Asbestos News Roundup: 9.20.12 – Pipefitter Asbestos Risk, Canadian Ban

September 20th, 2012. By LucyC

A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of reported asbestos hot spots in the US from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.

Pipefitters, Boiler and Furnace Technicians Asbestos Disease Risk

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, insulation blankets (the outside covering or shell), door gaskets, duct insulation, and tape at duct connections of furnaces and boilers can all contain asbestos. Technicians who worked on repairing boilers and furnaces in the past would have been at risk for asbestos exposure.

Asbestos was used between 1930 and 1972 as high-temperature insulation for oil, coal, or wood furnaces, generally found in older homes. Steam and hot water pipes were insulated with asbestos-containing material, particularly at elbows, tees, and valves. Pipes may also be wrapped in an asbestos “blanket”, or asbestos paper (which looks very much like corrugated cardboard). Asbestos-containing insulation has also been used on and inside round and rectangular furnace ducts. Sometimes the duct itself may be made of asbestos-containing materials.

This week, a long-running asbestos lawsuit was settled. The lawsuit, brought by retired pipefitter and contractor Robert Kreimer, who is now approximately 77 years old, involved numerous defendants, who were charged with being responsible for Kreimer’s asbestos mesothelioma.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Charleston, WV: A total of 71 companies have been names as defendants in an asbestos lawsuit filed by a couple from South Shore, KY. James D. Holbrook, who was diagnosed with esophageal cancer on August 23, 2011, claims the defendants are responsible for the diagnosis.

In their lawsuit, Holbrook and his wife, Guyneth Marie Holbrook, allege he was exposed to asbestos during his employment as a laborer and worker from 1956 until 1987.

The defendants are being sued based on theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentations and post-sale duty to warn, according to the lawsuit. Certain defendants are also being sued as premises owners and as James Holbrook’s employers for deliberate intent/intentional tort, according to the lawsuit.

The 71 companies named as defendants in the suit are A.K. Steel Corporation; 3M Company; Ajax Magnathermic Corp.; Amdura Corporation; A.W. Chesterton Company; Beazer East, Inc.; Bechtel Corporation; Brand Insulations, Inc.; Bucyrus International, Inc.; BW IP, Inc.; CBS Corporation; Catalytic Construction Company; Caterpiller, Inc.; Certainteed Corporation; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Columbus McKinnon Corporation; Copes-Vulcan, Inc.; Crane Company; Crown, Cork & Seal USA, Inc.; Cyclops Corporation; Detroit Steel, Inc.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Corporation; Flowserve Corporation f/k/a the Duriron Company, Inc.; Flowserve Corporation as Successor-In-Interest to Durametallic Corporation; Foseco, Inc.; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; General Electric Company; General Refractories Company; Georgia-Pacific LLC; Geo. V. Hamilton, Inc.; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Grinnell, LLC; Hercules, Inc.; Honeywell International f/k/a Allied Signal, Inc.; Honeywell International, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; Insul Company, Inc.; ITT Corporation; J.H. France Refractories Company; Lockheed Martin Corporation; McJunkin Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Morgan Engineering, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Oakfabco, Inc.; Oglebay Norton Company; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Owens-Illinois, Inc.; Pneumo Abex, LLC; Premiere Refractories, Inc.; Rapid American Corporation; Riley Power Inc.; Rockwell Automation, Inc.; Rust Constructors, Inc.; Rust Engineering & Construction, Inc.; Rust International, Inc.; Schneider Electric; State Electric Supply Company; Swindell Dressler International Corporation; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; Thiem Corp.; UB West Virginia, Inc.; Union Carbide Chemical and Plastics Company, Inc.; Uniroyal, Inc.; United Engineers & Constructors and Washington Group International; Vimasco Corporation; West Virginia Electric Supply Company; and Yarway Corporation.(wvrecord.com)

Asbestos Settlements

Madison, IL: A settlement has been reached in an asbestos mesothelioma lawsuit brought by Robert Kreimer and his wife, Margie Kreimer, of Cleveland, OH. In their lawsuit, filed in November 2010, the couple sued 66 corporate defendants, and all but two defendants —mechanical seal manufacturer John Crane Co. and metal valve maker Crane Co.—had settled or had been dismissed earlier.

Born in 1935, Robert Kreimer, now approximately 77 years old, alleges he suffers from mesothelioma. From 1956-1986 he worked as a pipefitter for various contractors, including Johnson Controls, Robert Shaw, EJ Nolan, M.W. Kellogg Piping, Bechtel, Combustion Engineering, Babcock & Wilcox and Kaiser Engineering and various industrial and commercial job sites in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

The lawsuit states that the defendants should have anticipated the plaintiff’s exposure to asbestos fibers. The lawsuit also claims that defendants agreed and “conspired among themselves” and with other asbestos manufacturers, distributors, and trade organizations, to injure the plaintiff.

The suit was settled this week and to date no details of the settlement have been released. (madisonrecord.com)

Asbestos News

Canada will no longer oppose global regulations restricting the use and shipment of asbestos. The news came following the election of a new government to the province of Quebec, which is home to Canada’s asbestos industry. The incoming Parti Québécois said it would cancel the federal loan and ban asbestos production and exports outright. As a result, federal Industry Minister Christian Paradis announced that the federal government will no longer support the asbestos industry.

According to a report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, “…Paradis said his Conservatives are reversing course and won’t use their veto to stop chrysotile asbestos from being listed as a hazardous substance under the international Rotterdam Convention.

Paradis also said Ottawa will invest up to $50 million to help the country’s last remaining asbestos mining region, in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, to diversify into other areas of activity.”

The Harper government had consistently blocked the chrysotile form of asbestos from being listed under the Rotterdam Convention. The convention requires consensus of its members to list a substance; the convention already covers five other forms of asbestos. (cbc.ca)

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Exposure, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Mesothelioma, Asbestos Settlement

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