Lawsuit: Employers failed to notify worker of asbestos dangers

The risks associated with exposure to airborne asbestos are clearly understood. People generally know that breathing in asbestos can do irreversible damage to someone’s health, which is why business and property owners are expected to take certain precautions when there is asbestos present.

But not all parties take this responsibility as seriously as they should. Too many of them fail to adequately warn and protect people from being exposed to asbestos and can end up facing serious consequences for this negligence. One man recently filed a lawsuit against 23 companies who he claims exhibited this type of negligence throughout his 40-year career as an insulator.

Starting as far back as 1968, the man reportedly worked with dozens of different asbestos-containing products. This was not uncommon for many people in the same or similar industries. Asbestos was widely used in sulation, plumbing and construction products until the 1980s, so people working around these products often breathed in asbestos that was disturbed. Often times, they were exposed without their knowledge and because they were never given proper protective gear on the job. It is usually decades later when they learn that they have developed a disease because of that exposure.

In this case, the man says that employees were given access to pamphlets which discussed safe handling procedures for asbestos, but there were inadequate warnings of what could happen in the event of exposure. This oversight, by his employers and the manufacturers of the asbestos-containing products, put him and other workers in serious danger.

The man wants the companies involved to be held accountable for their negligent or willful actions. He has filed a lawsuit seeking $1.75 million

Source: Journal-Courier, “Asbestos lawsuit claims companies knew risk,” Cody Bozarth, July 28, 2013