What type of exposures to asbestos did plumbers
have?
Hi.
I'm Joe Williams.
I'm a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York
City and I want to talk to you about the type
of exposures plumbers faced every day of their
working life.
In order to talk about this, it's probably
easier if I talk to you about a former client
of mine.
Now this former client was a plumber, a professional
plumber, and member of Local One (which the
plumbing union here in New York).
And this former client did mostly commercial
work.
Because he was a union plumber, the nature
of his work would be that he would work for
a particular contractor for perhaps three
weeks doing a particular job at a large commercial
structure in New York City.
And then he would be assigned to a different
job, a different contractor for maybe six
months.
And then he would go to a different contractor
for maybe three weeks.
And this went on and on for his 30 year career
as a plumber.
And generally, working in large commercial
buildings this client of mine had exposures
to large industrial heating equipment.
And that meant he was exposed to large boilers
-- big boilers -- that generated hot water
and power for large commercial structures
in New York City.
He was exposed to large steam pipes carrying
very intense, hot steam.
He was exposed to the asbestos that was put
on those steam pipes.
He was exposed to the asbestos cement that
was installed to the outside of these large
boilers.
In addition, he was involved in building fire
chambers inside these large boilers using
asbestos-containing firebrick and using refractory
cement inside the boilers.
He also worked on pumps, pumps that moved
hot liquids (mostly water) circulating pumps
which were insulated with asbestos and also
had asbestos components on the side (such
as packing and gaskets, which he worked with).
Now those are the types of exposures that
plumbers face in a commercial setting.
There are a lot of plumbers I've represented
over the years who did only residential work
in homes and the exposures are very similar
but the equipment is smaller.
So there would be boilers, of course, which
generated the same hot water and heat for
a home; these smaller residential boilers
were insulated.
On the exterior there was asbestos gaskets
used in conjunction with these boilers.
The piping in these systems were often insulated
with asbestos.
The circulating pumps had asbestos packing,
asbestos gaskets, as well as asbestos cement
used with them.
And often, some of these residential boilers
did have fireboxes which did have asbestos
brick and refractoring inside of them.
So whether it was commercial work (such as
a union plumber) or residential work (which
many plumbers did as well), the exposures
to asbestos came in the form of asbestos cement,
gaskets and packing, refractory and firebrick.
Why am I telling you this?
Because you have questions about plumbers
and how other workers were exposed to asbestos.
I encourage you to pick up the phone and call
the number listed below.
And we will answer your questions.
We represent victims of asbestos exposure
and those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma
every day.
It's what we do every day.
And we're here; we'll answer your questions.
Thank you.
