About Robert P Mone Plant
The Robert P. Mone Plant is an industrial facility in Convoy, Van Wert County, Ohio — in the northwestern Ohio manufacturing corridor that supported light-to-medium industrial operations through the mid-to-late 20th century. The plant operated during a period when asbestos-containing materials were standard components in American industrial construction and maintenance.
Asbestos use in American industrial facilities peaked between approximately 1940 and 1975. During this window, asbestos-containing materials were built into virtually every aspect of industrial construction and maintenance at plants like the Robert P. Mone facility. The same products distributed to Ohio facilities were simultaneously supplied throughout the Mississippi River industrial corridor, appearing at Missouri and Illinois plants in the same decades and generating the same occupational exposure risks for workers across both states.
Manufacturers incorporated asbestos into industrial products for concrete reasons: Heat resistance — Asbestos withstands extreme temperatures, making it the default material for insulating pipes, boilers, furnaces, and high-temperature equipment; Fire resistance — Spray-applied asbestos-containing fireproofing was applied to structural steel to satisfy building codes and insurance requirements; Cost and availability — Asbestos-containing materials were cheap, widely distributed, and long-lasting; Mechanical damping — Asbestos-containing gaskets, packing, and cements reduced vibration and noise transmission in industrial equipment.
General Equipment at Robert P Mone Plant
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
The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio 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 Ohio 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:
Who May Have Been Exposed at Robert P Mone Plant
Insulators applied and maintained insulation on pipes, boilers, tanks, and mechanical equipment. Workers at this type of facility may have been exposed to asbestos pipe covering products including calcium silicate pipe insulation and Thermobestos, asbestos block insulation, asbestos insulating cement mixed and applied by hand, asbestos finishing cement and canvas, and amosite and chrysotile fibers present in virtually all thermal insulation products of that era. Insulators worked in enclosed mechanical rooms, boiler rooms, and pipe chases where cutting, fitting, and applying these materials generated heavy airborne dust.
Pipefitters and steamfitters worked directly on pipe systems throughout the facility — systems insulated with asbestos-containing materials as standard practice through the 1970s. Exposure allegedly occurred through removing and replacing asbestos pipe covering during repairs and system modifications, cutting through asbestos insulation to reach pipe joints, valves, and flanges, working in enclosed spaces where disturbed insulation dust accumulated, and removing asbestos-containing gaskets from pipe flanges and valve connections using scrapers, grinders, or wire brushes.
Boilermakers fabricated, installed, maintained, and repaired boilers, pressure vessels, and high-temperature industrial equipment — work centered in the most heavily insulated areas of any plant. Boilermakers at this type of facility may have been exposed to asbestos block insulation and cement on boiler exteriors and associated piping, asbestos rope, tape, and woven cloth allegedly sealing boiler access ports and expansion joints, asbestos refractory materials lining fireboxes, flues, and combustion chambers, and asbestos-containing gaskets, packing, and millboard. Boilermaker work routinely required entry into boiler and pressure vessel interiors — confined spaces lined with asbestos-containing refractory and insulating materials where airborne fiber concentrations allegedly reached dangerous levels during inspection and repair.
Electricians at mid-century industrial plants faced asbestos exposure through multiple documented pathways: cutting or stripping asbestos-containing wire and cable insulation in high-temperature applications allegedly released asbestos fibers into the breathing zone; asbestos-containing insulating boards, arc-chutes, and panel linings within electrical switchgear were disturbed during installation, maintenance, and replacement; and drilling or cutting.
Critical Filing Deadline & Next Steps
Ohio law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 2 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (ORC § 2305.10). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 2 years from the date of death (ORC § 2125.02). 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 Ohio 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
Industrial workers in the Ohio-Indiana-Missouri corridor were mobile. Pipefitters, boilermakers, insulators, and other tradespeople employed by contractors routinely traveled between facilities in Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois — including major facilities along the Mississippi River industrial corridor such as AmerenUE’s Labadie Energy Center in Franklin County, Missouri, the Portage des Sioux Power Plant in St. Charles County, Missouri, Monsanto Chemical Company facilities in St. Louis County, and Granite City Steel across the river in Madison County, Illinois.
Workers who performed contract work at the Robert P. Mone Plant may have also worked at one or more of these regional facilities, potentially accumulating asbestos exposure across multiple sites over a career. Ohio residents may have been exposed during temporary Ohio assignments and on permanent Missouri job sites — and that cumulative exposure history matters enormously in calculating damages.
Missouri insulators who may have worked at the Robert P. Mone Plant were often members of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1, headquartered in St. Louis — one of the oldest insulator locals in the country. Local 1 members were dispatched to industrial sites throughout Ohio, southern Illinois, and the broader Midwest, including power generation facilities, chemical plants, and manufacturing operations along the Mississippi River industrial corridor. Workers dispatched from Local 1 may have accumulated asbestos exposure at multiple facilities across Ohio and Missouri job sites over a single career.
Missouri pipefitters and steamfitters during this era were frequently represented by UA Local 562 (United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters), based in St. Louis. Local 562 members were dispatched to industrial construction and maintenance projects throughout Ohio and the surrounding region. A pipefitter dispatched from Local 562 might work a shutdown or turnaround at an Ohio facility such as the Robert P. Mone Plant and return to Missouri job sites — including Labadie, Portage des Sioux, or Monsanto facilities — within the same career, accumulating occupational asbestos exposure across multiple states and multiple employers.
Missouri boilermakers performing this type of work during the peak exposure era were often members of Boilermakers Local 27, based in the St. Louis area. Local 27 members worked at industrial boiler installations throughout Ohio and the Mississippi River corridor, including major power plant and industrial facilities in both Missouri and southern Illinois. A boilermaker’s career in this era routinely included outage and shutdown work at facilities in multiple states — meaning exposure accumulated across state lines, and across multiple defendant companies.
Data Sources
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)
- Ohio Environmental Protection 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.