Industrial Steam Plants Were Built With Asbestos

From the 1920s through the late 1970s, virtually every U.S. industrial steam plant — every electric generating station, every petrochemical refinery, every paper mill, every steel mill, every food-processing plant, every textile mill, every hospital, every university campus, every district-heating utility, every cement plant, every chemical plant, every shipyard auxiliary plant — was built with asbestos pipe insulation, asbestos block insulation, asbestos refractory, asbestos gaskets, asbestos packing, asbestos cement, asbestos cloth, asbestos-bearing valves, and asbestos-insulated electrical equipment as the standard materials of construction.

The men and women who operated, maintained, and rebuilt these plants — stationary engineers, boiler operators, firemen, water-tenders, plant maintenance mechanics, plant electricians, plant pipefitters, plant millwrights, instrument technicians, water-treatment operators, ash handlers, fuel handlers, and the supervisory and engineering staff who managed them — were exposed daily and repeatedly to asbestos fiber released from the disturbance of these materials.

Decades later — typically 20 to 50 years after the most intense exposure periods — these workers and former workers are receiving diagnoses of mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, and other asbestos-related diseases.

Where industrial steam plants existed

End-use industries with substantial steam-plant workforce populations include:

  • Electric utilities — central generating stations (Union Electric / Ameren, Kansas City Power & Light, Commonwealth Edison, Duke Energy, Florida Power & Light, Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, and many others)
  • Petroleum refineries — process-steam generation and electric cogeneration (ExxonMobil, Chevron, Phillips 66, Marathon, Valero, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips refineries)
  • Petrochemical and chemical plants — Union Carbide, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Eastman, Monsanto, Allied Chemical, Olin, FMC, and other chemical-industry steam plants
  • Pulp and paper mills — Boise Cascade, Weyerhaeuser, Georgia-Pacific, International Paper, Mead, Procter & Gamble paper, Champion, Westvaco
  • Steel mills — U.S. Steel, Bethlehem Steel, Republic Steel, Inland Steel, ArmCo, LTV, J&L, Wheeling-Pittsburgh, Kaiser, National Steel
  • Aluminum smelters and reduction plants — Alcoa, Reynolds, Kaiser Aluminum
  • Glass plants — Owens-Illinois, PPG, Libbey-Owens-Ford, Anchor Hocking
  • Food and beverage plants — Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, ConAgra, ADM, Cargill, Kraft, Kellogg
  • Textile mills — Burlington, J.P. Stevens, Cone Mills, Mount Vernon Mills, Cannon, Springs
  • Cement plants — Lehigh, Holcim, LaFarge, Ash Grove, CalPortland, Cemex
  • Hospitals — large medical center steam plants supplying autoclave steam, heating steam, sterilization, and laundry steam
  • Universities and colleges — campus central steam plants supplying multi-building heating and process steam
  • Government and military facilities — federal, state, and local government steam plants; military base steam plants
  • District-heating utilities — downtown commercial-district steam supply (Boston, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Indianapolis, St. Louis)
  • Shipyards and naval bases — central steam plants supporting ship overhauls and base operations

Where asbestos was in industrial steam plants

  • Boilers — asbestos block insulation, asbestos refractory, asbestos gaskets at manholes and handholes, asbestos packing at instrument and valve penetrations, asbestos-bearing soot blowers
  • Steam, condensate, feed, and process piping — asbestos pipe insulation (calcium silicate, magnesia, asbestos-cement, asbestos-paper, asbestos-cloth wrap)
  • Valves — asbestos-packed valve stems, asbestos-bonneted valve bodies, asbestos-gasketed flanges
  • Pumps — asbestos packing at pump shafts, asbestos gaskets at flanges, asbestos block on hot-fluid pumps
  • Turbines and generators — asbestos lagging on turbine casings, asbestos gaskets at flange joints
  • Condensers and feedwater heaters — asbestos block insulation, asbestos gaskets at all penetrations
  • Heat exchangers and reboilers — asbestos block, asbestos gaskets
  • Refractory in furnaces, kilns, and combustion equipment — asbestos-bearing castable, gunite, brick, plastic refractory, expansion joints
  • Electrical equipment — asbestos-insulated switchgear, breakers, motor starters, transformer bushings, control panels with asbestos-filled phenolic switch components
  • Building infrastructure — asbestos cement panels, vinyl-asbestos floor tile, asbestos ceiling tile, asbestos transite siding, asbestos roofing
  • Fire protection — asbestos-cloth blankets, asbestos-bearing fire-stop materials, asbestos-cement penetration seals

Worker populations exposed

  • Stationary engineers — licensed boiler operators with overall plant responsibility
  • Boiler operators, water-tenders, firemen — boiler-area operating personnel
  • Plant maintenance mechanics — millwrights, fitters, mechanical-equipment repair crews
  • Plant pipefitters — steam, condensate, feed, and process-piping installation and repair
  • Plant electricians — electrical system installation, motor service, control-panel maintenance
  • Plant instrument technicians — pneumatic and electronic control loops, transmitters, valves, recorders
  • Insulators (often union-dispatched) — pipe and equipment thermal insulation installation and removal
  • Refractory masons and helpers — boiler, furnace, and kiln refractory work
  • Welders, pipefitters, and ironworkers during plant construction and modification
  • Ash handlers and fuel handlers — coal-fired plant fuel-handling staff
  • Water treatment operators — feedwater and cooling-water chemistry
  • Laboratory technicians — fuel and water sampling
  • Shift supervisors, plant superintendents, and engineering staff — bystander exposure during plant rounds and casualty response
  • Plant cafeteria, security, and office personnel — bystander exposure to indoor airborne fiber

Stationary Engineers and union representation

The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) represents stationary engineers across the United States. Other unions with industrial steam plant member populations include the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA), the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers (Ironworkers), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and the International Association of Heat & Frost Insulators and Allied Workers (HFIAW).

Equipment defendants

Major equipment defendants associated with industrial steam plants include: Babcock & Wilcox (boilers, refractory), Combustion Engineering (boilers, refractory), Foster Wheeler (boilers), Riley Stoker (boilers), Cleaver-Brooks (package boilers), General Electric (turbines, generators), Westinghouse (turbines, generators), Allis-Chalmers (boilers, turbines, generators, motors), Crane Co., Henry Vogt, Jenkins Bros. (valves), Garlock, John Crane, A.W. Chesterton (packing and gaskets), Johns-Manville, Owens-Corning, Pittsburgh Corning, Armstrong (insulation, asbestos board, refractory), and Square D, Westinghouse, GE (electrical switchgear).

For the full catalog of industrial-plant asbestos products, see asbestos-products.com — particularly the boilers, turbines, pumps, valves, gaskets, and pipe-insulation categories.

If you worked at an industrial steam plant during the asbestos era

If you worked as a stationary engineer, boiler operator, fireman, water-tender, plant maintenance mechanic, plant pipefitter, plant electrician, instrument technician, refractory mason, insulator, ash handler, or in any other industrial-plant role at an electric utility, refinery, paper mill, steel mill, chemical plant, hospital, university, or other U.S. industrial facility during the asbestos era — and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, or another asbestos-related illness — you may have legal rights.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956

All consultations are free. No fee unless a financial recovery is made on your behalf.

See also