Boilermakers Local 74

Boilermakers Local 74
Houston & Beaumont, Texas Gulf Coast
Parent International	International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers, AFL-CIO
International chartered	1880
District	Lone Star District Lodge (created July 1, 2002)
Houston Office	340 N Sam Houston Pkwy E, Ste 210, Houston, TX 77060 (281) 260-9330
Beaumont Office	87 Interstate 10 North, Beaumont, TX 77707 (409) 813-1431
District Lodge HQ	2930 Gulf Fwy, La Marque, TX 77568 (409) 938-8205
Sister locals (LSDL)	Local 74 (Houston/Beaumont), Local 132, Local 592
Industries Served	Refineries, petrochemical plants, power generation, shipyards, industrial maintenance
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Executive Summary

Boilermakers Local 74 is a chartered construction local of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers, AFL-CIO, serving Texas Gulf Coast refineries, petrochemical plants, power stations, and shipyards from offices in Houston and Beaumont. Local 74 sits within the IBB's Lone Star District Lodge (LSDL) — the union's largest single-state district lodge, created July 1, 2002, headquartered in La Marque, Texas, and serving Locals 74, 132, and 592 across the state.

The international Brotherhood of Boilermakers itself was organized in 1880 and is one of the oldest construction unions in the United States. Its members — boilermakers, iron ship builders, blacksmiths, forgers, and helpers — performed the heavy fabrication, repair, and maintenance work on boilers, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, refinery columns and towers, and ships' superstructures that defined American industrial output through the 20th century.

For Local 74's members specifically, that work meant decades of direct contact with asbestos. The high-temperature equipment boilermakers built and maintained — boilers, fired heaters, reactors, exchangers, and ship engines — was insulated, lined, gasketed, and sealed with asbestos-containing materials from the 1940s through the early 1980s. Population studies show boilermakers carry mesothelioma proportionate mortality ratios in the hundreds — among the highest documented for any construction trade.

Today, retired Local 74 boilermakers and their families are diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, and asbestosis at rates that reflect this history. Compensation may be available through asbestos bankruptcy trusts, personal injury claims against solvent product manufacturers, and (for veterans) VA benefits — without suing the union, the contractor, or the refinery operator. This page documents Local 74's organizational history, jurisdiction, and the asbestos exposure context that shaped the trade.

At-a-Glance

• Trade: Boilermakers — pressure vessel and boiler fabrication, repair, and maintenance; iron ship building; refractory work
• Local: Boilermakers Local 74
• Parent international: International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers, AFL-CIO
• International chartered: 1880
• District: Lone Star District Lodge (created July 1, 2002 — IBB's largest single-state district)
• Sister locals in LSDL: Local 74 (Houston/Beaumont), Local 132, Local 592
• Houston office: 340 N Sam Houston Pkwy E, Suite 210, Houston, TX 77060 — (281) 260-9330
• Beaumont office: 87 Interstate 10 North, Beaumont, TX 77707 — (409) 813-1431
• District lodge HQ: 2930 Gulf Fwy, La Marque, TX 77568 — (409) 938-8205
• Asbestos era for the trade: ~1940s through early 1980s for amphibole-containing refractories, gaskets, and block insulation
• Mesothelioma latency: 20–60 years from first exposure

Key Facts

• International heritage: The IBB has been organized continuously since 1880, making it one of the oldest construction unions in the United States.
• Texas Gulf Coast jurisdiction: Local 74 is the IBB construction local serving the Houston and Beaumont metro areas — the heart of the U.S. refining and petrochemical corridor.
• Lone Star District structure: Created July 1, 2002, LSDL is "the largest one-state district in the Brotherhood" and exists "primarily as an administrative, servicing, and coordinating body" for Locals 74, 132, and 592.
• Trade scope: Boilermakers fabricate, install, repair, and maintain boilers, pressure vessels, refinery columns and towers, heat exchangers, and other heavy steel equipment in industrial and marine settings.
• Mesothelioma risk: Cohort and surveillance data place boilermakers among the highest-risk construction trades for mesothelioma. Direct handling of asbestos-bearing refractories, gaskets, and high-temperature insulation explains the mortality pattern.

