Alabama's Asbestos Exposure History
Alabama's industrial economy was built on three pillars — shipbuilding, steel manufacturing, and power generation — all of which relied heavily on asbestos-containing materials for decades. The state's Gulf Coast port city of Mobile became a major shipbuilding center during World War II, while Birmingham emerged as the steel capital of the South. Across the state, Alabama Power and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) power plants burned coal in boilers lined with asbestos insulation.
According to WikiMesothelioma.com, Alabama ranks among the southeastern states with the highest rates of occupational asbestos exposure, driven primarily by the shipbuilding industry in Mobile and the steel industry in Birmingham. Workers who built, maintained, and operated facilities in these industries inhaled microscopic asbestos fibers daily, often without protective equipment or any warning about the material's dangers.
The peak period of asbestos use in Alabama spanned from the 1940s through the early 1980s. During World War II, Mobile's shipyards — particularly the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company — expanded rapidly to meet wartime demand, employing tens of thousands of workers who installed asbestos insulation in naval and merchant vessels. After the war, Alabama's industrial base continued to rely on asbestos in steel production, chemical manufacturing, and power generation.
The 20-to-50-Year Latency Period
Mesothelioma does not appear immediately after asbestos exposure. The disease has a latency period of 20 to 50 years, meaning workers exposed in Alabama's shipyards and steel mills during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s are being diagnosed now. A welder who installed asbestos-insulated components at Alabama Drydock in 1960 may only receive a mesothelioma diagnosis in 2025 or later. This long latency period is why Alabama continues to produce new mesothelioma cases decades after most asbestos use was curtailed.
Alabama's Asbestos Legacy
Alabama's combination of shipbuilding, steel, and power generation created a multi-industry asbestos exposure landscape that stretches from Mobile on the Gulf Coast to Huntsville in the northern part of the state. Many Alabama workers were exposed at multiple facilities over the course of a career, and some also served in the military at installations like Redstone Arsenal. This multi-site exposure history is important for legal claims because it can connect a patient to multiple asbestos trust funds and multiple defendants. If you worked at any industrial facility in Alabama, documenting your asbestos exposure history is a critical first step.