ASBESTOS TILE

The dirty truth about asbestos floor and ceiling tile

September 24, 2010 – Most building products made today do not contain asbestos, a cancer-causing material commonly used in construction products up through the 1980s, when government regulations were enacted to protect workers’ health. However, many asbestos-based building products – from attic insulation to basement heating pipe wraps – are still embedded in older homes. Asbestos ceiling tile and floor tile are prime examples of dangerous building products that can kill.

That alone is not cause for alarm; that is, unless you once worked professionally as an asbestos tile setter, a job prone toward human asbestos exposure. When asbestos tile is cut or broken during installation work, or ripped up in any way during demolition projects, toxic asbestos fibers are released into the air, creating dangerous conditions for occupational asbestos exposure and the diseases associated with it.

Asbestos exposure occurs when airborne asbestos fibers are accidentally inhaled by career asbestos tile workers. Microscopic fibers lodge in their lung tissues over time and develop into tumors, leading to such serious diseases as mesothelioma and asbestosis.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urges homeowners not to remove asbestos tile in older houses without the involvement of a licensed asbestos abatement contractor. In many cases, it is deemed safer to leave the original floor and build over it.

Asbestos tile installation is a high risk job. Besides toiling for years with asbestos tile (which alone can be dangerous), asbestos tile setters are also vulnerable to the adhesives used for installing asbestos tile, especially old vinyl floor tiles. Old adhesives also contained asbestos, says the EPA. Old dry adhesives can release asbestos fibers. So may scraping or sanding the backing of sheet flooring products during removal activities.

Asbestos tile causes fatal diseases

Before the government stepped in, contractors and asbestos tile manufacturers never warned tile setters about the serious health dangers associated with their products.

Consequently, thousands of asbestos tile workers spanning several generations have contracted fatal asbestos-related diseases and died needlessly, leaving their families financially destitute – unless they stood up for their legal right to financial compensation with the professional representation of an asbestos cancer law firm.

Legal options are available

Weitz & Luxenberg is a New York law firm that has specialized on asbestos-injury claims for nearly 30 years. The firm is a national legal force in the asbestos litigation field and long recognized for obtaining record-setting verdicts and settlements for asbestos tile workers injured by occupational asbestos diseases.

If you worked professionally with asbestos tile of any sort, and have been diagnosed with an asbestos illness, you may be eligible for huge financial awards under the law. For a free legal consultation, please use the form on this page to provide some details about your situation and a representative from our firm will be in touch shortly.