About Peoples Gas Light And Coke Company South Side Chicago Illinois

Missouri’s industrial workforce — pipefitters, boilermakers, electricians, and the tradespeople who built and maintained this state’s refineries, power plants, and manufacturing plants — faced asbestos risks that most employers never disclosed. Missouri industrial facilities reportedly incorporated a range of asbestos-containing materials throughout the mid-to-late twentieth century, including pipe insulation such as calcium silicate, spray-applied fireproofing, and Thermobestos, asbestos-containing gaskets and packing used throughout valve, pump, and compressor assemblies, high-temperature refractory and insulating products in utility and industrial boiler rooms, and asbestos-containing electrical insulating boards from Gold Bond and other manufacturers reportedly installed across multiple facility types. These were not fringe products. They were industry-standard materials, specified by engineers and installed by the workforce — often with no respiratory protection provided.

General Equipment at Peoples Gas Light And Coke Company South Side Chicago 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 Peoples Gas Light And Coke Company South Side Chicago Illinois

Members of Plumbers and Pipefitters UA Local 562 and similar trade unions were central to the installation and maintenance of Missouri’s industrial pipe networks. These workers may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials while cutting and threading pipes previously insulated with asbestos-containing materials, installing and maintaining steam and gas pipelines using asbestos-containing gaskets and seals, and stripping and re-insulating pipe sections during routine shutdowns — work that required direct, hands-on contact with friable insulation.

Boilermakers Local 27 members built and maintained the high-pressure steam systems that powered Missouri industry. Their work allegedly exposed them to asbestos-containing materials through application and removal of insulation on boilers and pressure vessels, welding and fabrication in enclosed spaces where asbestos-containing materials surrounded the work area, and disassembly and reassembly of asbestos-insulated components during scheduled overhauls.

Electricians installing and maintaining industrial electrical systems reportedly worked alongside asbestos-containing components that included asbestos-containing insulating boards used as firebreaks behind electrical panels, wire coatings and cable wraps incorporating asbestos-containing materials, and panel liners and arc chutes in switchgear that allegedly contained asbestos. Exposure to asbestos-containing materials at industrial facilities reportedly occurred through tasks that defined everyday work, including application, removal, and repair of asbestos-containing insulation around pipes, boilers, and mechanical systems — particularly during annual turnarounds, sawing or grinding through pipe sections previously insulated with asbestos-containing materials, wire-brushing old gasket material from flanges and valve bonnets, and tearing out existing asbestos-containing installations during facility upgrades.

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.

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.