What is Boilermakers Local 74?

Local 74 is the Texas Gulf Coast construction local of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, the international union that has represented boilermakers, iron ship builders, blacksmiths, forgers, and helpers since 1880. Local 74 maintains offices in both Houston (340 N Sam Houston Pkwy E, Suite 210) and Beaumont (87 Interstate 10 North), reflecting the geographic spread of the heavy industry it serves.

The local sits within the IBB's Lone Star District Lodge, the largest single-state district lodge in the Brotherhood. LSDL was created July 1, 2002 and provides "organizing efforts, and in the collective bargaining process, settling grievances, and establishing training programs" for Locals 74, 132, and 592 across Texas. The district lodge is headquartered at 2930 Gulf Freeway in La Marque, midway between Houston and Galveston — geographically positioned for the Houston Ship Channel and Texas City refining corridor.

Boilermakers as a trade fabricate, install, repair, and maintain the heaviest steel equipment in any industrial plant: power-generation boilers, refinery fired heaters and process heaters, fluid catalytic cracking units, distillation columns, reactors, heat exchangers, pressure vessels, storage tanks, smokestacks, and the structural steel that supports them. They also do the corresponding maintenance work — turnaround inspections, refractory replacement, tube renewal, weld repair — that keeps that equipment in service for decades.

How is Local 74 organized within the Boilermakers' Lone Star District?

The IBB organizes its construction locals geographically through district lodges. The Lone Star District Lodge was constituted on July 1, 2002 to administer all three Texas IBB construction locals as a single regional body. The district lodge handles "organizing efforts, and . . . the collective bargaining process, settling grievances, and establishing training programs" — operational support that lets each local concentrate on member service.

The three locals affiliated with LSDL are:

• Local 74 — Houston and Beaumont (Texas Gulf Coast / Golden Triangle)
• Local 132
• Local 592

LSDL describes itself as "the largest one-state district in the Brotherhood" — a reflection of how much heavy industrial fabrication the Texas Gulf Coast supports. Houston Ship Channel refineries, petrochemical complexes from Pasadena to Freeport, the Golden Triangle (Beaumont–Port Arthur–Orange), and the South Texas Project nuclear plant collectively represent one of the densest concentrations of pressure vessels, boilers, and heat-exchange equipment in the country — the equipment Local 74 boilermakers have built and maintained for generations.

Why are Local 74 boilermakers at elevated risk for mesothelioma?

The boilermakers' trade profile explains the exposure: boilermakers worked inside, under, and on top of the very equipment that contained the most asbestos. The exposure pathways relevant to Local 74 members include:

• Refractory work and brick-up. Boilers, fired heaters, and reactors are lined with refractory cements and bricks designed to withstand combustion temperatures. From the 1940s through the early 1980s, those refractories often contained asbestos as a binder or reinforcement.
• Gasket replacement. Heat-exchanger gaskets, manway gaskets, flange gaskets — the sealing surfaces between every two pieces of pressure equipment — were predominantly asbestos-fiber sheet (e.g., compressed asbestos sheet) for decades. Cutting, scraping, and replacing those gaskets generated airborne fibers in the breathing zone.
• Block insulation contact and removal. Boilermakers worked adjacent to and on insulated equipment. When refractory was replaced or vessels were re-tubed, the surrounding asbestos block insulation had to be torn off and re-applied — exposing both the insulator and the boilermaker working on the vessel itself.
• Welding through asbestos. Asbestos cloth, tape, and rope were used as heat shields and welding curtains. Welding rod coatings on certain electrodes contained asbestos until the 1970s.
• Shipyard exposure. The IBB's iron-ship-builder heritage put boilermakers in shipyards, where asbestos saturated marine boilers, steam pipe lagging, gaskets, and bulkhead insulation. Shipyard cohorts produced some of the highest mesothelioma mortality rates ever measured.
• Refinery turnarounds. Periodic plant-wide maintenance shutdowns concentrated boilermaker work into intense windows during which crews tore down, repaired, and re-tubed reactors and heat exchangers across an entire unit at once — the highest-fiber-concentration phase of the asbestos era.

