Worker Contracts Cancer After Alleged Long-Term Exposure To Benzene

Case Overview

This case involves a print shop worker who passed away from myeloid leukemia after 23 years of employment. The North Carolina print shop where he worked specializes in large-format printing and uses benzene solvent in their inks to prevent rapid drying. It was alleged that the friction from the shop’s machinery allowing the benzene fumes to escape more rapidly, exposing the deceased to higher concentrations of the solvent, and subsequently causing his death. An expert in industrial hygiene was sought to opine on health and safety standards, particularly in the printing industry, that should be in place to prevent or limit this type of exposure.

Questions to the Industrial Hygiene expert and their responses

Please describe your industrial hygiene experience with regards to toxic chemicals like Benzene.

I have over 38 years of experience as a health and safety professional in the manufacturing, construction, and public service sectors. I have been involved in a number of benzene and asbestos cases and have experience with benzene in particular from my time at an agricultural biotechnology corporation.

Are you familiar with studies and/or literature link Benzene exposure to AML?

Benzene, a colorless, flammable liquid with a sweet odor, is one of the 20 most widely used chemicals in the United States and has been linked in literature to Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (a cancer of the blood and bone marrow), which is a sub-type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Several studies have been conducted (particularly the National Cancer Institute and followup counter studies by oil interest involving the Shanghai project) concerning the link between benzene and cancer.

What standards are or should be in place to prevent or limit this type of exposure?

According to OSHA CFR 1910.1028, the current benzene time-weighted average limit (TWA) is one part of benzene per million parts of air (1 ppm). If it can be shown that their job duties involved direct exposure to crude petroleum (which contains levels of benzene), I think you have a strong case. I am of the opinion that there is no safe level of exposure to a carcinogen (particularly involving asbestos and benzene).

About the expert

This expert has over 40 years of experience in occupational health and safety, industrial hygiene, risk management, and environmental health and safety. He earned his BS in biology from Marquette University and his MS in genetics from Michigan State University, before receiving his second MS in industrial hygiene from the University of Michigan. Today, this expert is a certified industrial hygienist, safety professional, California asbestos consultant, associate in risk management, and California lead abatement project manager. He is also an active member of several professional organizations, including the American Society of Safety Engineers, the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the Public Agency Risk Managers Association, and the Public Agency Safety Management Association. This expert previously served as a senior industrial hygienist and safety professional at the Monsanto Chemical Company and the Monsanto Electronic Materials Company, as the industrial safety and health manager at Nuclear Fuel Services, as the safety and industrial hygiene manager at Bechtel and Westinghouse Hanford Companies, as the senior risk manager and environmental health and safety consultant and corporate manager at Rust Corporation, and as an occupational safety and environmental compliance manager for the County of Santa Clara. Most recently before his retirement, this expert served as a senior consultant for Rimkus Consulting in California.

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Specialties:

Industrial Hygiene

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