Power Plant Workers and Asbestos Exposure

In today's society, electricity is absolutely essential to the welfare of our communities. Electricity provides people with the power to produce goods, deliver services, heat their homes and offices, and much more. Though to most people, electricity is available at the flip of a switch, a tremendous amount of work goes into the production and distribution of electricity to our communities. Power plant workers make this happen.

Given the complexity and variety of today's types of power plants and methods of electricity production, the functions that a power plant worker may serve are many and varied. In the most advanced power plants, where computers are used to control the production and flow of electricity, a power plant worker may spend most of his or her time operating a system in a central control room. Using computers, he or she can control and monitor generators, turbines, transformers, and other essential equipment.

In power plants that function without a central control room, a power plant worker may control each generator and turbine with switches on the units themselves. This power plant worker may need to monitor these units closely, making sure that each is supplying the appropriate voltage and that the flow of electricity is suitable to the energy demands of the community.

Because many of the machines in a power plant generate or give off extraordinary heat, asbestos was often used gratuitously as an insulation and protection against fire. Additionally, asbestos may be found inside many power plant machines. For example, many of the machines contained asbestos gaskets used to seal pumps and valves. Power plant workers typically installed these gaskets, which were sometimes handmade from asbestos material. In the process of crafting and installing these asbestos gaskets, workers may have exposed themselves to friable asbestos fibers.

A power plant worker could also be exposed to asbestos that was used to insulate pipes going to and from turbines and other large, heat-producing machines. Used to generate heat, boilers were nearly always present in a power plant, and asbestos can often be found in the insulation surrounding these boilers and their networks of pipe.

Even the walls, floor tiles, and ceiling tiles in a power plant may be sites of exposure for the power plant worker. For many years, asbestos was installed in tiling and walls to insulate rooms against extreme temperatures. With time, traffic, or with renovation and removal, asbestos fibers may be released from these materials into the air, where power plant workers may be exposed to them.

Many power plants across the U.S. have been renovated and asbestos has been removed. However, some plants still contain asbestos. Workers should be particularly diligent when working in older plants to ensure that they are not exposed. Respirators or filtering masks should always be worn.

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