PENNSYLVANIA MESOTHELIOMA LAWYERS

Anchored by major manufacturing centers in every corner of its state, Pennsylvania is home to two industries that are extensively linked to asbestos exposure – manufacturing and mining. In addition to these industries, Pennsylvania also serves as headquarters to GE Transportation Systems – the largest producer of train locomotives in the United States.

Aside from hosting the usual industries tagged as high-risk for asbestos exposure – i.e., shipyards, ship building, oil refineries, power plants, energy plants, iron and steel mills, it has also been established that several naturally occurring asbestos mines were discovered and openly and actively mined along the southern border of Pennsylvania. These asbestos mines contained what is known as “white” chrysotile asbestos which, though softer than the rigid, needle-like brown or blue asbestos used in power plants and chemical plants, is still highly toxic and just as likely to cause extensive damage to the respiratory system.

Approximately 50 major companies employed the use of ACMs (asbestos containing materials) and used the readily available asbestos in the construction of numerous public buildings, schools, office buildings, and other structures throughout the late 19th Century and 20th Century. This placed any person who walked through or worked on these buildings at risk for inhalation of the deadly substance.

Another type of exposure resulted in the transportation of 425,000 tons of vermiculite ore from Libby, Montana to several towns in Philadelphia where the mineral was processed into insulation and gardening products in the latter half of the 20th Century. The transportation of this contaminated material put not only those who transported and worked directly with the material at risk, but left the entire community prone to exposure as well.

OCCUPATIONS AT RISK

Below is a list of occupations that put Pennsylvania workers at a known risk of asbestos exposure. If you worked in one of these occupations in the 1980s or earlier, there is a good chance that you were exposed to asbestos:

Boilermakers
Carpenters
Construction Workers
Electricians
Engineers
Foundry Workers
Freight and Material Handlers
Furnace Men, Smelter-Men & Pourers
Heavy Equipment Mechanics
HVAC Workers
Industrial Plant Workers
Insulators
Iron Workers
Laborers
Locomotive Engineers
Miners
Mixing Workers
Molders
Oil Refinery Workers
Pipefitters
Plasterers
Power Plant Workers
Railroad Workers
Shipyard Workers
Vermiculite Workers
Welders

JOB SITES WITH KNOWN ASBESTOS EXPOSURE

The following is a list of some of the Pennsylvania job sites where there is a documented use of asbestos products. If you or a family member worked at one of these places, you may be at a heightened risk of asbestos disease.

If you believe that you may have been exposed to asbestos at your own job, please contact a mesothelioma attorney for more information. There are many other job sites in Pennsylvania where asbestos was used.

Mining

Markle-Buller Coal Co.
National Mine Service, Co.
Oliver Iron Mining Company

Steel Plants

Carnegie Steel Company
Independent Metal Products
Jones & Laughlin Steel
Lebanon Steel Foundry
Pennsylvania Steel Company
Pennsylvania Steel Casting Co.
United Engineering & Foundry
United States Steel Corp.

Power Plants

Peach Bottom Nuclear Power Plant
Pennsylvania Power Company
Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant
Westinghouse Atomic Power

Petroleum and Oil Refinery

Sunoco Philadelphia

Shipyards

Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation
Key Highway Shipyard
Penn Shipbuilding
Pennsylvania Shipyard (Beaumont)
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
Sun Shipbuilding

Other Industries

Allied Chemical Corp.
Blaw Knox Co.
Bucyrus-Erie Co.
Francis L. Feyock
General Chemical Div.
Hanley Co.
I-T-E Circuit Breaker
ITE Imperial Corp.
Pennsylvania Railroad Company
Stackpole Carbon Co.
Superior Chemical Products
Susquehanna Coal Company
Sylvania Electric Inc.
Trailmobile Inc.
United Industries Inc.
Westinghouse Electric Corp.

MESOTHELIOMA IN PENNSYLVANIA

The most recent statistics approximate that more than 3,000 people in the state of Pennsylvania alone have lost their lives due to asbestos related diseases within the years of 1980 to 2000. Approximately 44% of these deaths were attributed to mesothelioma, while the remaining majority has been linked to asbestosis, an asbestos related lung cancer.

These statistics are staggering as mesothelioma, an often terminal cancer, has a long latency period. This means that a person usually develops mesothelioma long after they have identified initial exposure to asbestos – usually between 10 to 50 years later. Ultimately, this means that the number of deaths related to asbestos is expected to keep climbing.

PENNSYLVANIA MESOTHELIOMA LAWYER

If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and you believe you were exposed to asbestos in Pennsylvania, it is important that you contact a skilled attorney with experience in asbestos litigation. In addition, time is of the essence, because you have a limited amount of time to file suit.

We urge you to contact one of our mesothelioma lawyers for a free consultation. We can help you investigate the sources of your exposure, and determine what companies were responsible.