The RMS Titanic

Our plain-English summary of The RMS Titanic, by K. Addley, P. McKeagney (Occupational Medicine, 2012).

The study

• Authors: K. Addley, P. McKeagney
• Journal: Occupational Medicine
• Published: 2012;62(3):165-6
• Type of article: Historical article
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This two-page article was a historical commentary marking the centenary of the Titanic's maiden voyage in April 1912. It was not a research study and reported no new data. The authors described the ship, its sinking, and hazards at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, where the ship was built and where eight deaths occurred during construction, mostly from falls. Citing a 1965 paper, the article stated that more than 1000 tons of asbestos was used as boiler insulation each year between 1906 and 1923. Drawing on earlier sources, the authors wrote that the asbestos hazard was not recognized until the 1930s, that little protection was used, that exposure extended to families through contaminated clothing, and that the link between asbestos exposure and pleural mesothelioma took many years to become apparent. They cited a report that the rate of asbestos bodies in the Belfast population in the 1960s was up to 20%. The authors concluded that the Titanic story highlighted the need to anticipate and control hazards, including materials that may carry long-latency health risks.

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: historical commentary (not original research); asbestos statements are drawn from cited earlier sources
• Who was studied: No study population. The article discusses workers at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, where the Titanic was built (construction from March 1909), and the Belfast population more generally
• Exposure: Asbestos used as boiler insulation, more than 1000 tons each year between 1906 and 1923 according to a cited source. No fiber type is named. The article also lists other shipyard hazards such as welding fume, solvents, lead and noise
• Main results:
  • Citing an earlier source, the article states that the hazardous nature of asbestos was not recognized until the 1930s, following reports of lung fibrosis in heavily exposed people
  • The article states that little protection was used and that exposure extended to families through contaminated clothing
  • Citing earlier sources, the article states that it took many years, and many shipyard workers' deaths, for the link between asbestos exposure and pleural mesothelioma to become apparent
  • Citing an earlier source, the article states that the rate of asbestos bodies in the Belfast population in the 1960s was up to 20%. It adds, citing a further source, that this suggests a large proportion were exposed to significant environmental levels of asbestos
  • The article reports that eight deaths occurred during the building of the Titanic, mostly due to falls
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the Titanic story highlights the need to anticipate, recognize, eliminate and control hazards, including the potential for materials in use to carry long-latency health risks. They also concluded that the shortcomings of that era have been largely addressed

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Shipyards and maritime work.

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• Asbestos and ship-building: fatal consequences — J. Hedley-Whyte, D.R. Milamed (2008)
• Historical perspective on asbestos: policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding — J.K. Corn, J. Starr (1987)
• Historical state of knowledge of the health risks of asbestos posed to seamen on merchant ships — D.G. Dodge, B.D. Beck (2016)
• The doctors and the dockers — M. Greenberg (2004)

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