The mesothelioma latency typical of these exposures is 20 to 60 years from first contact, which is why Local 74 retirees who worked the Gulf Coast refining and shipyard build-out of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s are presenting with diagnoses today.

Which Texas Gulf Coast facilities exposed Local 74 members?

Local 74's joint Houston / Beaumont jurisdiction overlaps with the Texas facilities most often identified in boilermaker asbestos exposure histories. Members worked on, among many others:

• Houston Ship Channel refineries: Shell Deer Park, ExxonMobil Baytown, LyondellBasell Houston, Valero Houston, Pasadena Refining
• Texas City and Galveston County: Marathon Texas City (formerly BP Texas City and Amoco), Valero Texas City
• Golden Triangle (Beaumont / Port Arthur / Orange): Motiva Port Arthur, Valero Port Arthur, ExxonMobil Beaumont, Total Port Arthur (formerly Atlantic Refining), Premcor Port Arthur
• Petrochemical complexes: Dow Freeport, BASF Freeport, Chevron Phillips Cedar Bayou, INEOS Chocolate Bayou, Olin Freeport
• Power generation: Cedar Bayou, W.A. Parish, South Texas Project (Bay City)
• Shipyards and marine: Houston Ship Channel marine yards, historic Beaumont and Orange shipbuilding facilities

Many of the asbestos-containing refractories, gaskets, and block insulation Local 74 boilermakers handled were manufactured by companies that later filed for bankruptcy and now pay claims through asbestos personal injury trusts — including Johns-Manville, Owens-Corning Fiberglas, Pittsburgh Corning (Unibestos), Eagle-Picher, and Combustion Engineering.

What training programs does Local 74 / LSDL operate?

Training for IBB construction members in Texas is administered through the Lone Star District Lodge, which "establish[es] training programs" for the three affiliated locals. LSDL maintains a Boilermakers Training Facility and publishes an annual training schedule covering classroom and hands-on instruction across the district.

Boilermaker apprenticeship is structured by the IBB's national construction sector and complemented by district-level coursework. Curriculum across the trade covers welding, rigging, blueprint reading, mathematics, layout and fit-up, refractory work, code-quality vessel and pipe welding, and OSHA-mandated safety training including respiratory protection and hazardous-material awareness.

What compensation options are available?

Local 74 members and surviving family members diagnosed with mesothelioma or other asbestos-related disease typically have several compensation paths available — without suing the union, the contractor, or the refinery operator.

• Asbestos bankruptcy trust claims. Roughly 60 asbestos-product manufacturers have filed for bankruptcy and established personal injury trusts that now pay claims to people who can document exposure to their products. Trusts most relevant to boilermakers include the Johns-Manville, Owens-Corning Fiberglas, Pittsburgh Corning (Unibestos), Eagle-Picher, Combustion Engineering, and the various refractory-manufacturer trusts (e.g., Harbison-Walker, A.P. Green).
• Personal injury and wrongful-death lawsuits. Solvent (non-bankrupt) manufacturers and product distributors can be sued in state court, including in Texas. Defendants are typically the companies that made or sold the asbestos-containing products, not the employer or the union.
• VA benefits. Veterans whose asbestos exposure occurred during military service — including Navy and Coast Guard service before the 1980s — may qualify for VA disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC), and VA health care, in addition to civilian trust and lawsuit claims.
• Statute-of-limitations awareness. Texas, like most states, sets a deadline for filing personal injury and wrongful-death claims. The clock typically begins at diagnosis (not at exposure), but it does begin — so a prompt review by counsel is important to preserve all options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Boilermakers Local 74 cause its members' asbestos exposure?

No. Asbestos exposure was caused by the product manufacturers who made and sold asbestos-bearing refractories, gaskets, block insulation, and welding heat-shields — not by the union and not by the contractors or refinery operators. Internal manufacturer documents from the 1930s and 1940s show major asbestos producers knew about disease risk and chose not to warn workers.

I'm a retired Local 74 boilermaker with a mesothelioma diagnosis. What should I do first?

