Asbestos News Roundup: 9.19.13 – Electrician Asbestos Risk

September 23rd, 2013. By AbiK

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, Boiler and Furnace Technicians Asbestos Disease 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.

Boiler technicians, sadly, are also at risk from materials in the workplace. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 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.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Charleston, WV: 37 companies are being sued by the daughter of recently deceased Clinton Pitzer, who was diagnosed with asbestos-related lung cancer on February 25, and subsequently died on March 5.

In her lawsuit, Tammy Timmons, alleges her father was exposed to asbestos and/or asbestos-containing products from 1954 until 1995 while employed as a coal miner, a manager/operator of a coal mine and a laborer.

Timmons is suing the defendants based on theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentation and post-sale duty to warn.

Certain defendants are also being sued as premises owners and as Pitzer’s employers for deliberate intent/intentional tort.

The 37 defendants in the suit include: Caterpillar Inc.; Crane Co.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Electrical Inc.; Fairmont Supply Company; FMC Corporation; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; Genuine Parts Company; Goulds Pumps Inc.; and Grinnell Corporation. (wvrecord.com)

New Orleans, LA: George Joseph Van Houten has filed an asbestos lawsuit alleging his former employers failed to take proper safety precautions to reduce or eliminate his risk for asbestos exposure. Van Houten has, as a result of his asbestos exposure, developed malignant asbestos mesothelioma.

Van Houten alleges in his lawsuit that he was exposed to injurious levels of asbestos while working at Avondale Shipyards from 1964-1969. During this period, he alleges, he used and handled and/or was in the vicinity of others using or handling asbestos or asbestos-containing products at these facilities in ship engine rooms and where fibers in the ambient air could be breathed in. He was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma in March of 2013.

One of the defendants, Avondale Inc, is accused of “negligently, recklessly, willfully and/or because of gross and wanton negligence, fault, or strict liability, fail[ing] to properly discharge its duties to the Plaintiff in failing to provide a safe workplace.” Specifically, the company allegedly neglected to provide safety instructions for eliminating or reducing risks of exposure to products that contained fibrous, incombustible, chemical-resistant substances, failed to provide adequate measures to control the level of infiltration into the ambient air and to the plaintiff’s home, and failure to deliver medical monitoring and air monitoring. Avondale also allegedly failed to inspect products, to test for defects or hazards, to accurately report the results of those tests and medical studies; and further, allegedly failed to design the products without asbestos where alternate and equally suitable products were available, in addition to improperly packaging, transporting, handling, storing, and disposing of the product.

Van Houten is seeking an undisclosed amount for all medical costs and expenses, lost earnings, mental suffering, anguish, physical pain and suffering, loss of consortium, loss of quality of life and all other forms of relief deemed appropriate.

The defendants in the lawsuit include: Avondale Industries Inc., Air & Liquid Systems Corporation, Armstrong International, Asbestos Corporation, Aurora Pump Company, Inc., Buffalo Forger, Inc., BW/IP, Inc., CBS Corporation, Cleaver, Brooks, Inc., Cooper US, Copes-Vulcan, Inc., Crane Company, Crosby Valve, Inc., CSR, Inc., Eagle, Inc., Eaton Corporation, Inc., The Fairbanks Company, Inc., FMC Corporation, Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Goulds Pumps Inc., Hopeman Brothers Inc. IMP Industries Inc., Ingersoll-Rand Company, International Paper Company, John Crane Inc., Joy Technologies Inc., McCarty Corporation, Mine Safety Appliances Company, The Nash Engineering Company, Owens Illinois Inc. Reilly-Benton Company, Inc., Schneider Electric USA Inc., SpiraxSarco, Inc., Sterling Fluid Systems (USA) LLC., Taylor-Seidenbach Inc., Trane US Inc., Union Carbide Corporation, Uniroyal Inc., Velan Valve Corporation, Warren Pumps LLC, The Wm. Powell Company, American Employers, American Insurance Company, Home Insurance Company, OneBeacon Insurance Company, the Stonewall Insurance Company and executives with Avondale/Huntington Inglass/Northrop Gunman Ship Systems. (louisianarecord.com)

New Orleans, LA: Mr. Ora Ham, a former shipyard welder who was recently diagnosed with asbestos-related disease, has filed an asbestos suit against Eagle Inc., Reilly-Benton Company Inc., Taylor-Seidenback Inc. and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in the Orleans Parish Civil District Court.

Ham alleges he was exposed to asbestos and asbestos-containing products while working as an insulator and welder from approximately 1963-1979 at several shipyards and drilling companies in Louisiana and Texas.

The lawsuit contends that the defendants allowed dangerous asbestos fibers to escape from their custody, control, and guard by designing, evaluating, manufacturing, packaging, furnishing, storing, handling, transporting, installing, distributing, selling and/or supplying asbestos-containing products to Ham’s job sites.

In his lawsuit, Ham alleges the defendants are strictly liable for manufacturing and selling defective products and for systematic negligence by failing to properly test their products, warn against the dangers inherent in their use, provide proper instructional material and safety devices to reduce the dangers of those products especially when other similar, non-asbestos-containing products would have served as high heat insulation.

Ham also claims the defendants “knew that their products would have to be cut, sawed, broken, sprayed, hammered into place and generally handled in such a manner as to created dust which when ingested or inhaled into the body would cause severe and disabling diseases.”

Ham is seeking an undisclosed amount for physical pain and suffering, mental pain and anguish, loss of enjoyment of life and medical expenses.

The companies named in the suit as job sites include: Gulfport Shipyard, Wards Drilling Company, Livingston Shipyard, Texaco, Chevron, Mobil, Motiva, LeBlanc Welding, Lee Towing Company, Action Construction, H. B. Zachary, International Maintenance Company, Inland Marine and Diamond Offshore Drilling. (louisianarecord.com)

This was posted on Monday, September 23rd, 2013 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Asbestos Mesothelioma . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.