Posted on October 12, 2026
“The asbestos issue is not a thing of the past. It continues to this day.” — Retired U.S. Surgeon General Boris Lushniak
During Health Literacy Month, understanding who may be exposed to asbestos and how exposure occurs is an essential part of prevention.
Asbestos-related disease is often associated with workers who handled asbestos decades ago. But occupational exposure has not disappeared. Legacy asbestos remains in buildings, infrastructure, equipment, and materials across the United States, creating potential risks during renovation, maintenance, repair, demolition, firefighting, disaster response, and other activities.
The National Cancer Institute reports that millions of American workers have been exposed to asbestos and identifies occupations including shipbuilding, construction and insulation trades, demolition, asbestos removal, firefighting, and automotive work among those where exposure has occurred.
ADAO’s 2026 Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Series
October 1 — Health Literacy Month Landing Page
October 5 — Part One: Prevent Asbestos Exposure
October 12 — Part Two: Recognize High-Risk Occupations and Exposures
October 19 — Part Three: Understand the Warning Symptoms of Asbestos-Related Diseases
October 26 — Part Four: Finding a Center of Excellence for Treatment
Who May Be at Risk?
Occupations and activities with potential asbestos exposure include:
- Construction, renovation, and demolition workers
- Insulators, electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, sheet metal workers, and carpenters
- Asbestos abatement workers
- Shipyard and maritime workers
- Boilermakers and power plant workers
- Firefighters and other emergency responders
- Automotive brake and clutch repair workers
- Building maintenance and custodial workers
- Workers in older industrial facilities
- People involved in disaster response, recovery, and debris removal
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) identifies construction and ship repair as industries in which significant exposures can occur, particularly when asbestos-containing materials are removed during renovation, repair, or demolition.
Firefighters deserve particular attention. A major National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) study of nearly 30,000 career firefighters found approximately twice as many malignant mesothelioma cases as expected compared with the U.S. population studied, with occupational asbestos exposure identified as the most likely explanation for that excess.
Exposure Does Not Always End at the Workplace
Asbestos exposure can also affect workers’ families.
Fibers and other hazardous substances can be carried from a workplace into a vehicle or home on clothing, shoes, skin, hair, tools, and other items. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies asbestos as one of the substances associated with take-home exposure and recommends workplace practices that reduce contamination before a worker returns home.
Household, or take-home, asbestos exposure is also well documented. Family members can be exposed when asbestos fibers are carried home on contaminated clothing, shoes, skin, hair, tools, or other materials.
Prevention therefore has to extend beyond the individual worker.
Twenty-Five Years After September 11
The 25th anniversary of September 11 also illustrates how occupational and environmental exposures can have consequences many years later. A 2026 review from the World Trade Center Health Program underscored that disaster-related exposures can produce chronic health effects that require long-term surveillance, research, and care.
The National Cancer Institute identifies rescue, recovery, and cleanup workers at the World Trade Center site among populations at risk for asbestos-related disease and also notes potential risks to nearby residents and people who attended schools in the area. More will be diagnosed with deadly illnesses in the years to come.
Exposure history matters.
If you know or suspect that you were exposed to asbestos at work, at home, through a family member, during military service, in a disaster, or through another environmental source, tell your physician and make sure that exposure becomes part of your medical history.
Asbestos-caused diseases have long latency periods. The National Cancer Institute reports that symptoms can take 10 to 40 years or more to appear after exposure.
Next week, Part Three of our Health Literacy Month series will focus on warning symptoms and why knowing both your exposure history and your body matters.
As we always say at ADAO:
“Hear Asbestos. Think Prevention.”™
Linda Reinstein
President and Co-Founder
Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization