Document 0j4gyp3BoXxrQrYDVpZ3B7KV

FILE NAME: BF Goodrich (BFG) DATE: 1991 Oct 25 DOC#: BFG040 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Legal - Deposition ofWilliam McCormick i 1 1 IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS 2 CUYAHOGA COUNTY, OHIO 3 JANE CUNNINGHAM, Executrix for the Estate of 4 D a v i d G. C u n n i n g h a m , 5 Plaintif f , JUDGE TALTY 6 -vs - CASE NO. 150433 7 AKRON GASKET & PACKING ENTERPRISES, INC., et al., 8 Defendants. 9 10 11 D e p o s i t i o n of W I L L I A M M C C O R M I C K , t a k e n as if 12 u p o n c r o s s - e x a m i n a t i o n b e f o r e G a l a J. M a r z e c , a 13 Notary Public within and for the State of Ohio, 14 at the offices of B e v a n & Economus, N o r t h f i e l d 15 Road, Northfield, Ohio, at 10:00 a.m. on 16 Friday, O c t o b e r 25, 1991, p u r s u a n t to notice 17 and/or stipulations of counsel, on behalf of 18 the Plaintiff in this cause. 19 20 MEHLER & HAGESTROM 2 1 Court Reporters 1750 Midland Building 22 Cleveland, Ohio 44115 2 1 6 . 6 2 1. 4 9 84 23 FAX 621.0050 800.822.0650 2 4 25 29 1 employees ? 2 A. T h e r e wa s a p o t e n t i a l p r o b l e m . 3 Q. A r e y o u a w a r e of a n y s p e c i f i c i n d u s t r i a l 4 hygiene memos at B.F. Goodrich Company relating 5 to not potential problems but actual problems 6 based upon measurements taken by the industrial 7 hygiene department, asbestos exposure? 8 A. I t h i n k w e p e r h a p s t o o k so m e m e a s u r e m e n t s . I 9 think we perhaps took some measurements at this 10 operation. 11 Q. D i d t h o s e m e a s u r e m e n t s i n d i c a t e to y o u t h a t 12 there was a hazard to employees? 13 A. I d o n ' t r e c a l l s p e c i f i c a l l y , b e c a u s e t h a t ' s 14 been years ago. But we did do air sampling. 15 We also examined personnel. 16 Q. D i d y o u do ai r s a m p l i n g on a r e g u l a r b a s i s in 17 every department? 18 A. It d e p e n d s by w h a t y o u m e a n by r e g u l a r . 19 Q. E v e r y day? 20 A. No . 2 1 Q . Every week? 22 A . No . 23 Q. E v e r y m o n t h ? 24 A . No . 2 5 Q. E v e r y si x m o n t h s ? 30 1 A. It would vary. 2 Q. So you really don't know how often you did it 3 or how frequently? 4 A . No, I don't. 5 Q. There was no program set up at Goodrich which 6 established a periodic air sampling regimen in 7 every department that you know of? 8 A. N o . 9 Q. Are you familiar with whether or not -- strike 10 that. 11 Let's talk about air sampling a little bit 12 more. Did you personally ever conduct any air 13 sampling in any of the tire curing areas? 14 A. I probably did. 15 Q. Do you have any records of that that you can 16 show me? 17 A . No . 18 Q. Do you recall the results of those air 19 samplings ? 20 A . No . 21 Q. Do you recall how often you did it? 22 A . No . 23 Q. At Goodrich was the curing area also known or 24 were the curing areas - 2 5 There were more than one tire curing 43 1 A. A c o m p o u n d e r ? 2 Q. Yes. 3 A. A c o m p o u n d e r was b a s i c a l l y a c h e m i c a l e n g i n e e r 4 who devised formulations, checked raw 5 materials, did a number of things. 6 Q. W o u l d a c o m p o u n d e r h a v e b e e n e x p o s e d to 7 asbestos containing materials at the Goodrich? 8 A. P r o b a b l y not. 9 Q. Wa s r a w a s b e s t o s u s e d in the c a l e n d a r roo m? 10 A. No . 11 Q. D i d y o u or a n y o n e in y o u r d e p a r t m e n t eve r . 12 m o n i t o r for a s b e s t o s in t h e a m b i e n t a i r a t tlie 13 B.F. G o o d r i c h in t h e 194 0 's ' a m i l 5 0 's ? r 14 A. I do not kno w. T h a t ' s a l o n g t i m e ago. 15 Q. Do yo u r e c a l l s p e c i f i c a l l y w h e n y o u y o u r s e l f 16 first became involved in air monitoring at the 17 Goodrich? 