Product Description
Elliott Company (Elliott Turbomachinery) allegedly supplied industrial and marine steam turbines to U.S. utility power stations, petroleum refineries, chemical plants, paper mills, and the U.S. Navy from the 1930s through the 1980s. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Elliott steam turbine casings — running at inlet steam temperatures well above 700°F — were dressed with woven asbestos-fabric lagging, asbestos-cloth blanket insulation, and asbestos-fiber block insulation to conserve heat and protect operators from casing burns.
The lagging system allegedly consisted of an inner layer of amosite or chrysotile block insulation wired to the casing, a woven asbestos-fabric outer blanket, and an asbestos finishing cement pointed over the seams and fastener bosses. Every casing lift for internal inspection, blade renewal, or diaphragm replacement allegedly required the lagging to be cut open, stripped, and later re-installed — a cycle repeated across every scheduled turbine outage throughout the machine’s service life.
Workers Exposed
- Insulators (HFIAW) cutting, wiring, and cementing asbestos lagging onto Elliott turbine casings and steam chests, and stripping the same lagging during outages.
- Boilermakers (IBB) working the associated steam headers, throttle valves, and casing bolts on Elliott turbine installations.
- Machinist’s mates (MM) performing shipboard casing lifts on Elliott marine turbines aboard Navy hulls.
- Pipefitters (UA) breaking steam inlet and exhaust piping into Elliott turbine casings.
- Millwrights rigging turbine tops and diaphragms and re-fitting lagged casings after alignment.
Bystanders in the turbine hall or machinery space were exposed to airborne fibers released whenever Elliott lagging was cut, torn, or swept up as dry debris.