Types of Companies with Asbestos Exposure

Aerospace

The advent of the aerospace industry created jobs during the twentieth century. Responsible for the design and production of aircraft, missiles, rockets, and spacecraft, over a million Americans were employed by aerospace companies at the industry’s height during the 1980s.

Unfortunately for these workers, aerospace factories typically used asbestos materials and equipment prior to the 1990s.

This included brakes, hoses, engines, and insulation material for planes. The planes had asbestos-containing pumps, valves, boilers, and other equipment.

The companies that sold these asbestos products to aerospace factories knew that asbestos posed serious health risks to factory workers.

Despite this, the asbestos companies did not warn workers of these dangers.

Many retired workers from the aerospace industry have developed mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer that most often forms on the lining of the lungs.

Automotive Factories

For over a century, the automotive industry has been a vital source of employment for the American workforce.

Although the industry is most closely associated with Detroit, Michigan, automotive assembly plants existed in many other states. Prior to the 1990s, these factories used a great deal of asbestos equipment and materials.

Auto plants had asbestos-containing pumps, valves, turbines, boilers, and other equipment. Automobile brakes, gaskets, and clutches also had asbestos.

Chevrolet

Plant closed 2007
Buffalo, NY

Chemical Plants

Chemical manufacturing in the United States employs over a million Americans. Responsible for such diverse products as plastics, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, and flavorings, chemical production is a major American industry.

Although people have been producing and refining chemicals for thousands of years, the industry’s modern form emerged around the turn of the 20^thcentury, spurred by a number of innovations made in the production of chemical dyes, plant fertilizers, sulfuric acid, and caustic soda.

Large factories were erected to manufacture these and other chemicals in bulk, and many American workers were hired to fulfill the labor needs of the industry.

Prior to the 1990s, chemical factories and plants used equipment and materials made from asbestos in a variety of applications. Asbestos-containing equipment included pumps, valves, turbines, boilers, and other equipment. Chemical factories also used asbestos lab and filtering equipment. Plastic factories used asbestos molding compounds.

Dupont

2551 Buffalo Ave
Niagara Falls, NY 14303

Hercules / Ciba Geigy

89 Lower Warren Street and Quaker Road
Glens Falls, NY 12801

Schenectady Chemical

1302 Congress Street
Schenectady, NY

Construction Sites Other Jobsites

Nearly six million American workers are employed by the construction industry – one of the industries involved with the Asbestos issue. During the bulk of the 20^th century, asbestos could often be found in construction equipment, as well as materials such as gaskets, ceiling and floor tile, joint compound, caulking, and shingles.

Asbestos, a fibrous mineral that was commonly used as a construction and building material prior to the 1990s, is the sole known cause of mesothelioma – an aggressive cancer most often forming in the lining of the lungs.

During construction projects, asbestos materials needed to be cut, ground, installed, and occasionally demolished. Any of these actions would release and agitate a great deal of asbestos dust, contaminating the air at the site with millions of harmful asbestos fibers. These asbestos materials would also wear down over time, due to natural degradation, repair, and maintenance, producing even more asbestos dust.

The millions of construction workers who inhaled these fibers are at a high risk of developing mesothelioma.

Construction workers were never told of these dangers by the asbestos industry. The asbestos industry had been aware of the health hazards of asbestos since the 1920s, but did not warn workers. Because of this, and because mesothelioma is only known to be caused by asbestos, construction workers who develop mesothelioma have the right to seek compensation for their illness.

It is important, however, to seek out experienced mesothelioma attorneys when pursuing an asbestos lawsuit.

Electronics Fabrication Plants

Many Americans have been employed at electronics plants that build circuit boards, radios, televisions, and computer equipment. These sites put workers at a high risk of developing mesothelioma due to the asbestos equipment that was used extensively at these production facilities, including pumps, valves, insulation, boilers, and turbines.

General Electric Plants

1 River Road
Schenectady, NY 12345

GTE Sylvania

50 Johnston St.
Seneca Falls, NY

Xerox

800 Phillips Road
Webster, NY 14580

Food Processing Plants

The world has dramatically increased its reliance on processed foods over the past century. A significant portion of the American diet relies on food that has been produced or packaged in large factories and processing plants.

Prior to the 1990s, these food processing plants and factories used asbestos materials and equipment such as insulation, valves, pumps, packing, gaskets, and ovens.

The businesses that sold asbestos materials and equipment to food processing plants did not warn food processing workers that asbestos was hazardous. Since the 1920s, these companies were aware that asbestos could cause mesothelioma – a deadly cancer of the lining of the lungs.

However, they actively suppressed this information, choosing profits over the lives of workers. As a result, thousands of former food processing workers still die from mesothelioma every year, and millions more are at risk.

Nestle

555 Fay Street
Fulton, NY 13069

Glass Plants

The glass manufacturing industry employed hundreds of thousands of Americans during the 20th century. Prior to the 1990s, glass workers were exposed to asbestos equipment, including insulated tanks, tongs, pumps, valves, and boilers.

