construction workers are at risk.

• Even the family members of occupationally exposed people and the guard dogs at asbestos plants are at risk for having asbestos exposure.

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Asbestos is the name for many types of silicates which are fibrous in structure and, more resistant to acid, alkali and fire than other materials. Asbestos has two forms,

• serpentine
• amphibole

is made of impure magnesium silicate. Asbestos is used in many ways like in thermal insulation, electrical insulation, in fire proofing, in building materials, brake linings and has been used in many other industries.

Both Types of asbestos Serpentine and amphibole exhibit physical and chemical resistance to high temperatures and force. The raw ore of both forms is made up of fibrous strands and material. The strands then continue to split into smaller and thinner fibers as disturbance continues and increases. Asbestos’ ore form will initially divide into visible strands, fiber bundles, and individual fibers. But then those visible strands, bundles, and fibers will continue to split into microscopic fibers, bundles, and strands. The splitting can continue on to minute levels of microscopic levels of detection. This process is unique to asbestos and is why airborn asbestos  is such a problem. The fibers can become so small that they remain airborne longer and pass undetected by the respiratory dust defenses.

Physical characteristics differentiate the serpentine and amphibole forms. Serpentines divide into curly, wavy fibers that show little resistance to being bent or spiraled. Amphibole fibers are needlelike shards that show great resistance to being bent or curled. Serpentines are like man-made wool in appearance, where amphiboles are like man-made fiberglass.
In addition to the two forms, there are three main types of asbestos:

• chrysotile
• amosite
• crocidolite

Chrysotile asbestos is serpentine and amosite and crocidolite are amphibole. Chrysotile is the chief commercial asbestos today. Amosite is used in insulating materials and crocidolite is used for making asbestos-cement products.
Canada is a chief producer of asbestos, which has some of the largest asbestos mine fields in the world. Other producers are Russia, Zimbabwe, the Republic of South Africa, Cyprus, and the United States of America.

Asbestos is a potent carcinogen, that is, a cancer-causing substance, and is a serious health hazard. It is the known cause of pleural plaques, asbestosis,mesothelioma, and causes cancers of the lung, esophagus, and colon. Diseases caused by asbestos have a long latency period, usually taking ten to forty years before showing any symptoms of the disease. This is especially apparent today, when people who worked with installing asbestos as insulation and other materials in the 1970s are just now coming to realize that they are developing cancer at alarming rates.

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