Shipyard Workers & Asbestos Exposure — The Most Documented Mesothelioma Risk

How Shipyard Workers Were Exposed

Shipyards were among the most hazardous asbestos environments ever documented. Unlike a factory where asbestos might be confined to a single process, a ship under construction or repair was saturated with asbestos insulation throughout every compartment. The enclosed environment of a hull — particularly below decks — meant that fibers had nowhere to go. They accumulated in the breathing zone of every worker inside.

• Pipe insulation (magnesia-asbestos lagging) — miles of steam pipe ran through every ship, and every foot of it was wrapped in asbestos insulation. Insulators applied this material by hand, cutting, shaping, and wrapping blocks and blankets of asbestos lagging continuously throughout the workday.
• Boiler room insulation — the hottest and most heavily insulated compartment on any ship. Boilers, steam drums, and all associated high-pressure piping were encased in asbestos material applied in thick layers. Boilermakers and insulators working in these spaces had the highest measured fiber concentrations of any group.
• Engine room — turbines, reduction gear housings, steam lines, valves, and pumps were all insulated or packed with asbestos-containing materials. The engine room was never a clean environment, and workers there were exposed throughout every shift.
• Fireproofing of bulkheads and compartments — asbestos-containing spray fireproofing was applied to interior steel surfaces throughout the ship. This application method — spraying liquid asbestos mixture under pressure — produced the highest fiber release of any shipyard application.
• Ship repair — the worst exposure scenario — removing old, deteriorated asbestos insulation to access pipes or equipment generated even more airborne fiber than installation of new material. Ships entering dry dock for major overhaul required stripping decades of degraded insulation from steam systems before repair work could begin. Repair workers breathed air containing fiber counts orders of magnitude above those measured in installation work.
• Enclosed spaces and poor ventilation — unlike a construction site, below-deck ship spaces were essentially sealed. There was no natural ventilation, and mechanical ventilation was often inadequate. Fibers released in any compartment lingered for hours.

Trades with Highest Shipyard Exposure

Every trade working in a shipyard during the peak era experienced some asbestos exposure. The differences were in degree — from critical (daily direct contact with asbestos materials) to moderate (adjacent exposure in contaminated spaces).

Major U.S. Shipyards with Documented Asbestos Exposure

Asbestos exposure was not limited to any single facility. Naval and commercial shipyards across the United States employed millions of workers during the WWII and Cold War buildups, and virtually all of them used asbestos-containing insulation and construction materials extensively.

These figures represent peak wartime employment. Many workers cycled through multiple yards over their careers, accumulating exposure across facilities and across the product lines of many different insulation manufacturers.

Navy Veterans and Shipyard Asbestos

The asbestos shipyard story has two distinct populations: the civilian workers who built and repaired ships in the yard, and the Navy veterans who served aboard those ships at sea. Both groups face significantly elevated mesothelioma risk, and both have legal options.

Civilian shipyard workers are generally in a cleaner legal position — they can file directly against the product manufacturers whose insulation they used, and there are no sovereign immunity complications. Most insulation manufacturers sold their products to both government and commercial customers under ordinary product liability principles.

Navy veterans face a more complex legal landscape because their exposure occurred in a government context. However, the defendants in Navy asbestos cases are typically the product manufacturers who supplied asbestos insulation to the Navy — not the Navy or the U.S. government itself. Courts have generally held that product manufacturers cannot escape liability to Navy veterans simply because the customer was the federal government, particularly where the manufacturer knew of the hazard and failed to warn end users.

Navy veterans may also qualify for VA disability benefits for service-connected asbestos disease. VA benefits and civil lawsuits are not mutually exclusive — filing both is common and legally permissible. The VA rates mesothelioma at 100% disability, and surviving dependents may qualify for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) if the veteran has died.

Legal Compensation for Shipyard Workers

Shipyard asbestos claims typically involve multiple exposure points — multiple manufacturers’ insulation products, used at multiple job sites over many years. This means multiple defendants and, frequently, simultaneous claims against multiple trust funds.

Insulation Manufacturer Trusts

The companies that supplied asbestos pipe insulation and block insulation to U.S. shipyards are the primary defendants in most shipyard claims. Many have resolved their liability through bankruptcy trusts:

• Owens Corning / Fibreboard Trust — one of the largest asbestos trusts; covers exposure to Kaylo and other Owens Corning insulation products widely used in shipyards.
• Pittsburgh Corning Corporation Trust — covers Unibestos and other Pittsburgh Corning pipe insulation products, heavily used in U.S. naval shipyards.
• Armstrong World Industries Trust — covers Armstrong asbestos insulation and flooring products.
• Babcock & Wilcox Trust — covers boiler manufacturer liability; Babcock & Wilcox supplied asbestos-insulated boilers to many Navy vessels.
• Combustion Engineering Trust — similar to Babcock & Wilcox, covering boiler-related asbestos exposure.
• Eagle-Picher Trust — covers Eagle-Picher asbestos insulation products widely used in naval and commercial shipyards.

Government Contractor Liability

For workers at government naval shipyards — such as the Brooklyn Navy Yard or Philadelphia Naval Shipyard — the sovereign immunity of the U.S. government does not bar claims against the private product manufacturers whose materials were used at those facilities. The government contractor defense has been raised by some manufacturers but has had mixed success in court. An experienced shipyard asbestos attorney can assess the current state of the law as it applies to your specific yard and exposure history.

Frequently Asked Questions