Question

Rick worked in a factory for over 30 years. Back in the 1980’s, when he first began working at Universal Mills, Inc. (“Universal”), some of the insulation they used to manufacture their products contained asbestos. The company provided jackets, safety masks, and respirators to their employees while working on the manufacturing floor, which was within OSHA standards at that time. Rick used the provided masks and respirators while on the factory floor, but during breaks he sometimes left on his jacket that he wore while on the factory floor.

In the 1990’s, when the awareness of health effects of asbestos became harder to dispute, Universal stopped using asbestos in their manufacturing altogether, and went with a different material to insulate their products, which was found to be much safer.

Rick retired last year from Universal. He was just recently diagnosed with mesothelioma, a lung cancer that has been definitively proven to be linked to asbestos exposure. Please answer the following question:

Explain your answer to make a claim under product liability if the state in which Rick makes his claim has a doctrine of discovery of injury and comparative fault.

Answer 1

The fact that he wore his jacket on while he had a break from work, may have led to the damage caused to his lungs. Though he took the measures as per the OSHA standards, on a persona level, wearing the same clothes which are used at wok in the factory was a wrong choice on his part. The same is a fault at the end of the organization. This is because awareness campaigns must be exhibited by experts of safety management & pratices in order to make the employees & workers aware about these issues & threats.