Mesothelioma and asbestos exposure in Baton Rouge

The Baton Rouge refinery, opened by Standard Oil in the early 1900s and later run by Exxon, grew into one of the largest refineries in the country. Alongside it, chemical plants, including a large Ethyl Corporation plant and operations up and down the river, processed petroleum and chemicals at high temperatures. Asbestos insulation covered furnaces, reactors, towers and miles of steam piping for most of the twentieth century. Operators worked beside that equipment every shift, and any repair or leak meant insulation being cut, patched or pulled away in the middle of an operating unit.

Across the river and downstream, Dow Chemical's Plaquemine complex and other plants added thousands of jobs. Much of the heaviest insulation work was done by contractors during shutdowns, when crews stripped and replaced insulation on hot equipment under tight deadlines. Operators, pipefitters, boilermakers and laborers from Baton Rouge often worked at several plants over the years, carrying dust home to their families. As a result, Baton Rouge claims frequently involve many companies, and reconstructing which plants a worker visited, and when, is one of the most important parts of preparing a case.