Product Description

Whiting Corporation, historically headquartered in Harvey, Illinois, was a leading American manufacturer of heavy-duty industrial overhead cranes, specializing in the hot-metal handling cranes used inside steelmaking bays: ladle cranes carrying molten steel from the basic oxygen furnace or electric arc furnace to the caster, charging cranes serving open-hearth and electric furnaces, stripper cranes handling ingots, soaking-pit cranes serving primary rolling mills, and coil- and slab-handling cranes downstream. Whiting also supplied smelter cranes to non-ferrous metallurgy plants and general-purpose bridge cranes to heavy-manufacturing customers.

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Whiting Corporation heavy industrial cranes used asbestos-composition brake blocks and woven asbestos brake bands on their hoist, trolley, and bridge brakes during the decades when asbestos was the standard heavy-duty friction material for industrial crane brakes. Steel mill hot-metal cranes cycle their brakes constantly under enormous load in extreme-heat environments, and plaintiffs allegedly encountered the linings during frequent brake service performed on the crane bridge, in the machinery house, and during shop overhauls.

Asbestos Content

Plaintiffs alleged that Whiting Corporation crane brake systems contained asbestos in the following roles:

  • Molded asbestos brake blocks — bolted to shoes on hoist, trolley, and bridge brakes on ladle, charging, stripper, and soaking-pit cranes.
  • Woven asbestos brake bands — clamped around drums on band-type crane brakes used on older Whiting designs.
  • Asbestos friction segments — on multi-shoe brake assemblies used on later cranes.
  • Brake dust residue — heavy accumulations on crane bridges, walkways, and steel mill floors below high-cycle hot-metal cranes.
  • Replacement parts and service instructions — plaintiffs alleged that Whiting service literature specified asbestos-bearing brake friction parts for routine steel mill crane maintenance into the 1970s.

Workers Exposed

  • Crane mechanics — brake relining, shoe replacement, and adjustment on Whiting cranes in steel mills, foundries, and non-ferrous smelters.
  • Millwrights — heavy overhaul and installation of Whiting crane machinery in shops and on the mill floor.
  • Steel mill maintenance mechanics — supporting Whiting crane brake service during scheduled outages.
  • Industrial electricians — servicing brake solenoids and controllers on crane bridges in dust- and heat-laden bays.
  • Bystanders — melters, casters, and floor workers beneath Whiting hot-metal cranes where brake dust settled.

Take-home exposure was alleged where crane mechanics and steel mill millwrights carried asbestos fibers home on work clothing.