See an oncologist with mesothelioma experience for a treatment plan, then consult an asbestos attorney about preserving your claims. Most asbestos-injury law firms work on contingency (no fee unless you recover), and a free case review will identify which trusts and which solvent defendants you have potential claims against. Don't wait — the statute of limitations begins at diagnosis.

What if my service was partly Navy / shipyard and partly Local 74?

That's common — many Local 74 boilermakers served in the Navy during World War II, Korea, or Vietnam and then worked civilian Gulf Coast industry afterward. You can pursue both VA benefits (for the military exposure) and civilian asbestos claims (for the post-service refinery and petrochemical work). They are not mutually exclusive.

How long after exposure does mesothelioma typically appear?

Mesothelioma latency is typically 20 to 60 years from first exposure, with most diagnoses occurring 30–50 years after the relevant work history. Boilermakers diagnosed today most often trace their exposure to refinery, petrochemical, or shipyard work performed in the 1950s through 1970s.

Will filing a claim affect my Local 74 pension or my IBB benefits?

No. Asbestos personal-injury claims and bankruptcy trust claims are made against the product manufacturers that caused the exposure, not against the union or the union's pension or health & welfare funds. Filing a claim does not put your union benefits at risk.

Quick Statistics

• IBB international chartered: 1880
• Lone Star District Lodge created: July 1, 2002 (largest single-state district in the Brotherhood)
• LSDL affiliated locals: Local 74, Local 132, Local 592
• Local 74 office locations: Houston + Beaumont
• Asbestos era for the trade: ~1940s through early 1980s
• Mesothelioma latency: 20–60 years from first exposure
• Mesothelioma risk profile: Boilermakers ranked among the highest-risk construction trades by U.S. cohort and surveillance data

Get Help

If you or a family member spent time as a Boilermakers Local 74 member — or worked alongside Local 74 boilermakers on a Texas Gulf Coast refinery, petrochemical plant, power station, or shipyard — and has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, or asbestosis, you may have multiple compensation options.

Danziger & De Llano represents mesothelioma clients across Texas, including former Houston, Pasadena, Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Texas City refinery and petrochemical workers and the trades — boilermakers, pipefitters, insulators, millwrights, welders, electricians, laborers — who worked alongside them. There is no fee unless we recover for you.

Call (855) 699-5441 for a free, confidential case review, or visit dandell.com/contact-us. We can also be reached at +1 (855) 699-5441.

Additional reading from D&D's network:

• Asbestos and Boiler Workers — Mesothelioma Lawyer Center
• Oil Refinery Workers and Asbestos — Mesothelioma.net
• Asbestos Exposure Overview — MesotheliomaAttorney.com

Related Pages

Trade and occupational profiles:

• Boilermakers — full Boilermakers trade profile, exposure mechanics, and epidemiology
• Pipefitters Local Union 211 — UA Local 211, sister-trade serving the same Texas Gulf Coast corridor
• Insulators Local 22 — Heat & Frost Insulators Local 22, the trade that handled the asbestos pipe and block insulation boilermakers worked beside
• Welders — welder occupational profile (overlapping skills with boilermakers)
• Oil Refinery Workers — exposure profile for refinery workers
• Chemical Plant Workers — exposure profile for petrochemical plant workers
• Power Plant Workers — exposure profile for power-generation employees
• Occupational Exposure Index — full index of asbestos-exposure occupations

Compensation and legal:

• Asbestos Trust Funds — overview of the bankruptcy trust system
• Veterans Asbestos Exposure — VA benefits for asbestos-exposed veterans

Manufacturers and products:

• Johns-Manville — primary manufacturer of asbestos block and pipe insulation
• Johns-Manville Thermobestos — dominant asbestos pipe insulation brand
• Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust — Johns-Manville's personal injury trust
• Pittsburgh Corning Trust — administers Unibestos block insulation claims

Exposure pathways:

• Secondary Asbestos Exposure — take-home and family exposure pathways

⚠ Statute of Limitations Warning: Filing deadlines vary by state from 1-6 years from diagnosis. Texas allows 2 years from diagnosis or discovery. Contact an attorney immediately to preserve your rights.