General Equipment at Asbestos Exposure at Witham Health Services — Lebanon, Indiana: Former Worker Claims

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.

Central Plant Boilers View crosswalk › Steam Distribution Piping View crosswalk › Hot Water Heaters View crosswalk › Autoclaves View crosswalk › Hospital Pipe Tunnels View crosswalk › HVAC Air Handlers View crosswalk › Industrial Chillers View crosswalk › Suspended Ceilings View crosswalk › Vinyl-Asbestos Floor Tile View crosswalk ›

Documented Asbestos Evidence — Indiana

The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) 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 IDEM 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 Asbestos Exposure at Witham Health Services — Lebanon, Indiana: Former Worker Claims

No single trade was untouched. At Witham and hospitals like it across Indiana, the following workers face elevated asbestos disease risk. Many of the tradesmen who worked at Witham were also members of Indiana union locals whose records may document comparable exposures at other facilities throughout the state — including Boilermakers Local 374, Asbestos Workers Local 18, and USW Local 1014, whose membership worked across Indiana’s industrial and institutional landscape from Gary to Indianapolis.

Boilermakers

  • Are reported to have worked directly on asbestos-insulated boiler shells during annual inspections, cleanings, and repairs
  • Are alleged to have chipped away old insulation and mixed asbestos cement by hand without respiratory protection
  • Worked in confined boiler rooms where ventilation was minimal and fiber concentrations were reportedly high
  • May have been exposed during refractory repairs and breeching maintenance on and similar equipment
  • Members of Boilermakers Local 374 and affiliated Indiana locals who rotated between Witham and heavy industrial sites — including U.S. Steel Gary Works and Bethlehem Steel Burns Harbor — may have accumulated substantial combined exposures that are legally cognizable in a single Indiana claim

Pipefitters and Steamfitters

  • Are alleged to have cut and fitted Thermobestos and calcium silicate pipe insulation daily, reportedly releasing fiber clouds inside confined pipe chases
  • Worked inside steam systems where calcium silicate and pre-formed insulation products created alleged constant exposure during modifications and repairs
  • May have been exposed while removing and replacing pipe insulation during routine maintenance, equipment upgrades, and emergency leak response
  • Union records from Plumbers and Pipefitters UA locals active in central Indiana may document comparable exposures at similar Indiana facilities, providing corroborating evidence for claims arising from Witham-era work

Heat and Frost Insulators — Asbestos Workers Local 18

  • The trade most directly associated with asbestos application and removal in hospital mechanical systems
  • Are alleged to have applied, removed, and replaced , and other manufacturers’ insulation products on steam systems throughout the hospital’s operational life
  • Faced the highest alleged airborne fiber concentrations during active insulation work — particularly when using handsaws, chisels, or heat guns to modify existing insulation
  • Members of Asbestos Workers Local 18 and affiliated Indiana heat and frost insulator locals represent workers documented to have been potentially exposed at comparable industrial and institutional facilities throughout central Indiana, including hospitals, utility plants, and manufacturing facilities that reportedly used the same product lines alleged to have been present at Witham

HVAC Mechanics and Technicians

  • Worked inside asbestos-lined ductwork during modifications, maintenance, and repairs
  • Are alleged to have disturbed asbestos-containing duct insulation and gaskets and packing rope packing at damper and diffuser connections
  • May have been exposed when replacing dampers, diffusers, and connection assemblies that reportedly used asbestos-containing gasket materials
  • Faced alleged exposure from deteriorating transite board and spray-applied spray-applied fireproofing fireproofing in mechanical penthouses and above-ceiling spaces

Electricians

  • Regularly cut through walls, ceilings

For informational purposes only. Not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this page. © 2026 Rights Watch Media Group LLC — Disclaimer · Privacy · Terms · Copyright

Indiana — Filing Deadline & Next Steps

Indiana law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 2 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (Ind. Code § 34-11-2-4). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 2 years from the date of death (Ind. Code § 34-23-1-1). 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 Indiana 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 — Indiana

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 — Indiana

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.