Dresser Industries, Inc., a diversified industrial equipment manufacturer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, was a major supplier of valves, pipe couplings, flow control equipment, and related piping system products to the US Navy and to the industrial market broadly. Dresser manufactured the widely-used Dresser-style pipe coupling — a flexible mechanical pipe coupling used in both shipboard and shore facility piping systems — as well as gate valves, globe valves, check valves, and other flow control equipment used in Navy shipboard and shore facility applications. Dresser pipe couplings used asbestos-containing gasket materials in the coupling body that compressed against pipe ends to form a watertight seal. These asbestos-containing gasket elements were disturbed and released asbestos fiber when Dresser couplings were assembled, disassembled, or replaced during Navy piping system maintenance. Navy Machinery Repairmen, Boiler Tenders, and Damage Controlmen working on Dresser-coupled piping systems in naval vessel engineering spaces and naval shore facility mechanical systems accumulated asbestos exposure from these asbestos-containing coupling gaskets.

Pipe Coupling and Valve Gasket Asbestos

Dresser piping system products used asbestos-containing materials:

  • Dresser pipe coupling gasket elements — the Dresser-style mechanical pipe coupling used in Navy shipboard and shore facility piping systems incorporated asbestos-containing rubber-bonded gasket elements that compressed against pipe ends to form the coupling seal. Navy pipefitters and Machinery Repairmen assembling and disassembling Dresser couplings during pipe system installation, modification, and repair operations encountered asbestos fiber released from the asbestos-containing gasket elements of these couplings during the tightening, loosening, and replacement of Dresser coupling bodies
  • Gate and globe valve packing and gaskets — Dresser gate valves and globe valves used in Navy piping systems incorporated asbestos-containing stem packing and asbestos body gaskets consistent with mid-century industrial valve construction. Machinery Repairmen repacking or replacing gaskets in Dresser valves during valve maintenance operations encountered asbestos fiber from the valve packing and gasket materials
  • High-pressure piping system applications — Dresser valves and couplings were used in high-pressure Navy piping systems including steam, seawater, and hydraulic service applications, with the high-pressure service increasing the frequency of valve and coupling maintenance and the corresponding asbestos exposure events during valve and coupling repair operations

Dresser products were used in naval shore facility piping systems:

  • Naval industrial and maintenance facility piping — naval shipyard piping systems, naval industrial facility mechanical systems, and naval station utility systems used Dresser pipe couplings and Dresser valves in their piping infrastructure, with naval station engineering and maintenance personnel working with Dresser-coupled piping systems in the asbestos-containing shore facility mechanical environment

VA Claims for Veterans Exposed to Dresser Products

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure from Navy piping system equipment. Machinery Repairmen, Boiler Tenders, and other Navy personnel who worked with Dresser pipe couplings and valves in naval vessel and facility piping systems and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.