Asbestos Ironing Board Pad

Asbestos ironing board pads were a common household and commercial laundry product from the 1920s through the mid-1980s. Designed to sit beneath the fabric cover on an ironing board, these pads provided heat resistance to protect the board surface from scorch damage and to reflect heat back into the garment for more efficient ironing. They were manufactured from felted or loosely woven chrysotile asbestos fibre, sometimes bonded to a cotton or paper backing.

The domestic ironing board pad represents one of the most insidious categories of asbestos product because it brought a friable, fibre-shedding material into the heart of the family home. Unlike industrial asbestos products encountered only by workers, ironing board pads were used by homemakers, often in enclosed laundry rooms or kitchens with limited ventilation. The heat of the iron combined with the pressing motion caused the pad to degrade over time, releasing fibres that became airborne in the immediate vicinity of the user.

Commercial laundries were another significant area of use. Industrial flatwork ironers and pressing stations were equipped with asbestos padding to withstand the continuous high temperatures of commercial pressing operations. Laundry workers operating these machines received chronic, low-level exposure throughout their working day.

The products were sold widely through department stores, hardware shops, and mail-order catalogues without any health warnings or asbestos labelling. Brands including Proctor Silex and Beldray marketed ironing board pads and covers as premium accessories that would extend the life of the ironing board and improve ironing results. Consumers had no way of knowing that the pad concealed beneath their ironing board cover was a carcinogenic material.

The risk level is rated at 3. While the material is friable, the exposure from normal ironing is lower in intensity than occupational exposure from asbestos textiles in industrial settings. However, the cumulative effect of years of regular domestic use, often several times per week, could result in meaningful lifetime exposure. Children and other household members present in the room during ironing received bystander exposure.

Modern ironing board pads use felt, foam, silicone-coated fabric, or aluminium-coated cotton, all of which provide superior scorch protection without any health risk.