Welding is one of the highest-risk occupations for asbestos exposure. Until asbestos use was discontinued, welders faced risks from asbestos incorporated in welding rods, pipes, and safety gear, and today’s welders are at risk from legacy asbestos found in older tools, products, and equipment, as well as in industrial settings and construction sites. Inhaling asbestos fibers from any of these sources puts welders in danger of diagnosis with malignant mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, and other serious and deadly diseases.
What do Welders Do?
Welders fuse pieces of metal, thermoplastics, or even wood using a filler material and heat, pressure, or both. They use specialized equipment and materials to form a permanent bond.[1]
There are more than 80 different types of welds and different welding processes used in a wide range of applications and work settings where welding is used.[2] Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW/MIG) heats a thin wire that is fed through the welding instrument. It is most commonly used in construction and automotive applications, while the welding process used in bicycle or aircraft manufacturing is known as Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW/TIG), which uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to form a weld. Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) is often used by home-shop welders and uses a flux-coated electrode consumable, while construction projects that require speed and portability tend to use Flux Cored Arc Welding (FCAW), which is much like gas metal arc welding but is broken into two processes that allow it to be done in outdoor conditions.[1]
Other welding processes include:[1]
- Submerged Arc Welding
- Gas Welding/Oxyacetylene Welding
- Thermit Welding
- Forge Welding
- Electron Beam Welding
- Atomic Hydrogen Welding
- Plasma Arc Welding
- Resistance Welding
Welding may also involve metal cutting, which is done by heating metal with a flame and directing a stream of pure oxygen along the line to be cut.[2]
What Industries Use Welders?
The skilled work provided by welders is needed in any industry that requires steel plates, pipes, and metal parts to be joined together. During the years when asbestos was most frequently used in welding, the industries that welders worked in included:
- Shipyards
- Drydock refitting yards
- Aviation
- Aerospace
- Automotive manufacturing
- Construction
- Power plants
- Oil Refineries and pipelines
- Steel and aluminum plants
- Paper mills
- Bridge building
How Are Welders Exposed to Asbestos?
Welding work involves the use of high heat to melt and shape the materials that welders are working with. The welding rods or electrodes that represent the welder’s primary tool are coated with a protective material, and in the years before asbestos was identified as being carcinogenic, it was frequently the coating of choice because of the strength and heat resistance that it added, as well as its ready accessibility and low cost. When an asbestos-coated welding rod touches metal or steel, it breaks down the asbestos coating and generates sparks and smoke that contain asbestos fibers. The same is true if the material that is being welded contains asbestos. These airborne particles are then easily inhaled or ingested by welders, as well as anybody else in their vicinity.[2]
Welding work also requires significant protection from extremely high temperatures for both the workers and the environment around them. Asbestos-containing clothing and other materials were frequently used for this purpose, and asbestos welding blankets were wrapped around hot objects and used to smother fires. The asbestos fibers in these items broke down after long periods of wear and exposure to heat.
Asbestos-containing equipment and products that welders were exposed to include:
- Aprons
- Boilers
- Gloves
- Helmets
- Insulation
- Jackets
- Masks
- Pipes
- Shields
- Welding blankets
- Welding rods
Beyond the tools, materials, and protective equipment that welders most directly worked with, they frequently performed their duties in environments that were heavily contaminated with asbestos. Shipyards, steel plants, construction sites, and factories were heavily contaminated with asbestos-containing materials, and welders were frequently exposed to asbestos in the air and on the surfaces that they encountered. A 2017 CDC study of malignant mesothelioma mortality in the United States from 1999-2015 included welders as being among those who would have faced significant exposure from having worked at those sites.[3]
Welders’ Families and Secondary Asbestos Exposure
Welders who worked with asbestos-containing materials or on job sites where asbestos was used frequently carried asbestos dust and fibers into their homes, automobiles, and other environments on their hair, skin, and work clothes. This created a risk of secondary asbestos exposure to anybody who came into contact with them, including their spouses and children. There are many instances of wives being sickened after years of shaking out their husband’s asbestos-coated clothing before laundering them, as well as stories of children who were diagnosed with asbestos decades after hugging their fathers upon their return from work each day.
Are Today’s Welders Still at Risk of Asbestos Exposure?
Though today’s welders no longer work with asbestos-coated welding rods and have insulating clothing and blankets that don’t contain the carcinogenic material, they still face risks from legacy asbestos in older tools, products, and equipment that they work with and on.
