SMART Sheet Metal Workers Asbestos Workplaces

Through the asbestos era, members of the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA, now SMART) allegedly worked across virtually every category of commercial, institutional, industrial, and military construction in the United States. The categories below represent the broad workplace types where SMART members installed HVAC ductwork, air handlers, and industrial ventilation systems. Facility-level jobsite documentation for each state is linked from within each Local page on this site.

Commercial high-rise office buildings

The signature workplace of the asbestos-era sheet metal trade. Commercial high-rise office construction from the 1950s through 1973 allegedly specified sprayed asbestos fireproofing on structural steel and asbestos-cement duct board for supply and return runs. SMART members hung sheet metal ductwork directly beneath sprayed Monokote, Cafco Blaze-Shield, and competitor fireproofings in the ceiling plenum, and cut asbestos-cement duct board with hand saws and shears throughout each floor’s fit-out. Downtown business districts in every major American city — Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta — are documented workplaces.

Hospitals, universities, and K-12 schools

Institutional construction of the asbestos era — teaching hospitals, university campuses, community colleges, and public school buildings — allegedly used asbestos-cement duct board extensively for supply air, along with asbestos-cement air-handler drain pan insulation and asbestos acoustical ceiling tile that SMART members cut and installed around ductwork. Central-plant mechanical rooms and multi-building steam tunnels concentrated exposure. School district maintenance and retrofit contracts continued to expose sheet metal workers to legacy asbestos-cement duct board into the 1980s and beyond.

Industrial process plants

Refineries, chemical plants, steel mills, and food processing facilities allegedly used asbestos-fabric duct lagging on industrial exhaust runs, asbestos-cement components in process ventilation, and asbestos gaskets at every ductwork flange. SMART members installing exhaust hoods, breeching, stacks, and industrial ventilation ductwork at these facilities worked in the same high-fiber environments as pipefitters, insulators, and boilermakers.

Cooling tower installations

Marley, Baltimore Aircoil Company (BAC), Evapco, and competitor cooling towers allegedly used asbestos-cement drift eliminators and asbestos-cement splash fill through the 1970s. Sheet metal workers installing and servicing cooling towers on commercial rooftops, industrial process cooling loops, and institutional central-plant mechanical yards allegedly handled these components during installation, replacement, and eventual demolition.

Commercial and institutional air-handler and fan-coil unit installation

Trane, Carrier, York, and competitor air-handling units and fan-coil units allegedly used asbestos-cement drain pan insulation, asbestos-fabric expansion joints at the fan discharge, and asbestos gasket sets at every access panel and coil connection. SMART members installing and servicing these units in commercial mechanical rooms and institutional central plants allegedly disturbed these materials during connection, cleaning, and repair.

Cleanroom and laboratory ductwork

Pharmaceutical, semiconductor, aerospace, and research-university cleanrooms and laboratories allegedly used asbestos-cement duct board and asbestos-fabric duct lagging for HEPA-filtered supply and exhaust systems built through the asbestos era. SMART members fabricating and installing cleanroom ductwork handled these materials directly.

Navy shore installations and shipboard HVAC

Sheet metal workers at Navy shore establishments — shipyards, air stations, submarine bases, and repair facilities — allegedly installed shipboard HVAC ductwork on new construction and overhaul availabilities. Navy shipboard specifications from the 1940s through the 1970s used asbestos-cement duct board and asbestos-fabric lagging extensively in berthing, mess, workshop, and machinery-space ventilation runs. Naval shipyards (Norfolk, Newport News, Boston, Brooklyn, Mare Island, Philadelphia, Bremerton, Long Beach, Charleston, San Diego, Pascagoula) concentrated this exposure.

Navy Ship Exposure Archive — full 1,713-ship documentation →

Industrial paint booth and heat-treat furnace exhaust ductwork

Automotive assembly, aerospace, appliance, and heavy-equipment manufacturing plants allegedly used asbestos-fabric lagging on paint booth exhaust ductwork and heat-treat furnace exhaust runs, where high temperatures and solvent chemistry required thermal and chemical resistance. SMART members fabricating and installing these industrial exhaust systems allegedly handled asbestos-fabric lagging directly during install and cutback for repair.

Boiler house and steam plant exhaust stacks and breeching

Industrial boiler houses, utility power plants, and institutional central heating plants allegedly used asbestos-fabric lagging on breeching (the horizontal ductwork carrying combustion gas from boiler to stack) and asbestos-cement components at stack expansion joints. Sheet metal workers fabricating and installing breeching and stack sections on new boiler installations and outage rebuilds allegedly handled asbestos-lagged components directly.

Restaurant and kitchen exhaust hood installation

Commercial kitchen exhaust hoods over cooking lines in restaurants, hotels, hospitals, universities, and institutional cafeterias allegedly used asbestos-fabric lagging on grease exhaust ductwork and asbestos-cement components at makeup air units through the 1970s. SMART members installing kitchen exhaust systems allegedly handled these materials during install, service, and cleaning-cycle disassembly.

State-by-state jobsite documentation

Facility-level jobsite documentation for each SMART Local is linked from within each Local page on this site. For broader state cross-references across the Industrial Exposure Archive network:

For any other state, see the Industrial Exposure Archive cross-state hub.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 237-3332