The Portland Ship Repair Yard (also known as the Portland Ship Yard or “PSY”) is a very comprehensive ship repair and shipbuilding yard on the West Coast, in Oregon. The PSY is connected by the Williamette and Columbia shipping channels to the Pacific Ocean, and its facilities, covering 60 acres, include a dry-dock that is currently the largest in the U.S. The PSY has a long and profitable history, and it continues to be very active.
Ship Repair and Building Involved Asbestos
In the years before stringent asbestos regulations were implemented, shipbuilding and ship repair were two of the highest-risk industries regarding toxic asbestos exposure. As with other American shipyards, the Portland Ship Repair Yard was probably the site of dangerously high levels of asbestos that could well have caused several types of diseases among its workers: asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer, for example.
Asbestos at the PSY
Because asbestos was used in many components of ships as insulation and to protect against friction and heat, the workers who installed or removed asbestos-containing parts, or those who used asbestos blankets and asbestos rods for welding may well have been exposed to toxic levels of asbestos.
The millions of fibers of which asbestos is composed can break away from the asbestos material, floating in the air. When humans in the area inhale these fibers, the fibers lodge themselves inside the body and do not decompose. They can initiate a disease process that culminates in cancer.
If You Worked at the Portland Ship Repair Yard
The symptoms of asbestos-caused diseases have a very long onset; that is, it may be years (often decades) between the asbestos exposure and the appearance of symptoms. Find out more about asbestos diseases and the Portland Ship Repair Yard; contact us today.
