Super Power House Cement

Product Description

Super Power House Cement was a high-temperature insulating cement manufactured by Keene Corporation and sold primarily for industrial applications during the period spanning 1960 through 1971. Like many industrial cements of its era, Super Power House Cement was formulated for use in demanding thermal environments where conventional materials were considered inadequate. It was applied to pipes, fittings, boilers, and related mechanical systems to maintain process temperatures, prevent heat loss, and protect personnel from surface burns.

Keene Corporation, headquartered in New York, was a diversified industrial manufacturer with significant involvement in the asbestos-containing products market during the mid-twentieth century. The company produced and distributed a range of insulating and construction materials under various brand names. Super Power House Cement represented one segment of its thermal insulation product line targeted at industrial facilities, including refineries, chemical plants, power generation stations, and manufacturing operations that relied on high-temperature piping systems.

During the decades this product was in production and subsequent years of active use, industrial workers across many sectors encountered Super Power House Cement as a routine part of their working environment. Pipe insulation cements of this type were frequently specified in engineering drawings and maintenance schedules, meaning that exposure opportunities were not limited to the original installation period but extended throughout the operational life of the systems to which the cement was applied.

Asbestos Content

Super Power House Cement contained chrysotile asbestos as a component of its formulation. Chrysotile, sometimes referred to as white asbestos, belongs to the serpentine family of asbestos minerals and was the most widely used form of asbestos in industrial and construction products throughout the twentieth century. Its fiber structure — long, curly, and flexible — made it well suited for incorporation into cement-based insulating materials, where it provided tensile reinforcement, improved workability during application, and enhanced resistance to high temperatures and mechanical stress.

In pipe insulation cements such as Super Power House Cement, chrysotile asbestos fibers were mixed with binding agents and other filler materials to produce a compound that could be troweled, packed, or poured around pipe surfaces and then allowed to cure into a hard, thermally resistant layer. The fiber content in products of this class was frequently substantial, as asbestos was regarded as a cost-effective and technically superior reinforcing material for these applications.

Federal regulatory standards that would eventually govern asbestos-containing materials — including the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) permissible exposure limits for airborne asbestos fibers — were not fully established or enforced during the years Super Power House Cement was actively produced and installed. Manufacturers operating during this period were not subject to the disclosure and safety requirements that later became mandatory, and product labeling rarely included warnings adequate to inform workers of the inhalation risks associated with asbestos-containing cements.

How Workers Were Exposed

Industrial workers were the principal population exposed to Super Power House Cement during its years of production and throughout the extended period of use that followed. Exposure occurred across multiple phases of the product’s life cycle, including manufacture, transportation, storage, application, maintenance, and eventual removal or disturbance of aged insulation systems.

During mixing and application, workers prepared the cement by combining dry or semi-dry compound with water, a process that generated airborne dust containing chrysotile asbestos fibers. Workers applying the mixed cement to pipe surfaces using trowels or by hand often worked in confined or poorly ventilated spaces — conditions common in industrial boiler rooms, utility tunnels, and process piping corridors — where fiber concentrations could accumulate to levels well above what later research would identify as hazardous.

Maintenance activities presented repeated exposure opportunities throughout the decades following original installation. When insulated pipe systems required repair, upgrading, or replacement, workers needed to remove or cut through existing cement layers. Aged asbestos-containing pipe insulation cements tend to become brittle and friable over time, meaning that physical disturbance readily releases respirable fibers into the breathing zone of workers performing the work. Insulators, pipefitters, millwrights, boilermakers, and general industrial maintenance personnel all encountered these conditions as part of routine job duties.

Bystander exposure was also documented in industrial settings where Super Power House Cement was in use. Workers in adjacent trades — electricians, operators, laborers — who did not work directly with insulation materials were nonetheless present in the same work areas and breathed contaminated air during and after disturbance activities. Because asbestos fibers can remain suspended in still air for extended periods, bystander exposure could be significant even when direct contact with the product did not occur.

OSHA’s permissible exposure limit for asbestos has been reduced multiple times since its initial establishment, reflecting scientific consensus that no exposure level has been demonstrated to be entirely without risk. For chrysotile asbestos in particular, regulatory guidance and medical research have linked cumulative inhalation exposure to conditions including asbestosis, pleural disease, lung cancer, and mesothelioma — a rare and aggressive cancer of the lining of the lungs or abdomen that is closely associated with asbestos exposure.

Documented Trust Fund / Legal Options

Keene Corporation does not have an established asbestos bankruptcy trust fund available to compensate claimants who were exposed to Super Power House Cement or other Keene asbestos-containing products. Accordingly, individuals who allege injury from exposure to this product do not have access to a trust fund claims process of the type created under Section 524(g) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Litigation records document claims brought by plaintiffs who alleged personal injury — including diagnoses of mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, and related asbestos-related diseases — arising from occupational exposure to Keene Corporation products, including pipe insulation cements of this class. Plaintiffs alleged that Keene Corporation knew or should have known of the hazards associated with asbestos fiber inhalation and failed to provide adequate warnings, instructions, or protective measures to workers who used or were otherwise exposed to its products.

Litigation records further document that plaintiffs alleged Keene Corporation continued to market and distribute asbestos-containing products during a period when internal and industry-level knowledge of asbestos health risks was available to manufacturers, and that workers were denied information that would have allowed them to take protective action.

Individuals diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, or other asbestos-related conditions who have a documented occupational history that included exposure to Super Power House Cement or other Keene Corporation products should consult with an attorney experienced in asbestos litigation. Legal counsel can evaluate available remedies, identify potentially responsible parties beyond the named manufacturer, and assess whether claims against other solvent defendants or existing asbestos trust funds — from co-manufacturers, suppliers, or premises owners — may be applicable to an individual’s specific exposure history.

The statute of limitations governing asbestos personal injury claims varies by state and typically begins to run from the date of diagnosis or the date of discovery of the asbestos-related condition, not from the date of original exposure. Timely consultation with qualified legal counsel is important to preserve available remedies.