Mesothelioma and asbestos exposure in St. Louis

St. Louis grew as a manufacturing and transportation center. Coal-fired power plants serving the region used asbestos insulation on boilers, turbines and steam lines, and rail shops used asbestos in locomotive insulation and brake parts. Factories making shoes, chemicals, aircraft and auto parts had their own boilers and steam systems wrapped in asbestos, which maintenance crews repaired over and over. Workers at these plants often spent years around the same boilers, and outages brought large maintenance crews into power stations for weeks at a time. Building engineers and custodians in older downtown offices, hospitals and schools could also encounter asbestos insulation during routine repairs.

Across the river in Illinois, Granite City's steel mill and the Wood River refinery employed many workers who lived in the St. Louis area. Both relied on asbestos insulation, gaskets and protective equipment. Because the region spans two states, a St. Louis family's exposure history may involve plants in Missouri and Illinois. That can matter when deciding where a case is filed. Union halls in the metro area dispatched pipefitters, insulators and boilermakers to jobs on both sides of the river. As a result, one career might include power plants in Missouri and a refinery or steel mill in Illinois, each involving different asbestos products and companies.