Babcock & Wilcox Company: Asbestos Products and Trust Fund Information

Founded: 1867 | Headquarters: Barberton, Ohio | Ceased Asbestos Use: 1982 | Legal Status: Tier 1 Trust Fund Defendant

Babcock & Wilcox Company was one of the most significant manufacturers of industrial and utility boilers in American history. From its founding in 1867 through the latter decades of the twentieth century, the company supplied boilers to power plants, shipyards, steel mills, chemical facilities, and naval installations across the United States. Because asbestos-containing insulation was integral to high-temperature boiler design throughout much of this period, workers who built, installed, operated, or maintained Babcock & Wilcox boilers faced documented occupational asbestos exposure. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2000 and subsequently established the Babcock & Wilcox Asbestos Personal Injury Trust to compensate workers and family members harmed by that exposure.

Company History

Babcock & Wilcox was founded in 1867 by inventors Stephen Wilcox and George Babcock, who had developed a safer, more efficient water-tube boiler design. The company grew rapidly through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, supplying boilers for naval vessels, power generation, and heavy industry at a time when steam was the primary energy source for American manufacturing and transportation.

By the mid-twentieth century, Babcock & Wilcox had become one of the dominant suppliers of large-scale utility boilers used in coal-fired and nuclear power plants. The company also held significant contracts for marine boilers installed aboard U.S. Navy ships and commercial vessels. Its Barberton, Ohio manufacturing complex was among the largest boiler fabrication facilities in the world during this era.

Asbestos was considered an essential engineering material for high-temperature applications throughout most of the company’s operational history. Boiler insulation, gaskets, packing materials, and refractory components routinely incorporated chrysotile and amosite asbestos through the 1970s. Babcock & Wilcox continued using asbestos-containing materials in its products until approximately 1982, when regulatory pressure and growing liability concerns led to the phase-out of asbestos components across the product line.

Mounting asbestos personal injury claims eventually became financially unsustainable. In February 2000, Babcock & Wilcox filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The reorganization process ultimately resulted in the creation of a dedicated asbestos personal injury trust to resolve current and future claims outside the tort system.

Asbestos-Containing Products

Babcock & Wilcox incorporated asbestos into its boiler products in multiple ways across several product lines manufactured and sold from the 1940s through 1982.

Package Boilers with Asbestos Insulation

Babcock & Wilcox manufactured packaged boilers — self-contained, factory-assembled units — for industrial and commercial applications including refineries, chemical plants, paper mills, and institutional facilities. These units were delivered with asbestos insulation applied directly to boiler shells, steam drums, mud drums, headers, and associated piping. The asbestos insulation served as both thermal protection and a fire barrier, and was a standard component of package boiler construction throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and into the 1970s.

Workers who installed these units, as well as boiler operators and maintenance personnel who later serviced them, were exposed to asbestos-containing insulation during normal work activities. Cutting, fitting, removing, or disturbing the insulation during installation or repair released asbestos fibers into the breathing zone.

Power Boilers (Utility Scale)

Babcock & Wilcox was a primary supplier of large utility boilers for coal-fired and steam-generating power plants operated by electric utilities across the United States. These units — some of the largest boiler systems in the country — were fabricated at Babcock & Wilcox’s Barberton facility and erected on-site at power generating stations.

Power boilers of this type incorporated substantial quantities of asbestos insulation on steam drums, water walls, superheaters, reheaters, economizers, and interconnecting pipework. Asbestos-containing block insulation, blanket insulation, rope packing, and gasket materials were standard components of these installations. Construction trades workers involved in erecting and insulating these boilers, as well as plant operators and maintenance crews who worked around them for decades afterward, sustained repeated asbestos exposure.

Marine Boilers

Babcock & Wilcox supplied marine boilers for U.S. Navy vessels and commercial ships from the 1940s through the 1970s. Marine boilers were subject to tight space constraints and demanding operating conditions that made high-performance asbestos insulation particularly prevalent in their design and construction.

