Employees of the Harrison Radiator Corporation in Dayton, Ohio may have been exposed to asbestos at the workplace, and now find themselves at risk of developing Mesothelioma Cancer, including asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.
Harrison Radiator was a large manufacturer of automotive radiators as well as cooling equipment for automotive, marine, industrial, nuclear, and aerospace applications. In time, Harrison became a division of General Motors (GM), and supplied the auto giant with components like air conditioning units, some of which contained asbestos materials, putting workers at Harrison at high risk.
In the 1990s, General Motors reorganized, and created separate but intertwined companies—Delphi Automotive Systems, Delco, AC Delco, Moraine Products Division, Delco Appliance Corp., Delco Electric, Delco-Moraine NDH, Delco Chassis Division, Delphi Automotive—the Harrison Radiator company was thereby renamed Delphi Harrison Thermal Systems.
Working at the Harrison and Delphi plants in Dayton, Ohio involved inherent health risks because of the nature of automotive and thermal insulation manufacturing. Asbestos was regularly used in not only many of the products, but in the production facilities themselves.
Joe Lyon is a highly-rated Cincinnati, Ohio personal injury lawyer representing plaintiffs nationwide in a wide variety of toxic tort and mesothelioma claims.
Auto Industry at Heightened Risk for Asbestos Exposure
A study published by the Journal of Occupational Medicine concluded auto maker employees have an increased risk of cancer. This has been public knowledge for decades. But even knowing that workers were facing severe added health hazards, corporations like Harrison Radiator and GM continued manufacturing asbestos-containing products, and failed to warn or properly protect employees.
Asbestos was used in numerous materials during the manufacturing process at Harrison Radiator. Asbestos was utilized so commonly because it was cheap and effective as an insulator and was fire resistant. Into the late 1970s, buildings and factories were constructed with asbestos block insulation, pipe covering, boiler insulation, and cement.
Asbestos breaks down over time, and needs to be replaced to remain effective. Thus, the asbestos insulation was manually removed and reapplied, causing asbestos dust to become airborne. Maintenance workers performing these tasks were unaware of the dangers of exposure to the asbestos dust and often worked without masks or protective clothing. All this heavy exposure to asbestos may lead to mesothelioma, lung cancer and other asbestos-related diseases.
