Benefits of Work Clothes
Starting with the gold mines of the 19th century, many employers started requiring their employees to wear clothes to work that stayed at work at the end of the day. For gold mines, this was an effort to reduce the theft of the gold that the men were supposed to be mining. For workers in vermiculite and asbestos mines, it could have been something of a blessing in disguise.
Asbestos and vermiculite are fibrous minerals that can flake off into microscopic dust particles. These dust particles are capable of getting into the fibers of clothes and becoming stuck in the weave of the fabric. Once the fibers were attached, they could be taken anywhere the miner or worker went.
With work clothes, however, the fibers might have gotten stuck in the clothing, which was never a good thing, but the clothes were left at the factory. This means that the clothes were not going to track asbestos fibers and dust home with the miner.
Once the fibers made it to the miner’s home, they could harm anyone in the residence. They were particularly harmful to individuals that were responsible for doing the laundry. As the clothes were removed from a hamper and shaken out prior to being washed, the asbestos fibers were dispersed into the air and made available for inhalation to anyone who happened to be in the room.
Fortunately, work clothes did not do this. They stayed at the factory and spared the miner’s family from the hazards of asbestos.
Contact a Mesothelioma Attorney
If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease, contact the mesothelioma lawyers of Williams Kherkher at 1-800-781-3955 to discuss your situation and to determine your legal options.
