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How Can a Pipe Coverer Get Mesothelioma by Occupational Exposure to Asbestos?
Pipe coverers apply insulation to pipes, equipment and ductwork in businesses, factories, ships and other structures. Because insulation was one of the most common products that contained asbestos, these workers could have easily been exposed to asbestos when working with this material and they could have breathed in these asbestos fibers.
Locations in the United States for the Highest Employment Rates for Pipe Coverers
Pipe coverers are classified in the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ category of “insulation workers, mechanical” of which 24,610 people are currently employed. States with the highest employment rates for insulation workers, mechanical include:
- Texas
- Louisiana
- Virginia
- Colorado
- California
Similar Occupations as Pipe Coverers
Similar occupations as pipe coverers include the following:
- Boilermakers
- Carpenters
- Construction laborers and helpers
- Drywall installers and tapers
- Hand laborers and material movers
- HVAC worker
- Insulation worker
- Material moving machine operators
- Material recording clerks
- Water transportation workers
Lawsuits and Settlements Involving Pipe Coverers and Mesothelioma
There have been a few notable asbestos cases involving pipe coverers and asbestos-containing pipes and pipe insulation. In 2001, a man who worked as a pipe coverer at various construction sites in New York from 1963 to 1975 and was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 1995 was awarded $22.5 million against Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp., Worthington Corp. and Westinghouse Electric Corp.
In 2019, a North Carolina district court upheld a nearly $33 million jury award in favor of the widow of a man who was exposed to asbestos. The case was against Covil Corp., a pipe insulation company that supplied most of the insulation that was used to construct a building where the man formerly worked from 1975 to 1995. The plant where the man worked contained more than 7,000 feet of pipe insulation that contained asbestos. The jury found the products to be the proximate cause of the man’s death and that the company was aware of the dangers of asbestos in its products but failed to protect people from them.
In 2018, a Los Angeles jury awarded $30.2 million to a former California man diagnosed with mesothelioma after he was exposed to asbestos from transite pipe sold by J-M Manufacturing when he worked as a construction supervisor. A portion of the liability was spread among other entities that exposed the man to asbestos.
A Baltimore Circuit jury awarded $40 million to five asbestos victims, which included two pipefitters who worked at Bethlehem Steel and other Baltimore locations, a bricklayer, a national union leader for the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, and a woman who developed cancer after washing her father’s asbestos-contaminated clothing. The defendants were Harbison-Walker Refractories, Armstrong Contracting and Supply and A.P. Green Industries who asbestos to make pipe covering, insulating cement and cement block to insulate boilers.
In another case, the wife of an insulator was awarded more than $27 million against a former manufacturer of KAYLO asbestos-containing thermal pipe insulation. The California jury found that the company was negligent in manufacturing a defective product, failed to adequately warn consumers about the dangers and fraudulently concealed health hazards related to its products. The wife was exposed to asbestos when she laundered her former husband’s work clothing.
Studies Related to Pipe Coverers and Asbestos
A few studies have explored asbestos exposure in plumbing, which involves many of the same processes and materials that affect pipe coverers. In 2018, a study in the International Journal of Epidemiology identified plumbers as one of the groups that is at the highest risk of being affected by an asbestos-related disease. Researchers found plumbers to be nearly 16 times more likely to develop mesothelioma than the general population.
A 2007 study in the Annals of Occupational Hygiene showed that maintenance workers have an elevated risk of asbestos exposure. Additionally, plumbers who work in areas that had been stripped of asbestos just before they started work were still at risk of asbestos exposure due to poor removal, clean up and clearance practices.
Additionally, a cross-sectional study found plumbers and pipefitters who were exposed to asbestos showed an excessive number of radiographic abnormalities.
Types of Asbestos Products Used by Pipe Coverers
Pipe coverers who have developed mesothelioma were most likely exposed to asbestos from pipe coverings contaminated with asbestos. They may have also been exposed to asbestos from:
- Insulation
- Fireproofing materials
- Boilers
- Steam pipes
- Turbines
- Paneling
- Grinders
- Thermal insulation
- Gaskets
- Pumps
- Cement
- Adhesives
- Cables
- Packing material
- Tape
- Bedding compounds
- Thermal materials
- Tubes
Manufacturers of Products Used by Pipe Coverers
Pipe coverers may have been exposed to asbestos products manufactured by:
- Celotex Corp.
- Certainteed Products Corp.
- Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc.
- Fibreboard Corp
- GAF Corp.
- Garlock, Inc.
- John Crane
- Johns Manville
- Kaiser Gypsum Co.
- Keene Corp.
- Kentile Floors
- Owens-Illinois Co.
- Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp.
- Pacor Inc.
- Pittsburgh Corning Corp.
- The Flintkote Company
- Union Carbide
