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Did you work with Johns-Manville 85% Magnesia Asbestos Pipe Covering and Block Insulation? According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, it allegedly contained asbestos. Here is what it was, who was exposed, and who is responsible. Johns-Manville 85% Magnesia Asbestos Pipe Covering and Block Insulation, sold from around 1900 until 1972. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Johns-Manville was the leading historical producer of 85% magnesia asbestos pipe covering and block insulation, the American industrial standard for medium-temperature steam and hot-fluid piping through the asbestos era. According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, this product allegedly contained the following: nominal 15% chrysotile asbestos fiber blended with 85% basic magnesium carbonate as the reinforcing fiber phase in JM-branded 85 Mag pipe covering and block insulation; released during cutting, fitting, and tear-out on steam and hot-fluid piping. Workers allegedly exposed around this product included Insulators, Pipefitters, Boilermakers, and Steamfitters. Claims involving this manufacturer are handled through the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust — an experienced asbestos attorney can determine whether you qualify. If you worked with or around Johns-Manville 85% Magnesia Asbestos Pipe Covering and Block Insulation and were later diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease, you may have a legal claim against the manufacturer. This is educational information from an independent publisher — not a law firm — and is not legal advice.
Documented Work Sites — St. Louis Region
According to records produced in publicly filed asbestos litigation — insulator work histories, purchase records, and invoices — this product line was allegedly used or supplied at job sites including:
- City Hospital (1941)
- Weldon Springs (1941)
- Cahokia Powerhouse (1942)
- Malinckrodt Chemical (1946)
- Monsanto Krumrich (1946)
- Missouri Athletic Club, 405 Washington (1947)
- State Hospital, Jacksonville, IL (1947)
- ADM, Decatur, IL (1948)
- Alton Powerhouse (1948)
- Clayton Courthouse (1948)
- Lakeside Powerhouse, Springfield, IL (1948)
- Meridosia Powerhouse, Meridosia, MO (1948)
- Meramec Powerhouse (1974)
- Labadie Powerhouse (1979)
- Portage De Sioux (1979)
These entries are allegations drawn from litigation records, not adjudicated findings. Site lists are illustrative, not exhaustive.
Product Description
Johns-Manville Corporation was the leading historical producer of 85% Magnesia asbestos pipe covering and block insulation — the American industrial standard high-temperature pipe insulation for service temperatures up to approximately 600°F. “85 Mag” was formulated as nominally 85% basic magnesium carbonate bonded and reinforced with approximately 15% asbestos fiber, molded into half-round pipe-covering sections and rigid blocks and shipped in cartons of standard 3-foot lengths.
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Johns-Manville 85% Magnesia pipe covering was specified across U.S. industry as the standard medium-temperature pipe insulation for:
- Utility-plant feedwater, condensate, and auxiliary steam piping
- Refinery process piping and heat-tracing lines
- Chemical-plant, paper-mill, and steel-mill hot-fluid systems
- Naval shipboard steam, feedwater, and hot-water piping
- Institutional and industrial steam-distribution systems
The product was installed by insulator crews who cut sections to length with hand saws, scored and snapped covering to fit fittings, and finished joints with asbestos-fiber cement. Each of these steps is alleged to have released chrysotile fiber into the breathing zones of insulators and adjacent trades.
Johns-Manville is a corporate-trust defendant under the 11 U.S.C. § 524(g) bankruptcy-trust system through the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust — the original and largest asbestos personal-injury trust.
Workers Exposed
- Insulators (HFIAW Locals) cutting, fitting, and cementing JM 85 Mag on steam and hot-fluid piping
- Pipefitters and steamfitters (UA members) working adjacent to insulator crews and disturbing existing 85 Mag during pipe repairs
- Boilermakers during rip-out and re-insulation of boiler auxiliary piping
- Navy insulators, machinist’s mates, and hull technicians during shipboard steam-line insulation and rip-out
- Bystander trades — millwrights, mechanics, and laborers — working in the same spaces as active insulation work
Tear-out of aged, brittle 85% Magnesia pipe covering during equipment repairs and plant demolitions is alleged to have been among the highest fiber-release activities in the insulation trade.