Berkeley sits against Lambert Field, and its documented exposure is aircraft manufacturing — one of the largest industrial employers in Missouri history.
McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) and Boeing Defense, Space & Security cover the complex across its ownership. Aircraft plants of this era ran large powerhouses, heat-treat and test facilities, and miles of insulated steam and process piping; the people most exposed were the maintenance trades and powerhouse staff rather than assembly workers. Border Chemical appears as a separate Berkeley industrial employer.
The trades that recur are insulators and pipe coverers, pipefitters and steamfitters, boilermakers, millwrights, electricians, sheet metal workers and plant maintenance staff.
Few work histories involve a single site. Tradesmen moved between plants on shutdowns and turnarounds, so an exposure history is normally several employers and several premises rather than one.
Secondary exposure: “take-home” risk
Fibres carried home on work clothes exposed spouses and children who laundered them — a pattern documented in Missouri cases, and one reason a diagnosis in someone who never held an industrial job still warrants investigation.
Missouri filing deadlines
Two deadlines run independently. Personal injury is five years under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120, reaching these claims through subdivision (4). Wrongful death is three years after the cause of action accrues under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.100.
When the five years start is set by a different statute: under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.100 a claim accrues “when the damage resulting therefrom is sustained and is capable of ascertainment.” That is usually read from the diagnosis, but it is an objective test decided on the facts and it can fall earlier. How Missouri asbestos claims work →