Engineers

Engineering, says the dictionary, is the design and manufacture of complex products or the application of science and mathematics by which the properties of matter and the sources of energy in nature are made useful to people. Individuals who practice engineering are called engineers. There are many kinds of engineers, including electrical, civil, chemical, structural, aerospace, and industrial.

Engineers are involved in any number of tasks and shoulder many different responsibilities. Electric engineers may help design electrical plans for any number of applications, from homes, offices, and factories to medical equipment or appliances. Civil engineers work in the design of buildings, roads, railways, dams, and pipelines. This kind of engineer can often be found at construction sites. Structural engineers have similar responsibilities, often working on power stations, oil rigs, and perhaps even airports. Industrial engineers look for ways to make things better and more efficient and aerospace engineers work on state-of-the-art systems and applications as they apply to aircraft or spacecraft.

Engineers and Asbestos

Engineers encounter a variety of different scenarios while on the job that may put them in contact with asbestos, and while there have been no new uses of asbestos since the late 1970s, engineers that worked with the material prior to that time may have regularly been exposed to the hazardous material. It may have been found in roadway material, in building insulation, wrapped around electrical wires, or around pipelines in power plants, steel mills, or ships and aircraft of various sorts.

Even those who began practicing the art of engineering after the U.S. government issued warnings about asbestos use may still encounter the toxic mineral when working where asbestos is still present and has not yet been substituted for a safer material. This could happen in any place at any time, so engineers working in scenarios that may include old asbestos should always take precautions, including donning face masks or respirators where necessary.

Engineers who encounter asbestos on the job are susceptible to developing diseases such as asbestosis and/or the cancer mesothelioma. These diseases severely compromise one’s quality of life, and mesothelioma, in particular, is difficult to treat. Symptoms are severe and the prognosis for a mesothelioma victim is generally grim.

Last modified: December 09 2009.