[breadcrumb]

BoilermakerWhat is a Boilermaker?

A boilermaker is a tradesperson who makes, installs and repairs boilers, tanks and closed vats. Boilers house gases or liquids like oil or water. They may involve high-pressure, steam-generating equipment. Boilers often heat the liquid inside of them to generate electric power or provide heat to buildings and ships. Tanks and vats are storage containers that are suitable for holding chemicals, oil and liquids.

Boilermakers often work in industrial settings such as factories that produce boilers, facilities that must operate them for heat or power and maintenance people who repair the boilers onsite. Others may work in residential settings to service existing boilers. Some boilermakers work in oil refineries, natural resource companies or construction companies.

See All Asbestos Jobs

Regular job duties of boilermakers include:

  • Installing boilers and large containers into manufacturing facilities and other buildings
  • Reading and understanding blueprints to know where to place the boiler
  • Casting pieces and bending them into shape
  • Organizing and arranging premade boiler parts before assembly
  • Welding or bolting pieces together
  • Assembling boiler tanks with automatic or robotic welding
  • Inspecting boilers and boiler systems to identify any defects or leaks
  • Using wire brushes, scrapers and cleaning supplies to clean boilers and vats
  • Performing routine maintenance on boilers
  • Repairing or replacing parts on existing boilers
  • Upgrading boilers to meet new efficiency or environmental standards

How Can a Boilermaker Get Mesothelioma by Occupational Exposure to Asbestos?

Boilermakers have one of the highest incident rates of mesothelioma when compared to other professions. These professionals were routinely exposed to asbestos, often in poorly ventilated areas. Some boilermakers today may still be exposed to this dangerous toxin.

Asbestos is heat resistant and helps prevent fires. For these reasons, heat control products often contained asbestos. Asbestos was used on insulation and wraps that protected the inside and outside of boilers. Additionally, asbestos was included in the personal protective equipment that was supposed to help them avoid serious injury.

While asbestos is widely believed to be safe when not disturbed, boilermakers constantly disturbed asbestos when they installed, removed and maintained asbestos as part of their regular job duties. Once this disturbance occurs, microscopic fibers become dislodged and become airborne. Boilermakers can then inhale these deadly particles.

Boilermakers worked in a trade where many of the products they interacted with on a daily basis contained asbestos. Boilers need insulation and fireproof, and boiler manufacturers often turned to asbestos to meet this need.

Boilermakers and operators worked in a variety of settings where they could have been exposed to asbestos, including factories that make boilers, ships where the boilers were repaired, HVAC professions in which the professionals installed and removed these contaminated appliances and in oil refineries. Any of these professionals could have been exposed to asbestos. Anyone who helped assemble these boilers also could have been exposed to asbestos.

Some boilermaker job duties required them to place raw asbestos into boilers. This process often involved loose asbestos fibers that workers could have been exposed to. Other applications required them to mix raw asbestos and other items to create a cement for boiler pipes.

Individuals who repaired boilers were also at risk of being exposed to asbestos. These professionals often used products that contained asbestos to put pieces back in place, such as asbestos tape used around loose insulation or joint compound these workers applied to small cracks. Boilermakers also performed duties that crushed or crumbled asbestos-containing products, further increasing the amount of asbestos fibers in the air.

Because boiler rooms are often small and enclosed and built with asbestos-containing products, anyone who spent regular time in them is at risk for developing serious asbestos-related illnesses like mesothelioma and asbestosis. Asbestos dust often lingers in these rooms long after the boilers released it.

Because many boilers last for more than 50 years, boilermakers who work around older boilers that contain asbestos or are wrapped in asbestos lining may still be exposed to asbestos. A 2005 survey found that the majority of boilers in the United States were more than 30 years old. Recent studies have been conducted to test the amount of exposure to asbestos a boilermaker has and it is anywhere between 2.3 and 4.5 times more than expected. Prolonged exposure to asbestos is the leading cause of mesothelioma.

When boilermakers returned home after work, they often carried asbestos dust and fibers on their clothes. Anyone in their home was at risk of developing illnesses caused by this secondhand exposure to asbestos.

