The asbestos bankruptcy trust funds currently hold more than $30 billion in funds set aside specifically to compensate workers and their families for asbestos-related disease. IBEW electrical workers reach these trusts by two routes: the asbestos components inside the electrical equipment they installed and maintained, and the asbestos pipe covering, block insulation, and boiler materials they worked directly adjacent to in electrical rooms, mechanical rooms, and power-plant galleries.
Trust funds relevant to electrical-worker exposure
| Trust Fund | How electrical workers were exposed |
|---|---|
| Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust | Johns-Manville pipe covering and transite in the electrical rooms, tunnels, and pipe galleries where IBEW members pulled cable and terminated equipment |
| Owens-Corning / Fibreboard Asbestos PI Trust | Kaylo pipe covering and block insulation on steam mains adjacent to conduit runs and equipment terminations |
| Pittsburgh Corning Asbestos PI Trust | Unibestos amosite pipe covering on power-plant and refinery process piping |
| Babcock & Wilcox Asbestos PI Trust | Industrial boilers — IBEW wired the drives, motors, controls, and instrument circuits on and around B&W boilers |
| Combustion Engineering 524(g) Asbestos PI Trust | Industrial boilers and their electrical drives/controls |
| Eagle-Picher Industries PI Settlement Trust | Block insulation and pipe covering on adjacent mechanical systems |
| Armstrong World Industries Asbestos PI Trust | Calcium silicate insulation in the same plant spaces |
| Celotex Asbestos Settlement Trust | Pipe insulation on adjacent piping |
| W.R. Grace Asbestos PI Settlement Trust | Monokote spray fireproofing sprayed over structural steel and decking in electrical rooms and equipment galleries |
| A.P. Green Industries Asbestos PI Trust | Refractory in boilers and furnaces whose controls IBEW terminated |
| Dresser/Harbison-Walker Asbestos Trust | Refractory brick and castable |
How trust-fund claims work
Asbestos bankruptcy trust claims and civil lawsuits run on separate tracks — both can be pursued in parallel. Each trust has its own filing requirements, exposure-documentation criteria, occupation/jobsite verification process, and payout schedule. A career electrical worker may have legitimate claims against multiple separate trusts.
The trust claim process is significantly faster than civil litigation in most cases. Trust payouts are based on a published value matrix that takes into account the disease, the exposure documentation, and the claim type. An experienced asbestos attorney can analyze which trusts apply, file simultaneously, and aggregate the recoveries on the client’s behalf.
Where to start
Identify the products you handled, the jobsites you worked, the dates of your apprenticeship and journeyman years, and your Local number. From there, the O’Brien Law Firm intake team can analyze which trusts and civil actions apply.
Free case review — (314) 237-3332
Trust fund administration and payout schedules are determined by each trust’s 524(g) plan. Information here is summary only; specific trust eligibility requires individual analysis under each trust’s published claim criteria.