Product Description

Damrow Brothers Company of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, built the enclosed and open cheese vats that ran on U.S. commercial cheese-making floors from the 1940s through the 1980s. According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, Damrow cheese vats allegedly used asbestos-containing lagging on the steam jacket, asbestos refractory insulation at heated sections, and asbestos gaskets on manways, valves, and jacket flanges. Steam-jacket rework, insulation patching, and gasket replacement allegedly disturbed asbestos components during scheduled maintenance and vat rebuilds.

Workers Exposed

Cheese-vat operators, dairy-plant maintenance mechanics, and food-plant pipefitters allegedly worked directly on and around Damrow vats during production and shutdowns. Jacket-lagging rework and flange-gasket replacement allegedly released respirable fiber into vat rooms. Boilermakers cutting into the steam jacket for repair work allegedly shared the same exposure zones.