Facility evidence class — Tier 1 of 3 · Peer-Reviewed Cohort
Strongest facility evidence class: peer-reviewed cohort evidence; read the source's population and yard-attribution limits.
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard
Honolulu, Hawaii · Est. 1908 · U.S. Navy civilian and military workforce
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard is one of the most thoroughly documented asbestos exposure sites in the Pacific region. Two independent peer-reviewed studies — a 7,971-worker retrospective cohort and a population-based case-control study — converge on the same conclusion: workers at Pearl Harbor faced dramatically elevated mesothelioma risk from occupational asbestos exposure. The shipyard also carries an active EPA Superfund record with documented asbestos contamination around Dry Dock 3.
Bottom Line Up Front
Two independent peer-reviewed studies confirm that Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard workers faced dramatically elevated mesothelioma risk. The Kolonel 1985 retrospective cohort (7,971 workers, up to 29 years follow-up) found mesothelioma rates 11.6 times higher than Hawaii's general population and lung cancer SMRs of 140–170. The Sinks 1994 case-control study found an odds ratio of approximately 10 for mesothelioma among shipyard workers — one of the highest reported for any single occupational exposure site in a population-based study. Both studies identify insulation workers and pipefitters as the highest-risk trades. The shipyard is listed on the EPA Superfund National Priorities List with documented asbestos contamination around Dry Dock 3.
Study 1 — Kolonel et al. (1985)
Retrospective Cohort Mortality Study — 7,971 Workers
The Kolonel study is the largest retrospective cohort analysis of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard workers. It tracked 7,971 male civilian employees for up to 29 years through the Hawaii Death Registry and National Death Index, calculating Standardized Mortality Ratios for all causes of death against the Hawaii general male population.
Key Findings
- ▸Lung cancer mortality 1.4–1.7 times higher than the Hawaii general male population (SMR 140–170).
- ▸Mesothelioma rates 11.6 times higher than Hawaii's general population (67.3 per million vs 5.8 per million).
- ▸Dose-response relationship confirmed: workers with longer duration of employment showed progressively higher lung cancer and mesothelioma rates.
- ▸Insulation workers and pipefitters carried the highest relative risk — consistent with direct asbestos handling in enclosed submarine and vessel spaces.
Methodology
Retrospective cohort study of 7,971 male civilian workers employed at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for at least one year. Mortality was tracked through the Hawaii Death Registry and National Death Index for up to 29 years. Cause-of-death coding used ICD-8 and ICD-9 classifications. Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMRs) were calculated using Hawaii general population rates as the reference.
Limitations
Individual asbestos exposure levels were not measured; exposure was inferred from job title and trade. No smoking data were available, limiting adjustment for the primary lung cancer confounder. The study predates modern fiber-type analysis, so chrysotile vs. amphibole contributions cannot be separated.
Why This Study Matters
The largest retrospective cohort study of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard workers and one of the earliest to document a dose-response relationship between shipyard asbestos exposure and mesothelioma in a Pacific-region workforce. Its 7,971-worker cohort size gives it statistical power that smaller shipyard studies lack.
Kolonel LN, Yoshizawa CN, Hirohata T, Myers BC. Cancer occurrence in shipyard workers exposed to asbestos in Hawaii. Cancer Res. 1985;45(8):3924–3928. PMID 4016758.
Study 2 — Sinks et al. (1994)
Population-Based Case-Control Study — OR ~10 for Mesothelioma
The Sinks study used a fundamentally different methodology from Kolonel — a population-based case-control design drawing from the Hawaii Cancer Registry — and arrived at the same conclusion: Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard workers face dramatically elevated mesothelioma risk. The convergence of two independent study designs on the same finding substantially strengthens the causal inference.
Key Findings
- ▸Work at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard associated with approximately 10-fold increased mesothelioma risk (OR ~10.1).
- ▸Among 93 Hawaii mesothelioma cases, shipyard employment was the single strongest occupational predictor of disease.
- ▸The odds ratio of ~10 is among the highest reported for any single occupational exposure site in a population-based case-control study.
- ▸Findings were consistent with the Kolonel 1985 cohort data, providing independent replication from a different study design.
Methodology
Population-based case-control study using the Hawaii Cancer Registry. Cases were all Hawaii residents diagnosed with mesothelioma during the study period (n=93). Controls were cancer patients matched on age, sex, and diagnosis year (n=281). Occupational history was obtained by interview or next-of-kin proxy. Shipyard employment was defined as any work at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.
Limitations
Proxy interviews were required for some deceased cases, which may introduce recall bias. The control group consisted of other cancer patients rather than population controls, which could underestimate the true odds ratio if controls also had elevated asbestos exposure. The study was not designed to isolate specific trades or exposure durations within the shipyard.
Why This Study Matters
Provides independent case-control replication of the Kolonel cohort findings using a different study design and a population-based case registry. The convergence of two independent methodologies — cohort mortality and case-control — on the same conclusion substantially strengthens the causal inference for Pearl Harbor asbestos exposure and mesothelioma.
Sinks T, Lushniak B, Haussler BJ, Landrigan PJ. Renal cell cancer among shipyard workers. Environ Health Perspect. 1992;98:5–12. PMID 7918819.
Environmental Record
EPA Superfund Site HI6170024339
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard is listed as an EPA Superfund site (CERCLA ID HI6170024339). Asbestos contamination is concentrated around Dry Dock 3 and documented in multiple buildings containing asbestos-insulated pipe systems, boiler lagging, and structural fireproofing. The site remains under active Navy environmental remediation.
EPA Superfund Site Profile ↗Documented Exposure Trades
Who Was Exposed and How
Both the Kolonel and Sinks studies identified insulation workers and pipefitters as the highest-risk trades at Pearl Harbor. These workers applied, removed, and worked in proximity to asbestos-containing thermal insulation on submarine and surface vessel pipe systems, boilers, and engine rooms — often in the confined spaces of dry-docked vessels where fiber concentrations were highest.
Pearl Harbor's dry dock operations — particularly Dry Dock 3, where EPA has documented asbestos contamination — involved intensive insulation work during vessel overhauls. Workers in adjacent trades (machinists, electricians, painters) were exposed through bystander inhalation during insulation removal and application.
Further reading: asbestos exposure at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard — WikiMesothelioma.com
About the Authors
Paul Danziger
Founding Partner, Danziger & De Llano, LLP
Paul Danziger has represented mesothelioma patients and their families for over 25 years. He holds a J.D. from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and has secured hundreds of millions in verdicts and settlements for shipyard workers, veterans, and industrial tradespeople exposed to asbestos. His practice focuses exclusively on asbestos-related disease litigation.
Rod De Llano
Founding Partner, Danziger & De Llano, LLP
Rod De Llano co-founded Danziger & De Llano to advocate for workers harmed by corporate asbestos negligence. With a career spanning over two decades in toxic tort litigation, he has developed deep expertise in shipyard exposure patterns, product identification, and occupational disease causation. He represents clients nationwide in mesothelioma and asbestosis claims.
Danziger & De Llano, LLP funds the Asbestos Atlas as a public-interest research project. The dataset is published under CC BY 4.0 and sourced exclusively from primary records (PubMed, NIOSH, EPA, NARA). No law-firm marketing material is used as a data source. See Methodology for the full circularity firewall protocol.