Product Description
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Asbestospray Corporation served as the U.S. distributor and applicator of the Limpet-brand sprayed asbestos fireproofing product originally developed by Turner & Newall in the United Kingdom. According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, Limpet was allegedly one of the earliest and highest-fiber-content sprayed asbestos systems on the U.S. market, using raw asbestos fiber (both chrysotile and amphibole grades in various formulations) sprayed directly onto structural steel and decks through a cement-water binder gun.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned spray-applied asbestos fireproofing in 1973 under 40 CFR Part 61. Plaintiffs alleged that Limpet was applied to commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings from the 1940s through the 1973 EPA cutoff. Because Limpet used high concentrations of loose asbestos fiber, plaintiffs alleged that application and later disturbance generated particularly heavy airborne fiber exposures.
Workers Exposed
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that the following trades were exposed to Limpet sprayed asbestos fireproofing:
- Sprayed fireproofing applicators and hopper-fillers — feeding raw asbestos fiber into hoppers and inhaling dense airborne fiber during spraying
- Ironworkers — working on structural steel during and after Limpet application
- Insulators — patching, rework, and encapsulation of applied Limpet around penetrations and joints
- HVAC technicians and building maintenance workers — working above ceilings in plenums lined with sprayed Limpet
- Electricians — running conduit and cable tray through ceiling voids containing Limpet
- Demolition workers — encountering friable Limpet during renovation and tear-down of pre-1973 structures
- Post-1973 abatement contractors and workers — removing legacy Limpet from schools, hospitals, and commercial buildings