Armstrong World Industries
Armstrong World Industries is a 150-year-old company and one of the world’s leading manufacturers of floors, ceilings and cabinets. While it offers products designed for commercial and residential use, most of its products are used in commercial buildings.
Based in Lancaster, Pa., the company’s 10,000 employees represent 33 manufacturing plants worldwide. The corporation earned $2.8 billion in sales in 2010 and is the world’s largest manufacturer of hardwood flooring.
Created in Pittsburgh in 1860, the company originally made wine bottle corks. By the 1890s, Armstrong World Industries was the world’s largest cork company and leveraged its size and success to expand its product line.
Armstrong soon made insulating corkboard, fiberboard and other similar products. It also began a linoleum flooring business, which led to the production of vinyl and other flooring materials. Continual branching out helped create a wide selection of building materials still available today.
Armstrong Asbestos Use
Like many manufacturers, Armstrong favored asbestos because of the material’s resistance to heat and fire. Asbestos’ durability and flexibility also made it an ideal material to use in a variety of products. For much of its history, the company included asbestos in insulation, cements, tiles, vinyl flooring and many other products.
Armstrong’s first asbestos-containing products were released in the 1930s. Executives knew by the 1950s that asbestos was harming Armstrong workers, but most of these dangerous products were manufactured and distributed until the 1960s and ‘70s. Executives kept their findings from employees and did not add warning labels to asbestos-containing products.
One of Armstrong’s products was Limpet, a spray-on insulation made almost entirely of asbestos. Workers who tested Limpet during its development in the 1960s found it left too much dust in the air, prompting the company to make an alternative product.
Armstrong then began manufacturing Armaspray, a similar spray-on insulation made of only 9 percent asbestos. Testing of Armaspray proved that it, too, was not commercially viable. Its production was discontinued within a year.
To finish ongoing projects, however, Armaspray was used by Armstrong installers for another year. Future health testing of the product concluded that dust levels were more than 10 times the limit deemed acceptable by company hygienists.
Armstrong employed a team of regular plant workers to manufacture products. In general, the company hired temporary workers to install insulation. Before the 1970s, both teams of workers came into direct contact with asbestos and were made susceptible to asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. The use of asbestos-heavy, spray-on insulation during the 1960s made insulators especially vulnerable for future health problems.
Litigation
Armstrong’s asbestos-related court battles began in 1970 when an insulator sued Armstrong and a number of other manufacturers of asbestos-containing insulation. Clarence Borel suffered from asbestosis following his many years working in the insulation industry. His case led to the official statement that manufacturers must stay informed about the health concerns their products pose as well as warn employees and consumers of any potential dangers they find.
Over the next few decades, hundreds of thousands of new suits were brought against Armstrong. The company paid out millions of dollars as courts ruled the company knowingly disregarded the health of its employees and consumers.
By 2000, costs forced the company into bankruptcy. Armstrong eventually established the Armstrong World Industries Asbestos Trust, a trust fund intended to settle all asbestos-related claims. In its first two years, the trust received more than 200,000 claims.
Resources for Insulators
Anyone who has worked with insulation materials prior to the 1970s may be at risk for developing an asbestos-related disease. Insulators who worked for Armstrong World Industries – and especially those who handled asbestos-heavy, spray-on insulation – should be aware of their health risks and are encouraged to have annual medical examinations. Consistent testing can lead to an early diagnosis and a better prognosis.
If you’d like to set up an appointment with a mesothelioma specialist near you, visit our Mesothelioma Doctor Directory. If you have already been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer or asbestosis, speak to a Patient Advocate at (800) 615-2270. Our Patient Advocates can help find the best doctor near you through our Doctor Match Program.
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Last Modified Thursday, February 9th, 2012 | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy |
The information provided by The Mesothelioma Center is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Sponsored by a law firm concentrating in asbestos litigation, The Peterson Firm, LLP with offices at 1350 Connecticut Ave, NW, Fifth Floor, Washington DC 20036.
