We are often asked this seemingly simple question: “What is secondary asbestos exposure?” The short answer is surprisingly simple. Secondary asbestos exposure exists when a person’s contact with asbestos was indirect. The more complicated answer is that secondary exposure to asbestos occurs when a person did not work with asbestos but rather came into contact with it through his or her environment or another person, often a family member. A common example of secondary exposure is that of a spouse who washes the clothes of a person who works with asbestos.

Many people think of asbestos as a foreign substance. In reality, “asbestos” is a name that describes six different naturally occurring minerals. Exposure to asbestos, even secondary exposure, can cause devastating diseases, such as mesothelioma.

Clients Want to Know: What Is the Risk of Secondary Asbestos Exposure?

Although the greatest risks of contracting an asbestos-related illness such as mesothelioma or lung cancer are for workers who have direct contact with asbestos, secondary exposure to asbestos carries risks, too. How long you are exposed, how often you are exposed, and how many asbestos fibers you inhaled or ingested determines the level of risk to your health. There are numerous documented cases of asbestos-related cancer in household members of asbestos workers and in people living near operations involving asbestos.

Types of Secondary Asbestos Exposure

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) describes the following types of secondary or “paraoccupational” exposure to asbestos:

• Contact with a worker’s skin, hair, or clothing
• Sharing workspace where others handled asbestos
• Air or dust from nearby asbestos-handling work sites
• Nearby mining or blasting of asbestos rock
• Outdoor recreation involving exposed asbestos rock

How heartbreaking it must be to discover that everyday contact with someone you love may have unknowingly caused an asbestos-related disease.

The most common activity leading to secondary asbestos exposure is believed to be the handling and laundering of clothes from workers having direct contact with asbestos. Fortunately, since the implementation of worksite health and safety standards related to asbestos, this type of secondary exposure should be on the decline.

Still, successful lawsuits have been brought nationwide to help those with asbestos-related lung cancer and mesothelioma and their loved ones. At Nemeroff Law Firm, we are honored to represent many of these families and to help provide them with much-needed financial support during such a difficult time.

Questions about Your Secondary Asbestos Exposure

If you are being assessed for an illness that could be related to the indirect or secondary exposure to asbestos, your health care provider needs to know the answers to these important questions:

• Are you, or were you, residing with a person in an occupation who had direct contact with asbestos?
• How were you exposed to the asbestos (such as washing clothes, physical contact, sharing transportation, or sharing a home or apartment)?
• What was the frequency and intensity of the exposure?
• Were you exposed to asbestos in other settings at different periods of time?
• Were you exposed to asbestos as a child; was the secondary exposure as a child?
• Do you or have you lived near sites where asbestos-containing products are manufactured?

We Have Years of Experience with Secondary Asbestos Exposure Lawsuits

Courts presented with cases by people who developed an illness or died from secondary exposure to asbestos try to answer two questions: 1) Should the risk or the danger of the secondary exposure have been “foreseeable” to the employer/organization? 2) What steps, if any, should the employer/organization have taken to prevent the occurrence? An asbestos attorney with deep experience is best equipped to obtain evidence to prove these important points on your behalf.

You will want expert legal counsel if you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related diagnosis from secondary exposure to asbestos fibers. Our attorneys will help you identify the sources that put you at risk and determine the type of compensation you should receive.

Asbestos-related illnesses are devastating. These illnesses are preventable.

If you or someone close to you has become sick because of secondary asbestos exposure, Nemeroff Law Firm has the expertise to help you get the compensation you are due. We are well-respected trial lawyers with decades of experience in asbestos cases. Contact us at 866-342-1929 or by email today for a free consultation to learn how we can help.