Manufacturer: Celotex Corporation (Tampa, Florida — successor to The Philip Carey Manufacturing Co.) Product Category: Acoustical Ceiling Tile

Product Description

Celotex Corporation — a major American building-products manufacturer that acquired the Philip Carey line of asbestos insulation and roofing products — produced a broad range of acoustical ceiling tile marketed under the Acousti-Celotex, Safetone, and SoundScape names throughout the mid-twentieth century. Celotex acoustical ceiling tile was installed in schools, hospitals, commercial offices, retail spaces, transit facilities, and institutional interiors from the 1940s through the late 1970s.

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Celotex acoustical ceiling tile manufactured during the pre-regulatory era allegedly incorporated chrysotile asbestos into both the tile backing paper and the mineral-fiber tile matrix itself. According to allegations in publicly filed litigation records, the asbestos backing allegedly served as a reinforcing layer that improved dimensional stability and provided fire resistance, while chrysotile in the tile body allegedly reinforced the porous surface and reduced fiber shed during handling. Celotex acoustical tile was allegedly sold in both suspended lay-in and tongue-and-groove nail-up formats.

Documented asbestos-use period, according to publicly filed litigation records: approximately 1940s through 1978.

Trust status: The Celotex Asbestos Settlement Trust was established through Celotex’s Chapter 11 reorganization and pays qualifying asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death claims.

Workers Exposed

Carpenters and acoustical ceiling installers were the primary trade allegedly exposed to Celotex acoustical ceiling tile. Publicly filed litigation records allege that installers cut tiles with utility knives, coping saws, or hand saws to fit around light fixtures, HVAC diffusers, sprinkler heads, and column penetrations — releasing chrysotile fiber from both the tile body and the asbestos backing at head height.

Drywall finishers and interior trim carpenters working alongside acoustical crews were allegedly bystander-exposed to airborne fiber generated during cutting on shared interior fit-out job sites.

Renovation workers performing tenant fit-outs, ceiling grid modifications, and lighting replacements allegedly disturbed installed Celotex acoustical tile — dropping, re-cutting, and re-fitting tiles into modified grid layouts, and releasing fiber from the aged asbestos backing paper.

Demolition workers removing suspended and nail-up acoustical ceilings during building demolition allegedly generated high concentrations of airborne chrysotile as aged tiles were broken and swept into debris piles.

Maintenance workers in schools, hospitals, and commercial buildings allegedly disturbed installed acoustical tile during routine pipe, wiring, and plenum-access repairs above suspended grids.