Asbestos In Shipyards

Todd Shipyards Los Angeles

Todd Pacific Shipyards, based in Seattle Washington, has operated a number of shipbuilding and repair facilities on the West Coast since 1916. One of the largest of these facilities was the Todd Shipyard Facility, Los Angeles, California, located in the city of San Pedro. The former Los Angeles Shipbuilding facility was taken over by Todd Shipyards in 1943 and operated until the company's reorganization and downsizing resulted in its closure in 1989. At its peak, the shipyard employed over 12,000 people.

Over its history, the Los Angeles facility was responsible for both civilian and military contracts. As it began operating in World War II, its initial responsibility was for the building of destroyers and frigates, which it turned out at a quick clip. Following the war, the yard switched into projects designed for shifting the Navy's mission. Contracts included the building of the Oliver Perry class of military frigates and a number of retrofitting contracts which converted military ships for other uses, frequently into commercial properties or for other military uses. Among these projects were the jumbo sizing of the tanker "David E. Day" and the conversion of a naval landing vessel into an offshore drilling platform. The yard also took on some military projects for foreign navies as well, including the production of frigates for Taiwan and Brazil. Another, more unorthodox project undertaken by the yard included the creation of the pirate ship and steamboat "Mark Twain" that are still in use in Anaheim's Disneyland.

In common with many shipyards prior to the introduction of modern safety standards, workers at the Los Angeles shipyard were routinely exposed to asbestos, which was commonly used as fireproofing and insulation material for the boilers and steam pipes on ships. Workers were rarely issued protective equipment such as gloves and respirators to protect them from asbestos fibers. Exposure to asbestos fibers has been established as a strong precursor to the development of lung cancer, asbestosis (an inflammation of the tissues of the lungs) , and mesothelioma, a virulent cancer of the pleural membranes of the chest and abdomen.

Despite research dating from the late 1800s that showed a link between asbestos and various illnesses, and despite legislation and legal actions resulting from that research that began in the 1920s, many industries (including the shipbuilding industry and its suppliers) were slow to change working conditions at their facilities and exposure to asbestos continued. Tens of thousands of deaths of former shipyard employees and their dependents (who were sometimes exposed to fibers brought home on workers' clothes) have been attributed to mesothelioma and other conditions related to asbestos exposure.

The Todd Los Angeles facility has been at the center of a number of asbestos and mesothelioma related legal actions. In 1998, a San Francisco jury awarded 3.8 million dollars to families of five men who died after having been exposed to asbestos during their careers; one of the decedents had been a welder on various projects in the facility during World War II. While the company's bankruptcy in 1990 slowed the progress of many of the lawsuits, claims are still being filed and acted upon.

As of 2003, Todd Pacific Shipyards revealed that it was still dealing with over 350 separate lawsuits involving over 500 claimants, although these were spread over all of the company's West coast facilities.

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