Narrative Summaries

Kittery, Maine · 10 evidence records

Case-control study of lung cancer risk (1952–1977) and retrospective exposure reconstruction (1952–2002). OR 1.8–2.4 for lung cancer in the highest cumulative asbestos exposure quartile. Includes NIOSH HHE 85-021-1654 and EPA Superfund record (1994–2024 delisting).

Honolulu, Hawaii · 6 evidence records

Retrospective cohort of 7,971 workers (up to 29 years follow-up) with mesothelioma rates 11.6× Hawaii's general population. Population-based case-control study found OR ~10 for mesothelioma among shipyard workers. EPA Superfund site with documented asbestos contamination around Dry Dock 3.

Bremerton, Washington · 6 evidence records

1970 U.S. Navy industrial hygiene survey found fiber concentrations of 40–150 f/cc during rip-out operations — 8–30× the then-current TLV — and pulmonary abnormalities in 21% of pipe coverers and insulators. Mesothelioma mortality increased ~4-fold with moderate exposure. EPA ranked the site 17th most toxic in the U.S. in 1993.

Baltimore, Maryland · 3 evidence records

Retrospective cohort of 4,702 civilian workers (1950–1964) found mesothelioma mortality at SMR 5.07 — more than five times the expected rate. Workers employed 10+ years had 33% greater likelihood of dying from mesothelioma. ATSDR 2004 confirmed the occupational asbestos exposure pathway. EPA Superfund site (ID MD4690307844).

Long Beach, California · 4 evidence records

Chest x-ray survey of 6,640 employees (88.6% of workforce) found 16% with asbestos-related radiographic abnormalities — rising to 38% among workers aged 65+. Take-home disease documented in 11.3% of wives and 7.6% of sons. Marr 1964 names specific amosite products used aboard ship. EPA Superfund site CA1170090483.

Houston Ship Channel, Texas · 3 evidence records

Hansen v. Johns-Manville (5th Cir. 1984) established Todd as a site of JM asbestos product use from 1940. Pipefitter Andrew Hansen developed asbestosis and mesothelioma; jury awarded $2.06M including $1M in punitive damages for JM's failure to warn. Commercial ship repair on the Houston Ship Channel.

Kearny, New Jersey · 1 evidence records

At its 1943 peak, Federal Shipbuilding employed 52,000 workers — the largest single-yard workforce in the dataset — and launched more destroyers than any U.S. yard except Bath Iron Works. An Owens-Illinois industrial health survey (August–September 1944) documented insulators cutting asbestos pipe covering (JM Superex) in confined spaces; the document became Owens-Illinois Interrogatory Exhibit #20 in Heathman v. Owens-Corning (Brazoria County, TX, 1990).

Sausalito, California · 2 evidence records

Marinship built 93 ships — 15 Liberty Ships, 16 fleet oilers, and 62 T2 tankers — in 3½ years on Richardson's Bay with a peak workforce of 20,000. The U.S. Maritime Commission's 1942–1944 industrial hygiene survey series documented amosite pipe covering and boiler block insulation in confined engine rooms. The W.A. Simons Trust independently confirms a high-exposure window of 1940–1969. The yard is also the site of James v. Marinship Corp. (Cal. Sup. Ct. 1944), argued by Thurgood Marshall.

Oakland, California · 2 evidence records

Moore Dry Dock employed ~37,000 workers at its WWII peak, building 100+ ships on the Oakland Estuary and ranking 82nd among all U.S. corporations in war production contract value. The Fleischer-Drinker 1946 USMC-commissioned survey documented amosite pipe covering and boiler block insulation in confined spaces at Navy contract yards of this type — now facing a retraction call (C&EN, July 2026) for understating the hazard. The W.A. Simons Trust independently confirms Exposure Level H (High). Origin of the landmark 'Moore Dry Dock Standards' for secondary picketing (NLRB 1950).

Chester, Pennsylvania · 1 evidence records

Sun Ship employed 35,633 workers at its 1943 peak — the largest single shipyard in the world — and built ~40% of the entire U.S. wartime oil tanker fleet (281 T2 tankers) on the Delaware River. The flagship evidence record is Lilley v. Johns-Manville (Pa. Super. Ct. 1991), in which a pipefitter-turned-superintendent identified 10 asbestos product brands by label and testified that his clothes and body were covered with asbestos fibers at the end of every workday. The yard also built the Hughes Glomar Explorer (1972, CIA Project AZORIAN) and the SS El Faro (1975, lost 2015).

Bath, Maine · 7 evidence records

Bath Iron Works employed 12,000 workers at its WWII peak, launching a destroyer every 17 days — the largest destroyer output of any builder in U.S. history. In November 1987, OSHA levied a $4.2 million fine — then the largest penalty ever assessed against a single employer — after documenting asbestos dust at 40% in areas declared 'asbestos-free' by supervisors. NIOSH conducted two separate Health Hazard Evaluations (1990, 1996), and the Drinker 1942 Harvard study confirmed exposure as early as WWII. BIW is the only yard in this dataset still operating (General Dynamics, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers).