Welding Blankets & Welding Curtains — Asbestos Exposure Crosswalk

What This Equipment Is

Welding generates intense heat, spatter, slag, and UV radiation. To protect adjacent workers, equipment, and combustible materials, welders worked behind and around fire shielding:

  • Welding blankets — heavy asbestos cloth sheets draped over equipment to catch spatter
  • Welding curtains — hanging asbestos cloth screens isolating the weld area from adjacent workers
  • Fire blankets — emergency-response asbestos cloth for fire suppression
  • Welder’s aprons, mitts, leggings, hoods — asbestos cloth PPE
  • Bench-top fire pads — asbestos millboard work surfaces in fabrication shops

From the 1940s through the late 1970s, all of these products were dominantly woven asbestos cloth, often blended with fiberglass for handling strength. Modern equivalents use Kevlar, silica, ceramic-fiber, and fiberglass blends, but the legacy asbestos products are still encountered in older facilities.

Why Welding-Blanket Work Was an Asbestos Exposure Pathway

Welding fire shielding is handled directly, daily, for entire careers by welders and the trades that worked alongside them. The product flexes, folds, drapes, and unfolds repeatedly — each cycle releases chrysotile fiber from the woven edges and wear points.

Cutting new blankets to size, sewing seams in custom blanket assemblies, and discarding worn-out blankets all created additional fiber-release events. Welder’s PPE — aprons, mitts, leggings, hoods — wore at flex points and the cuffs / hems, releasing fiber against the worker’s skin and breathing zone.

Shipyards, boilermaker shops, structural-steel fabrication, refinery turnaround welding, and any other heavy welding environment had extensive asbestos cloth use.

Manufacturers Named in Welding-Blanket / PPE Litigation

  • Johns-Manville — asbestos cloth and blanket products
  • Raybestos-Manhattan — asbestos textile and PPE products
  • H.K. Porter / Southern Asbestos — textile products
  • A-Best — asbestos garments and PPE
  • Amatex Corporation — asbestos textile products
  • 3M Company — welding and abrasive products

Documented Product References

Images sourced from publicly available product-identification reference materials. Inclusion does not constitute a finding of liability against any company.

Trust Funds That May Apply

  • Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust
  • Raybestos-Manhattan Asbestos PI Trust
  • H.K. Porter related trusts

Trades Most Exposed at Welding-Blanket Work

Welders (the primary exposed trade), boilermakers, iron workers, sheet-metal mechanics, pipefitters performing field welding, shipyard welders, structural-steel-shop welders, refinery turnaround welders.

Cross-References

Compiled from publicly filed asbestos litigation, EPA / OSHA records on welding-shop exposure, and industry-publication histories. Product and company references reflect what has been alleged or documented in publicly filed litigation. This page does not constitute a finding of liability against any company. Not legal advice; consult a licensed attorney about your specific situation.