Founded in 1888, ALCOA (Aluminum Company of America) was the first mass producer of aluminum and today is the eighth-largest producer of aluminum in the world. For almost 100 years of its operations, ALCOA relied heavily on asbestos throughout its facilities, using it to line its furnaces and pots, insulate its plants, and protect its workers from hot surfaces. Though the company’s executives were aware of the material’s dangers for years, it continued using it until required by government agencies to stop. This put employees, as well as their family members, at risk of being diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases, including malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis.
The History of ALCOA
The history of ALCOA is tied directly to the earliest days of aluminum production. After the early 1800s, when scientists first proved the metallic element’s existence, its price was higher than that of gold or platinum: this is because it did not occur naturally as a metal. Through much of the 19th century, people were trying to find a way to extract it from the stones it was found in, and Oberlin College professor Frank Jewett encouraged his students to solve the problem. One of his students – Charles Martin Hall — accepted the challenge, and, working in the backyard shed he’d converted into a laboratory, he managed to produce the first samples of pure aluminum in 1886.[1]
The process that Hall invented was discovered nearly simultaneously by a Frenchman named Paul Heroult, and their Hall-Heroult process continues to be used for smelting aluminum today. Though Hall wasn’t issued a patent until 1889, he went to Pittsburgh in 1888 seeking financial backing and was staked $20,000 by metallurgist Alfred E. Hunt to form the Pittsburgh Reduction Company. A small plant described as “the largest and best-equipped plant in the country” was opened in Pittsburgh and began producing aluminum products ranging from engine parts to aluminum foil.[1]
Over time, the company grew. It acquired bauxite mines, refineries, hydroelectric facilities, fabricating facilities, and more aluminum smelters, and by 1903, the company had become the only legal supplier of aluminum in the United States. It was renamed the Aluminum Company of America in 1907 and, by 1910, began using the acronym ALCOA.[1] The company expanded to include operations overseas in the 1920s, and by 1930, it accounted for over half the total world capacity for producing primary aluminum. The material began being used in airplanes, automobiles, buildings, roofing, tube and foil, electrical transmission, cooking utensils, and more.[2]
When World War II began, aluminum was in high demand. It was used for canteens, warships, and weapons, and the company developed new products specifically for military use. Consumption doubled again during the Korean conflict. The company faced increased competition and lost its market share but continued to be the largest and most profitable aluminum company in the world. Today, ALCOA’s business is global. It has expanded into industries beyond aluminum processing and fabrication and, in 2010, was rated the most admired metals company in the world.[1]
The Aluminum Process and Asbestos
To understand why ALCOA’s work environment posed such a threat to its employees, it’s important to know how aluminum is made.
Unlike other metals, aluminum needs to go through the Hall-Heroult process, in which a sedimentary rock called bauxite, which contains alumina, water, and other minerals, is mixed with sodium hydroxide and heated under pressure to dissolve the aluminum oxide from the rock. This material is then converted into sodium aluminate, cooled, washed, and heated again to form pure alumina. This is then converted into aluminum through the smelting process, which uses electrolytic reduction to break the bond between aluminum and oxygen.[3]
Because this process required such high levels of heat and energy, asbestos was used to line the electrolytic cells that were used in the smelting process. It was also used to line melting pots, to insulate electric furnaces and electrical wiring, to coat pipes, and to minimize wear and tear from friction and heat in boilers, furnaces, and other refractory equipment. All of these uses created significant levels of asbestos in ALCOA’s aluminum plant environment, putting its workers at risk for deadly asbestos-related diseases.
Who Was Exposed to Asbestos at ALCOA
Because asbestos was used in so many applications at ALCOA, employees at every level and in every role in the company were at risk of exposure. The toxic material was used in furnaces and the pots/electrolytic cells in which the extraction process took place. It insulated steam pipes and boilers and was present in gaskets and valves used to ensure a tight seal, in packing, in flanges, and in the aprons, gloves, and other protective gear worn by employees tasked with handling the heated materials. And like many other buildings in industries of all types, ALCOA’s plants’ walls, floors, ceiling tiles, and electrical systems were made using asbestos.
When exposed to extreme temperatures, electric current, and wear and tear, the fibers that are characteristic of asbestos eventually deteriorate, and microscopic particles released through this process become airborne. Because they are so lightweight, these invisible particles can hang in the air for hours, where they can be inhaled and create scarring, cell death, and the formation of lung cancer and mesothelioma tumors.
ALCOA workers at the greatest risk of exposure to asbestos included:
- Loader drivers
- Casting pit operators
- Production operators
- Business & administration staff
- Environmental health specialists
- Insulators
- Boiler workers
- Safety experts
- Maintenance
- Electricians
- Millwrights
- Machinists
- Journeymen
- Technical repair professionals
In addition to the occupational risk posed to these workers, the asbestos particles inhaled at work also adhered to workers’ skin, hair, and work clothes, and these fibers were often carried into these employees’ homes, where they could be inhaled or ingested by wives, children, and other family members.
Secondary Asbestos Exposure from ALCOA Facilities
This type of secondary asbestos exposure has been blamed for many mesothelioma diagnoses, and a tragic outcome affecting an ALCOA family member was the basis of a groundbreaking Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that forever changed the country’s view of companies’ duty to prevent foreseeable injury from a risk of harm that it created itself. The case was filed by the family of Amanda Satterfield, the daughter of a man who’d worked at an ALCOA aluminum plant from before she was born for years after.
When Amanda died of malignant mesothelioma at the age of 25, her family filed suit against ALCOA, accusing the company of having known that the asbestos in its plant posed a risk to family members and failing to take measures to protect them. Though two lower courts rejected the family’s claim, the state’s Supreme Court sided with the family.[4]
Asbestos Lawsuits Against ALCOA
Many former ALCOA workers diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma have filed personal injury and workers’ compensation lawsuits against the company. Some of the notable claims against the company included:
- An ALCOA employee who worked with asbestos-contaminated products in the company’s North Carolina facility from 1946 to 1983 died of malignant mesothelioma at the age of 75. His surviving son filed a wrongful death against the company in 1999, citing the state’s “Woodson claim” rules, which allow employees to file suit rather than workers’ compensation claims when their employer intentionally engaged in conduct certain to cause death or serious injury to its employees. The jury sided with the victim’s son and awarded him $5 million in damages.
- The family of an independent contractor who worked at Alcoa for around twenty years filed suit against the company after he died of malignant mesothelioma. Charles Beverage’s work included construction and maintenance projects around the plant at Alcoa management’s direction that exposed him to asbestos insulation and associated with the manufacture of aluminum. The family filed suit against the company based on premises liability.[5]
Were You Exposed to Asbestos at Alcoa?
It’s well known that from the 1930s to the 1980s, aluminum plants made extensive use of asbestos in their equipment, their manufacturing process, and their physical plants, and ALCOA was no exception. If you worked in any of the company’s facilities and were diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease, you have legal options that an asbestos attorney can explain to you. Though you are not able to pursue justice from your employer outside of workers’ compensation, you may be eligible to pursue claims against the asbestos companies that supplied the toxic material or equipment to Alcoa. You may also be able to file claims against the asbestos trust funds established by bankrupt asbestos companies that supplied Alcoa.
If you did not work for Alcoa but were diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease after having been exposed to asbestos carried into your home on a loved one’s hair, skin, or clothing, you may be able to pursue a claim against Alcoa as well as the asbestos companies that supplied them. A mesothelioma lawyer will be your best source of information and guidance in the face of these challenging questions.
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