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Did you work with Stone and Webster Engineering Corp process-piping flange gasket specifications for refinery, petrochemical, and power-block process piping, allegedly written to require compressed asbestos fiber (CAF) sheet gaskets and asbestos-filled spiral-wound gaskets on raised-face and ring-joint flanges throughout Stone and Webster-engineered units? According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, it allegedly contained asbestos. Here is what it was, who was exposed, and who is responsible. Stone and Webster Engineering Corp process-piping flange gasket specifications for refinery, petrochemical, and power-block process piping, allegedly written to require compressed asbestos fiber (CAF) sheet gaskets and asbestos-filled spiral-wound gaskets on raised-face and ring-joint flanges throughout Stone and Webster-engineered units, sold from the 1940s until early the 1980s. Plaintiffs allegedly identified Stone and Webster-specified process-piping flange gaskets as asbestos-containing in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation. Alleged chrysotile-fiber CAF sheet gaskets and asbestos-filled spiral-wound flange gaskets specified in Stone and Webster process-piping standards — used at pump discharge flanges, tower shell flanges, exchanger channel flanges, and instrument tap flanges. Released as friable fiber when gaskets were scraped, chiseled, or wire-brushed from raised-face flanges during turnaround by refinery and chemical plant pipefitters and boilermakers working on Stone and Webster-engineered process units. Workers allegedly exposed around this product included Refinery Pipefitters, Boilermakers, Chemical Plant Millwrights, and Refinery Insulators. Asbestos claims are brought against the companies that made the products. If you worked with or around Stone and Webster Engineering Corp process-piping flange gasket specifications for refinery, petrochemical, and power-block process piping, allegedly written to require compressed asbestos fiber (CAF) sheet gaskets and asbestos-filled spiral-wound gaskets on raised-face and ring-joint flanges throughout Stone and Webster-engineered units and were later diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease, you may have a legal claim against the manufacturer. This is educational information from an independent publisher — not a law firm — and is not legal advice.
Product Description
Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation (Boston, MA; later part of Shaw Group and Westinghouse) allegedly served as engineer, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor on scores of U.S. refineries, chemical plants, and power-block projects from the 1940s through the 1980s. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Stone & Webster’s process-piping specifications, gasket standards, and materials-of-construction schedules required compressed asbestos fiber (CAF) sheet gaskets and asbestos-filled spiral-wound gaskets on raised-face and ring-joint flanges throughout Stone & Webster-engineered process units.
This page covers the specific process-piping gasket product line — the flange gasket materials specified into and supplied against Stone & Webster piping isometrics — as distinct from Stone & Webster’s broader EPC construction role.
Workers Exposed
Plaintiffs allegedly identified the following trades as exposed during Stone & Webster-engineered plant construction and turnaround:
- Refinery pipefitters breaking out and re-gasketing flange joints on Stone & Webster process piping during initial construction and later turnarounds.
- Boilermakers pulling exchanger channel covers and cutting CAF sheet blanks for the specified spec.
- Chemical plant millwrights replacing pump-discharge gaskets to the Stone & Webster gasket schedule.
- Refinery insulators stripping calcium silicate lagging back to flange faces prior to the boilermaker/pipefitter break-out.
Alleged exposure mechanisms included dry-scraping and wire-brushing residual gasket material from raised-face flanges, cutting CAF sheet stock at the deck plate, and installing pre-cut spiral-wound gaskets on the pipe rack.