Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (203443)	9/18/2006 3:44:38 PM
From: geode00	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

WTC workers not given air masks Missing respirators at issue in class action suit filed on behalf of 8,000 workers at the World Trade Center; $50 fix might have prevented thousands of personal injuries - 6/13/06 According to documents and testimony reviewed by personal injury lawyers, respirators costing less than $50 each might have shielded thousands of workers at the World Trade Center and Fresh Kills landfill cleanup sites from lethal toxins after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City. The lack of a single organizing authority to distribute proper air filtration equipment or oversee proper and safe use of such safety precautions is at the heart of a personal injury lawsuit brought on behalf of 8,000 safety, construction and emergency response personnel who worked at hazardous sites and are now facing grievous injuries, including many types of cancers, gastrointestinal disorders, and respiratory ailments. So far, 33 of the estimated 50,000 workers at the sites have died of such complications. According to Attorney David Worby, a personal injury lawyer for the firm representing the injured workers, even the New York City firefighters who responded within the first 48 hours of the terrorist attacks in New York did not have personal protective equipment suitable for such an environment, which was filled with a lethal mix of environmental toxins including benzene, asbestos, and PCB’s, all known carcinogens. Firefighters wore “Scott packs,” the standard Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus that gives a fireman about 18 minutes of oxygen while sealing out environmental hazards. “Scott packs” are ideal when a firefighter dashes into a burning building to rescue someone, but are hardly enough protection for the nine-month recovery operation. The Inspector General of the United States, in a recounting of the potential environmental hazards that could result from the 9/11 attacks, said that a federal emergency response team reported on the day of the attacks that respirators should be used at Ground Zero. But the report was never issued to the public because New York City decided it would handle worker protection issues. New York City asked the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) to take charge of distributing respirators, and OSHA placed an emergency order for tens of thousands of half-face masks and replacement filter cartridges which were certified to be effective protection against asbestos and most of the dust on the site. In a rare move, however, OSHA decided not to enforce compliance with federal safety regulations, but instead act in a supportive operations role to the city of New York on site. The respirators and replacement cartridges ordered by OSHA, which required testing for fit on each individual wearer, cost between $25 and $50 each. OSHA subsequently distributed over 130,000 of the respirators before the cleanup ended in June 2002. There were nearly three times as many masks as workers on site, but OSHA produced no clear accounting as to where all the respirators went. Witnesses said that most masks were used improperly and then discarded. Masks were allegedly handed out to workers without instructions or fit testing. Outside of the pile, many laborers hired by cleaning contractors to begin work on the damage done to surrounding structures had either paper dust masks or no protection at all. Although there were more than 30 city, state and federal agencies overseeing cleanup work at Ground Zero and the Fresh Kills landfill where debris was moved, many observers from unions and labor safety organizations noted that no more than half of the WTC workers ever used their respirators. Safety compliance was regularly brought up at daily safety committee hearings held by the city with other agencies and private contractors, but there was no enforcement and the situation apparently never improved. 283 personal injury cases are alleged to have resulted from the WTC cleanup in New York City. Injuries suffered from workers range from cancers of the throat, lung, colon, intestines, and other major organs to leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, lymphoma, myeloma, gastrointestinal disorders and respiratory diseases. Source: Anthony DePalma, “Air Masks at Issue in Claims of 9/11 Illnesses,” New York Times, June 5, 2006, accessed June 13, 2006. ============ Gotta love those capitalist pig personal injury lawyers and their class action suits LOL.