Mesothelioma and asbestos exposure in Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard at League Island built and repaired Navy ships for most of the twentieth century until it closed in the 1990s. Its boilers, turbines and piping were insulated with asbestos, and workers across many trades were exposed during construction and overhaul. Down the Delaware River, Sun Shipbuilding in Chester added thousands more shipyard jobs. Refineries in South Philadelphia and at Marcus Hook ran asbestos-insulated furnaces, towers and steam lines, and shutdown crews replaced that insulation regularly. Many workers moved between the Navy yard, the private yards and the refineries as work rose and fell.

Just north of the city, Ambler was home to the Keasbey and Mattison company, a major maker of asbestos products whose large waste piles long marked the town. Workers handled raw asbestos there, and neighbors lived close to the plant and its waste. Across the region, factories, power plants, rowhouses, schools and office buildings contained asbestos pipe covering, boiler insulation and building materials. Philadelphia's building trades disturbed those materials for decades during repairs and renovations. That is why exposure histories here often span several employers and several decades, and why local claims frequently involve many different companies.