Long Beach Naval Shipyard

Key Findings

• ▸16.0% of the 6,640 employees surveyed (1,061 workers) had asbestos-related radiographic abnormalities — pleural plaques, pleural thickening, or interstitial fibrosis consistent with asbestosis.
• ▸Prevalence rose sharply with age: 38.2% of workers aged 65 or older showed radiographic abnormalities.
• ▸Prevalence rose sharply with service length: 37.0% of workers with 22–26 years of service showed radiographic abnormalities.
• ▸The survey covered 88.6% of the entire workforce — one of the highest participation rates in any shipyard radiographic study — making the 16% prevalence figure highly representative.
• ▸The study was conducted at a time when many workers were still employed, meaning the true lifetime prevalence in the cohort would be higher due to the latency of asbestos disease.

Why This Study Matters

A 16% radiographic abnormality rate across 88.6% of the workforce is one of the highest facility-specific asbestos disease prevalence figures documented at any U.S. naval shipyard. The age and service-length gradients (rising to 38% and 37% respectively) are consistent with a dose-response relationship and confirm that the exposure was occupational rather than incidental. The Felton study is the primary source for Long Beach's Facility evidence class — Tier 1 of 3 classification.

Key Findings

• ▸100% amosite asbestos blankets were used for shipboard insulation in steam power plants until approximately 1962.
• ▸85% magnesia + 15% amosite asbestos blocks and pipe sections accounted for approximately 88% of insulator time aboard ship.
• ▸Workers applied 85% magnesia plaster and wrapped finished insulation with asbestos cloth — creating multiple simultaneous exposure pathways.
• ▸The paper is authored by a Long Beach Naval Shipyard industrial hygienist and documents the specific products and application methods used at the yard.

Why This Source Matters

The Marr 1964 paper is one of the few primary sources that names specific asbestos products and their application methods at a named naval shipyard. It provides the product-level evidence that explains the 16% radiographic prevalence found by Felton 1979: workers who spent 88% of their time handling amosite-containing insulation blocks and blankets were exposed to high fiber concentrations throughout their careers.

Key Findings

• ▸11.3% of wives of shipyard workers showed radiological signs of pulmonary asbestos disease — from household (take-home) asbestos contamination carried home on work clothes.
• ▸7.6% of sons of shipyard workers showed radiological signs of pulmonary asbestos disease from the same take-home pathway.
• ▸Comparable radiographic signs were not found in control groups without shipyard family connections.
• ▸The study demonstrates that asbestos exposure at Los Angeles County shipyards — including Long Beach — was severe enough to cause disease in household contacts who never set foot in the yard.

Why This Study Matters

Take-home asbestos disease in family members is a recognized marker of extreme occupational exposure — it requires fiber concentrations high enough to contaminate work clothing at levels sufficient to cause disease in people with only indirect contact. The Kilburn 1985 findings corroborate the Felton 1979 prevalence data and extend the documented harm beyond the workforce to their households.

Key Findings

• ▸The Record of Decision for IR Site 9 (Building 129 spills) documents the federal remediation plan for solvent contamination (PCE/TCE/vinyl chloride) at the former Long Beach Naval Complex.
• ▸The EPA Superfund listing (ID CA1170090483) confirms that the yard's historical operations left a documented environmental contamination footprint.
• ▸The ROD is the primary environmental record for the named yard, confirming its identity and operational history as a major naval repair and overhaul facility.
• ▸The contamination addressed in the ROD is solvent-based rather than asbestos-specific; it is included as the primary environmental record for the facility, not as an asbestos-disease document.

Why This Record Matters

The Navy ROD and EPA Superfund listing provide independent federal regulatory confirmation of the yard's identity, scale, and operational history. Combined with the Felton 1979 and Kilburn 1985 radiographic studies, the three records converge on a consistent picture: a large naval facility where asbestos exposure was severe enough to cause disease in 16% of the active workforce and in the household contacts of workers.