About Caterpillar Inc Mossville Illinois

The Caterpillar Mossville complex, located northwest of Peoria along the Illinois River corridor, has operated as a major manufacturing hub since the early twentieth century. From the 1930s through the late 1980s, workers at this facility may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials across virtually every major industrial department.

The facility housed operations where asbestos-containing products were reportedly used extensively:

  • Engine manufacturing — Machinery and boiler systems reportedly containing asbestos-containing insulation
  • Foundry operations — Furnaces and refractory equipment with asbestos-containing linings
  • Boiler and steam systems — Extensive pipe insulation, boiler jackets, and utility infrastructure, potentially including products
  • Heat treatment facilities — High-temperature process equipment lined and insulated with asbestos-containing refractory materials, reportedly including products
  • Machine shops and parts fabrication — Machinery insulated and sealed with asbestos-containing materials

From the 1930s through the late 1980s, asbestos-containing materials dominated heavy manufacturing because manufacturers marketed them as cost-effective thermal and fire protection solutions. Companies supplied these products despite possessing internal knowledge of serious health risks dating to the 1930s and 1940s.

General Equipment at Caterpillar Inc Mossville Illinois

The equipment below represents the systems and infrastructure documented or typically present at this facility during the era when asbestos-containing materials were specified in industrial construction. This is general facility-equipment reference — not a legal attribution of any specific product, manufacturer, or exposure event to this facility. Material-category and manufacturer information is addressed in the AsbestosIndex Product Crosswalk linked under the records table below.

Industrial Boilers View crosswalk › Process Piping View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Block Insulation View crosswalk › Valves View crosswalk › Gaskets View crosswalk › Pumps View crosswalk › Heat Exchangers View crosswalk › Cooling Equipment View crosswalk ›

Documented Asbestos Evidence

The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) was notified under federal NESHAP rules, the work was logged, and the asbestos-containing material was confirmed and removed under regulated conditions. These are not allegations or estimates — they are paper records tying documented asbestos-containing material to this specific site.

No Illinois EPA NESHAP abatement notifications have been identified for this facility in current public records. Per the framing above, absence of state-agency documentation should not be read as absence of asbestos — only as absence of a formal, regulated abatement event meeting reporting thresholds. Workers who recall encountering pipe insulation, block insulation, gaskets, or other asbestos-era construction materials at this facility may still have viable claims regardless of whether a state record exists.

Material Categories in Documented Records

The materials documented above (and similar asbestos-containing materials commonly encountered in records of this type) appear in the AsbestosIndex catalog with historical manufacturer and trust-fund information. Click a category to view manufacturers historically associated with that material:

Thermal System Insulation View crosswalk › Asbestos-Cement Board View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Roofing & Flashing View crosswalk › Spray Fireproofing View crosswalk › Floor Tile & Mastic View crosswalk › Ceiling Tile View crosswalk › Gaskets & Packing View crosswalk ›

Who May Have Been Exposed at Caterpillar Inc Mossville Illinois

Boilermakers at the Mossville facility may have been among the most heavily exposed workers on site. Epidemiological studies document boilermakers as having among the highest rates of mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer of any skilled trade. Tasks with reported asbestos exposure included opening and inspecting boiler fireboxes lined with asbestos-containing refractory cement and insulating brick, breaking out and replacing deteriorated asbestos-containing boiler insulation, removing and replacing asbestos rope packing and sheet gaskets from boiler manholes, working inside boiler systems where asbestos-containing dust allegedly accumulated at high concentrations, and replacing boiler tubes requiring removal of surrounding asbestos-containing insulation.

The Mossville facility’s extensive steam and process piping reportedly contained substantial quantities of asbestos-containing insulation. Pipefitters and steamfitters — including union workers from Plumbers and Pipefitters UA Local 562 — may have encountered asbestos-containing materials daily throughout their careers at this site. Reported exposure tasks included breaking flanged connections sealed with asbestos-containing sheet gaskets, cutting asbestos-containing pipe covering to access pipe sections, working alongside insulators applying or removing asbestos-containing insulation, replacing valves and pumps packed with asbestos rope packing, and maintaining high-temperature steam lines insulated with asbestos-containing products.

