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Asbestos Mesothelioma and the US Postal Service

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Scarborough, MEPhilip was a vehicle service technician with the U S Postal Service, so he worked around asbestos. He can remember his hands filling with asbestos dust when he removed worn out brakes. But he didn't know about asbestos mesothelioma.

Clouds of Black Dust
"I started working in the vehicle maintenance facility around 1980," Philip said. "It wasn't until the mid or late 80s that there was widespread awareness of asbestos and the diseases like asbestos mesothelioma. So up until that time we would remove the brakes from the trucks with our bare hands. We would remove the brake drums and linings and there would usually be a big handful of black dust. It would fill my palm. No one told us anything, so we just dumped the dust on the floor.

Brake WorkAfter I got all 4 brake drums off I would take an air hose and blow off all the dust from the parts and components. That created a big cloud of black dust that went right through the shop. I can remember getting a mouthful of dust and just coughing and hacking.

And I supplied my own clothing, which I took home and washed, with my children's clothes and diapers.

We had 400 postal vehicles in the state of Maine, and each vehicle had to be serviced twice a year. The trucks would get new brakes every 6 months. We would be doing a brake job a day. Those vehicles are stopping and starting all day long.

You know hindsight really is 20/20. My first day down in the shop I worked on the jeep. I did a brake job, and my hands were covered in black dust. A mechanic came over with an air hose and just blew off the dust for me. That's how I learned what to do."

Philip said that when the Post Office realised the dangers and health risks associated with asbestos they switched to brakes with semi metallic components. And they issued the vehicle technicians with respirator masks and rubber gloves. They were shown films about asbestos and given some education materials. "I do have to say that once the hazard was known, the Post Office got on the bandwagon and did what they could," he said. "But the damage, if there was damage, was already done.

One of the guys I worked with told me recently that he is not feeling well. He told me I should become informed about asbestos mesothelioma. So I went on the Internet and did some reading."

Among the things Philip would have read about asbestos mesothelioma is that it has a very long latency period, some sources say 40 years, others 30. The truth is no one knows for sure how long that lethal disease can take to manifest, but it can take a long time. And it's not the same in everyone. Some people can develop the disease in a shorter time frame.

People who work around cars, changing brake pads and shoes are at high risk for exposure to asbestos because it's still in use today, despite the known dangers. In fact, asbestos is still used in roofing materials, textiles, friction products, insulation, and other building materials. Some estimates suggest that as many as 27 million workers were exposed to asbestos between 1940 and 1980, but there are no estimates of how many people may be at risk today. And given the latency period of the disease, it could take a quarter century before the significance of the problem becomes evident in today's generations.

READ ABOUT ASBESTOS MESOTHELIOMA LAWSUITS

READER COMMENTS

Posted by

on
InspectAPedia.com, mail bag asbestos, us patent 1,902,764 issued march 21 1933. asbestos fireproof mail bags patent 1,811,150 issued june 23 1931. us patent 2,087,611 issued july 20 1937, first class U.S. Mail, particularly air mail used up to around 2004 . I Larry R. Geist filed hazard in the work place bags pulled nationwide USA TODAY had article uses of asbestos. This is in all offices. were the Unions notified?

Posted by

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I filed asbestos complaints for years at the Bemidji mn 56601 post office. finally about first class mail pouches being made
of asbestos cloth. my supervisor gwen Harrington showed me a paper pulling first class mail pouches nationwide because they were asbestos cloth by 2004 I had not seen anymore of these pouches but also never saw nationwide asbestos clean up that dust is still there. usps gave me medical retirement may of 2007. im sick 365 days a year 2015 56601 ordered to replace asbestos floor tiles. was the whole office cleared? my monthly check from usps a joke with all my illness. this is nationwide, bemjdji mn office new in 1984 asbestos floor ceiling pipes add asbestos dust serious problem.

Posted by

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We have postal workers and postal veterans nationwide who are sick, ill and deceasing from the dust, airborne paper fiber & asbestos. We need an attorney. View our website: http://airbornepaperfiber.webs.com/

I have now been not only diagnosed with Adult-Onset Asthma, Industrial & Occupational Asthma, COPD & Breast Cancer, non-spoker, no vices and now this. I am scheduled for surgery next week. I am the third one with Breast Cancer (1 deceased and 2 alive, breast cancers from one facility.) 500+ sick nationwide.

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