Between 1945 and 2000, General Electric's factory in Peterborough was the epicenter for many work-related illnesses among employees and retirees, a study of chemical exposures at the plant reveals.
This however, is nothing new. GE's plant workers built household appliances, diesel locomotive engines, and fuel cells for nuclear reactors. The workers were exposed to more than 3,000 toxic chemicals in the process, some of which include 40 to be cancer causing, at levels that were hundreds of times higher than what is now considered safe. Workers were exposed to these chemicals at levels hundreds of times higher than what is now considered safe, says the report.
Lead was another huge component that circulated the plant. Workers used about 40,000 lbs. in a week to produce PVC pellets until the 1980s, and also experience daily exposure to:
- Solvents
- Welding Fumes
- Epoxy Resins
- PCBs
- Beryllium
- Uranium
Occupational disease claims that were previously denied by Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (the "WSIB") will now review the more than 250 claims. This will also include a review of the cancer and non-cancer related claims, with updated research on chemical exposure levels and illnesses related to them, and will also look at claims to allow widows, widowers and children of former workers who died without realizing it may have been linked to a workplace illness.
The plant has announced however, that it will be shutting down after 125 years, which will leave 350 employees without work. They say that it is not closing due to the illness claims, but due to changing markets.
The claimants won't rest until they have money in their pockets, even though the money may not help some of them beat their battles with cancer or disease, they will be able to live knowing that the employer they worked years for, recognizes they are entitled to something.
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