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How Can a Shipwright Get Mesothelioma by Occupational Exposure to Asbestos?
Shipwrights build and repair boats, ships and other vessels of all sizes. This includes any boat between a handmade canoe to a large naval ship. They design and build ships according to specifications and may use power tools to help construct the boat or supervise a team who constructs the ship.
Major shipbuilding activity occurred between World War II and the Vietnam War because of the U.S.’s need for Navy vessels. This period of time was also associated with the peak of asbestos use in the United States. Asbestos was used for many purposes in ships, including to insulate them and prevent fires, so shipwrights would have likely come in contact with many of these products.
Locations in the United States for the Highest Employment Rates for Shipwrights
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are currently 135,910 people employed in the ship and boat building industry. States with the highest employment rates for ship and boat building workers include:
- California
- Washington
- New York
- Massachusetts
Similar Occupations as Shipwrights
Similar occupations as shipwrights include the following:
- Boilermakers
- Carpenters
- Construction laborers and helpers
- Drafters
- Drywall installers and tapers
- Hand laborers and material movers
- Material moving machine operators
- Naval architects
Lawsuits and Settlements Involving Shipwrights and Mesothelioma
There have been a few notable asbestos cases involving shipwrights and shipyard workers. For example a Newport News, Virginia jury awarded $25 million to a former repair supervisor in 2011. The man had worked as a shipfitter in new construction and also repaired commercial vessels at Newport News Shipbuilding. The jury held Exxon responsible for the man’s development of mesothelioma based on asbestos exposure that occurred when the man worked on 17 commercial oil tankers that were being repaired at the shipyard. The jury found that Exxon was aware of the dangers of asbestos and took steps to protect its own refinery workers from them but failed to take steps to warn shipyard workers or crew members of these dangers.
The family of a man who worked at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for nearly 40 years was awarded $5.2 million against the defendant Foster Wheeler Corp. The court determined that the defendant failed to disclose the risks of removing its asbestos insulation in boilers on many ships, which caused the man to develop mesothelioma.
Studies Related to Shipwrights and Asbestos
A few studies have explored the risk of asbestos on people who build or repair shipyards. For example, the U.S. National Institutes of Health published a study called “Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences.” Researchers of this study found that shipyard workers were 16 times more likely to die from asbestosis than people in other occupations. Many of these fatalities were concentrated in the East and West Coast where a lot of shipbuilding has historically been completed.
The Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health reported asbestos-related deaths in a published article in 2017 for individuals who were employed at the Coast Guard Shipyard in Baltimore from 1950 to 1964. Workers who had only a moderate level of cumulative asbestos exposure were almost four times more likely than the general population to die from mesothelioma. Workers with a high level of asbestos exposure were more than seven times more likely to die from this disease than members of the general population.
Types of Asbestos Products Used by Shipwrights
Asbestos products were included in nearly every part of a ship from the hull to the stern, so shipwrights could have been exposed to asbestos from a variety of asbestos-containing products. Common uses of asbestos products included:
- Rolled insulation around boilers and engines
- Acoustic control in engine rooms and propulsion areas
- Fire protection in engine rooms, galleys and hallways
- Thermal insulation around engines and boiler rooms
- Furnaces and incinerators
- High pressure pipe wrapping
- Gaskets and friction control devices
- Gaskets and sealants
- Protection in munition rooms
- Floor and ceiling tiles
- Acoustic panels in flooring and ceiling tiles
- Welding rod coatings and flux additives
- Paint, glue and adhesives
Manufacturers of Products Used by Shipwrights
Some of the manufacturers of products used by shipwrights were GAF Corporation, Johns Manville and Union Carbide. You may have been exposed to asbestos if you worked at any of the following shipyards,:
- Alabama Dry Dock
- Albina Shipyard
- Barbours Cut Docks
- Bethlehem Steel Shipyard
- Bremerton Naval Shipyard
- Brooklyn Navy Yard
- Caddell Dry Dock
- California Navy Shipyard
- Charleston Naval Shipyard
- Consolidated Steel Shipyards
- Curtis Bay Coast Guard Yard
- Defoe Shipyard
- Duwamish Shipyard
- Galveston Docks
- General Dynamics NASSCO
- GMD Shipyard
- Groton Naval Base
- Houston Shipyards
- Hunters Point Naval Shipyard
- Ingalls Shipbuilding
- Kane Shipbuilding
- Kaiser Shipyard
- Lockheed Shipyard
- Long Beach Naval Shipyard
- Moore Dry Dock
- Naval Station Everett
- Naval Weapons Station
- New York Shipbuilding Corporation
- Newport News Naval Shipyard
- Norfolk Naval Shipyard
- Orange Shipbuilding
- Pearl Harbor Shipyard
- Pensacola Naval Air Station
- Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
- San Diego Naval Shipyard
- San Francisco Drydock
- Seward Ships Drydock
- Sun Shipbuilding
- Tacoma Drydock
- Todd Shipyards
- Washington Navy Yard
- Willamette Iron and Steel Works
