Factory workers across the U.S. say they were exposed to asbestos on the job

Andy Lang visits the gravesite of his sister Bertha Reed, Sunday November 20, 2022 in McIntosh, Alabama. Lang worked at the Olin Corp. chemical plant as a contract pipefitter, his sister retired after working as a lab analyst. Soon after she retired, Reed, who did not smoke cigarettes, was diagnosed with lung cancer. She died in 2017 at age 64. (Rich-Joseph Facun for ProPublica)

When LaTunja Caster started working at the Olin Corp. chemical plant outside of McIntosh, Alabama, she had no idea that asbestos was used in the production process. But when she became a union safety representative around 2007, she started to pay attention.

In certain parts of the plant, "you would see it all the time," she said. "You definitely breathed it in."