Ask an asbestos lawyer which workplaces produced the heaviest exposures, and power plants come up almost immediately. A generating station is boilers, turbines, and miles of steam piping, and for much of the twentieth century, that equipment was commonly insulated with asbestos-containing material. Philadelphia Electric Company, now PECO, operated the stations that powered southeastern Pennsylvania, and many of the men who ran and maintained them still carry that history.
PECO Generating Stations in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley
PECO’s generating fleet grew across the twentieth century and included coal-fired stations along the region’s rivers. Delaware and Richmond stations sat on the Delaware River in Philadelphia; Schuylkill Station on the Schuylkill; Chester Station downriver; the large Eddystone Generating Station in Delaware County; and Cromby Station near Phoenixville, among others. Nuclear stations came later, but most exposure histories center on the coal fleet built and maintained during the decades when asbestos use was at its height.
Why Power Plant Workers Faced Heavy Asbestos Exposure
According to the NCI asbestos fact sheet, asbestos was widely used for insulation and fireproofing for much of the last century. A generating station was full of the high-heat equipment for which those products were made. Boiler walls, steam headers, turbine casings, feedwater lines, valves, and pumps were often lagged, gasketed, or packed with asbestos-containing products. Outage work made conditions worse. During scheduled overhauls, crews tore out old insulation and refractory in enclosed spaces and then rebuilt it, raising dust that could linger in the plant for the length of the job.
Power Plant Jobs With Asbestos Exposure Risk
- Boiler operators, watch engineers, and their helpers
- Insulators and laggers, including outside contractors brought in for outages
- Pipefitters, welders, and valve mechanics
- Turbine deck crews during teardowns and overhauls
- Laborers and janitorial staff who swept up after the trades
Asbestos Claims for Outside Contractors and Union Tradesmen
Working for a contractor rather than the utility does not defeat a claim. Many of the most heavily exposed men at generating stations worked for outside insulation and mechanical firms, and their cases often proceed the same way: against the manufacturers and suppliers of the products used in the plant.
Records That Help Prove Power Plant Asbestos Exposure
Records often help these cases more than families expect. Utilities kept plant and outage documentation, unions kept dispatch and membership records, and detailed Social Security earnings records can show past employers, including insulation contractors whose names families may not remember. Earlier litigation involving the same stations has produced testimony about which products were used where. A family that can only name the station and the approximate years is often further along than it thinks. Veterans who did boiler work in the Navy before joining a utility may have a second exposure history that belongs in the same claim.
Overlapping Asbestos Exposure Sites Across Pennsylvania
Power plant workers often moved between stations, and many also spent years at nearby industrial sites along the lower Delaware corridor. One example is the Westinghouse turbine plant at Lester, which built steam turbines for power generation. Utility workers in western Pennsylvania faced similar conditions at the Pittsburgh area power plants. The full Pennsylvania asbestos exposure sites index maps both ends of the state.
Mesothelioma Latency and Pennsylvania Filing Deadlines
Mesothelioma often develops decades after the exposure that caused it, which is why men who worked PECO outages generations ago are being diagnosed now. Pennsylvania sets time limits on asbestos claims, and the applicable deadline depends on the facts, including when the illness was discovered. How long ago the work happened usually matters less than how recently the disease was found. Because these deadlines can be short, families should speak with a lawyer soon after a diagnosis.
How a Philadelphia Mesothelioma Lawyer Can Help Your Family
Station records, outage schedules, and product identifications from these plants have been developed through decades of litigation, and no family is expected to rebuild that history alone. What you provide is the outline of a career: which stations, roughly which years, and what kind of work. Matching that history to specific plants and products is the lawyer’s job. Michael C. Schafle, Esq. is counsel in the Philadelphia asbestos docket, where many southeastern Pennsylvania utility cases are heard, and the Philadelphia mesothelioma lawyer page describes that court’s dedicated asbestos program. Begin with a free case review.