Dangerous and cancer-causing properties of products and chemicals in the oil refining and petrochemical industry: Part V--Asbestos-caused cancers and exposure of workers in the oil refining industry

Our plain-English summary of Dangerous and cancer-causing properties of products and chemicals in the oil refining and petrochemical industry: Part V--Asbestos-caused cancers and exposure of workers in the oil refining industry, by M.A. Mehlman (Toxicology and Industrial Health, 1991).

The study

• Author: M.A. Mehlman
• Journal: Toxicology and Industrial Health
• Published: 1991;7(1-2):53-71
• Type of article: Historical article
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

In the oil refining and petrochemical industries exposure to cancer-causing asbestos particles, especially during equipment repair and maintenance, is very high. Up to 90% of workers in the oil refining industry had direct and/or indirect contact with asbestos, and more than half of this contact occurred without the use of any kind of precaution, thus these workers are in high risk of developing lung cancer and mesothelioma, both fatal diseases. The hazards include: inadequate health and safety training for both company personnel and workers, failure to inform about the dangers and diseases (cancers) resulting from exposure to asbestos; excessive use of large numbers of untrained and uninformed contract workers; lack of use of protective equipment; and archaeological approaches and responses to repairing asbestos breaks and replacement of asbestos in oil refining facilities. For a better understanding of practices and policies in the oil refining industry, refer to Rachel Scott's Muscle and Blood, in particular the chapter "Oil" (E.P. Dutton, New York, 1974), as well as to an editorial which appeared in the Oil and Gas Journal, April, 1968.

In plain English

This article was mainly a review of published literature on asbestos-caused disease, followed by a survey of the U.S. oil refining industry. The literature sections described other researchers' work, including studies of refinery and petrochemical maintenance workers. Those findings are not this article's own. For the survey, in 1990 the author mailed a questionnaire on asbestos use, disposal and handling to Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers local unions representing many oil companies. The article does not say how many unions replied. About 400 bulk samples from one refinery were also analyzed by polarized microscopy. The survey found asbestos in boilers, gaskets, valves, piping, furnaces, towers and other equipment. About 40% of the product used in the refinery was chrysotile, 30% amosite and 30% a mix of the two. The survey reported that up to 90% of refinery workers had direct or indirect contact with asbestos, and that 57% of the time no precautions of any kind were used. The article reported that asbestos use in these industries fell from 721 tons in 1965 to 71 tons in 1988. The author concluded that these workers are at high risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Literature review combined with a mailed questionnaire survey of union locals and analysis of bulk samples from one refinery
• Who was studied: Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers local unions representing U.S. oil refining and petrochemical companies (including Mobil, Chevron, Shell, Texaco, Exxon and others), surveyed in 1990. The number of unions contacted or responding is not given. About 400 bulk samples were taken from one refinery over several years.
• Exposure: Asbestos-containing products and equipment in oil refineries, mainly chrysotile and amosite, contacted during installation, repair and removal
• Main results:
  • Survey: up to 90% of workers in the oil refining industry had direct or indirect contact with asbestos, and 57% of the time no precautions of any kind were used by those working with asbestos
  • Sample analysis: approximately 40% of the asbestos product used in the refinery was chrysotile, 30% amosite, and 30% a combination of chrysotile and amosite
  • Survey: asbestos was found in boilers, buildings, compressors, crude columns, drums, catalytic crackers, furnaces, gaskets, wall boards, valves, piping, heat exchangers, roofs, storage tanks, towers, tile and turbines
  • Based on the questionnaire, the article reported 721 tons of asbestos used in these industries in 1965, falling ten-fold to 71 tons by 1988. Primary uses were asbestos-cement piping, electrical insulation, packing and gaskets.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that exposure to asbestos in oil refining, especially during repair and maintenance, is very high, and that these workers are at high risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma. From the literature tables, the author also concluded that all forms of asbestos cause cancer and that there is no known safe level of exposure.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author noted that the decline in the number of production workers shown in Table 5 may be deceptive, because it excludes contract workers, whose numbers increased greatly and may have exceeded salaried workers

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Dangerous and cancer-causing properties of products and chemicals in the oil-refining and petrochemical industries. Part IX: Asbestos exposure and analysis of exposures — M.A. Mehlman (1991)
• Update of the Texaco mortality study 1947-93: Part II. Analyses of specific causes of death for white men employed in refining, research, and petrochemicals — B.J. Divine, C.M. Hartman, et al. (1999)
• Cancer incidence among asbestos-exposed chemical industry workers: an extended observation period — B. Hilt, A. Andersen, et al. (1991)
• War on Carcinogens: industry disputes human relevance of chemicals causing cancer in laboratory animals based on unproven hypotheses, using kidney tumors as an example — R.L. Melnick, J.M. Ward, et al. (2013)
• Maintenance work and asbestos-related cancers in the refinery and petrochemical sector — M.M. Finkelstein (1999)
• Asbestos disease in maintenance workers of the chemical industry — R. Lilis, S. Daum, et al. (1979)

Browse more research in Toxicology and Industrial Health, or return to medical research.