Boeing has produced commercial jetliners, military aircraft, and defense systems for more than a century, and stands among the world’s premier aerospace manufacturers. But throughout decades of operations from the 1930s into the 1980s, the corporation integrated asbestos-containing components throughout the aircraft it produced. The company’s unfettered use of the toxic mineral put thousands of aerospace workers and their household members in danger of serious health consequences. Many of those who developed mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases have sought legal compensation from the aerospace giant for their suffering.
Boeing Company History
The Boeing Company originated in 1916 when timber magnate William Boeing founded the organization. He initially called it Pacific Aero Products Co., but renamed it Boeing Airplane Co one year later.[1]
Boeing’s vision for his company went far beyond simple aircraft construction. He recognized the emerging industry’s potential and positioned his company to take advantage of both commercial and military needs. The company quickly became known as a leader in the new sector.
Throughout the 20th century, the Boeing company expanded dramatically, strategically acquiring several other aerospace and defense organizations. This aggressive strategy allowed the company to both grow and diversify into multiple product lines, while simultaneously creating subsidiaries that could provide complementary products and services across the aerospace industry.
Boeing eventually evolved to become a leader in commercial aircraft for passenger and cargo transport, military planes for defense operations, and sophisticated aerospace systems. This diversification transformed the company into a comprehensive provider serving both government and private sector clients worldwide.[1]
The company’s influence impacted the entire aerospace industry, from initial design and engineering through manufacturing, maintenance, and support services. Its reach meant that Boeing’s decisions regarding materials and manufacturing processes affected not only its direct employees but also countless workers throughout the aerospace supply chain.
How Boeing Incorporated Asbestos into Aircraft
Like almost every major manufacturer building aircraft during the 20th century, Boeing incorporated asbestos-containing parts throughout its aircraft. The mineral’s inherent strength, combined with its exceptional resistance to heat and fire, made it indispensable for demanding aerospace applications, so the company relied on these components from the 1930s through the 1980s. The industrial advantages that asbestos provided —strength, heat resistance, and fireproofing capabilities—made it so valuable to the company that it continued its use despite receiving a significant amount of scientific information documenting the material’s cancer risks.[2]
Many of the aircraft sold by Boeing to the United States Air Force contained components made with asbestos, and some of their systems, particularly their brake assemblies, contained asbestos concentrations reaching 23 percent. This substantial toxic content created significant exposure risks during installation, maintenance, repair, and replacement operations.
Asbestos-Contaminated Components Used at Boeing
Boeing utilized asbestos-containing materials across numerous aircraft systems and components, including:
- Asbestos blankets, textiles, and fabrics for thermal protection and fire resistance
- Adhesives for bonding critical structural elements
- Brake pads and braking systems containing high asbestos concentrations
- Engine components exposed to extreme temperatures
- Epoxy compounds used in aircraft assembly
- Fuselage components requiring heat resistance
- Gaskets creating seals in various systems
- Insulation materials throughout the aircraft structure
- Landing gear assemblies subjected to friction and heat
- Protective clothing including gloves and suits for workers
- Valves controlling fluid and air systems
- Wing components requiring structural integrity under thermal stress.
The number of applications containing asbestos meant that the carcinogenic mineral was present in virtually every major aircraft system. Workers encountered it whether they performed manufacturing, installation, maintenance, repair, or decommissioning tasks on Boeing aircraft.
Occupations at Risk from Boeing Asbestos Exposure
Boeing has been a global leader in aerospace for over a century, and it has built an extensive reputation for building aircraft for commercial passenger service, cargo transport, and military operations. Unfortunately, during much of the company’s existence, its consistent use of asbestos exposed thousands of aerospace workers and their family members to harm.
High-risk occupations and groups included:
- Aircraft handlers who moved and positioned planes
- Aircraft mechanics performing routine maintenance and repairs
- Aerospace engineers designing and testing systems
- Boeing employees across manufacturing and assembly operations
- Communications repair workers servicing onboard systems
- Factory workers involved in production processes
- Firefighters responding to aircraft emergencies
- Electricians installing and maintaining electrical systems
- Machinists fabricating and fitting components
- Maintenance staff conducting regular inspections and service
- Pilots flying aircraft with asbestos-containing parts
- Supply chain workers distributing components and materials
- U.S. Air Force veterans who operated and maintained military aircraft.
The wide range of at-risk occupations is a clear demonstration of how extensively asbestos exposure permeated the aerospace industry in general, and Boeing’s products in particular. From design engineers to maintenance crews, from factory assemblers to military service members, Boeing’s asbestos use created hazards across the entire spectrum of aerospace work.
Boeing’s Knowledge of Asbestos Hazards
There is significant evidence that Boeing Co. had access to extensive information about the dangers of asbestos throughout the time that it was using the material in its aircraft production process.[2]
- Documents show that in 1945, four Boeing aircraft safety officials attended the Pacific Coast Shipyard Safety Conference in Seattle, where two separate presentations on occupational disease hazards specifically addressed the hazard of asbestosis from insulation dust.
- In 1956, Boeing joined the Industrial Hygiene Foundation of America, an organization that it maintained membership in through at least 1970. As a member, Boeing would have received IHF publications, including the Industrial Hygiene Digest, which contained numerous abstracts of articles documenting the dangers of asbestos. There is a good chance that Boeing officials would also have attended the organization’s meetings and conferences, where asbestos diseases and manufacturer warning responsibilities were discussed.