Insulators — including members of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1 (St. Louis) and Local 27 (Kansas City) — may have handled large quantities of asbestos-containing insulation products directly, often with minimal or no respiratory protection. High-exposure tasks included mixing asbestos-containing insulating cement for application around valves and fittings, cutting pre-formed asbestos-containing pipe covering, applying asbestos-containing block insulation to boiler and equipment surfaces, removing aged, deteriorated asbestos-containing insulation, and applying asbestos-containing finishing cement as final coats. Additional trades with reported asbestos exposure at Mossville included electricians, millwrights, maintenance mechanics, production workers, welders, ironworkers and laborers. Skilled tradespeople from regional union halls throughout Peoria may have worked at Mossville for days, months, or years on rotating contracts.

Critical Filing Deadline & Next Steps

Illinois law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 2 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (735 ILCS 5/13-202). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 2 years from the date of death (740 ILCS 180/2). The two deadlines run on separate tracks — preserving one does not extend the other.

The personal-injury clock runs from diagnosis, not from exposure. Mesothelioma latency is typically 20 to 50 years, so workers exposed in the 1950s–1980s are being diagnosed today.

Practical first steps

  1. Document what you remember. Pay stubs, W-2s, union cards, photographs, coworker names, and dates of employment. The WorkChain widget on this page can save a copy you can email yourself.
  2. Preserve medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests are central to both civil claims and trust-fund filings.
  3. Identify household members. Spouses who laundered work clothing and children of plant workers are eligible for secondary-exposure claims when diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.
  4. Speak with an asbestos attorney with Illinois experience. The first conversation is free and confidential. Asbestos trust-fund claims and civil claims run on different tracks — both can be pursued in parallel.

Asbestos-Related Diseases

Asbestos fiber exposure can cause several specific diseases that typically appear decades after the original exposure. The latency period — the gap between exposure and diagnosis — usually runs 20 to 50 years. That's why workers exposed in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s are receiving diagnoses today.

Mesothelioma

A rare, aggressive cancer that affects the lining of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma), abdomen (peritoneal), or heart (pericardial). Mesothelioma is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure, which is why a mesothelioma diagnosis often points directly to historical workplace exposure. Average latency from first exposure to diagnosis is 30-50 years.

Asbestosis

A chronic, non-cancerous scarring of lung tissue caused by inhaled asbestos fibers. Asbestosis causes progressive shortness of breath, persistent cough, and reduced lung function. It does not improve with treatment, and it is a recognized basis for compensation under most trust schedules and civil claims.

Lung Cancer

Asbestos exposure significantly increases the risk of lung cancer, particularly when combined with a history of smoking. Asbestos-related lung cancer is compensable under the same trust schedules and civil claim avenues as mesothelioma.

Other Recognized Diseases

Pleural plaques, pleural thickening, laryngeal cancer, ovarian cancer, and certain gastrointestinal cancers are also recognized as asbestos-related under various trust schedules and case-law authorities, though eligibility and proof requirements vary by claim type.

If you have any of these diagnoses and you worked at this facility, lived with someone who did, or were exposed in any documented capacity, you may have a claim worth pursuing. Speak with an attorney before assuming you don't qualify.

Cross-State & Regional Corridor Workers

Illinois’s two-year statute of limitations for asbestos exposure claims** under 735 ILCS 5/13-202 differs from Illinois law. An asbestos attorney Illinois with multi-state experience understands the interplay between state jurisdictions for workers exposed at an Illinois facility while residing in Missouri, trust claim procedures optimized for Missouri venue filings, forum selection strategies that favor plaintiff outcomes, and how to coordinate claims across state lines without triggering adverse venue rulings.

Data Sources

Information about facility equipment, industrial materials, and occupational records referenced on this page is drawn from publicly available sources where applicable, including:

If specific equipment or product claims in this article are sourced from a non-public database, the source is identified parenthetically within the text above.