Navy shipyard workers, boilermakers, pipefitters, and insulators who built ships equipped with Babcock & Wilcox marine boilers — as well as Navy sailors and civilian workers who serviced these boilers during the vessels’ operational lives — encountered asbestos-containing insulation, packing, and gasket materials on a regular basis. Shipyard environments concentrated asbestos dust in confined spaces below decks, intensifying exposure for workers in those settings.

Occupational Exposure

The occupational groups most heavily represented in asbestos claims involving Babcock & Wilcox products include:

  • Boilermakers who fabricated, erected, and repaired Babcock & Wilcox boilers at manufacturing facilities, power plants, and shipyards
  • Pipefitters and steamfitters who connected boiler systems and applied or removed insulation from associated piping
  • Insulators who applied and removed asbestos block and blanket insulation on boiler components
  • Power plant operators and maintenance workers who worked in proximity to Babcock & Wilcox utility boilers over extended careers
  • U.S. Navy sailors and shipyard workers who served aboard or built vessels equipped with Babcock & Wilcox marine boilers
  • Industrial facility workers in refineries, chemical plants, steel mills, and paper mills where Babcock & Wilcox package boilers were installed

Asbestos-related diseases associated with this type of occupational exposure include mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, asbestosis, and pleural disease. These diseases typically have latency periods of 20 to 50 years between initial exposure and diagnosis, which is why workers exposed to Babcock & Wilcox products in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s are still receiving diagnoses today.

Family members of workers who brought asbestos-contaminated clothing home from work — a pattern known as secondary or household exposure — may also be eligible to file claims.

Bankruptcy and Trust Establishment

Babcock & Wilcox filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2000, citing the financial burden of unresolved and anticipated asbestos personal injury claims. The reorganization resulted in the establishment of the Babcock & Wilcox Asbestos Personal Injury Trust, which was funded to pay valid asbestos injury claims on an ongoing basis.

The trust operates under a Trust Distribution Procedures (TDP) document that defines eligible disease categories, required exposure evidence, and payment levels. Like most asbestos personal injury trusts, the Babcock & Wilcox trust pays claims at a scheduled percentage of the full liquidated value, which is subject to periodic adjustment based on trust assets and the projected volume of future claims.

Who Is Eligible to File a Claim

To file a claim with the Babcock & Wilcox Asbestos Personal Injury Trust, a claimant generally must demonstrate:

  1. A qualifying asbestos-related diagnosis — including mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, asbestosis, or other recognized asbestos disease
  2. Occupational or other exposure to a Babcock & Wilcox asbestos-containing product — typically through employment records, work history affidavits, co-worker testimony, or union records documenting presence at a job site where Babcock & Wilcox boilers were installed, maintained, or repaired
  3. A causation nexus connecting the exposure to the diagnosed disease

Surviving family members may file wrongful death claims on behalf of a deceased worker who was exposed to Babcock & Wilcox asbestos-containing products.

How to File

Claims are filed through the trust’s administrative process, which is separate from civil litigation. Claimants work with an asbestos attorney to gather medical records, employment history, and exposure documentation, then submit a formal claim package to the trust. The trust reviews submissions against the TDP criteria and issues a payment determination. Claimants who disagree with a determination may request individual review.

Most attorneys who handle asbestos cases are familiar with the Babcock & Wilcox trust’s filing requirements and can submit claims concurrently with claims to other asbestos trusts and, where applicable, civil lawsuits against non-bankrupt defendants.

Summary

Babcock & Wilcox Company manufactured asbestos-containing package boilers, utility power boilers, and marine boilers from the 1940s until 1982. Workers in power plants, shipyards, and industrial facilities who built, installed, operated, or maintained these products faced significant asbestos exposure. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000 and established the Babcock & Wilcox Asbestos Personal Injury Trust to compensate injured workers and their families. If you or a family member were diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestos lung cancer, or asbestosis after working around Babcock & Wilcox boilers, you may be eligible to file a trust claim. An experienced asbestos attorney can evaluate your work history, identify all applicable trusts and legal options, and manage the claims process on your behalf — typically on a contingency fee basis with no upfront cost to you.