Posts Tagged ‘ Brake Pads ’

Asbestos News Roundup: 6.7.12 – Auto Mechanic Asbestos Risk

June 7th, 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.

Auto Mechanics Asbestos Disease Risk

Unfortunately, asbestos was used in countless products, including automotive parts such as brake linings and clutch facings, from the 1930s until the 1980s. It is still used today in many products like car brakes, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

According to an EPA document entitled “Guidance for Preventing Asbestos Disease Among Auto Mechanics”, “Millions of asbestos fibers can be released during brake and clutch servicing. Grinding and bevelling friction products can cause even higher exposures. Like germs, asbestos fibers are small enough to be invisible and they can remain and accumulate in the lungs.” This can cause asbestos disease such as asbestos mesothelioma, and this is what happened Gregory Hope, below, who recently filed an asbestos lawsuit.

Asbestos Lawsuits

St. Louis, MO: Gregory C. Hope worked in automotive maintenance, and as an electrician between 1961 and 1979. During that time he alleges in his recently filed asbestos lawsuit, that he was exposed to asbestos fibers, without his knowledge, without appropriate protective clothing and without an understanding of the serious health consequences of asbestos exposure. He has developed mesothelioma and has filed an asbestos lawsuit.

Martin L. Tune alleges he developed lung cancer after his work as a machinist and as an auto mechanic and home repairman from 1963 until 1979.

Kirkland Holcomb has filed an asbestos lawsuit alleging he developed mesothelioma after his work as a draftsman and salesman at various locations from 1965 through 2011.

Robert D. and Rosalina Cousineau have filed an asbestos lawsuit claiming that allege Robert Cousineau developed lung cancer as a result of working as a carpenter, drywaller and construction worker at various locations from 1963 until 2005. (madisonrecord.com)

Asbestos Exposure Now Linked to Heart Disease and Stroke

Manhattan Beach, CA: While the American Cancer Society has linked asbestos exposure to lung cancer as well as mesothelioma, it now appears that asbestos exposure is linked to other serious, life-threatening conditions. According to a new British study, recently published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, people exposed to asbestos had a higher death rate from ischemic heart disease.

The study reviewed records of workers who were exposed to asbestos between 1971 and 2005. Researchers found that those exposed were 63% more likely to die of a stroke, in addition to developing cardiovascular disease.

As a result, experts believe millions of workers and their families may have been exposed to the material. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate approximately 3,000 people each year are diagnosed with mesothelioma.

The companies that mined, manufactured and sold asbestos, or used it in their products, are liable for the damages caused to those who have developed serious illness like mesothelioma. (digitialjournal.com)

Asbestos Law

Beginning October 1, 2012, asbestos remediation workers in Maryland will be facing a fine five times larger than the maximum amount currently allowed by law for violating any environmental laws relating to asbestos in the state.

Leaders of the Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America (LHSFNA) say this new fine, a maximum of $25,000, is setting a standard all states should follow.

Collected fines will be deposited into the Asbestos Worker Protection Fund, which was created by the new law. The proceeds will be used to increase asbestos outreach and stronger enforcement of asbestos-related environmental laws.

According to recent report published in the LHSFNA June 2012 e-newsletter, many asbestos contractors in Maryland have taken shortcuts with asbestos abatement projects in order to underbid their competition, who may be doing their job correctly.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “When handled, asbestos can separate into microscopic-size particles that remain in the air and are easily inhaled. Persons occupationally exposed to asbestos have developed several types of life-threatening diseases, including asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma.”

Despite laws against its use in construction in the United States, asbestos is still found in many buildings, especially those built from 1935 to the 1970s. (webwire.com)

Tags: Asbestos, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Settlement, asbestosis, Auto Mechanic, Brake Liners, Brake Pads, Car Mechanic, mesothelioma, Occupational Asbestos Exposure
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Asbestos News Roundup: 5.10.12 – Car Mechanic Asbestos Exposure

May 10th, 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.

Car mechanics—the unsung heroes that keep us mobile—are among the groups of people who are at risk and were at risk for asbestos exposure. This is because brake pads and liners were made with asbestos. Auto mechanics who worked with grinding machines to smooth out those brake liners and pads, would have been exposed to asbestos.

