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How Can a Bricklayer & Stone Mason Get Mesothelioma by Occupational Exposure to Asbestos?
Bricklayers were at a high risk of being exposed to asbestos due to numerous factors. Raw asbestos was once mixed to form compounds for use with bricks, blocks and stones. Then, they often cut these materials down to the proper size and used adhesives that contained asbestos. Some bricklayers may have worked with bricks that were made with asbestos that helped resist extreme heat.
Mortar often contained asbestos, and bricklayers usually used mortar every day while performing their job. Bricklayers would mix asbestos into cement powder to make it stronger and more durable. Adding asbestos gives mortar better holding power and also gave greater resistance to heat and fire in chimneys.
Bricklayers could have also formed asbestos dust when scraping up mortar that contained asbestos in order to prepare the surface to lay new bricks. Additionally, they cut brick with a saw to make it fit the right size. Bricklayers and others in the area could have breathed in asbestos dust when performing their job. Often, these workers were not advised to wear respirators when performing their skilled trade.
Additionally, bricklayers often worked in tandem with other types of construction workers, so they may have been exposed to other construction materials that contained asbestos. Asbestos was used in thousands of different products because of its attractive qualities, including its resistance to heat, fire and chemical reactions, its durability and its affordability. Asbestos was used to wrap pipe, form insulation and make cement.
When masons and bricklayers were called to repair brick foundations, they may have disturbed the asbestos as they removed old bricks or put them back in place.
Still today, these workers can be exposed to asbestos when they work in older buildings that used asbestos. When they remove brick to lay new brick, they could disturb asbestos fibers from the old asbestos-laced asbestos or the sealant.
Bricklayers and other masonry workers could have been exposed to asbestos through occupational exposure caused by:
- Breathing in asbestos particles in cement powder that was added to concrete mixes
- Inhaling asbestos dust when sawing, trimming or cutting bricks that contained asbestos
- Working with sealants, joint compound or cement that contained asbestos and breathing in asbestos fibers
- Demolishing old brick structures that released asbestos fibers into the air and then breathing in these particles
- Working around other construction materials that contained asbestos
Typical job duties of bricklayers include:
- Read construction plans
- Lay bricks, stone or other materials
- Use tools to cut or trim bricks
- Lay firebricks to line chimneys or smokestacks
- Use a cement mixer to create mortar
- Spread mortar on a slab or foundation
- Use a corner pole or corner pyramid to construct corners
- Cut and shape bricks to fit corners, ceilings and floors
- Align bricks by using levels and plumbs
- Fill expansion joints with the appropriate caulking materials
Locations in the United States for the Highest Employment Rates for Bricklayers
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 298,000 masonry workers were employed in 2018. These professionals are in an industry with an expected growth rate of 11%, which is much faster than the average occupational projection. States with the highest employment rates for brickmasons include:
- New York
- Florida
- California
- Texas New
- Pennsylvania
Similar Occupations as Bricklayers
Similar occupations as bricklayers include the following:
- Carpenters
- Construction laborers
- Construction helpers
- Drywall and ceiling tile installers and tapers
- Insulation workers
- Glaziers
- Ironworkers
- Flooring installers and tile and marble setters
Lawsuits and Settlements Involving Bricklayers and Mesothelioma
There have been various lawsuits related to bricklayers and mesothelioma. In a 2001 secondhand exposure case, a Baltimore City jury awarded $40 million to five mesothelioma victims, including one woman who had developed mesothelioma after laundering her father’s clothes from the age of 14 to 20. Her father worked as a bricklayer all of his working life. He worked with bricks laced with asbestos and also developed cancer.
In 2004, the family of a man who worked as an insulator, brick mason and laborer in a Phelps Dodge Corp. copper refinery in El Paso from 1948 to the mid-80s and who died from mesothelioma was awarded $5.2 million, including $2.5 million in punitive damages.
A carpenter and bricklayer who was exposed to asbestos in Pennsylvania was awarded $2.35 million. Several other professionals in the construction industry have received multimillion-dollar verdicts.
Studies Related to Bricklayers and Asbestos
Several studies have been conducted regarding the connection between bricklayers and asbestos. Some of them include:
- “Mortality among unionized construction plasterers and cement masons” was a 2001 study that evaluated 12,873 members of the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association and found that plasterers and cement masons have elevated risks for certain illnesses, including stomach and lung cancers.
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11323787
- A 2015 study entitled “Lung cancer risk among bricklayers in a pooled analysis of case–control studies” was published in the International Journal of Cancer. It found that when a large international pool of case-controlled studies on lung cancer was used that it showed an increased lung cancer risk in bricklayers, which researchers attributed to occupational exposure to several carcinogens, including crystalline silica and asbestos. They also found that disease was more likely the longer the worker was employed as a bricklayer.
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4477910/
- A North Carolina study found elevated rates of lung cancer in carpenters, brick masons and painters.
Types of Asbestos Products Used by Bricklayers
Bricklayers may have used products that contained asbestos, such as:
- Dry cement powder
- Kilned bricks
- Precast concrete blocks
- Mortar
- Joint compound
Manufacturers of Asbestos Products Used by Bricklayers
Bricklayers may have used asbestos products by some of the leading manufacturers of insulation and other asbestos-containing construction materials. A few of these companies include Johns Manville, Raybestos, John Crane, National Gypsum and W.R. Grace & Company.
