Today, Keppel AmFELS in Brownsville, Texas is a large shipyard that employs more than 100 workers doing U.S. Department of Defense contract work. In 2007, Keppel AmFELS offered to hire extra workers who were left without jobs after Hurricane Katrina hit the area. Brownsville is at the southernmost tip of Texas, at the Gulf of Mexico, and the devastation left by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are well known by Brownsville residents and the management of Keppel AmFELS.
Toxic Levels of Asbestos
In the decades before strict asbestos safety regulations began to be implemented in the shipbuilding and construction industries in the 1970s, workplaces such as the AmFELS Shipyard in Brownsville were the location of significant, toxic levels of asbestos for both employees and people living in the vicinity.
Asbestos is in thousands of components of sea-going vessels, and shipyards across the United States and around the world routinely build, repair, and convert ships with asbestos parts that present a danger to those in the area. When asbestos in any form is manipulated or disturbed in any way, there is a definite risk that the fibers of which asbestos is composed will break free and be released into the air.
Employees and Others
Massive amounts of asbestos dust were often present at shipyards. The fibers of asbestos are so small and lightweight that they form clouds, hanging suspended in the air for hours. Both the shipyard employees who worked directly with asbestos parts and the people who were merely working or living in the area of the asbestos work were also often exposed to dangerous levels of this carcinogenic mineral.
The family members of shipyard workers also got exposed to asbestos dust — when it was brought home on the shoes, hair and clothing of the shipyard workers. Few people knew that this dust could be planting the seeds of terrible diseases, including asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma.
If You Were Exposed to Asbestos
Find out more about the legacy of asbestos at the AmFELS Shipyard in Brownsville: contact us online for further information today.
