Posts Tagged ‘ Electrician ’

Asbestos News Roundup: 5.31.12 – Carpenter, Electrician, Plumber Asbestos Risk

May 31st, 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.

Carpenter, Electrician & Plumber Asbestos Mesothelioma Risk

According to a 2009 report in the British Journal of Cancer, and reported by the BBC, carpenters, electricians and plumbers born in the 1940s and working in the UK are at increased risk for asbestos-related lung cancer mesothelioma. The stats are not good — 1 in 17 carpenters will die of the asbestos-related disease, the researchers predicted, and 1 in 50 plumbers and electricians, as well as 1 in 125 construction workers will also become fatally ill.

The researchers interviewed 1,400 healthy people and more than 600 patients with asbestos mesothelioma. The lifetime risk of asbestos-related disease was calculated among workers exposed to asbestos for more than a decade before the age of 30.

While these results do not reflect the incidence in the US, it nevertheless makes the point that men who work in trades such as carpenters, electricians and plumbers are at higher than normal risk for asbestos exposure, illness and related death, due to working with asbestos-containing building materials.

Asbestos Lawsuit

Charleston, WV: Eight separate asbestos lawsuits have been filed in West Virginia, by 14 individuals who all allege they were unknowingly exposed to asbestos through their work. All the plaintiffs have various asbestos-related lung injuries.

James W. Cronin and Margaret Ann Cronin; Paul E. Herstine; Joseph L. Kolakowski and Delores R. Kolakowski; Shirley I. Quinn and David L. Quinn; George P. Schmidt Jr. and Ann S. Schmidt; Tim Watts and Nita Watts; Aubrey L. Woodward and Lydia J. Woodward; and Lawrence C. Yeater, executor of the Estate of Robert R. Yeater, deceased, are the plaintiffs, according to eight lawsuits.

James Cronin, Joseph Kolakowski, Shirley Quinn, George Schmidt, Tim Watts, Aubrey Woodward and Lawrence Yeater were diagnosed with asbestosis and lung cancer and Herstine was diagnosed with asbestosis, all resulting from asbestos exposure.

The asbestos lawsuits claim the defendants caused negligent exposure to asbestos, and failed to warn of Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Asbestos, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Settlement, asbestosis, Carpenter, Electrician, mesothelioma, Occupational Asbestos Exposure, Plumber
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Asbestos News Roundup: 5.17.12 – Electrician Asbestos Risk

May 17th, 2012. By LucyC

Electricians and Asbestos Exposure Risk

Electricians and electrical cable installers may not know it, but they are at risk for being exposed to asbestos through repair, demolition or installation work. This lethal, fibrous material was used in felted asbestos insulation or asbestos tape to insulate wiring. So working on old power lines, old wiring or breaker boxes would put electricians at risk for asbestos exposure. Older arc chutes also contain asbestos. It was used in circuit breakers, for example, before the mid-1980’s, when they were made of asbestos-containing plastic molding compound.

Recently, an asbestos lawsuit filed by six workers in Tennessee has made media headlines, because the workers were exposed to asbestos when dismantling outdated synchronous condensers, among other things.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Oak Ridge, TN: Six clean-up workers in Oak Ridge have filed an asbestos lawsuit against several government contractors alleging they were unknowingly exposed to asbestos and further they were unprotected when dealing with the lethal substance.

The lawsuit, filed May 5 in Roane County, seeks damages from the contractors who were involved in cleanup operations at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) K-25 plant in 2000-2001. Those contractors included BNFL Inc., now doing business as TSB FA Nuclear Services Inc., which headed a multiyear, $300 million DOE project that dismantled and decontaminated three uranium-enrichment facilities at the Oak Ridge site.

The six plaintiffs worked as independent contractors for R&R Electric Corp., a subcontractor that reportedly was involved in the demolition of “synchronous condensers” at the site. According to a report in the Knoxville News Sentinel, the plaintiffs claim they were told that the condensers did not contain asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls and other hazards, and that their requests for respirators and other protective equipment were refused by the contractor teams at the Oak Ridge. The workers said they were exposed at the site while cutting up the equipment with chop saws.

“The chop saws created thick clouds of fine dust and debris, which completely coated Plaintiffs’ bodies and clothing every day, and which they breathed continuously,” the lawsuit alleges.

The workers also allege that during their work at they were exposed to smoke from fires in 2000 when BNFL and another contractor, Coy Superior Inc., attempted to burn insulating material and wrapping off the large copper coils that had been removed from the condensers to salvage the copper.

“The coils were burned in open fires in the BNFL switchyard over a period of a week, creating huge plumes of smoke,” the lawsuit states. “On information and belief, the insulating material and wrapping contained significant quantities of ACM (asbestos-containing material).”

While contractors reportedly denied knowledge that the equipment contained asbestos, the lawsuit states that the Department of Energy had manuals confirming that the condensers did contain asbestos and that BNFL had access to these manuals.

The lawsuit is seeking unspecified compensation for pain and suffering, increased risk of cancer and other diseases. The plaintiffs are Christopher Todd Upton, Leslie Darnell Jones, Jeffery Lynn Keylon, Paul Steven Vance, James David Parten and Timothy Edward Robbins. (Knoxvillenewsentinal.com)

Lancaster County, NE: BNSF Railway is being sued by two former railroad employees who allege their asbestos-related lung disease resulted from asbestos exposure during their work with the railway.

In their lawsuit, William Schleicher of Lincoln and Frank Cox of Eagle Lake allege they were required to work around asbestos-containing materials and accuse the railroad of negligence and failing to provide them a safe place to work, as required by federal law.

Schleicher worked as a blacksmith and Cox as a boilermaker, and their main exposures were at the West O Street yards. Schleicher was in a reclamation plant that salvaged materials, and Cox was in a heating plant, according to their attorney. Schleicher started work in 1943 at age 16, and Cox in 1968, according to their attorney.(Journalstar.com)

Marshall, TX: Billy F. Wall and Sandra S. Wall have filed an asbestos lawsuit alleging that Mr. Wall’s recent diagnosis of cancer is due to his extensive asbestos exposure during his six years employment at the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant in Harrison County.

Wall was diagnosed with colon cancer in June 2010, and with asbestos-related pleural disease and mild interstitial pulmonary fibrosis in 2011.

In his lawsuit, Wall states that he was exposed to asbestos from 1974 to 1980 while working as a pipefitter, welder and insulator at the ammunition plant. He claims that he was exposed to asbestos on a daily basis.

Wall has named 17 defendants in his lawsuit: A.W. Chesterton Co., Armstrong International Inc., Certainteed Corp., Clark-Reliance Corp., Cleaver-Brooks Co. Inc., Crane Co., Eaton Corp., Eaton Hydraulics Inc., Eaton Hydraulics, Emerson Process Management Power & Water Solutions Inc., Fisher Controls International, Power Controls, Spirax Sarco Inc., The J. Graves Insulation Co. Inc., The WM. Powell Co., Watts Water Technologies Inc., and Young Touchstone.

The defendants are accused of failing to warn, failing to test their products concerning the effects of exposure, failing to instruct or notify users or consumers of their products of proper safety measures and for failing to properly package their products so that proper labeling and instructions were easily visible.

Mr. Wall is asking for an award of damages for medical expenses, mental anguish, impairment, loss of enjoyment of life, physical pain and suffering, and court costs. Mrs. Wall is asking the court for an award of damages for mental anguish, loss of consortium and society and loss of household services. (setexasrecord.com)

Tags: Asbestos, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Settlement, asbestosis, Electrical Asbestos, Electrician, mesothelioma, Occupational Asbestos Exposure
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