Product Description
B.F. Goodrich (The B.F. Goodrich Company) allegedly supplied rubber hose and tubing to the U.S. Navy for shipboard steam drain, fuel-transfer, lube-oil, and other high-temperature service applications. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that naval-service Goodrich rubber tubing was jacketed in asbestos cloth wrap or braided asbestos-fiber jacketing to provide the heat resistance, abrasion protection, and fire-envelope integrity required for use adjacent to Navy steam plants and firerooms.
The asbestos jacket protected the underlying rubber from radiant heat, spark impingement, and mechanical abrasion in engineering spaces where hoses ran through tight overheads and past hot piping. Any hose renewal, clamp adjustment, or end-fitting installation allegedly required the asbestos wrap to be cut back with a knife or shears — a task that shed dry chrysotile fibers directly into the worker’s breathing zone in the confined shipboard environment.
Workers Exposed
- Machinist’s mates (MM) installing, replacing, and inspecting shipboard hose runs on fuel, oil, and steam service.
- Hull technicians (HT) and damage controlmen (DC) cutting hose during battle-damage repair, firemain repair, and casualty control.
- Shipyard pipefitters (UA) running and replacing shipboard hose during availabilities.
- Boiler tenders (BT) working the associated systems where Goodrich hose was fitted.
Bystander exposure in tight shipboard compartments during hose cutting and clamp work was routine.