Fire Doors
Fire spreads rapidly and kills quickly. Throughout history, measures have been taken to tame fires and save lives. Traditionally, inside commercial buildings including schools, office towers, and factories, engineers have included the use of fire doors to help prevent the spread of fires.
Quite simply, fire doors are doors that close in the event of a fire, allowing the fire to stay in one section of the building and not spread to adjacent sections. That means less damage will be done and fewer lives will be put at risk. In the first three-quarters of the 20th century, many of these so-called fire doors were made of durable asbestos materials. Because asbestos was the best fire-resistant material known to man at that time and because the mineral was inexpensive to use, it was the logical choice for fire door manufacturing. Once the asbestos fire door slammed shut, there was little chance that the fire would spread.
Today, of course, we recognize asbestos as a dangerous mineral. Since approximately 1980, fire doors were no longer made of asbestos. Instead, they are now often made of a combination of steel and gypsum. Depending on the chosen fire door, they can stop the spread of fire anywhere from 20 minutes to 90 minutes, allowing firefighters time to fight the flames, and more importantly, providing time for building occupants to vacate.
Unfortunately, fire doors made from asbestos materials were used for decades before most individuals were aware of their dangers and they may still be found in old buildings. While the fire door was intact, health concerns were minimal. However, once the doors became damaged due to normal wear and tear or other abuse, asbestos fibers could easily be released and inhaled by those in the vicinity. Even though some fire door manufacturers were aware of the dangers of asbestos by the 1940s or 50s, those same manufacturers continued to produce asbestos-containing fire doors, subjecting even more individuals to asbestos exposure.
This cover-up of the dangers of asbestos resulted in much unnecessary exposure to the toxic mineral. Those who worked with asbestos fire doors, whether in the manufacturing of the product or in some other application, should have been instructed to wear respirators to filter out dangerous fibers. Instead, they were allowed to work with the mineral without benefit of any sort of protective face mask. The result is thousands of workers who have developed asbestos-related diseases throughout the years, including malignant mesothelioma, a cancer for which the only known cause is asbestos exposure.
If you or someone you know developed mesothelioma due to exposure to asbestos fire doors, it’s time to learn about your legal rights. If your exposure was caused by someone else’s negligence, you may have the right to monetary compensation. For more details about the disease and its legal ramifications, order our free mesothelioma resource kit today.
