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What is an Assembly Line Worker?
Assembly line workers fabricate parts and join them together to construct finished products. They work together in a line, each completing individual tasks in sequence to construct various products. Each worker is in charge of a particular process of production. Often, they work with a particular machine or use their hands to complete a specific task that is necessary to finish a product. Some assembly line workers specialize in a particular component such as electric motors or a particular type of product.
Assembly line workers produce products for consumer, commercial, military and medical use. They may help make various products such as:
- Aircraft
- Automobiles
- Consumer products
- Electronics
- Household appliances
parts and products for consumer, commercial, military, medical and other purposes.
The assembly line was enacted during the Industrial Revolution and helped automate the manufacturing process and ramp up production in factories across the country.
How Can an Assembly Line Worker Get Mesothelioma by Occupational Exposure to Asbestos?
Assembly line workers may have worked directly with asbestos if they helped manufacture products that contained asbestos. Their job may have required them to work with asbestos when they blended it with other raw materials to make a finished product. When asbestos fibers are disturbed, the fibers become dislodged and microscopic fibers are released into the air where these assembly line workers can breathe in the toxic substance.
Assembly line workers may have also become exposed to asbestos when using tools made with asbestos or working with machinery that contained asbestos. Asbestos is resistant to heat, prevents chemical corrosion and is durable, so it was often used in a variety of applications.
Another potential source of asbestos exposure for assembly line workers was in the building itself. These workers may have worked in factories that were constructed with materials that contained asbestos, such as floor tiles, drywall, insulation, joint compound and roofing material. When the building was constructed or renovated, assembly line workers may have breathed in asbestos fibers.
Locations in the United States for the Highest Employment Rates for Assembly Line Workers
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, states with the highest employment rates for assembly line workers include the following:
Similar Occupations as Assembly Line Workers
Similar occupations as assembly line workers include:
- Production workers
- Factory workers
- Boilermakers
- Steel workers
- Metal and plastic machine operators
- Industrial machinery mechanics
- Machinery maintenance workers
- Millwrights
- Sheet metal workers
- Welders
Lawsuits and Settlements Involving Assembly Line Workers and Mesothelioma
Some asbestos lawsuits have resulted in multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements. Some notable cases involving assembly line workers and people in similar occupations include:
- In 2017, a former assembly line worker received a verdict of $4 million by a New York jury after he established his mesothelioma and lung cancer was caused by exposure to asbestos products.
- One man who sued more than 140 corporations that he claimed were responsible for manufacturing products that contained asbestos and exposing workers to asbestos. He received a settlement of $6.5 million.
- A former cement pipe manufacturing worker and his spouse were awarded $20.5 million by a California jury after he developed cancer because of asbestos exposure.
Studies Related to Assembly Line Workers and Asbestos
A number of studies have established the connection between factory work and asbestos, including the following:
- Asbestos Textile, Friction, and Packing Plant Workers (Asbestos) was a 1998 study conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. It evaluated more than 3,200 people who were potentially exposed to asbestos during the 1970s and tracked deaths related to asbestos.
- https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pgms/worknotify/asbestos.html
- A study of the mortality of workers in an asbestos factory was an early study conducted in 1969. It assessed data regarding 4,000 male asbestos factory workers and found that there was a higher rate of incidence for cancer of the lung and pleura when workers were heavily exposed to asbestos.
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1008987/
- Mortality from all cancers of asbestos factory workers in east London 1933-80 evaluated records of more than 5,000 factory workers since they were first exposed to asbestos.
- https://oem.bmj.com/content/57/11/782
- Tyler asbestos workers: A mortality update in a cohort exposed to amosite is a recent study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health in 2016. It analyzed data related to more than 1,000 factory workers who worked at a plant in Tyler, Texas between 1954 and 1972. Researchers found that the factory workers’ risk of dying from throat or lung cancer more than doubled due to their work at the factory.
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10937404.2016.1195319
Types of Asbestos Products Used by Assembly Line Workers
Assembly line workers may have directly produced products that contained asbestos. In other circumstances, workers may have worked with equipment that was insulated by asbestos or in factories that contained various asbestos materials in them. There were more than 3,000 products that contained asbestos during its peak use.
Some of the most common products that contained asbestos that assembly line workers may have been exposed to include the following:
- Insulation
- Ceiling tiles
- Joint compounds
- Cement
- Drywall board and tape
- Roofing materials
- Rope
- Cloth
- Garments
- Protective clothing
- Gaskets and valves
- Adhesives and sealants
- Fireproofing materials
- Glues and paints
- Heating and air conditioning equipment
Manufacturers of Asbestos Products Used by Assembly Line Workers
Some of the largest companies that manufactured products that contained asbestos that assembly line workers worked with include:
- Amatex Corporation
- Babcock and Wilcox
- Bestwall Gypsum
- Bumham Holdings
- E. Thurston & Sons
- Combustion Engineering
- Congoleum Corporation
- Dana Corporation
- Eagle Picher Industries, Inc.
- J. Bartells Company
- Federal Mogul Corporation
- Flexitallic Gasket Company
- Ford Motor Company
- Foster Wheeler
- GAF Corporation
- General Electric
- General Motors
- Honeywell Heating
- Ingersoll Rand
- T. Thorpe, Inc.
- Johnson & Johnson
- Kaiser Aluminum
- Kelly Moore Paint Co.
- Lincoln Electric
- National Gypsum
- Owens Illinois
- Rock Wood Manufacturing Co.
- Unarco
- R. Grace
- Westinghouse Electric
