Overview
Hod carriers, construction laborers who carry materials and mix mortar for masons and other trades, faced asbestos exposure from handling and mixing asbestos-containing materials. As material handlers and assistants to multiple trades, hod carriers encountered asbestos throughout construction sites.
How Hod Carriers Were Exposed
How hod carriers mixed raw asbestos materials
Hod carriers prepared materials for skilled trades throughout the shift: mortar with asbestos additives, refractory cement for masons working around boilers and furnaces, and plaster compounds for interior finishing. Opening bags of dry Georgia-Pacific and Kaiser Gypsum material produced the single largest dust release of the day, and the powder settled across skin, clothing, and staging areas.
What moving bags of Kaylo and Zonolite looked like on a job site
Carrying and staging materials created steady secondary exposure. Hod carriers moved bags of asbestos insulation (Kaylo pipe covering, Zonolite loose fill), stacked Transite board and cementitious panels, transported asbestos-containing products to the scaffold, and resupplied bricklayers, plasterers, and insulators who were already working in fiber-laden air.
Why end-of-day cleanup produced the highest fiber counts
The end-of-shift cleanup was often the dustiest task. Sweeping debris from floors and scaffolds, bagging scrap, and emptying buckets all re-aerosolized settled fibers, frequently pushing the breathing zone above the OSHA permissible exposure limit of 0.1 fibers per cubic centimeter set in 1986.
Mixing dry materials created intense asbestos exposure. Opening bags, pouring powder, and mixing released dense clouds of asbestos-containing dust.
Work Environments
Hod carriers worked across every kind of construction site between 1940 and 1980, from commercial office buildings and retail, to residential homes and apartments, to industrial factories and power plants, and infrastructure jobs on roads and bridges. Industrial and power-plant work produced the heaviest exposure because refractory cement and spray-on fireproofing were used in dense concentrations there.
Related Occupations
Hod carriers assisted:
- Bricklayers, Masonry work
- Plasterers, Plaster application
- Insulators, Insulation installation
- Laborers, General construction
- Tile setters, Tile installation
Related Industries
Health Consequences
Hod carriers with asbestos exposure face elevated risk of mesothelioma, a cancer of the chest or abdominal lining; asbestosis, a progressive scarring of the lungs; lung cancer, with risk multiplied among smokers; and pleural disease that thickens the lining around the lungs.
Legal Options
Hod carriers diagnosed with mesothelioma typically pursue several tracks in parallel. Building-material manufacturers such as Johns Manville, W.R. Grace, Kaiser Gypsum, and USG established asbestos trust funds through bankruptcy reorganization. Trust claims often run alongside product-liability suits against solvent manufacturers, premises-liability claims against building owners in states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania, general-contractor liability claims against prime contractors, and workers’ compensation through a former employer.