Garlock Style 900 / 8500 Gaskets

Product Description

Garlock Style 900 and Style 8500 are compressed sheet gaskets manufactured by Garlock Sealing Technologies, a division of Coltec Industries. Production of these gaskets spanned from the 1920s through 1985, covering a period during which asbestos-reinforced sheet gasket materials were considered the industry standard for high-temperature, high-pressure sealing applications.

These gaskets were engineered for use in flanged pipe connections, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, pumps, and valve bonnets across the most demanding industrial environments in the United States. Their mechanical properties made them especially attractive to petrochemical facilities, oil refineries, power generating stations, and chemical processing plants where steam, corrosive acids, and elevated operating pressures required reliable flange seals.

Style 900 and Style 8500 were produced in sheet form and could be cut to specific dimensions by tradespeople in the field, allowing a single sheet to supply gaskets for numerous different flange configurations. This cut-to-fit versatility was a key selling feature and also a primary route through which workers received heavy asbestos exposures, as discussed below. Both styles were widely distributed through industrial supply chains throughout the mid-twentieth century and remained in commercial circulation until Garlock phased out asbestos-containing gasket production in 1985, consistent with evolving regulatory requirements under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) and OSHA’s asbestos standards.

Asbestos Content

Style 900 and Style 8500 gaskets were manufactured using chrysotile asbestos fibers embedded within a rubber or neoprene binder matrix. Chrysotile, also known as white asbestos, was selected for its flexibility, tensile strength, and resistance to heat and chemical degradation — properties that allowed it to maintain a reliable seal under the mechanical stress of bolted flanges and fluctuating operating temperatures.

In compressed sheet gasket manufacturing, chrysotile fibers were combined with the rubber or neoprene binder, then pressed under high pressure into rigid sheets. The resulting product contained asbestos fiber content that varied by formulation but was sufficient to pose a documented inhalation hazard during handling, cutting, and removal operations.

Garlock’s internal records, regulatory filings, and litigation documents have confirmed that both the Style 900 and Style 8500 product lines contained asbestos throughout their production history until 1985. These products are listed among the asbestos-containing materials for which the Garlock Settlement Trust was established to compensate injured workers.

How Workers Were Exposed

Exposure to chrysotile asbestos fibers from Garlock Style 900 and Style 8500 gaskets occurred in multiple occupational settings and through several distinct work activities. The following trades are documented as having faced meaningful exposure:

Pipefitters worked directly with these sheet gaskets on a routine basis. Cutting gaskets to size from bulk sheets — using knives, scissors, or die-cutting tools — released asbestos fibers into the breathing zone of the worker performing the cut and those nearby. Installing and removing gaskets from flanged connections also disturbed asbestos-containing material, particularly when workers scraped old, compressed gaskets from flange faces using wire brushes, scrapers, or grinding tools.

Refinery maintenance workers encountered Style 900 and Style 8500 gaskets throughout process piping systems, heat exchangers, and pressure vessels in petroleum refining operations. Maintenance shutdowns — known as turnarounds — required the removal of hundreds or thousands of gaskets across a facility, creating sustained, high-frequency exposure events. Workers in these environments often labored in confined spaces where airborne fiber concentrations had no means of dispersal.

Chemical plant workers faced comparable exposure conditions. The chemical resistance properties of neoprene-matrix chrysotile gaskets made them common in acid lines, solvent systems, and process piping throughout chemical manufacturing. Routine maintenance and emergency repair work in these environments brought workers into repeated contact with gasket materials.

Power plant mechanics installed and removed these gaskets from steam lines, turbine flanges, and boiler connections. Steam systems in power generation operate at high pressures and temperatures, conditions under which gaskets degrade and require periodic replacement. Each replacement cycle involved removing old, deteriorated gasket material — a task that generated asbestos dust — and cutting and fitting new sheet gasket material.

Across all of these trades, secondary exposures were common. Bystander workers, supervisors, and laborers present during cutting and removal operations were exposed without directly handling the gasket material themselves. OSHA’s asbestos standards, codified at 29 CFR 1910.1001 and 29 CFR 1926.1101, recognize that asbestos gasket removal and cutting operations are capable of generating airborne fiber concentrations above permissible exposure limits without adequate engineering controls and respiratory protection — measures that were rarely in place during the decades when Style 900 and Style 8500 were in widespread industrial use.

Documented Trust Fund / Legal Options

The Garlock Settlement Trust was established as part of Garlock Sealing Technologies’ bankruptcy reorganization proceedings to compensate individuals harmed by asbestos-containing products manufactured by Garlock. The Style 900 and Style 8500 gasket lines are among the named Garlock products for which the trust accepts claims.

Workers who were exposed to Garlock Style 900 or Style 8500 gaskets and subsequently developed an asbestos-related disease may be eligible to file a claim with the Garlock Settlement Trust. The trust processes claims for the following recognized disease categories:

• Mesothelioma — the primary malignancy associated with asbestos exposure, eligible for the highest claim values
• Lung cancer — eligible when accompanied by documented asbestos exposure and, in many cases, evidence of asbestosis or significant occupational exposure history
• Asbestosis and other nonmalignant conditions — including pleural plaques and pleural thickening, which may qualify under lower-tier claim categories depending on severity and documented exposure

To file a claim, claimants or their legal representatives must provide documentation establishing product identification (confirming exposure to Garlock-manufactured asbestos-containing products), work history, and a qualifying medical diagnosis. Medical records, employment records, coworker affidavits, and union documentation are among the materials typically used to support a claim.

Garlock Settlement Trust claims are handled through an established claims administration process with defined submission requirements. Because trust fund claims involve specific evidentiary and procedural standards, individuals pursuing compensation are strongly advised to consult with an attorney experienced in asbestos trust fund litigation.

The availability of trust fund compensation does not preclude pursuit of additional legal remedies against other manufacturers whose asbestos-containing products contributed to a claimant’s total exposure. Workers in the trades described above typically worked alongside multiple asbestos-containing products — insulation, packing, gaskets from other manufacturers — and may have grounds for claims against multiple responsible parties.

Workers and family members seeking to understand their legal options should document exposure history as thoroughly as possible, including job sites, employers, supervisors, and the specific products encountered. This documentation forms the foundation of any successful trust fund or litigation claim.