Asbestos Exposure Health Risks to Welders
Welders face significant occupational health risks from the gases and fumes they are exposed to,[2] and during the years when asbestos was used in the welding process, the carcinogenic mineral played a significant role in the illnesses and deaths that plagued the occupation. When asbestos fibers are inhaled or ingested, they become embedded in the body’s cells, leading to scarring and mutations that can grow into cancerous tumors. When asbestos fibers enter the lungs, it can lead to asbestos-related lung cancer, pleural plaques, or the chronic and progressive illness called asbestosis. When the particles become embedded in the cells of the mesothelium – an organ that lines the pleural cavity that holds the lung and the peritoneal cavity that holds the abdominal organs – they create a chemical reaction that leads to the rare asbestos-related disease malignant mesothelioma.
There have been multiple studies conducted on the risks of asbestos exposure among welders, and researchers have found that welders are at far greater risk of lung cancer than the general population.
- A 2002 study published in the Annals of Occupational Medicine examined 1,445 cases of malignant mesothelioma with known exposure histories of asbestos and found that welding was among the occupational categories at highest risk for developing malignant mesothelioma.[4]
- Research published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine reported that of 211 welders studied, 39% had high levels of asbestos particles in their lung tissues or fluid samples.[5]
- A 2013 study assessing welding as a risk factor for developing lung cancer found an increased risk over the general population, with the odds ratio increasing for those with longer duration in the field.[6]
- A Canadian study of occupational risk that encompassed data from more than two million Canadian workers listed welding among the occupations at the highest risk for malignant mesothelioma.
Which Companies Made Materials that Exposed Welders to Asbestos?
Welders risked exposure to asbestos from the products that they worked with as well as the environments that they worked in. Over the years, many of the manufacturers who were negligent in having exposed welders to risk in both of these ways have been held responsible for their failure to warn of the dangers posed by their products.
Some of the companies that have most frequently been named in welders’ mesothelioma and asbestos lawsuits include:
- AC and S (insulation)
- Afton Pumps (industrial pumps)
- AJ Steel Corp. (insulation)
- Armstrong World Industries (wall and ceiling products)
- ASARCO (cement pipes and mining)
- Babcock & Wilcox (boilers and other high-temperature equipment)
- Bondex International (building materials)
- Duro Dyne Corporation (sheet metal accessories)
- Eastern Refractories Company (insulation and refractory materials)
- John Deere Industrial Equipment Company (tractors)
- Lincoln Electric (welding rods)
- P. Green Industries (cement, adhesives, insulation coatings, gunning refractories)
- Sherwin Williams Company (cement block fillers, Fibrasal roof coating)
- Vulcan Iron Works (machinery including steam locomotives, engines, boilers, mining machinery)
- Westinghouse Electric (welding rods, cables, turbines)
Can Welders Receive Compensation for Asbestos-Related Illnesses?
Many welders who have been diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, or other asbestos-related diseases have taken legal action against the asbestos companies responsible for having exposed them to asbestos. Some notable examples include:
- A New York jury ordered welding rod companies Lincoln Electric and Hobart Brothers to pay a total of $6.64 million to two former welders who died of asbestos lung cancer after using their welding rods, which were coated with asbestos from the 1930s until 1981. Both companies were found negligent in selling their product without any warning, and Lincoln was also found guilty of acting with reckless disregard for the safety of others. The company has been named as a defendant or co-defendant in thousands of asbestos lawsuits.
- A Louisiana union welder and pipefitter with mesothelioma was awarded $37.6 million in a lawsuit that named his employer and twenty-one other companies and accused them of negligently exposing him to asbestos in his workplace.
- The survivors of welder Giacinto Pira have filed suit against the manufacturer of asbestos-containing safety gloves that he wore throughout his career, which they blame for his malignant mesothelioma.
- After settling with several companies, a welder diagnosed with asbestosis was recently awarded $25 million in damages from John Crane, Inc. for having exposed him to asbestos on the job.
Are You a Welder Who Was Exposed to Asbestos on the Job?
Welding materials were made with asbestos until 1981, and welding materials and tools containing asbestos are still in use today. If you are a welder who was exposed to asbestos, you are at risk for asbestos-related diseases including malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis, and asbestos-related lung cancer. To ensure that you receive the most effective medical treatment as quickly as possible, notify your healthcare provider of your history of occupational exposure so they can monitor you for symptoms of these illnesses.
If you’ve been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease and you’d like information on the options available to you, contact an experienced asbestos attorney to discuss your situation. They can explain the process involved with filing a personal injury lawsuit against the asbestos companies responsible for your exposure, as well as the details on settlements and your eligibility for filing a claim with asbestos trust funds set up by companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
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