Thousands of former and current employees of Goodyear Tire & Rubber in Akron and other rubber plants around the country are at risk of serious health issues as a result of asbestos exposure. The Goodyear plant in northern Ohio was known for having asbestos throughout the workplace.
Numerous lawsuits are still pending against Goodyear in Ohio, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania. Tire production workers may have exposed to asbestos-containing products like tiles, furnace hoses, gaskets, and heat shields. Long-term, and even short periods of serious exposure to asbestos can lead to mesothelioma and other cancers. The federal law today requires that newly manufactured products and materials cannot contain more than one percent of asbestos.
The toxic material in question gained popularity for many years for its flexibility, strength, and resistance to heat, flame, and corrosion. It is now known to cause mesothelioma, lung cancer and other illnesses but regulations did not occur until the extreme hazards were brought to light. Workers who were employed in the rubber manufacturing industry prior to that time may have an increased risk of developing cancer.
Unfortunately, even with the knowledge that workers were facing serious health hazards, corporations like Goodyear carried on manufacturing dangerous products, and failed to warn employees of the risks.
Joe Lyon is a highly-rated Ohio Toxic exposure attorney representing plaintiffs nationwide in a wide variety of toxic tort and mesothelioma claims.
Hazards to Ohio Goodyear Plant Workers
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Akron is best known for producing automobile tires but it also manufactured a number of other products, including rubberized gaskets which contained asbestos. Some rubber manufacturing plants may have even used raw asbestos in rubber mixtures to produce rubber sheets that were used for gaskets, seals and electrical insulations.
Rubber manufacturing workers may have been exposed to talc used during the molding process. The talc dust used by workers was often contaminated.
Regardless of their position in the past 50 years, most rubber factory workers faced an occupational exposure. Production sites were built with asbestos bricks, drywall, and heating and water pipes. Toxic gaskets were used to seal pipes, pumps, and equipment.
The following positions are considered high-risk:
- Assembly line workers—belts and belt drives were often reinforced with asbestos fibers
- Maintenance Crews
- Warehouse part pickers
- Mechanics
