Easton Asbestos Exposure: Job Sites, Employers & Trades

Quick answer

Exposure around Easton clusters in a handful of industries and trades, from the 1940s into the 1980s
You do not need to know a product name — knowing the employer and the years is enough to start
Bystander exposure counts: people who never handled asbestos but worked near those who did
Household members exposed to dust carried home on work clothes may have a claim of their own
Call (610) 817-4854 for a free review — we can usually tell quickly whether a site is one we know

Easton’s asbestos history is spread across a river and a cement belt. Across the Delaware in Phillipsburg, Ingersoll-Rand’s works — begun in 1903 and employing about two thousand when it opened — built compressors, pumps and rock drills and ran its own foundry, alongside older boiler works and pipe foundries. Upstream at Martins Creek, Alpha Portland Cement’s mills ran from the early 1900s until 1964, and the Martins Creek power plant burned coal from the mid-1950s until 2007.

Asbestos exposure is local in a way most injuries are not. It happened at particular buildings, on particular shifts, in particular trades, and the same handful of employers come up again and again in a given town. Around Easton the recurring ones include Ingersoll-Rand’s compressor and rock-drill works across the river in Phillipsburg, with its own foundry, the Phillipsburg foundries and boiler shops along the Delaware, the cement mills of the eastern Lehigh Valley, including Alpha Portland Cement’s plants at Martins Creek, and the Martins Creek power plant, coal-fired from the 1950s until 2007.

The trades most often affected are foundry molders and machinists, compressor and pump assemblers, boilermakers, kiln burners and cement-mill maintenance crews, powerhouse operators and railroad shopmen. That reflects where the material actually was: wrapped around steam and process lines, packed into boilers and furnaces, cut into block and cement, sitting in gaskets and packing at every pump and valve, sprayed onto structural steel for fireproofing. The people who installed it, repaired it, and above all tore it out took the heaviest doses, because removal is what puts fiber into the air.

Bystander exposure is the part people discount about themselves. Someone who never touched insulation but worked in the same shop while insulators cut and fitted it all day was breathing the same air. Office and clerical staff in older industrial buildings sometimes have real exposure histories for the same reason. If the honest answer is "I didn't work with it, but I worked around people who did," that is worth a conversation rather than a shrug.

Exposure also travelled home. Dust carried on coveralls into houses across Downtown, College Hill, the South Side and the West Ward, Wilson, Glendon, Forks Township, Martins Creek and Phillipsburg across the river exposed spouses and children, most often through laundry. Those household members can have claims in their own right, built on the worker's job history rather than their own.

You are not expected to arrive with product names. Almost nobody remembers whose gaskets were in a pump in 1968. The employer, the job title, and a rough span of years are enough to start; identifying the products is our job, and it is done through supplier records, co-workers, and the histories of the sites themselves. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Closer in, Taylor-Wharton opened an Easton plant in 1914 making compressed-gas cylinders, and the Glendon iron furnaces just outside the city had been making pig iron since 1844. Many Easton men also commuted to Bethlehem. Kilns, furnaces, foundries and boilers all relied on high-heat insulation for most of the century, and a local history usually crosses more than one of these places.

Call (610) 817-4854

Fees and costs in Easton

Consultation and initial case review, at home or at the hospital	$0
Mesothelioma or asbestos claim, handled on contingency	No fee unless there is a recovery — the percentage is agreed in writing before representation begins
Requesting employment, union, and military records on your behalf	Included in the case review

No fee unless there is a recovery. Any fee is a percentage agreed in writing before representation begins.

Questions, answered

Which Easton-area worksites come up most?

Ingersoll-Rand across the river, the cement mills from Martins Creek westward, the Martins Creek power plant, and the foundries and boiler shops on both banks of the Delaware.

He worked at Bethlehem Steel, not in Easton. Does that still count?

Yes. A claim follows where the person worked, not where they lived, and many Easton men commuted to Bethlehem or across the river. Every employer is documented on its own.

Which Easton employers come up most in asbestos claims?

The ones that recur locally include Ingersoll-Rand’s compressor and rock-drill works across the river in Phillipsburg, with its own foundry, the Phillipsburg foundries and boiler shops along the Delaware, the cement mills of the eastern Lehigh Valley, including Alpha Portland Cement’s plants at Martins Creek. That is not an exhaustive list, and a site not named here can still support a claim — the review is where that gets checked.

I never handled asbestos myself, only worked nearby. Does that count?

Often yes. Bystander exposure — working in the same space while others cut, fitted, or removed asbestos — is a recognized exposure route, because the fiber is airborne.

I don't know which products were used. Can I still bring a claim?

Yes. Very few people remember product names decades later. The employer, job title, and approximate years are enough to begin; identifying manufacturers is done through supplier records, site histories, and co-workers.