Asbestos & Mesothelioma for Millwrights
In this episode, we outline where millwrights encountered asbestos across industrial job sites, the diseases linked to exposure, and what workers and families should consider medically and legally after a diagnosis.
John Maher: Hi, I am John Maher and I’m here today with Paul Kelley. Paul is a partner with the Kentucky personal injury law firm, Satterley & Kelley, which has over 45 years of collective experience in litigating mesothelioma and asbestos claims. Today we’re talking about asbestos exposure and mesothelioma with millwrights. Welcome, Paul.
Paul Kelley: Hey, John. How are you doing this morning?
John: Good, thanks. How are you?
Paul: Excellent, thank you.
Workplaces Millwrights Served and Asbestos Risk Factors
John: Paul, what kinds of companies or job sites did millwrights typically work at, and why were those environments such high risk for asbestos exposure?
Paul: Sure. So, millwrights, which may be a trade that a lot of people aren’t particularly familiar with. They worked on a lot of heavy machinery. They were very, or are very highly skilled laborers. They work on a wide variety of equipment, and quite frankly, a very wide variety of locations and markets. They work on turbines, they work on machinery and manufacturing plants. They do a little bit of boiler work. So the kinds of places that they work in are all kinds of different factories and mills. They work in grain mills, they work in saw mills, textile mills. I’ve had a lot of folks who worked in paper mills before. All those paper machines require the expertise of a millwright. They work in steel mills and foundries. All those heavy pieces of equipment that are required to run those types of factories require the expertise of millwright to come in and set the machinery, overhaul the machinery.
They frequently work in mining operations — here in Kentucky it’s coal mining. In other places there’s various types of mining, whether it’s rock quarries, and even in some instances, talc mines. They work a lot. And my experience has been with a lot of millwrights that worked in powerhouses. One of the duties and responsibilities they had, historically, is to build the turbines or install the turbines, and then come and overhaul the turbines. These are pieces of equipment that require some significant overhauls and reworking over the years. They work in the construction trade, cranes and elevators, they work on pumps, and they work in shipyards and railroads. So millwrights have kind of been everywhere.
But the problem with their situation is that most of the places that I’ve talked about, if they were built in the ’40s, ’50s, and really, before 1975, they are old facilities. They contain lots of asbestos in lots of different ways, which we’ll talk about in a moment. But in the United States, a manufacturing plant had asbestos all over the plant. A power plant had asbestos all over the plant. And all the data and studies have shown that millwrights have historically been at a higher risk of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases than a lot of professions. And we’ll talk about a lot of those professions at other points in time. But when you talk about somebody like me, an attorney, I mean, millwrights have a risk that I couldn’t even understand or appreciate in the line of work that I’m in. And statistically it’s significant, and all of these types of environments that they worked in really put them at substantial risk for exposure to asbestos.
Daily Millwright Tasks that Resulted in Asbestos Exposure
John: Okay. So in that daily work that you described that millwrights do, what are some of the specific tasks or materials that they work with that often led to asbestos exposure?
Paul: Sure. A lot of the things that millwrights are exposed to is directly related to the work that they’re doing. So, for example, millwrights that were associated with turbine overhauls, and an overhaul basically is a fancy word for, you know, repairing that turbine, stripping it down and building it back up, and trying to turn it into basically a new product or restore it to its original state. Turbines, historically, prior to the 1980s, they were covered in asbestos. Usually there was an asbestos blanket or an asbestos block. And so as a part of their responsibility in overhauling the turbines, they had to remove all of that asbestos in order to get to the components of the machine. And so they would be exposed in that way. The pipe insulation or the piping that’s connected to a turbine is what ultimately generates electricity, and it occurs from basically the boiler heating up steam, and sends the steam to the turbine, and the turbine creates the electricity.
And so there’s all kinds of piping that are connected to these turbines that connect the turbine to the boiler and connect the turbine to other pieces of equipment. And then there’s just piping that’s just generally in the power plant. Most power plants have multiple turbines, multiple boilers, we call them a “unit”. And so we’ve had power plants that have had six units. We’ve had some that only have one or two. But all the insulation on any steam pipes is loaded with asbestos, historically.
Piping also would be connected with gaskets and gaskets frequently contain asbestos. There were other types of things that they would do frequently in foundries. They would work on these very large ovens that were used to heat steel and metal, and those things are lined with firebrick and refractory material also lined with asbestos. And so they would have to remove or disturb those things as a part of their work. Frequently, though, a lot of the exposure they had was not a direct result of the work they’re doing, it’s the result of work that other crafts are doing around them.
Typically speaking, a millwright didn’t go into a plant and, you know, they’re the only ones working. It was insulators, and boilermakers, and electricians and pipe fitters, and a wide variety of other crafts that are in there doing various tasks. If it was new construction, they’re building the facility. If they’re doing overhauls, everybody has their role associated with the overhaul. So insulators, for example, in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, if they were putting brand new insulation on, it contained asbestos. Later on, there’s a chance that the new stuff didn’t, but the old stuff did. So they’re removing insulation that contained asbestos. And that’s very common with all the various types of equipment that a millwright worked with.