- Boeing officials Wilson Applegate, Walter Poppe Jr., and M. Chain Robbins held memberships in the American Industrial Hygiene Association during the late 1950s. The AIHA distributed a monthly journal to members that included articles about hazards associated with asbestos exposure, such as the Industrial Hygiene Guide on Asbestos published in April 1958.
- Boeing attended the Thirteenth International Congress on Occupational Health in July 1960, where asbestos served as a topic for several presentations. This international gathering provided another opportunity for Boeing representatives to learn about asbestos health consequences.
- Boeing’s Howard Kienle and Fred Denton participated in the Aerospace Section of the 1957 annual National Safety Council meeting, where one presentation raised concerns over the cancer hazard of asbestos. Throughout the 1960s, Boeing’s Safety Director served as Senior Program Chair for the Aerospace Section of the National Safety Council, while Boeing’s Chief Health & Safety Officer, W.C. Applegate, served as the Industrial Hygiene Chair of the NSC Aerospace Section.
- The NSC held annual meetings called the National Safety Congress, then disseminated publications called Transactions to members, memorializing discussed topics. During the 1960s, these covered the association between asbestos exposure and cancer, asbestos hazard control methods, types of asbestos-containing products that released fibers, and occupations at risk for asbestos exposure.
By the late 1940s, asbestos dust’s toxic and carcinogenic properties were well established and well documented in scientific literature and well known by the asbestos industry and its major customers. By the early 1950s, medical and scientific literature recognized that individuals could contract asbestos-related diseases from relatively low exposures to asbestos dust. Given the information provided and available to aerospace industry members at this early time, Boeing either knew or should have known that the asbestos-containing aircraft components it was including in its planes posed grave harm to the mechanics and other workers who were handling these materials.
Secondary Asbestos Exposure Risk from Boeing
Beyond those experiencing direct workplace exposure to asbestos through Boeing aircraft and facilities, the family members of these aerospace workers also faced danger from fibers transported home on clothing, hair, and skin.
This form of exposure, known as secondary or take-home asbestos exposure, resulted in serious illnesses among spouses who laundered asbestos dust-covered work clothes as well as children who hugged their parents when they returned home from work. The asbestos fibers that were distributed throughout household environments created constant and ongoing exposure risks for entire families.
Legal Actions Involving Boeing
Boeing has never filed for bankruptcy protection. Instead, the aerospace giant handles its asbestos liabilities through the court system. The corporation and its legal team have used several different strategies to minimize the damages they’ve been required to pay victims.
Asbestos exposure victims and their families pursuing justice from Boeing have two primary options: personal injury lawsuits that allow living victims to seek compensation for their losses, and wrongful death lawsuits that allow dependents or family members of deceased victims to recover damages for the loss of their loved one.
Though Boeing has successfully avoided having to pay the massive verdicts seen in other companies and industries, numerous plaintiffs have successfully brought claims against the corporation, as well as against the manufacturers and distributors that provided the company with the parts that went into its aircraft.
Notable cases include:
- Gary Walston spent over 35 years working at Boeing in Seattle before being diagnosed with mesothelioma. He filed suit against the company, pointing to a time in 1985 when he’d been exposed to asbestos dust while repairing pipes. Though he claimed that the company had failed to provide adequate safeguards, the courts ultimately exonerated Boeing, ruling the company did not have “actual knowledge” that its actions were likely to cause injury.[3]
- After Connie Dietrich was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, she traced her asbestos exposure to asbestos brought home by her husband, who worked with Boeing aircraft. She filed a lawsuit against the company, saying it had been responsible for her secondary exposure to the toxic material. In response to her claim, Boeing had the case removed to federal court, where it is still pending.[4]
- Mary Holste was diagnosed with mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos carried home from a Boeing-affiliated facility on her husband’s work clothes. She filed suit against Boeing, accusing it of liability for her take-home exposure. The company attempted to halt the case based on jurisdiction arguments, but it was returned to state court.
- Frank Williams’ family blames his 2008 mesothelioma diagnosis on his decades of work at the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans, where he was involved in the assembly of various aircraft. After his death, the family continued the lawsuit that he’d originally filed against Boeing and other defendants.
- Gustave Sahm died of asbestos-induced lung cancer after having served in the U.S. Navy and working for three decades as a St. Louis County Police Department helicopter pilot. His family filed suit against Boeing and others, blaming them for having exposed him to asbestos through their contaminated parts. Though a federal court ruled that the family had failed to show the court had personal jurisdiction over Boeing, it also determined that claims against the manufacturer that supplied Boeing with parts, Morton International LLC, could proceed.
Were You Sickened by Asbestos Through Work With Boeing Products?
While the first step for any mesothelioma victim is to meet with medical specialists and establish a treatment plan, a consultation with an experienced asbestos attorney should be next on your list. If you worked at a Boeing facility, maintained Boeing aircraft, or had contact with any Boeing products containing asbestos, you may be able to take legal action. There have been many personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits filed against Boeing, accusing the company of liability for asbestos-related illnesses and deaths. You could also be eligible to file claims against the companies that supplied asbestos-contaminated products to Boeing, or against asbestos trust funds established by parts manufacturers and distributors that have filed for bankruptcy.
Knowledgeable lawyers who specialize in asbestos have deep knowledge of the laws surrounding negligence and product liability. They also have extensive resources to help identify all possible sources of your asbestos exposure, including all the companies known to have provided parts for use in Boeing’s aircraft. They can explain all the options available to you, provide guidance as you determine the optimal path forward for you and your family, and help you with everything from filling out claims forms to identifying the specialized medical centers that can provide you with the best possible care. Contact an attorney as soon as possible after your diagnosis, as there are strict deadlines for how long you have to pursue legal action.
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