About Wohl Hospital
Missouri’s largest hospital systems—built primarily between the 1930s and 1980s—reportedly contained extensive asbestos-containing materials throughout their infrastructure. Boiler rooms, steam distribution lines, pipe insulation, floor tiles, ceiling panels, and spray fireproofing created ongoing occupational hazards for the tradesmen and maintenance personnel who kept those buildings running.General Equipment at Wohl Hospital
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.
Documented Asbestos Evidence — New Jersey
The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the New Jersey state environmental agency (New Jersey state environmental agency) 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 New Jersey state environmental agency 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:
Who May Have Been Exposed at Wohl Hospital
Workers who may have been exposed include:
- Boilermakers and steamfitters — working directly with high-temperature pipe systems allegedly insulated with Thermobestos products in central plant operations
- Heat and frost insulators — installing and removing products calcium silicate pipe insulation, Armstrong Cork insulation, and spray-applied fireproofing spray fireproofing
- HVAC and refrigeration mechanics — handling duct insulation, gaskets, and boiler seals reportedly containing asbestos fibers
- Electricians — cutting through Transite board, ceiling tiles, and floor materials during conduit installation, and reportedly exposed by adjacent trades disturbing asbestos-containing materials in the same work areas
- Maintenance and custodial workers — sweeping, repairing, and replacing asbestos-laden tiles, gaskets, and packing materials, often with no respiratory protection
- Construction laborers — demolishing or renovating older hospital sections with spray fireproofing and transite products, generating airborne fiber concentrations that are alleged to have been among the highest recorded in occupational settings
Electricians deserve specific attention here. They were not typically the workers installing pipe insulation—but they were in the same mechanical rooms, the same ceiling spaces, the same basement corridors where insulators and pipefitters were actively disturbing asbestos-containing materials. That proximity, combined with the routine need to cut through Transite board and ceiling tiles, reportedly placed electricians at significant inhalation risk even when they never touched the insulation directly.
New Jersey — Filing Deadline & Next Steps
New Jersey law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 2 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 2 years from the date of death (N.J.S.A. 2A:31-3). 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
- 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.
- Preserve medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests are central to both civil claims and trust-fund filings.
- 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.
- Speak with an asbestos attorney with New Jersey 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 — New Jersey
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
Workers with exposure along the Mississippi River industrial corridor—or who worked in Illinois facilities as well as Missouri ones—may have viable claims in Madison County Circuit Court or St. Clair County Circuit Court, both plaintiff-favorable jurisdictions with active asbestos dockets.Data Sources — New Jersey
Information about facility equipment, industrial materials, and occupational records referenced on this page is drawn from publicly available sources where applicable, including:
- EPA ECHO Facility Compliance Database — enforcement and compliance records for industrial facilities
- OSHA Establishment Search — federal workplace inspection history
- EIA Form 860 Plant Data — power-plant equipment and ownership records (where applicable)
- New Jersey state environmental agency NESHAP asbestos abatement notification records
- Published asbestos trial and trust fund records (publicly filed court documents)
- AsbestosIndex Product & Manufacturer Crosswalk — historical asbestos-containing product schedules linked to manufacturers
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.