18 A. Oh, I b e c a m e i n v o l v e d f r o m 1946 on. 19 Q. In air m o n i t o r i n g ? 2 0 A. To some d e g r e e . 21 Q. D i d y o u k e e p r e c o r d s ? 22 A . Yes . 23 Q. Y o u d o n ' t k n o w w h e r e t h e y are? 24 A. T h e y ' r e w i t h th e B.F. G o o d r i c h C o m p a n y . T h e y 25 were there when I retired. I don't know where 44 1 they are now. 2 Q. A r e y o u a w a r e as we sit h e r e t h a t a s b e s t o s 3 exposure can cause disease in human beings? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. W h e n d i d y o u f i r s t b e c o m e a w a r e of th a t fact? 6 A. Oh, I c a n ' t r e c i t e d a t e s . B ut c e r t a i n l y b a c k 7 in the late 30's probably. 8 Q. A r e y o u f a m i l i a r w i t h th e d e p a r t m e n t 153 in 9 Building 5-F at the Goodrich? 10 A. No. I'm not f a m i l i a r w i t h it. 11 Q. Do y o u k n o w w h e t h e r or not a s b e s t o s was e v e r 12 used as a b i n d e r in r u b b e r f o r m u l a t i o n in that 13 department? 14 A . I d o n ' t k n o w . 15 Q. Y o u d o n ' t kno w ? 16 A. No . 17 Q. Do yo u k n o w w h e t h e r e m p l o y e e s at the G o o d r i c h 18 ever used wire brushes and drills to cut 19 asbestos blocks used at Goodrich, one of the 20 hazards in the ink mill with asbestos exposure 2 1 at Goodrich? 22 A . No . 23 Q. Do y o u k n o w w h e t h e r or no t G o o d r i c h was e v e r 2 4 cited by the U-S- gove r n m e n t for violation of 25 standards regarding airborne asbestos? 53 1 Q. That's a very general term. Are you familiar 2 with a principle which indicates that asbestos 3 fibers once released into the ambient air have 4 a tendency to settle, and once settled, again 5 released based upon sweeping or blowing or some 6 other such of mechanical action? 7 A. Perhaps no more than any other particles of 8 dust that settle. 9 Q. 10 11 A . Do. y o u know w h e t h e r or. n o t a t G o o d r i c h t h a t was ever a : concern? Never a concern for us. 12 Q. N e v e r a c o n c e r n . O k a y . Why wa s t h a t ? 13 A . W h y i w a s it ? 14 Q . 15 A . 16 Y e s . Why w a s n ' t , i t a c o n c e r n ? We. i-wo^ktitai-tsf-Jae; a n Y rm o r # c o n c e r n e d ; a b o u t t h a t t^a .wi'tir- e w e e ip ih g i ci'tyij'j s t r e e t sc - - 17 Q. Why not? 18 A. -- which contain asbestos fibers. 19 Q. Except you had no control over the sweeping of 20 city streets containing asbestos fibers? 2 1 A. That's correct. 22 Q. But you did have control over Goodrich? 23 A. Yes and no, but not to that degree. 24 Q. When you did air sampling studies at the 25 Goodrich, if you found what you believed to be 54 1 asbestos in the ambient air, would you make a 2 report of it? 3 A . Oh, yes. 4 Q. W o u l d y o u let t h e e m p l o y e e s in the a r e a w h e r e 5 the sample was done know of the contents of 6 your report? 7 A. N o . 8 Q. W h y not? 9 A. T h e c o m p a n y p o l i c y , and I t h i n k th is wa s at 10 that time, p e r h a p s still is, v e r y general. The 11 reports went to management with 12 r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s , if there were any 13 recommendations. 14 Q. Up u n t i l the la te 50's at G o o d r i c h no on e ha d 15 done any work on anything that could be related 16 to a s b e s t o s , is that a fair s t a t e m e n t ? 17 A. Y o u ' l l h a v e to d e f i n e y o u r term s. You s a i d no 18 one did any work on asbestos. I can't verify 19 that. I don't know. 20 Q. D i d y o u e s t a b l i s h an i n d u s t r i a l h y g i e n e 2 1 laboratory at the Goodrich? 22 A . Y e s . 23 Q. In th e m i d to la t e 50' s? 24 A. I e s t a b l i s h e d a l a b o r a t o r y soon a f t e r I came 25 there in 1946.