About Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital St. Louis Missouri
Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital was founded by the Archdiocese of St. Louis and opened in 1956 during an era when asbestos-containing materials were standard in every hospital built in America. The mechanical systems that required asbestos insulation included: high-pressure steam boiler plants insulated with pipe covering and insulation block and pipe covering products; steam distribution systems running through pipe chases with pipe insulation and pipe and block insulation pipe covering; autoclaves with heavily insulated steam lines using materials; HVAC systems with asbestos-containing products; electrical infrastructure fireproofed with gasket material and spray fireproofing spray; and laundry facilities with steam-heated equipment insulated with asbestos products.
The hospital affiliated with Saint Louis University and underwent major expansions in the 1970s and 1980s. Each renovation brought workers into contact with existing asbestos materials and sometimes introduced additional products, including insulating boardjoint compound and drywall with asbestos additives. The facility now operates as SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.
General Equipment at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital St. Louis Missouri
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 Missouri Department of Natural Resources (Missouri DNR) 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.
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 Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital St. Louis Missouri
Thermal insulation workers faced the most direct and concentrated asbestos exposure of any trade at Cardinal Glennon. They worked daily with pipe covering and insulation, pipe covering, pipe insulation, pipe and block insulation, and gaskets and packing products. Primary work activities included fabricating and installing pipe covering and insulation pipe insulation on steam mains and heating system pipes; mixing and applying block insulation to fittings and valves; applying and removing pipe covering block insulation from boiler surfaces; wrapping fittings with gaskets and packingasbestos cloth, tape, and wire; and removing and replacing damaged pipe insulation and pipe and block insulation during repair work. Most dangerous activities—generating hundreds to thousands of fibers per cubic centimeter—included cutting preformed pipe covering and insulation pipe insulation with knives and saws; breaking pipe covering block insulation to fit around fittings; and stripping old, friable and insulation from pipes during repair work. Insulators at Cardinal Glennon typically belonged to Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 1 in St. Louis.
Pipefitters worked directly alongside insulators throughout steam system installation and maintenance, handling, Armstrong, and gaskets and packingproducts every shift. Their exposure sources included working adjacent to insulators actively cutting and removing calcium silicate insulation, pipe insulation, pipe and block insulation, and pipe covering insulation; stripping pipe covering and insulation and pipe insulation insulation themselves to access pipes for repair; working in pipe chases and boiler rooms with aged, friable and Armstrong insulation; handling gaskets and packing asbestos rope packing used to seal valve stems and pipe joints; and installing gaskets and packingasbestos gaskets in flanged connections throughout steam systems. Plumbers and Pipefitters UA Local 562 in St. Louis represented these workers.
Boilermakers who installed, maintained, and repaired the hospital’s boilers worked in the most heavily contaminated environment in the building. Decades of high heat, vibration, and products, and gaskets and packingproduced friable material that hung in the air throughout every shift. Boilermakers Local 27 in St. Louis represented these workers. Electricians carried less obvious but serious asbestos exposure spray fireproofing, gasket material, and surrounding building materials, including drilling through spray fireproofing on structural steel to route conduit, cutting through insulating boardasbestos-containing ceiling tiles, working in electrical rooms with asbestos-containing insulation on adjacent steam pipes, and running wire through spaces where other trades had recently disturbed calcium silicate insulation, pipe insulation, and pipe covering products.
Critical Filing Deadline & Next Steps
Missouri law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 5 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 3 years from the date of death (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.100). 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 Missouri 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:
- 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)
- Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) 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.