 

 

 

Corning Glass Works

1 West Market Street
Corning, NY 14831

Manufacturing Plants

The manufacturing industry was the primary driver of the American economy throughout much of the 20th century. Millions of people have been employed by the American manufacturing sector.

Prior to the 1990s however, most U.S. factories utilized asbestos materials and equipment throughout the facilities in equipment and production.

Manufacturing Plants in New York State With Asbestos Exposures

 

 

 

Albany Felt Company

Albany, NY

ALCO

Schenectady, NY

American Standard

40 West 40th Street
Manhattan
New York, NY 10018

Armstrong World Industries

Fulton, NY

Auburn Plastics

Auburn, NY

Bausch & Lomb

Rochester, NY

Blue Circle Cement

Ravena, NY

Carborundum Company

Niagara Falls, NY

Carrier Corporation

6304 Thompson Road
Syracuse, NY

Chicago Pneumatic

Utica, NY

Dresser-Rand

Painted Post, NY 14870

Dunkirk Radiator Corporation

2201 Dwyer Ave.
Utica, NY 13501

DuPont

2551 Buffalo Ave
Niagara Falls, NY 14303

Foster Wheeler

9431 Foster Wheeler Road
Dansville, NY 14437

Ingersoll Rand

199 N Main St
Athens, PA 18810

Owens Corning Delmar Plant

1277 Feura Bush Rd
Feura Bush, NY 12067

Metal Smelting Plants

Metal manufacturing in America has roots extending all the way back to the colonial era, and has been a major U.S. industry ever since. Smelting plants working with steel, iron, copper, and aluminum have been major sources of employment for American workers, especially during the bulk of the twentieth century.

Prior to the 1990s however, these smelting plants exposed metal industry workers to the deadly carcinogen asbestos. As a result, many former metal workers have been diagnosed with the highly aggressive cancer mesothelioma.

Alcan

448 Country Route 1A
Oswego, NY

ALCOA

Park Avenue East
Massena, NY 13662

Bethlehem Steel

Lackawanna, NY

Crucible Steel

Syracuse, NY

Revere Copper

1 Revere Park
Rome, NY 13440

Reynolds Metal

194 Country Route 45
Massena, NY 13662

Paper Companies

Pulp and paper manufacturing is one of the United States’ largest manufacturing industries, and employed millions of Americans during the 20th century. New York was one of the most active areas for the paper industry, and was home to many of the largest and most prominent paper mills and companies of the time.

Unfortunately, workers who were employed by the paper industry are at a high risk of developing mesothelioma due to the industry’s frequent use of asbestos in most pulp and paper plants.

Paper mills had asbestos-containing equipment including pumps, valves, paper machines, boilers, turbines, digesters, and evaporators. Asbestos, a mineral fiber that can crumble to dust during regular use and maintenance, is a deadly carcinogen that is the only known cause of mesothelioma.

Paper mills, which were often poorly ventilated work spaces, would become contaminated with airborne asbestos fibers during the normal day-to-day operations within the plant. When asbestos dust is inhaled or ingested, it causes fibrous masses to form in the lining of the lungs that can eventually become cancerous.

Burrows Paper Corporation

501 W Main St.
Little Falls, NY 13365

Finch, Pruyn & Co.

1 Glen Street
Glens Falls, NY 12801

International Paper

15 Pine st
Corinth, NY 12822

International Paper

568 Shore-Airport Road
Ticonderoga, NY 12883

Pharmaceutical Plants

The pharmaceutical industry manufactures drugs for use by consumers. Pharmaceuticals are mass produced in large plants. Prior to the 1990s, these plants used asbestos equipment and materials such as pumps, valves, gaskets, packing, insulation, lab equipment, and ovens.

Hercules / Ciba Geigy

89 Lower Warren Street and Quaker Road
Glens Falls, NY 12801

Power Plants

Powerhouses or power plants produce electricity. Energy generation is most commonly achieved through burning fossil fuels such as coal or oil, though alternatives such as hydroelectric dams, nuclear plants, and fields of solar panels or windmills also exist.

Nearly 400,000 Americans are currently employed in power generation jobs, and hundreds of thousands more are retired employees of the industry.

Prior to the 1990s, power stations extensively utilized asbestos equipment and materials, including pumps, valves, boilers, tanks, and turbines. This equipment is still in place in some plants. The mineral fiber asbestos, used as gasket material, packing, insulation, and cement, is the only known cause of the highly aggressive cancer mesothelioma.

Asbestos would crumble to dust during routine maintenance and replacement of asbestos-containing parts and equipment. When this dust is inhaled or ingested it forms fibrous tissue in the lungs that can develop into mesothelioma anywhere from 10 to 50 or more years after initial exposure to asbestos.

Shipyards