NEVER SPRAY ASBESTOS

NYC foreman attributes job-related mesothelioma cancer to asbestos spray at building construction sites

Construction industry asbestos sprayers were at great risk for asbestos exposure and fatal diseases, including mesothelioma, a job-related cancer linked to work-site inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers.

May 5, 2010 – Many New York City skyscrapers were richly constructed with toxic materials that included a thick spray made of asbestos and applied to miles of bare iron girders during the initial phases of building construction.

But why spray asbestos?

Before 1980, asbestos was generously used in the city’s building construction industry because it was revered for its strength and fire-retardant properties.

But today, asbestos is recognized as a deadly carcinogen and has only recently begun to be regulated. Its deadly legacy, however, still lingers by the ton in the rafters of most city skyscrapers erected during the 20th century.

Hazardous conditions when workers spray asbestos

Even worse, those workers who would spray asbestos put other on-site tradesmen at a similar risk.

Many construction workers who helped build New York City’s former Twin Towers in the 1970s, for example, were later diagnosed with mesothelioma and have died from their job-related asbestos exposure. (Mesothelioma has a very long latency period.)

Ironically, their fatal asbestos exposure did not occur in the course of their own duties, but rather while standing by during the preliminary activities of other tradesmen, specifically the asbestos sprayers whose responsibility was to spray asbestos insulation onto bare metal beams, before office walls went up.

“It came out of a spray gun and the guy would just spray asbestos,” one construction foreman testified in defense of a recent asbestos claim he filed with representation from the law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg.

“He had a long handle on it and just kept spraying up and down and it would stick to the beam. He would go around it and then he would go to the next one, wherever the next one was. And then another guy would come around there and sweep the stuff up.”

Spray gun kills with asbestos

Just the very act of sweeping up dry asbestos materials is known to produce toxic dust that easily becomes airborne. Inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers qualifies as an asbestos exposure.

Tens of thousands of construction workers have died from inhalation of work-site asbestos fibers.

Seek compensation with Weitz & Luxenberg

If you once worked in the construction industry, or worked with people whose job is to spray asbestos, and you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you are urged to notify this law firm through the communication form here.

Weitz & Luxenberg specializes in asbestos-injury litigation and has obtained record-setting verdicts and settlements for clients injured by job-related exposures.

Our firm works on a contingency basis, so there is no cost to you until we obtain the maximum compensation you are entitled to.