Power Plant Worker Asbestos Exposure

Since the beginning of the mass use of electricity, power plants have employed hundreds of individuals to insure that people everywhere are provided with the energy they need to go about their daily lives and jobs.  Power plants come in a variety of different shapes and sizes and workers employed by the plants are responsible for many tasks.

Basically, there are three kinds of workers in today’s power plants: operators, distributors, and dispatchers.  An operator decides which boilers and generators to use and is usually responsible for maintaining them as well.  He or she also controls and monitors any other auxiliary equipment.

The distributor controls the flow of the electricity that is produced and the dispatcher is the “traffic director” of the power plant.  He/she decides where the electricity is going and how much each area requires.  The dispatcher must anticipate the power needs of the community.

Someone performing each of these duties is at the power plant 24 hours per day, usually in 8-hour shifts, to insure uninterrupted flow of electricity to homes and businesses.

Power Plant Workers and Asbestos

Heat and fire are a big concern in power plants.  Because of that, nearly everything inside a power plant is insulated in some way or another.  Until the asbestos warnings were issued in the mid-1970s, most insulation materials contained asbestos.  That means nearly all power plant workers were exposed to the hazardous material on a daily basis.

Asbestos is not dangerous unless it is damaged, therefore allowing hazardous fibers to be circulated through the air.  Standing near a generator or boiler wrapped in asbestos did not affect power plant workers.  However, the construction and maintenance of these items often involved damage to asbestos materials, creating clouds of asbestos dust that were inhaled by workers.  Many even brought asbestos home on their clothing and in their hair.

Gaskets used to seal pumps and valves were also made of or contained asbestos and fireproof floor and ceiling tiles were fashioned from the hazardous material as well.  Clouds of asbestos dust were a way of life at most power plants and floors were even made of metal grating to allow the dust to pass through and not collect on the floor.

Many power plants have made provisions for the removal of asbestos during the last few decades, but a number of old power plants still contain products made of this material.

Have you or a loved one been diagnosed with mesothelioma?  Did you once work at one of the nation’s many power plants?  If you’re a mesothelioma sufferer, you’ll want to learn all you can about this disease, its treatments, and your options for the future.  For more help, take a moment to order our free Mesothelioma Information Kit.