Asbestos Cancer

... Supreme Court: Employer Partly Liable For Health Damage Supreme Court: Employer Partly Liable For Health Damage THE HAGUE, 01/04/06 - An employer is partially liable for damage to the health of an employee that can be caused by the work and by the employee's own actions.

The ruling came from the Supreme Court Friday in a case on a smoker who was for years exposed to asbestos at work.

The man was exposed to asbestos dust at his work from 1964 to 1979.

In 1997, he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

He died in 2000.

His employer disputed liability for the health damage.

The man had smoked for 28 years.

In 2002, a judge in Almelo ruled the employer was 55 percent liable for the health damage suffered.

The court based this partly on an expert who concluded that there was a 55 percent chance of getting lung cancer from exposure to asbestos dust.

The expert added that it cannot be determined medically if a certain case of lung cancer is caused by asbestos.

On appeal, the appeal court in Arnhem upheld this verdict.

The Supreme Court also upheld the verdict Friday, making it definitive.

If an employee has suffered damage that could be caused both by the employer failing to provide sufficient protection against substances that are damaging to health, and by actions for which the employer is responsible, the court can hold the employer liable for part of the damage, the verdict says.

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... Governance News from Manifest Governance News from Manifest - ISSN 1745 - 1132 Manifest Return to Index Health & Safety Government confirms commitment to corporate killing bill The government has said it is to pass the corporate manslaughter bill as soon as time allows, and will incorporate advice from the home affairs and work and pensions committees on providing a clearer definition of where the new offence will apply.

More House of Lords considers employers' asbestos liability The House of Lords is considering whether insurers should not be liable to pay compensation to sufferers of mesothelioma – a cancer caused by asbestos – and their families if some of the companies responsible for the exposure have vanished or were not insured.

More Company boss jailed for railway worker deaths Mark Connolly, owner of a railway repair company, has been jailed for the manslaughter of four maintenance workers who were hit by a runaway trailer at Tebay, Cumbria.

More Briefs .....

Lord Hunt, minister for health and safety, has warned that businesses not complying with rules safeguarding the welfare of workers “will feel the heat”.

More ...

... U.S.

Newswire : Releases : "Virginia Executive &..." Virginia Executive & Companies Receive Large Jail Term and Substantial Fines for Environmental Crimes 3/31/2006 9:39:00 AM To: National Desk Contact: U.S.

Department of Justice, 202-514-2007 or 202-514-1888 (TDD), Web: http://www.USDOJ.gov WASHINGTON, March 31 /U.S.

Newswire/ - A Virginia executive and two companies, ACS Environmental, Inc.

(ACS) and Air Power Enterprises, Inc.

(Air Power), were sentenced late yesterday to a substantial jail term and fines for conspiracy to defraud the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Justice Department announced today.

James Schaubach, president of ACS and vice president of Air Power, was sentenced to 21 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and fined $1.5 million.

Both Air Power and ACS were sentenced to five years probation and Air Power was also fined $500,000.

Nicanor Lotuaco, president of Air Power, was sentenced on Jan.

26 to five months in jail, followed by five months home detention and three years supervised release, and fined $1 million.

"By falsely certifying that workers had the appropriate credentials to work on asbestos and lead abatement projects, the defendants endangered the health and safety of their employees and the public," said Sue Ellen Wooldridge, Assistant Attorney General for...