Mesothelioma and asbestos exposure in New York City

The Brooklyn Navy Yard built and repaired warships for the Navy until the 1960s, employing enormous numbers of civilians during the Second World War. Ship propulsion and piping systems were insulated with asbestos, and workers from many trades breathed dust while they built and overhauled vessels. After the Navy left, the yard continued as an industrial park where ship repair and manufacturing carried on for years. Sailors assigned to ships in the yard lived aboard during repairs, surrounded by the same materials, and many later served on ships that carried asbestos insulation throughout their engineering spaces.

The city itself was a massive asbestos user. Power stations such as Con Edison's Ravenswood plant in Queens ran asbestos-insulated boilers and turbines, and the skyscrapers, apartment houses, subways and schools built through the mid-century used asbestos fireproofing, pipe covering, plaster and floor tile. Building trades, custodians and maintenance workers disturbed these materials during repairs and renovations for decades, and demolition continues to uncover them. Electricians running cable and steamfitters repairing old lines were among the most exposed. Because tradespeople often worked in hundreds of buildings over a career, New York exposure histories tend to be long and to involve many companies.