By Michael Bartlett on January 21st, 2026 in Jones Act
The Port of Houston moves hundreds of millions of tons of cargo yearly for foreign cargo tonnage, while the Port of Corpus Christi handled over 90 million tons in just the first half of 2022. These ports are departure points where offshore workers check in before catching rides on supply vessels, crewboats, and support craft to deepwater platforms.
Seamen performing maintenance, repair, and equipment work spend weeks aboard these vessels while navigating.
Major shipyards and fabrication facilities that built offshore platforms and supply vessels historically used extensive asbestos insulation and fireproofing. Hundreds of offshore drilling platforms were fabricated at Brown & Root Shipyard in Houston using asbestos materials in insulation for boilers, steam lines, machinery spaces, and living quarters. AMFELS in Brownsville likewise used asbestos in building vessels and platform modules throughout the mid-20th century.
Workers in these facilities, including welders, pipefitters, insulators, boilermakers, and equipment operators, routinely encountered airborne asbestos fibers during fabrication and maintenance. The vessels and platforms they built kept exposing maritime workers for decades after, as insulation broke down, vibration released fibers, and maintenance work disturbed asbestos materials in cramped engine rooms and machinery spaces.
Sailors and maritime workers live and work aboard vessels that historically contained asbestos extensively in machinery spaces, bulkhead panels, engine rooms, and pipe coverings. Because maritime workers spend extended periods onboard during multi-week rotations rather than typical industrial shifts, they inhale asbestos fibers released continuously by vibration, insulation degradation, and routine maintenance operations.
Asbestos components commonly found aboard offshore supply vessels include insulation around boilers, turbines, and steam lines, pipe coverings and gaskets, fireproofing materials, equipment housings, and machinery partitions. Workers performing engine room maintenance, replacing gaskets, repairing pipe insulation, or conducting equipment overhauls disturb these materials and release microscopic fibers into poorly ventilated confined spaces where crew members work and sleep.
A recent epidemiological study of offshore petroleum workers found that asbestos exposure offshore is linked to increased risk of pleural mesothelioma, especially for those with prior asbestos work before entering the offshore petroleum industry. Offshore petroleum workers with the highest asbestos exposure intensity showed elevated mesothelioma risk compared with those with lower exposure, with hazard ratios exceeding 1.0.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of petroleum industry workers found that petroleum industry work, which includes offshore and related environments, was associated with approximately 2.1 times higher risk compared with the general population. The review confirmed that asbestos was used extensively in petroleum work, contributing to observed mesothelioma and lung cancer cases among workers.
Mesothelioma has an exceptionally long latency period, often 20 to 50 years, making it a classic occupational asbestos disease for retired or older workers exposed decades earlier. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified asbestos as a Group 1 carcinogen with strong evidence for causing several cancers and lung diseases.
Maritime workers diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases may qualify for compensation under the Jones Act. To potentially qualify, you must have been diagnosed within the past three years. Asbestos-related conditions that qualify for compensation include:
Seaman status depends on spending substantial time performing duties aboard vessels in navigation. Workers must contribute to the vessel's mission while it operates on navigable waters. This includes engineers, deckhands, maintenance personnel, and crew members on supply boats, crewboats, and offshore support vessels that transport equipment and personnel between Western Gulf ports and deepwater platforms.
When employers fail to protect seamen from asbestos hazards aboard vessels, they face liability. Companies are negligent when they require workers to disturb asbestos insulation without providing respirators, permit engine room operations where asbestos materials have degraded, or don't warn crew members about cancer risks from pipe covering and gasket work.
Shipyard facilities and vessel operators had knowledge of asbestos health risks decades before regulations tightened in the late 1970s and 1980s. Companies that kept using asbestos materials in vessel construction or didn't remediate known asbestos sources show negligence that strengthens compensation claims for workers who developed mesothelioma or lung cancer after exposure.
If you developed mesothelioma, lung cancer, or other asbestos-related illness after working aboard vessels servicing Western Gulf platforms and your employer failed to provide adequate protective equipment or warnings, you may be entitled to compensation under the Jones Act. The Environmental Litigation Group has represented toxic exposure victims for over 35 years. For more information about filing a Jones Act claim, please contact us today.