Brake Dust Is a Serious Concern for Professional Mechanics

Mechanics work with dangerous tools and vehicles, so there are countless risks on the job every day. A lift could fail, dropping a vehicle on a mechanic. A worker could lose their grip on a tool, dropping it on their foot and cutting their leg severely as a result.

There are so many immediate trauma risks that mechanics might easily overlook subtler risks on the job, like workplace asbestos exposure. Asbestos takes decades to cause severe illnesses like mesothelioma, often producing symptoms long after workers have moved on from a particular job. Even low levels of job exposure can eventually culminate in illness.

Mechanics working on vehicles even today could have unsafe levels of asbestos exposure due to their job responsibilities.

Many Vehicles Have Parts that Contain Asbestos

Despite changing federal regulations that might make workers feel safer on the job, they could easily have asbestos exposure most days of the week. Workers sometimes have to bring lawsuits to get information about which vehicle components may have contained asbestos and sickened them and to get support for the work-related illness that developed as a result.

At the very least, both brake pads and certain clutch components may contain asbestos. Workers typically will not be able to tell from a visual inspection which components contain asbestos, so any of them can lead to the inhalation of particulate asbestos. Long-term exposure to asbestos at work may eventually culminate in mesothelioma or other asbestos-related illnesses.

Many people with mesothelioma find that the condition progresses quickly once it is serious enough for them to present diagnosable symptoms. Timely medical treatment can extend someone’s life and improve their quality of life after a mesothelioma diagnosis, but that care is expensive. Understanding if your job may have exposed you to asbestos can help you look into the protections available to you after a mesothelioma diagnosis.