Sponge Blocks
Also known as foam blocks, sponge blocks are a common insulation material frequently used in the construction or renovation of roofs on public, commercial, and residential buildings. Employing high resistance to heat and offering a measure of insulation, these blocks were also commonly used to protect areas surrounding furnaces, boilers, pipes, ductwork, and other heat-emitting equipment, and found multiple insulating uses in industrial sites. During the manufacturing process, sponge block was able to be extruded into a number of forms and shapes suitable to specific applications, which increased its ability to insulate effectively.
Sponge Blocks and Asbestos
It’s not surprising, then, that manufacturers of sponge blocks turned to asbestos when designing and fabricating these products. Asbestos is highly insulative, offering a high degree of resistance to heat and water. It’s also flexible, possessing high tensile strength in its tiny fibers. And, it occurs widely, making it easy and cheap to obtain.
In the case of sponge blocks, asbestos comprised a high percentage of the material used to make these products. Anyone manufacturing or working with these blocks would have been exposed to the tiny fibers of asbestos, which can be easily inhaled or ingested, lodging permanently in the body where they can cause serious and even deadly health problems.
And the risk was not limited to these workers. As asbestos ages, ti becomes brittle, releasing fibers readily into the air, ready to be inhaled by anyone in the area, including maintenance workers and other employees, as well as men and women living and working in buildings where these materials were used.
The federal government recognized the dangers of asbestos exposure in the mid-1970s, enacting laws to ban the use of the fibers beginning in 1977. But by then, millions of men, women, and children had been exposed to the fibers.
Once in the body, asbestos fibers can cause illnesses including lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis. There is no treatment for exposure, and it can be decades before symptoms begin to appear. That’s why it is essential for anyone who may have been exposed to asbestos to seek the advice of a health care professional, who can help them determine their possible risk of exposure and begin treatments which may help alleviate the symptoms of exposure as they occur.
Last modified: December 28, 2010.