Locations in the United States for the Highest Employment Rates for Boilermakers

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 14,500 people were employed as boilermakers in 2018. States with the highest employment rates for boilermakers include the following:

  • Texas
  • Indiana
  • Louisiana
  • Ohio
  • Florida

Similar Occupations as Boilermakers

Similar occupations as boilermakers include:

  • Pipefitters
  • Insulation workers
  • Welders
  • Ironworkers
  • Plumbers
  • Masons
  • Electricians
  • Carpenters
  • Assemblers and fabricators
  • Machinery maintenance workers
  • Millwrights
  • Industrial machinery mechanics
  • Tool and die makers
  • Machinists
  • Steamfitters
  • Sheet metal workers
  • Boiler operators

Lawsuits and Settlements Involving Boilermakers and Mesothelioma

There have been several significant jury verdicts made in favor of boilermakers who have developed mesothelioma due to their occupational exposure to asbestos. Some of the largest verdicts include:

  • A Harris County jury awarded a record-setting $5.5 million verdict against Kellogg, Brown & Root to the widow of a former boilermaker, welder and pipefitter in 2002. The jury found the company grossly negligent in causing the former boilermaker’s lung cancer. The man worked for the company for about 20 years, completing tear-out and shut-down work at a number of industrial plants in Houston and the surrounding area. He was exposed to asbestos dust and asbestos-containing insulation on a regular basis due to his job duties. He died from lung cancer at age 50.
  • An Alameda County, California jury returned a verdict of $6.951 million in the wrongful death lawsuit of a former boilermaker who worked at the Southern Pacific Railroad from 1971 to 1995, which was merged with Union Pacific 1997. The jury awarded $6.5 million of the award for pain and suffering damages, in addition to more than $451,000. The man suffered from malignant mesothelioma, which led to his death.
  • In the largest verdict of its kind in the state’s history, a New York jury awarded $190 million to five tradesmen in 2013 after it found that two boiler companies acted in a negligent and reckless fashion that caused the plaintiffs’ serious medical conditions.
  • A New York City jury returned a $47 million verdict in 2003 on behalf of a former boilermaker who was dying of cancer due to his former work.
  • A New York jury also returned a $22 million verdict in 2015 in favor of a mesothelioma victim against boilermaker Burnham LLC after the jury found it 25% liable for the man’s development of this condition.
  • A former boilermaker was awarded $3.7 million in compensation after establishing that his mesothelioma was caused by working as a boilermaker in New York. He later became a building maintenance worker.
  • In 2013, a San Francisco jury returned a verdict of $730,000 against Plant Insulation Company in favor of a man who worked as a boilermaker and ship surveyor from the 1960s to 1990s. The jury found the manufacturer partially negligent. The man was diagnosed with a mesothelioma cancer of the lining of the abdomen in 2008 and continued to battle it.

Many more former boilermakers may have entered into confidential settlement agreements with the companies responsible for manufacturing contaminated asbestos and insulation that wrapped these boilers and exposed thousands of workers to asbestos.

Studies Related to Boilermakers and Asbestos

Numerous studies have been conducted regarding the connection between the work boilermakers perform and asbestos exposure. A 2007 study found that unionized boilermakers who worked for at least 10 years in the trade had higher incident rates of pleural plaques, dyspnea and interstitial fibrosis than the general public. Researchers also found that as the workers spent more time in the trade, so did their health risks. 30% of boilermakers with at least 20 years of expedience in the trade who were surveyed in the study had pleural abnormalities in their imaging scans.

A small Norwegian study published in 1989 predicted the occurrence of mesothelioma and lung cancer in a healthy population and compared it to the incidence actually experienced by more than 4,700 boiler welders and found that there were more incidents than they anticipated. They found 50 cases of lung cancer and 3 cases of mesothelioma.

Types of Asbestos Products Used by Boilermakers

Boilermakers have one of the highest risks of developing mesothelioma because they worked around a variety of products that contained asbestos. Wraps and insulation that was used on boiler tanks usually was made of asbestos. Additionally, liners for the interior of these boilers contained asbestos. Gaskets in joints, seams and access opening also contained this dangerous material. Boilermakers could have also been exposed to asbestos from adhesives in pipe connections or additives to bearings and rollers that contained asbestos. Those who worked in boiler rooms were often left in an enclosed space where asbestos completely surrounded them through the asbestos that was part of the floors, ceilings and wall protection in these rooms.

Additional products that boilermakers commonly interacted with that contained asbestos include the following:

  • Block insulation around the bases of boilers
  • Closed cell insulation for the enclosure of steam pipes
  • Joint compound
  • Wax
  • Sealants
  • Cement powder for pipe wrap
  • Raw asbestos used to fill cracks
  • Tape to connect and secure asbestos paper
  • Rope

Manufacturers of Asbestos Products Used by Boilermakers

Manufacturers that produced asbestos products used by boilermakers include:

  • American Standard, Inc.
  • Aqua-Chem, Inc.
  • Asbestos Corporation Ltd.
  • Burnham Corporation
  • Babcock & Wilcox
  • Cleaver Brooks Company
  • Combustion Engineering
  • Crane Co.
  • Crown Boiler Company
  • Foster Wheeler
  • Henry Vogt Machine Co.
  • Kewanee Boiler Manufacturing Inc.
  • Parsons
  • Riley Stoker Corporation
  • Weil-McLain
  • Zurn Industries, Inc.