In a chemical plant, for example, lots of times you have very hot chemicals going through these pipes. So it’s not steam like a power plant, but it still requires insulation to go around that pipe in order to protect what’s in the pipe as well as to protect people who may be exposed to a very hot pipe. Those things contain asbestos.
So frequently the millwright would be exposed to, as a bystander of people working on those pipes, or they would disturb the piping themselves, again, all the gaskets and things like that. When they went into these various types of facilities, they were almost guaranteed, for many, many years, to be exposed to thermal insulation. They were also likely to be exposed to firebrick and refractory. They were also likely to be exposed to things like gaskets, and rope packing, and seals that have historically contained asbestos over the years, and then some of the other insulating products like asbestos cloths and blankets that are wrapped around turbines. Sometimes the protective clothing they wore contained asbestos. And that probably happened for a long, long time. I mean, theoretically, a millwright could still be exposed today. You would hope not. But I would say that that was a very common occurrence into the 1990s, when they went into some of these old, old plants and were exposed to all of these things, if not every day, certainly frequently enough to put them at significant risk to contract disease.
Long‑Term Health Effects from Asbestos Exposure
John: Right. So whether they were exposed to this asbestos because of the actions that they were taking, or like you said, the actions that others around them were taking with all of these materials in close proximity, how has that asbestos exposure affected millwrights over the years? And what are some of the long-term health risks that they face like mesothelioma?
Paul: Well, certainly the way it’s affected them is they’ve gone into these facilities for years. And the typical experience that I’ve had representing millwrights is obviously, when they were super young in the ’50s and ’60s and ’70s, they had no clue what they were exposed to. They had no clue that there was asbestos in those materials. They had no idea what asbestos was and that it could cause long-term effects. And so, you know, for many years, they were kind of blissfully ignorant.
I mean, it was a good, good profession. It required somebody with a great deal of intelligence, and skill, and know-how. And then later on, as we got into the ’90s and 2000s for folks that were still around, they started to learn more and really talk about it deeply affecting people. They came to discover that, “My goodness, the things that I did 30 years ago exposed me to something that could cause me or my family a significant health problem in the future.”
And those health problems, I mean, the most common disease that we see is mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the lining of the lung. And there are other parts of the body that mesothelioma can effect. But lung cancer, asbestos exposure is a significant risk factor for lung cancer. There’s what we call a benign disease, asbestosis, that can be caused by asbestos exposure, but don’t be fooled by the word “benign”, because it is a scarring of the lungs. And if it’s significant enough, someone would, you know, potentially die from that kind of disease.
And we’ve represented a number of people over the years that unfortunately have passed from that disease. So I would say that millwrights who worked in those type of environments, beginning ’50s into the ’90s, they face significant risk of contracting asbestos diseases, and many of them have in fact contracted those diseases. And unfortunately, there’s is no [easy] cure for lung cancer. There can be, but it all depends on when it’s been caught. And asbestosis can be a very significant and debilitating disease, and many people do pass away from it. So it’s something that has deeply impacted one of the great professions that our country has had working for us to, you know, set up the infrastructure and the way of life that most of us enjoy.
Medical and Legal Steps After a Diagnosis
John: Right. So if someone has been a millwright during this period, and now they’ve later been diagnosed with mesothelioma, what are the steps that they should take both medically and legally?
Paul: Mesothelioma in particular, it is a devastating disease. And the statistics are not very good right now. And most people will probably pass away within a year or year and a half of their diagnosis. But the good news is that the treatment has gotten better, and there is no cure for it yet, but there are lots of things that can be done to prolong somebody’s life, to increase and improve the quality of their life as they’re battling this disease. And it’s very important for people to get as many opinions as they can and to make sure that they feel comfortable, and their families feel comfortable with their medical plan, their surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, clinical trials. And there are things that require travel to various parts of the United States because that treatment may not be available where you live. So people have to make those decisions. And ultimately they have to make the decision that they feel most comfortable with.
Unfortunately, in Kentucky, and every state has a statute of limitations, in Kentucky, our statute of limitations is one year. And that’s one year from the date that you know, or should know, you have a disease and what’s caused your disease. But to be perfectly frank, for a lot of different reasons, you don’t want to get anywhere close to that year. A year from diagnosis is kind of the rule of thumb. But if we’re waiting nine months, 10 months from the diagnosis to be able to talk to a potential client, then we’ve lost a lot of time in our ability to be able to help you recover for what’s occurred to you. And so it’s very important, despite all the medical issues that you’re dealing with, and all the decisions that you have to make, you should be pursuing your legal rights and researching and hiring attorneys that you feel comfortable with, that you feel will fight for you and your family and get the recovery that you deserve.
And this is a very specialized and unique area of the law that I’m in. There’s not a lot of law firms in the United States that do this, and I’ve always said that asbestos litigation, like a lot of things, it’s not something that you should dabble in. If you don’t know what you’re doing, to put somebody’s fate [in your hands] while you’re trying to learn and figure something out, that’s not generally the best thing for a client. And so it’s important for you to hire somebody that has familiarity with asbestos cases, lots of experience, has familiarity, if possible, with the job sites that you’ve worked at and the things that you’ve done, and to be able to hit the ground running, and know that you have a certain amount of defendants or [know the] identity of defendants that you can pursue right away.