According to a study by the Environmental Protection Agency that looked at the risk for asbestos exposure during regrinding of old brake linings, as many as 7 million asbestos fibers per cubic meter can become airborne and saturate the area around the grinding machine, while it’s in use. If the mechanic was grinding new brake pads, the exposure was estimated at 5 million asbestos fibers per cubic meter.

These fibers would be inhaled, not just by the people working the machines but also by anyone nearby. If this type of exposure was routine—it would or could result in asbestos disease such as asbestos mesothelioma, asbestosis and worse.

In a ruling this week in San Francisco, four asbestos lawsuits brought by mechanics and their families in 2007 and 2008 against the manufacturer of a brake shoe grinding machine, have been reinstated. All the mechanics had developed asbestos disease.

Asbestos Lawsuits

San Francisco, CA: Four lawsuits filed by asbestos victims, against a manufacturer of brake shoe grinding machines, have been reinstated by a state appeals court in San Francisco. The lawsuits claim that the machines released the lethal fibers from brake linings. The lawsuits were filed in 2007 and 2008, by a former mechanic who suffers from asbestosis and by families of three people who, after years of exposure to asbestos, died of asbestos-related cancer.

All the plaintiffs allege the asbestos was generated from brake shoe linings by grinding machines made by Hennessy Industries, the defendant in the lawsuits. Hennessy, based in Tennessee, manufactures wheel service equipment.

This latest ruling effectively overturns an earlier decision made by Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn in June 2010, which dismissed the four asbestos lawsuits, based on Kahn’s ruling that asbestos was not used in by Hennessy in its machines, and so was not responsible for the asbestos illness and injuries detailed in the lawsuits.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the First District Court of Appeal, having reviewed the lawsuits, stated the sole purpose of Hennessy’s machines was to grind brake linings, inevitably releasing the asbestos they contained. “When used as designed and intended, Hennessy’s machines caused the release of the toxic agent,” said Presiding Justice Barbara Jones in the 3-0 ruling.” (sfgate.com)

Jefferson County, TX: The daughter of the late Joyce Venable has filed an asbestos lawsuit alleging Chevron USA and Texaco, exposed her father to asbestos. The lawsuit states “As a result of such exposure, Joyce Venable developed an asbestos-related disease, esophageal cancer, from which he died a painful and terrible death on May 23, 2010.”

According to the lawsuit, Venable was employed by Texaco in Jefferson County, where he was exposed to asbestos. The lawsuit claims that Chevron USA and Texaco knew for decades that asbestos products were harmful and still allowed their employees to work with them without warning. (setexasrecord.com)

Charleston, WV: A couple from Florida is suing 30 companies they claim are responsible for a malignant mesothelioma diagnosis of Barbara E. Amick. Mrs. Amick was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, according to the lawsuit, on December 13, 2011.

The asbestos lawsuit alleges the 39 defendants are responsible for the diagnosis because they exposed her to asbestos during her employment in the accounts and sales departments from 1952 until 1977.

Amick claims she was further exposed to asbestos during home renovations in the 1950s and 1960s at her and her husband’s home in Vienna, WV.

According to the lawsuit, the actions of the defendants were negligent. Amick and her husband, Eldon E. Amick, are seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. The 39 companies named as defendants in the suit are: Allied Glove Corporation; American Electric Power Company, Inc.; Brand Insulations, Inc.; CBS Corp.; Certainteed Corporation; Copes-Vulcan, Inc.; Crane Co.; Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc.; Ebasco Services Incorporated; Fairmont Supply Company; Famous Furnace & Supply Co.; F.B. Wright Company; FMC Corporation; Flowserve US, Inc.; General Electric Company; General Refractories Company; George V. Hamilton, Inc.; Georgia-Pacific, LLC; Grinnell Corporation; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Ingersoll Rand Company; International Harvester Company; I.U. North America, Inc.; J.H. France Refractories Company; McJunkin Corporation; Mahoning Valley Supply Co.; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Ohio Valley Electric Corporation; Pittsburgh Gage & Supply Company; Safety First Industries, Inc.; SepCo Corporation; Spirax SarCo Company, Inc.; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; Union Carbide Corporation; Vimasco Corporation; Warren Pumps, Inc.; and Yarway Corporation.

Tags: Asbestos, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Settlement, asbestosis, Auto Mechanic, Brake Liners, Brake Pads, Car Mechanic, mesothelioma, Occupational Asbestos Exposure
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