About Iowa Steel And Wire Company Des Moines Des Moines Iowa

Iowa Steel and Wire Company operated in Des Moines, Iowa, producing steel wire, rods, and related products for agricultural, construction, and manufacturing customers across the Midwest. Like every American steel mill of its era, the facility ran extreme heat-intensive processes — blast furnace operations, coke production, and basic oxygen furnace steelmaking — that required miles of high-temperature pipe insulation, refractory-lined vessels, and mechanically insulated equipment throughout the plant.

Des Moines was a significant regional industrial hub, and Iowa Steel and Wire Company was among the larger heavy industrial employers in Polk County during its peak operating years. Union members affiliated with locals including Boilermakers Local 83, Pipefitters Local 33, IBEW Local 347, and Asbestos Workers Local 12 reportedly performed skilled trades work at Iowa industrial facilities of this type throughout the mid-twentieth century. Workers at Iowa Steel and Wire Company — including both direct employees and union tradespeople working as contractors — may have labored alongside one another in environments where asbestos-containing materials from multiple manufacturers were allegedly present simultaneously.

From approximately the 1930s through the late 1970s, virtually every thermal insulation product, refractory lining, gasket, and fireproofing material used in facilities of this type may have contained asbestos-containing materials from manufacturers including, gaskets and packing, and Flexitallic. Workers and contractors who handled these materials during routine maintenance, repair, replacement, and demolition work may have been exposed to asbestos fibers without adequate warning or protective equipment.

Steel production generates some of the most intense industrial heat on earth. Iowa Steel and Wire Company allegedly operated multiple high-temperature processes:

  • Blast furnaces: Temperatures exceeding 2,000°F to reduce iron ore into molten pig iron
  • Basic oxygen furnaces (BOFs): Converting pig iron to steel at temperatures approaching 3,000°F
  • Coke ovens: Heating coal to approximately 2,000°F to produce coke as fuel and reducing agent
  • Hot strip mills, rod mills, and wire mills: Processing steel at temperatures ranging from 1,700°F to 2,200°F
  • Soaking pits and annealing furnaces: Holding steel billets and coils at sustained high temperatures

General Equipment at Iowa Steel And Wire Company Des Moines Des Moines Iowa

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.

Coke Ovens View crosswalk › Blast Furnaces View crosswalk › Open Hearth Furnaces View crosswalk › Pouring Ladles View crosswalk › Hot Tops View crosswalk › Rolling Mills View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Refractory Brick View crosswalk › Cooling Beds View crosswalk › Industrial Boilers View crosswalk ›

Documented Asbestos Evidence — Iowa

The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (Iowa 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.

No Iowa DNR 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 Iowa Steel And Wire Company Des Moines Des Moines Iowa

Union members affiliated with locals including Boilermakers Local 83, Pipefitters Local 33, IBEW Local 347, and Asbestos Workers Local 12 reportedly performed skilled trades work at Iowa Steel and Wire Company. Workers and contractors who handled asbestos-containing materials during routine maintenance, repair, replacement, and demolition work may have been exposed to asbestos fibers without adequate warning or protective equipment.

During the 1950s–1970s period of greatest alleged asbestos exposure risk:

  • Routine maintenance and repair of furnace linings required working in close proximity to damaged or disturbed asbestos-containing refractory materials
  • Pipe insulation throughout the facility may have included asbestos-containing products; routine pipe work required cutting, fitting, and removing that insulation
  • Boiler work, valve replacements, and pump maintenance required handling asbestos-containing gaskets and packing materials
  • Members of Pipefitters Local 33, IBEW Local 347, Boilermakers Local 83, and Asbestos Workers Local 12 reportedly worked alongside Iowa Steel and Wire Company production employees in environments where asbestos dust from these materials may have been present and visible in the air

Workers who performed abatement or renovation work at industrial facilities during the 1980s or later may have encountered legacy asbestos-containing materials installed decades earlier.

Iowa — Filing Deadline & Next Steps

Iowa law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 2 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (Iowa Code § 614.1(2A)). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 2 years from the date of death (Iowa Code § 614.1(2)). 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 Iowa 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 — Iowa

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 — Iowa

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.