Construction Laborers and Asbestos Risks

Construction laborers faced asbestos exposure from demolition, cleanup, and working near other trades. Learn about exposure sources and legal options.

By Maria Reyes 3 min read
Published: Updated:
Construction Laborers and Asbestos Risks

Overview

Construction laborers, workers who perform general tasks on job sites including demolition, cleanup, material handling, and assisting other trades, faced widespread asbestos exposure. As the largest construction trade, laborers worked throughout buildings where asbestos was present, often cleaning up debris created by other trades.

Moderate-High
Risk classification
Largest
Construction trade by number
Widespread
Exposure across job sites

How Laborers Were Exposed

Key Facts
Cleaned up debris from asbestos-containing materials
Assisted insulators and other trades
Performed demolition of older buildings
Mixed materials including asbestos-containing products
Worked throughout contaminated job sites

Cleanup Work

Laborers often cleaned up work areas after other trades:

  • Sweeping up asbestos insulation debris
  • Disposing of scrap asbestos materials
  • Cleaning work areas contaminated with fibers
  • Bagging waste containing asbestos

Demolition

Laborers performed general demolition work:

  • Breaking apart walls with asbestos materials
  • Removing debris containing asbestos
  • Working in dust-filled environments
  • Handling demolished asbestos products

Assisting Other Trades

Laborers helped insulators, pipefitters, and other trades:

  • Carrying asbestos insulation materials
  • Mixing asbestos-containing compounds
  • Staging materials in work areas
  • General assistance during installation
Bystander Exposure

Even laborers who didn’t directly handle asbestos products were exposed by working on job sites where asbestos was being installed, removed, or disturbed by other trades.

Work Environments

Laborers worked across every kind of construction setting between 1940 and 1980, from commercial office buildings and retail, to residential home-building and renovation, to industrial factories and power plants, to shipyard ship-construction support, to infrastructure work on roads, bridges, and utilities. Industrial and shipyard projects in states like Pennsylvania, Virginia, and California produced the heaviest exposures because every trade nearby was cutting Johns Manville or Owens Corning insulation.

Laborers worked alongside:

Health Consequences

Laborers 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.

Current Risk

Laborers today still face asbestos exposure during renovation and demolition of older buildings. Proper training and protection are essential.

Laborers diagnosed with mesothelioma typically pursue several tracks in parallel. Building-material manufacturers including Johns Manville, W.R. Grace, and Owens Corning established asbestos trust funds through bankruptcy reorganization. Trust claims often run alongside product-liability suits against solvent manufacturers, premises-liability claims against building owners, general-contractor liability claims against prime contractors who failed to protect workers, and workers’ compensation through a former employer.