The risks of secondary asbestos exposure

For many years, people didn’t understand that asbestos posed a serious threat to people’s health. Even after the risks associated with asbestos were known, people dismissed them as minor. And for long after that, people wrongly assumed that unless a person was directly exposed to asbestos, there was no risk of developing an asbestos-related illness.

But as we have seen time and time again, these misconceptions about asbestos can prove to have devastating consequences. Take, for example, that last assumption: the belief that unless people have direct contact with asbestos, there is no need to worry about exposure. We know now that secondary exposure can, in fact, be fatal.

The dangers of asbestos don’t disappear just because a person has left a job site. Asbestos dust can accumulate on clothing and get tracked back and forth on someone’s shoes. Because asbestos dust and particles are so small, people often don’t even realize that they are carrying the toxic fiber into their cars or back to their homes.

This is often how family members who never set foot on a job site develop asbestos-related illnesses. Wives were exposed when they shook off the asbestos dust on their husbands’ work clothes to wash them. Children were exposed when they hugged their parents or played on floors covered in a fine dust of asbestos particles.

Breathing in or ingesting asbestos fibers from any source can prove to be devastating to a person’s health. Tracing this source of exposure can be very difficult, especially when it was not direct exposure.

However, the attorneys at The Law Offices of Wallace Graham understand the intricacies of identifying any source of exposure, direct or not, and we can help victims of asbestos-related illnesses and their families understand their options in terms of legal action.

If you or a family member is concerned about secondary exposure to asbestos, you are encouraged to visit our website. There, you can find information on our approach to asbestos litigation and how to contact us for a consultation.