What Will It Take For Companies to Protect Workers Against Asbestos?
The hazards of asbestos are so clearly established and widely known in our current times. Mesothelioma used to be an unknown condition, yet so many people worldwide have now heard about how exposure to asbestos leads to this deadly cancer.
Certainly industrial companies, firefighters, construction workers, and repairmen have been given information about asbestos. The standard safety information given is that if asbestos is intact and in good condition, leave it alone. If you can encapsulate in asbestos that is becoming deteriorated or damaged, and you can ensure that it will stay sealed, then take that measure. If asbestos containing materials are posing a threat of the fibers becoming airborne, remove it completely, following federal and state regulations, sometimes hiring an accredited asbestos abatement contractor.
So if this knowledge is so common place, how is it that a large industrial company that designs and manufactures piston rings for industrial purposes, failed to protect their employees from such deadly exposure?
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a federal agency set up to make sure employers adequately protect employees from health hazards and safety risks, with individual branches in each state. At the beginning of this year, the Michigan branch of OSHA began safety investigations of Hastings Manufacturing Company, LLC. After identifying numerous serious and willful violations, MIOSHA cited Hastings with $118,750 in penalties on allegations that employees were exposed to serious health hazards, including exposure to asbestos.
Apparently, despite knowing the risks of exposure to asbestos and being aware that the facility contained areas where the asbestos insulation had become deteriorated and damaged, Hastings failed to warn or train employees, and failed to rectify the danger.
When asbestos is in poor condition, fibers are released into the air that can be inhaled into the body. Years later, these fibers have become lodged in the lining of the lungs, heart or abdomen, and develop into that incurable cancer known as mesothelioma.
What I don’t understand, as someone who represents clients suffering and dying from mesothelioma, is how companies can fail to provide the precautions, training and safety measures to avoid such lethal exposure. How can anyone knowingly expose their employees to a poison when the costs and effort to protect is minimal compared to the profits the company makes?
And seriously, will a fine of less than $120K really deter Hastings and others?
In addition to asbestos violations, Hastings was also cited for exposing employees to other dangerous air contaminants, such as hexavalent chromium and formaldehyde. As with all OSHA citations, the company has 15 business days to respond to or contest the allegations.
