General Equipment at Youngstown Sheet And Tube Demolition Youngstown Ohio

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 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:

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 Youngstown Sheet And Tube Demolition Youngstown Ohio

Insulators

Insulators faced the most direct and concentrated exposure. Their work required them to apply, maintain, remove, and replace pipe and equipment insulation — products including calcium silicate pipe insulation, Thermobestos, and other asbestos-containing materials. Cutting and fitting magnesia blocks and calcium silicate insulation sections released heavy asbestos fiber concentrations. Stripping old insulation before applying new material produced the highest fiber releases, typically with no meaningful respiratory protection available during the plant’s operational years.

Pipefitters and Steamfitters

Pipefitters worked throughout the facility on installation, maintenance, and repair of high-pressure steam, water, gas, and process piping. Their exposure sources allegedly included:

  • Cutting and fitting asbestos-containing gaskets from gaskets and packing and other manufacturers to flanged pipe joints
  • Working directly adjacent to asbestos-insulated piping, particularly during valve and pump maintenance when insulation was disturbed
  • Installing and replacing asbestos packing in valves and pumps
  • Bystander exposure to insulator work performed in the same areas

In Missouri, workers in similar trades — including members of UA Local 562 — have reportedly faced comparable risks at facilities including Labadie and Portage des Sioux.

Boilermakers

Boilermakers built, maintained, and repaired boilers, pressure vessels, and associated equipment. They may have been exposed through:

  • Removing and replacing boiler insulation from, and other manufacturers during maintenance outages
  • Working inside boiler shells containing asbestos refractory materials
  • Replacing asbestos-containing gaskets and packing on pressure vessels
  • Bystander exposure to insulator activities in the boiler house

Electricians

Electricians may have been exposed through:

  • Handling asbestos-insulated wire and cable during cutting, splicing, and installation
  • Drilling and routing through Transite board and Gold Bond asbestos-cement materials to mount conduit and equipment
  • Disturbing spray-applied fireproofing asbestos fireproofing on structural steel during electrical work
  • Working on switchgear containing asbestos arc chutes and backing materials

Ironworkers

Ironworkers — both during facility operations and during demolition after the 1977 closure — may have been exposed to asbestos-containing fireproofing applied to structural steel members, and to asbestos-containing materials encountered during cutting and dismantling operations.

Millwrights and Maintenance Mechanics

Millwrights and general maintenance personnel performed equipment installation, alignment, and repair across the facility. That work routinely may have brought them into contact with:

  • Asbestos-containing gaskets from gaskets and packing and other suppliers
  • Insulation from, and other manufacturers
  • Asbestos-containing materials disturbed during maintenance on pumps, compressors, blowers, and rotating equipment

Production Workers and General Laborers

Furnace operators, crane operators, roll shop workers, and general laborers who never directly handled asbestos-containing materials may still have been exposed. Insulation and maintenance activities throughout the plant released asbestos fibers into the ambient air. Bystander exposure — recognized in peer-reviewed literature and accepted by courts — creates biologically significant fiber doses even for workers who never touched an asbestos-containing product.

Demolition and Remediation Workers

Demolition and remediation contractors who worked the site after the 1977 closure — continuing through subsequent decades of teardown and cleanup — may have faced the most severe asbestos exposure risks of anyone connected to the facility. Physically cutting, breaking, and removing a heavily insulated industrial complex releases massive quantities of asbestos fibers. Removal of spray-applied fireproofing fireproofing, Transite building panels, and thermal insulation from, and other manufacturers allegedly created extreme fiber release conditions with limited protection in the early post-closure years.

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

  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 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.

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.