General Equipment at Nicor Gas Company Shorewood 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 Nicor Gas Company Shorewood Illinois

Boilermakers and mechanical workers at industrial and utility facilities spent careers maintaining and overhauling high-temperature equipment that reportedly incorporated asbestos-containing materials for insulation and sealing. Members of Boilermakers Local 27 in Missouri and Illinois are alleged to have worked in such environments across the region.

Exposure scenarios that may have affected these workers include:

  • Boiler Maintenance: Routine overhauls of boilers may have disturbed asbestos-containing insulation and refractory materials. Workers may have been exposed to airborne fibers during removal and reapplication of these materials — work performed without respirators for much of the 20th century.

  • Pressure Vessel Work: Repairing and replacing insulation on pressure vessels documented to have used asbestos-containing block insulation and lagging — a task that generated significant dust in confined spaces.

  • Equipment Overhauls: Comprehensive overhauls of mechanical systems potentially exposed workers to legacy asbestos-containing materials that had not been fully abated, releasing fibers that had accumulated for decades.

  • Thermal Insulation Removal: Removing and replacing asbestos-containing thermal insulation during scheduled maintenance or emergency repairs, often under time pressure that precluded adequate protective measures.

Electricians working at utility and industrial facilities may have been exposed to asbestos-containing electrical components that were standard in the industry through the 1970s and beyond.

Documented exposure risks include:

  • Electrical Insulation: Handling or disturbing wiring, panels, and components that reportedly incorporated asbestos-containing insulation — materials chosen precisely because they resisted heat and fire.

  • Arc Chutes and Breakers: Working with older electrical equipment reported to have used asbestos-containing arc chutes and breaker linings, which degraded and shed fibers with age and use.

  • Transformer Maintenance: Servicing transformers and related high-voltage equipment that may have incorporated asbestos-containing materials in gaskets, wrapping, and fireproofing.

  • Fireproofing and Insulation Work: Encountering asbestos-containing fireproofing materials allegedly installed in electrical rooms around equipment — materials that crumbled and released fibers when disturbed during any subsequent work.

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

Missouri and Illinois share one of the country’s most concentrated industrial corridors — chemical plants, refineries, power stations, manufacturing facilities, and construction projects where asbestos-containing materials were used throughout the 20th century. Members of Boilermakers Local 27 in Missouri and Illinois are alleged to have worked in such environments across the region.

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.