A woman is suing Crane Company after her husband died from alleged exposure to asbestos products at work.

Plaintiff Linda O. alleges her late husband Enrick worked as a boilerman in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Ogden from 1969 to 1973.

She says he worked in and on ships where asbestos was being used, and according to the asbestos lawsuit, “was repeatedly exposed to great quantities of asbestos, asbestos dust and asbestos fibers.”

Defendant Crane Company allegedly sold and supplied equipment that contained asbestos gaskets or after-market replacement parts that required asbestos insulation.

Some of the parts required other asbestos-containing components in order to function well.

According to the asbestos lawsuit, the equipment included Crane Company steam valves, gate valves, globe valves, check valves, and Cranite gaskets and packing on the USS Ogden.

Crane’s corporate predecessors Cochrane and Chapman produced de-aerating tanks and valves, respectively.

Linda says all of these products contained asbestos insulation, asbestos gaskets and/or asbestos packing, and all of them needed asbestos-containing parts to work correctly.

Allegedly due to the exposure to these asbestos products, Enrick developed “asbestos-related diseases and injuries to his lungs, chest cavity, cardiovascular system and other parts of his body, which were not discovered and/or were disguised until about June 2015 and which caused and/or contributed to his death on Feb. 20, 2016.”

Asbestos products lead to more than 4,800 annual lung cancer deaths in the United States. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. claim that more Americans lose their lives to lung cancer than to any other cancer.

How Are People Exposed to Asbestos?

While the United States no longer produces the carcinogen, asbestos is still used in some products, including protective clothing, pipe insulation, brake linings and similar objects that need to be heat- and fire-resistant. Asbestos can only be used in a product if there is no equivalent substitute for it.

Breathing asbestos fibers today probably won’t result in any immediate effects, but 10 to 50 years from exposure is when those fibers have settled into the lungs and cancer can develop.

Because of the long period of time between exposure and becoming symptomatic, scientists expect the number of asbestos cancer diagnoses will peak between 2015 to 2020 in the U.S.

Who Is at Risk of Exposure to Asbestos Products?

Enrick was employed in a job that had a greater risk of exposure to asbestos products than other jobs. Military service members, shipyards workers, auto mechanics, paper mill workers, construction workers and linotype technicians all could have been exposed at their workplace and not even realized it.

Family members of these workers could have been exposed to second-hand introduction of deadly asbestos fibers when the workers came home with fibers on their clothing, which other family members could shake out to remove the fiber dust and then launder.

The Asbestos Lung Cancer Lawsuit is Case No. 16-1-1836-09 in the First Circuit Court for the State of Hawaii.