Kansas City Exposure Map
Documented Exposure Sites
| # | Facility | Area | Industry | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM Fairfax Assembly Plant | Kansas City, KS side / Fairfax | Auto Manufacturing | Critical |
| 2 | Burlington Northern Railroad Shops | Kansas City | Railroad Maintenance | High |
| 3 | Kansas City Power & Light Plants | Kansas City metro | Power Generation | Moderate |
| 4 | Kansas City Stockyards / Meatpacking District | West Bottoms | Manufacturing | Moderate |
Kansas City’s Rail and Auto Manufacturing History
The General Motors Fairfax Assembly Plant has produced vehicles in the Kansas City area since 1945, using asbestos in brake linings, clutch facings, and gaskets throughout most of its operating history. Assembly line workers and maintenance personnel who handled these friction materials faced regular exposure through the 1980s.
As a major rail crossroads, Kansas City hosted extensive Burlington Northern Railroad maintenance shops where locomotives and rail cars were serviced. Asbestos insulation on locomotive boilers, brake shoes, and rail car components exposed generations of railroad shop workers. Kansas City Power & Light’s generating stations across the metro area used similar asbestos insulation in boiler rooms and turbine halls.
Workers from these industries employed between the 1940s and 1980s — the peak decades of industrial asbestos use — represent the population most at risk for mesothelioma from Kansas City-area exposure.
Yes. The GM Fairfax Assembly Plant has produced vehicles since 1945, using asbestos in brake linings, clutch facings, and gaskets through the 1980s. Missouri’s 5-year statute of limitations (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120) runs from the date of mesothelioma diagnosis.