And I know, for example, we’re prepared to do that in most situations. And every case is unique, and not everything fits into the same box, but it’s just, it’s critical to act as quickly as you possibly can to, I mean, interview multiple lawyers, figure out what their experience is, figure out where they are, determine how they proceed to pursue your case, and then make the best decision for you and your family, and, you know, do it as quickly as you possibly can.
Long‑Term Health Effects from Asbestos Exposure
John: Right. Looking back, what did companies in general know about asbestos risks for millwrights? And what should workers and families today know about protecting their rights given that information?
Paul: Sure. And so the answer to that question depends on a lot of different things. I mean, the particular industry that’s at issue might play a factor. The timeframe might play a factor. But generally speaking, and we know this from more than 25 years of litigating against companies like what we have talked about today, power plants, chemical plants, manufacturing plants, is these typically were not small, mom and pop, family-owned businesses. These were typically companies that quite frankly were amongst the founders of America. The Industrial Revolution occurred in the late 1800s, early 1900s. And these are the kinds of companies that we’re dealing with. And those companies, they developed knowledge concerning the hazards associated with asbestos a long time ago.
And here we are sitting at 2025, and I would say that a significant portion of the kinds of companies that we would be pursuing on your behalf have been aware of the hazards associated with asbestos, maybe not quite a hundred years, but 80, 90. And then as you progress into the ’60s, and into the ’70s and ’80s, well now you’ve got governmental agencies, you have regulations that have to be followed. You know, in Kentucky, I mean, we had probably one of the United States’ first Occupational Disease Acts that regulated asbestos exposure in 1956. And in some states, I mean, you’re in Massachusetts, and I know that in Massachusetts in the early 1950s, the Massachusetts Department of Labor was actively pursuing workplace safety to protect employees that worked in those type of environments from being exposed to asbestos. Illinois, Pennsylvania had occupational disease statutes in the 1920s and ’30s. So millwrights were probably not studied specifically until the ’60s and ’70s, but that doesn’t mean that these companies weren’t aware of the hazards.
There’s a famous doctor, his name is Irving Selikoff, and he was really one of the pioneers in asbestos research and worker safety. And he went to a famous conference, or actually held a famous conference in 1964. And one of the publications that came from that conference is, he says, and I’m paraphrasing, he said it a lot more eloquently than I can, but basically, “Asbestos doesn’t respect job titles. You’re not impervious because you work in a particular craft versus another craft. It is the exposure to asbestos, it is repeated exposures, it is singular exposures, it is heavy exposures, it’s lighter exposures.”
We have things in this country that we’ve been dealing with for many years that have caused acute injuries, immediate death, those sort of things. But I don’t think that there’s been anything like asbestos that has been a 60, 70, 80-year hazard in this country to our skilled, and all of our, laborers, including millwrights. And a lot of these companies, not only did they know, but a lot of these companies participated in research. Sometimes they published that research.
And while it was honest reporting, they did not follow the recommendations and procedures that they told everybody else to. And sometimes they buried it, and sometimes they didn’t provide information. And most of our clients were the kinds that didn’t work directly for the powerhouse. They didn’t work directly for the chemical plant or the paper mill. They were working for contractors. And a lot of those paper mills, and power plants, and manufacturing plants, they did not communicate the things that they knew about asbestos to our clients or to their employers. And in most situations, the contractors were not century-old, Fortune 50/500 type companies. Those were your mom and pop type companies. Those were your small businesses. Those were the ones that didn’t have the kind of sophistication like a major manufacturing entity would have.
John: Mm-hmm.
Paul: And I don’t want to name names, here. We’ve done that in other podcasts and we’ll do it again, but to generalize, a lot of these places had hundreds if not thousands of engineers on staff. They had physicians, they had scientists, they had research and development departments. If they didn’t know something, it was not from exercising due diligence, it was because they didn’t want to know. And if they did know and they didn’t communicate those things, it was because they didn’t want to. They chose not to.
And as a result, and I’ve had this conversation with hundreds of clients over the years, all of whom have said, “Gosh, if I had known that I was putting myself at risk, and I was putting my family at risk, and other people that I come into contact with at risk, I would’ve chosen something else. I would’ve done something else in my life. And maybe it wouldn’t have been as lucrative, maybe it wouldn’t have put food on the table and enabled the lifestyle that we had, but I sure would’ve rather had my health. And I sure as heck wouldn’t have wanted to put my family members or anybody else at risk because of what I did.” And again, John, these are smart people.
John: Sure.
Paul: They could have done something else. They would’ve been successful in anything they did. And so it’s really a shame the way that the people like that who’ve built this country have been treated. It’s something we are very deeply concerned about and something that we’ve fought for 25 years [about].
John: All right. Well, that’s really great information, Paul. Thanks again for speaking with me today.
Paul: Thanks, John.
John: And for more information about mesothelioma and asbestos exposure, visit the law firm of Satterley & Kelley at Satterleylaw.com or call (855) 385-9532.