By Liz Carey
Kingston, TN (WorkersCompensation.com) – Eight years after the dust has settled, surviving cleanup workers of the largest coal ash spill in history are filing suit against the company that failed to warn them of the dangers of coal ash, or to allow them workers’ compensation for illnesses they came down with after only a few months on the job.
In December 2008, a massive coal ash spill created havoc for the Tennessee Valley Authority. The spill, which dumped more than 5 million cubic tons of sludge into the Emory River, closed roads, seeped into nearby neighborhoods and closed river ways. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared the area a superfund site, saying it was full of toxic chemicals.
According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, the employees who cleaned up the spill were denied access to masks, given only a bucket of water to decontaminate themselves with and were also threatened with layoffs if they filed workers’ comp claims for illnesses they developed while on the job.
Now, 17 of those workers are dead and dozens more are dying. According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, three of the survivors and dozens of workers injured in the cleanup effort are suing Jacobs Engineering and GBMUK, the labor organization that provided workers to the cleanup effort, alleging that managers with the companies endangered the employees’ lives.
According to the Sentinel, managers offered little training to workers, denied them access to respirators or masks, failed to provide them with adequate cleanup facilities and allowed the workers to eat on top of mounds of toxic coal ash.
Coal ash has been found to contain a bevy of toxic chemicals and metal, many of which are carcinogenic. When properly treated, the ash can be recycled and used in everything from concrete to makeup. According to the American Coal Ash Association, “This material is virtually identical in its composition to volcanic ash with pozzolanic properties ideal for concrete that built the structures of Ancient Rome we appreciate 2,000 years later. More than half of the concrete produced today in the U.S. uses fly ash in some quantity as a substitute for traditional cement.”
But in its raw form, the material is toxic. According to the EPA, coal ash can increase cancer risk in those living near coal ash landfills and slurry ponds. After the spill in Kingston, the EPA posted notices telling residents not to enter the river and that wet coal ash was dangerous if it got on the skin or inside the body.
Tom Adams, executive director for the American Coal Ash Association, did not return WorkersCompensation.com calls for comment by press time.
According to the American Coal Ash Association’s website, coal ash, in itself isn’t the danger, but the concentration of it may be.
“…coal ash contains varying concentrations of …heavy metals. Despite the large volumes of ash produced, the total quantity of heavy metals is relatively small, and an even smaller amount of these elements can be released to the environment. …Studies conducted by the University of North Dakota indicate that for most heavy metals, even if released directly into groundwater, the concentrations are so low that they would not adversely affect drinking water quality.
A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) fact sheet states that a “Standardized test of the leach ability of toxic trace elements such as arsenic, selenium, lead and mercury from fly ash shows that the amounts dissolved are sufficiently low to justify regulatory classification of fly ash as non-hazardous solid waste.”
“However, it is important to note that despite these relatively low concentrations, if improperly managed, any waste can have a negative impact on the environment. The United States and Canadian utility industry have implemented many methods of control and monitoring to ensure that when coal ash is disposed, there will be no adverse effect (sic) to human health or to the environment…. Based on the experience of those who work closely with it, adverse health effects from skin contact with coal ash appear to be extremely unlikely.”
According to the Sentinel, Workers at the spill site were not given protective uniforms; worked mostly in their own jeans and t-shirts, and were given a bucket of water and a brush to decontaminate themselves.
Michael McCarthy, a member of the safety team representing workers, told the Sentinel he confronted Jacobs Engineering safety manager Tom Brock about whether or not the coal ash was dangerous. Brock told him the coal ash was completely safe. When workers asked about workers’ compensation to cover medical bills for illnesses they got after starting the job, they were threatened with layoffs, McCarthy said.
Workers said that their safety complaints were ignored and their concerns with disregarded.
For its part, Jacobs Engineering said in court filings that it holds “no duty of care owed” to the workers, blaming the workers themselves for their own negligence in “failing to exercise reasonable care for (their) own health and safety.”
Jacobs also contends that the company shouldn’t have had to disclose the risks associated with fly ash or coal ash, because “those risks, to the extent they exist, are and have been commonly known.”
A spokesman for Jacobs Engineering said in an email to WorkersCompensation.com that the company would not comment on the lawsuit.
The trial in the case is expected to begin in 2018.
