Posts Tagged ‘ Occupational Asbestos Exposure ’
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)
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 »
Asbestos News Roundup: 5.24.12 – Textile Worker Asbestos Exposure
May 24th, 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.
Textile Worker Asbestos Risk
Medical researchers at the University of Nebraska and Duke University have found an association between asbestos-related diseases and the incidence of lung cancer among people who work at asbestos textile mills.
The study, published this May in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, tracked 6,100 workers employed at textile mills that used asbestos in South and North Carolina between 1954 and 1973. The employees’ health and vital status were tracked. Using historical dust samples, the researchers also estimated the size of asbestos fibers which the workers were exposed in the mills.
The study showed that the textile workers who were exposed to asbestos fibers—no matter what the size or diameter—had an increased risk of developing lung cancer. Interestingly, the data showed that the risk of lung cancer increased with the length of the asbestos fibers, so the longer the fiber, the greater the risk for lung cancer. The study supports the hypothesis that asbestos-related lung cancer is associated most strongly with exposure to long, thin asbestos fibers. (Occupational and Environmental Medicine)
Asbestos Lawsuit
BNSF is facing an asbestos lawsuit brought by two former railroad employees who allege they developed asbestos-related disease from exposure to asbestos-containing products while working for the Railway. Both men have asbestos-related lung disease.
In their lawsuit, William Schleicher and Frank Cox accuse the railroad of negligence and failing to provide them a safe place to work, as required by federal law.
According to their attorney, Cox was a boilermaker and Schleicher a blacksmith. 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. Schleicher started work in 1943 at age 16, and Cox in 1968. They are seeking a jury trial and damages.
BNSF spokeswoman Suann Lundsberg said: “The claims filed are from former employees who have not worked for BNSF or one of its predecessor railroads for more than a decade. BNSF is currently reviewing the case and will respond through the legal process.” (journalstar.com)
Asbestos Settlement
Bridgeport, CT: A $2.4 million settlement has just been awarded in an asbestos lawsuit brought by the family of Hannibal “Scottie” Saldibar, a tile setter from New Haven, who died after contracting an asbestos-related cancer.
Saldibar, who was 84 when he died, worked as a tile setter for 30 years. He passed away in January 2010, just nine months after being diagnosed with asbestos mesothelioma.
According to a report by the CT Post, a Superior Court jury deliberated about three hours Tuesday before finding the Tile Council of North America liable in Saldibar’s death, and awarding his family $1.6 million. Judge Dale Radcliffe then ordered the association to pay an additional $800,000 in punitive damages.
Although it is a trade association, Kenney said Tile Council of North America developed the asbestos-containing mortar used by tile setters for many years. (Ctpost.com)
Asbestos News Roundup: 5.17.12 – Electrician Asbestos Risk
May 17th, 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.
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)
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.
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