Asbestos Exposure:
Individuals at Risk

The number of mesothelioma cases is higher in those that had the occasion to work around asbestos products longer and with higher intensity, like people in the construction trades. And because of the latency period (the time from the first exposure to airborne asbestos particles and the time that mesothelioma first appears), the tumor may not appear until after the worker has retired.

Those workers who were closely exposed to asbestos, such as insulators, pipefitters, plasterers and boilermakers, are at highest risk. However, there are many cases of people getting mesothelioma who had very little on-the-job exposure or who were exposed to asbestos "third hand". For example, people who worked only a summer job in construction as a teenager or house wives who washed their husband's clothes that were covered in asbestos particles. There are also many people being diagnosed with mesothelioma now who didn't know they were ever exposed to asbestos. Like those in the Navy several decades ago who worked around people using asbestos when they had no reason to think they were being exposed to anything harmful.

The O'Brien Law Firm has successfully represented people from the following groups:

  Asbestos Workers/Insulators
  
  Bricklayers
 
  Boilermakers

  Carpenters

  Chemical Plant Workers

  Electricians

  Floor Tile Layers

  Iron Workers

  Laborers

  Operating Engineers

  Pipefitters

  Plasterers

 Plumbers

  Power Plant Workers

  Refinery Workers

  Sewer and Pressure Pipe Installers

  Sheet Metal Workers

  Shipyard Workers

  Stationary Engineers