How Does Asbestos Exposure Happen?

Individuals are exposed to asbestos when asbestos materials are friable and that material is disturbed in a way that releases the asbestos fibers into the air, that happens in many different settings like shipyards and industrial sites. It can also happen through certain consumer products and when those fibers which are invisible are released into the air, the individual, without their knowledge, breathes those in and they become launched in the lungs and can cause asbestos related diseases.

Often asbestos related diseases take many decades to develop. In mesothelioma, the amount of time that the disease takes to develop is often 20 years or more from when the exposure occurred. For that reason many of our clients were exposed to asbestos in the ’60s or ’70s or even earlier and did not develop mesothelioma until 20, 30, 40 or sometimes 50 years after that exposure occurred.

Oftentimes clients come to us without a clear idea of where or how they were exposed to asbestos, at Bergman Oslund Udo Little, we maintain in-depth databases on all of the work sites throughout Washington Oregon where individuals were historically exposed to asbestos. This allows us to not only look at documents but testimony from our clients and their co-workers stretching back three decades. This helps us identify where somebody was exposed to asbestos and who might be liable for that exposure.