Overview
Maintenance workers, employees responsible for building upkeep, mechanical systems, and general repairs, faced widespread asbestos exposure in buildings constructed before 1980. Working in boiler rooms, mechanical spaces, and throughout older buildings, maintenance workers regularly encountered asbestos insulation and materials.
Maintenance workers today still face asbestos exposure when working in older buildings. Any commercial, industrial, or institutional building constructed before 1980 may contain asbestos materials.
Asbestos in Building Systems
| Building System | Asbestos Materials | Exposure Level |
|---|---|---|
| Boiler rooms | Boiler insulation, pipe lagging | Very High |
| Mechanical rooms | Pipe insulation, equipment insulation | High |
| HVAC systems | Duct insulation, air handlers | High |
| Electrical rooms | Panel insulation, wiring | Moderate |
| General building | Floor tiles, ceiling tiles, walls | Moderate |
How Maintenance Workers Were Exposed
Boiler Room Work
Maintenance workers spent significant time in boiler rooms:
- Monitoring and adjusting boiler equipment
- Performing routine maintenance
- Making repairs to insulated components
- Working in spaces lined with asbestos
General Building Maintenance
Daily tasks exposed workers to asbestos:
- Drilling through walls and ceilings
- Accessing spaces above asbestos ceiling tiles
- Repairing floors with asbestos tiles
- Maintaining equipment in mechanical spaces
Employment Settings
Maintenance workers ran into asbestos across schools and university campuses, hospitals and medical facility systems, commercial office buildings, industrial facilities performing factory maintenance, public government buildings, and hotels. The heaviest exposures fell on staff servicing pre-1980 boilers and pipe chases in states like New York, New Jersey, and Michigan, where Johns Manville and Owens Corning insulation wrapped nearly every steam line in institutional buildings.
Related Occupations
Maintenance workers share similar exposure with:
- Electricians, Electrical systems
- Plumbers, Water systems
- HVAC technicians, Heating and cooling
- Carpenters, Building repairs
- Laborers, General work
Health Consequences
Maintenance workers 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.
Mesothelioma typically develops 20 to 50 years after exposure. Maintenance workers from the 1970s and 1980s are now being diagnosed.
Legal Options
Maintenance workers diagnosed with mesothelioma typically pursue several tracks in parallel. Building-material manufacturers including Johns Manville, Owens Corning, and W.R. Grace established asbestos trust funds through bankruptcy reorganization. Trust claims often run alongside product-liability suits against solvent asbestos-product manufacturers, premises-liability claims against building owners, VA benefits for military facility maintenance, and workers’ compensation through a former employer.