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Asbestos and Auto Mechanics

For many decades, asbestos has been used by the automotive industry in brake pads and linings, clutch facings, and gaskets. Millions of these products still remain on vehicles currently in use today, which poses a severe risk of asbestos exposure to current and former auto mechanics across the country. Breathing in asbestos dust can lead to asbestosis, lung cancer, and pleural mesothelioma, an aggressive and painful cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs. Mechanics do not develop these diseases until 15 to 50 years after their initial exposure to asbestos, so they may not realize the extent of the damage to their health. They may also have the mistaken concept that asbestos has been banned.

Millions of cars and trucks still have asbestos-containing brakes and clutches, which were routinely used in older vehicles. Also, imports of asbestos brakes have increased 83 percent over the past decade. And while it may come as a shock to most people, some brakes and clutches in production today are, in fact, still made with asbestos, just in smaller quantities than older brakes.

How Asbestos Exposure Occurs

When asbestos-containing materials are disturbed or damaged, they release a dust filled with microscopic asbestos fibers into the air. As a result, the very nature of brake and clutch functions causes continual abrasion, and this releases the imbedded asbestos fibers. A large portion of the toxic material is trapped inside the brake housing or clutch space, and is then released when replacement or repair work is performed.

Asbestos fibers can be further spread into the surrounding air by the vacuums used to clean the work area during and after the job. The fibers tend to linger in the air long after a job is done and can spread 75 feet from the work area, thus potentially exposing other mechanics and even customers who enter the shop. Airborne asbestos fibers are easily inhaled and can even be ingested if fibers get on hands and clothes. This is a particularly difficult problem for mechanics, since they often get grease on their hands and asbestos fibers can stick to the grease. Tragically, asbestos can even be carried home on workers' clothing, exposing their families to the hazardous material.

Hazardous Cleaning Techniques

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) advisory instructs mechanics to assume that all brakes contain asbestos because a mere visual inspection does not indicate which brakes include asbestos and which do not. The following brake cleaning techniques can result in the release of asbestos into the air and consequently may lead to employee exposure:

• Using a shop vacuum cleaner - a shop vacuum filter is not fine enough to collect asbestos fibers
• Using a compressed air hose to clean drum breaks
• Wiping with a dry rag or brushing dust from the assembly
• Wiping with a wet rag or brush - a wet rag will still scatter asbestos fibers (furthermore, once it dries, the fibers can still spread around the work area)
• Using liquid squirt bottles or solvent sprays
• Using a water hose

Asbestos Exposure Among Car Enthusiasts and Home Mechanics

Nonprofessional and home auto mechanics that repair or replace their own brakes or clutches are also in danger of exposure to asbestos and asbestos related illnesses. Rarely do people working on cars at their home take the proper precautions to prevent fibers from entering the home, which also poses a great risk to their families and pets. Many experts believe that exposure at home can be even more severe, as many auto enthusiasts are not in possession of tools used by most shops to make the jobs quicker and easier. This can lead to actions that further disturb asbestos, including repetitive strikes with a hammer to release the older product.

Deaths Expected to Rise

It is estimated that more than six million mechanics have been exposed to asbestos in brakes since 1940, and those exposures are now resulting in about 580 excess asbestos-related cancer deaths a year. Many analysts also believe that over the next 10 years, the expected rate of mesothelioma deaths as a result of exposure to break dust will reach 200 a year, acknowledging that for every mesothelioma case diagnosed there may be dozens of cases of asbestosis. Deaths caused by exposure to asbestos brake products had been previously expected to peak around the year 2012, however, because asbestos is still in some brakes being sold today, it could mean the deaths would continue to climb.

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