The manufacturing process went through different stages, all equally dangerous for the people that used to work inside the plant. From their initial stage, the fiber bundles needed to be broken down into smaller ones and then get cleaned off of impurities through a process named carding, creating dangerous amounts of poisonous dust. The separated slivers were then spun into yarn that was later woven into cloth sizes. Ropes were formed from some of the woven cloth that was remaining.
In these plants, all of the workers were breathing in a contaminated atmosphere where microscopic particles of asbestos were being spread all around. The exposure didn’t stop there as asbestos dust was brought into their homes on their working clothes.
Like asbestos miners, the asbestos products manufacturers were required to handle raw asbestos directly which meant that they were subjected to dangerous levels of asbestos exposure. This led to high rates of mesothelioma and asbestosis appearance in former asbestos plant workers.
Relevant job titles
- asbestos worker
- asbestos floor supervisor
- assembly line worker
- bag opener
- bale roller
- beaterman
- carder of asbestos yarn
- crusher
- cutter
- design engineer
- fabricator
- foreman
- hopper loader
- loader
- machine operator
- maintenance
- mixer
- plant worker
- production engineer
- weaver of asbestos textiles
- saw operator
- troubleshooter
- spinner of asbestos cloths
- warehouseman