Westinghouse Electric — Trafford Foundry and Power Apparatus Works in Trafford PA

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that they were allegedly exposed to asbestos while working at the Westinghouse Trafford Foundry and power apparatus works in Trafford Pennsylvania. This page documents the Trafford portion of Westinghouse’s multi-state industrial footprint. For the full corporate summary, see the Westinghouse manufacturer page.

Plant Description and Operating Era

The Westinghouse Trafford works — built out from Westinghouse-founded planned town Trafford City in the early 1900s — housed Westinghouse’s gray-iron and steel foundry, foundry-support pattern shop, and heavy power-apparatus fabrication used to cast motor frames, generator end brackets, switchgear housings, and turbine components for sister plants across the Turtle Creek Valley. The Trafford complex operated through most of the twentieth century, contracted in the 1980s as Westinghouse divested its heavy industrial base, and the site was largely closed and redeveloped by the 1990s.

Premises ACM Narrative

At the Westinghouse Trafford Foundry during the U.S. asbestos era (approximately 1920s-1980), plaintiffs allegedly encountered:

  • Asbestos pipe covering on steam mains, process piping, and utility lines through the foundry and adjacent apparatus shops
  • Asbestos-block hot-side lagging on cupolas, holding furnaces, heat-treat ovens, and annealing furnaces
  • Asbestos-molded De-Ion arc chute plates in switchgear tested and reworked at Trafford
  • Asbestos-fabric electrical winding insulation on castings-bound rotating apparatus finished at Trafford
  • Asbestos sheet gaskets at process piping and boiler flanges
  • Asbestos-cement bulkhead panels in electrical rooms and pattern-shop test areas
  • Asbestos sprayed fireproofing on structural steel throughout the multi-story foundry and shakeout bays (pre-1973 EPA ban)
  • Asbestos molders’ blankets, hot tops, and pouring shields used at ladle-handling stations
  • Foundry-specific pathway — asbestos glove and apron PPE at cupola, pouring, and shakeout stations

Workers Exposed

  • HFIAW Insulators — asbestos pipe covering and block insulation
  • UA Pipefitters — flange bolt-up on steam and process lines
  • IBB Boilermakers — powerhouse boiler and cupola shell work
  • IBEW Electricians — switchgear and motor control work
  • BAC Bricklayers — refractory work on cupolas, furnaces, and ladles
  • IUE / United Electrical Workers (UE) — casting finishers and machine operators
  • Millwrights — heavy manufacturing equipment installation
  • Foundry workers — molders, pourers, shakeout operators, coremakers

If You Worked at Westinghouse Trafford

If you or a family member worked at the Westinghouse Trafford Foundry — or any other Westinghouse manufacturing site — before 1980 and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease, you may have a legal claim.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956