Document N2YajpQj4MqDEv3dE7xgJ73vp

FILE NAME Synkaloid SYN DATE June 17 1987 DOC SYN032 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION 1987 Legal - Summary of deposition of Sidney J. Burgesons S.Bugison depo 1987 He's 81 started Sylla / Pm in 1955 over 40-5400-50 1955 people i51 educationschool safety training OSHA visited Compton plant plant ; Synkaloid made 15ad prod+ 30 prod sie Baltimore Synkaloid 1967 some relation relation to Murala Chemical 18 18-9 17 Subject is Mr. Sidney J. Burgeson Subject in Chicago and graduated from High School in Grovertown grew up Indiana in 1924. Subject was 81 years old at the time of this deposition 9 20-10 17 in Chicago Subjects first between 1924 and job was 1928. with International Harvester and later an assistant electricianSubject was a general laborer 10 19-11 23 In 1928 subject went to California and worked for the Reardon Company where his first job was as a weigh Subject was responsible for weighing major chemicals Subject did not work with any hazardous chemicals Subject worked for the Reardon company until 1955 a total of 27 years Subject left the company for personal reasons 12 1-25 In 1955 subject went to work for the Synkoloid Company in East Los Angeles At that point Synkoloid manufactured sundry products such as dry wall products paints spackling and joint compounds Subject believes that the Synkoloid Company was created in 1939 in Los Angeles California 13 1-14 16 Subject states that by 1955 Synkoloid was manufacturing asbestos containing products In 1955 subject was the General Production Manager for Synkoloid responsible for supervising all six of the Synkoloid plants These plants were located in Los Angeles Seattle Chicago Fort Wayne Patterson and New Jersey Subject had what he calls nominal safety duties Subject defines these duties as ensuring that the company policies were being followed These policies included the requirement that operators mixers and fillers wore respirators 14 19-15 24 Subject states that mixers and other with Synkoloid products were to people working some degree as early as 1955 exposed to asbestos dust Subject states that Synkoloid manufactured products containing many powders such as calcium carbonate plaster cement both white and grey and silica As a result Synkoloid personnel were exposed to the irritating effects of dust And it was for this reason only that certain employees were required to wear respirators 15 25-17 13 Subject states that in 1955 Synkoloid did not any specialized training regarding the safety aspects of production Subject states that in 1955 Synkoloid had no have knowledge regarding the dangers related to asbestos Subject states that Mr. Weck would have been the one most about the safety aspects regarding Synkoloid producktnsowliendgteheabl5e0s and 60s Mr. Weck who is deceased was at one time the President of Synkoloid 17 15-20 2 Subject states that in 1955 Synkoloid was manufacturing asbestos products at all of their plants Synkoloid would receive their asbestos in train carloads each carload would contain 80 thousand pounds The asbestos came packaged in either 50 or 100 pound paper bags Subject is unsure as to the amount of asbestos Synkoloid was using at any one time asbestos requirements varied from plant to plant Synkoloid purchased its asbestos from a Manville facility located in Canada 20 3-24 Subject does not know how many asbestos containing products Synkoloid was producing in the 50s 21 1-13 Subject as production manager was not responsible for product safety Subject contends that product safety was Mr. Weck's responsibility In the 50s subject did not talk to anyone regarding the potential hazards associated with exposure to asbestos 22 3-23 9 Subject was responsible for the individual safety of the 40 or so people he supervised as head of production Subject again states that it was company police to require individuals who worked around dust generating compounds to wear respirators 23 10-25 17 Subject became president and General Manager of Synkoloid in 1963 1964. Subjects duties included safetyIndirectly Subject states that questions regarding asbestos containing products and any possible associated health risks should indeed have come to him Subject remai asnVe icd e- president and General manager of Synkoloid until he retired in 25 19-26 3 Ten months after retirement subject went back to work as the Director of Special Project for the W.W. Henry Company 267-18 267-18 Subject states that prior to joining Synkoloid in 1955 he had recieved no specialized training regarding safety Subject does not remember receiving any specialized training regarding safety during his employment with Synkoloid 27 1-324 1-324 Subject agrees that products should be tested to ensure that they are safe prior to being released to the public Subject states that products were tested by the laboratory under Mr. Weck's supervision to ensure they were safe to use Subject states that he had no knowledge of what types of tests were conducted on asbestos containing products to ensure that they were indeed safe Mr. Weck never produced reports to or conducted discussions with subject regarding whether or not asbestos containing products were safe Subject states that Synkoloid products were tested regarding performance but to his knowledge they were not tested to ensure that asbestos containing products were safe regarding use by the public 32 8-33 2 Subject states that the closest medical library to the East L.A. plant was five or six miles away Synkoloid did not hire either anyone from outside or from within the company to check the existing literature regarding the possible health aspects associated with asbestos 33 19-25 about the or 75. It Subject states that the first time he read anything possible dangers associated with asbestos was in 1974 was a newspaper article regarding Manville 34 1-38 1 Synkoloid was making asbestos containing products in 1955. Subject knows of no research being conducted regarding the then existing medical literature to determine wither or not asbestos containing products were safe Again subject is not aware of the types of tests conducted by the laboratory on Synkoloid products 38 22-40 5 Subject believes that if any research testing or experimenting had been done by the Synkoloid company in order to determine whether or not asbestos containing products were safe he would have known about it Subject again states that Synkoloid did test their asbestos containing products for performance Subject does not know why these products were not tested concerning possible health hazards 40 7-42 15 Subject is not sure whether or not Synkoloid had a medical library in the 50s and 60s Subject does not think Synkoloid could have afforded a medical library Subject believes that most medical experts would not have been able to determine whether or not asbestos was dangerous as late as ten years ago 1977 43 1-25 dangerous Synkoloid Subject states that he was aware that asbestos was a material about 15 years ago 1972 Subject states that did nothing to determine whether or not asbestos was a dangerous material prior to 1974. Again subject states that to his knowledge no one at Synkoloid did a medical literature search conducted animal studies or preformed any type of research or testing to determine whether or not their asbestos products were dangerous 44 4-20 Subject states that the dangers associated with asbestos were kept a secret by the producers of asbestos until 1974 or thereabouts 45 1-472 1-472 Subject states that there were a total of 40 or people employed at the eight Synkoloid plants which subject supervisory responsibility for There were a total of about Synkoloid employees 50 had 50 material 47 3-48 17 During the entire time subject was employed with s Sa yw nkoloid they did not have a medical department Subject never any warning asbestos on the asbestos paper bags supplied by the in manufactures Synkoloid discontinued the use of asbestos materialor 1975 because by then it was known to be a hazardous 48 19-50 2 Synkoloid did not warn or their distributors indicating asbestos individual's health Synkoloid did not distribute information to could be harmful to an have a safety director of good safety practices not to test products prior to release the general public to ensure they are safe to 52 6-54 11 Subject states to his knowledge that during his employment Synkoloid did not have any documentation ie instructions or warnings regarding the use of asbestos products Also no documentation regarding the health containing hazards associated with Synkoloid's asbestos products As soon as Synkoloid their removed the asbestos from their products they reprinted packages to say asbestos free Subject states that to his knowledge during his employment with Synkoloid there interoffice communications discussing the potential were no hazards asbestos Subject states that as of would have seen any such memos president from 1965 on he 54 4-55 11 Subject states that during his time with he did not see anything in the medical scientific Synkoloid engineering or industrial literature that mentioned that asbestos injury to humans or animals Synkoloid did not advise tchaeused ultimate users of their products to protect themselves while using their asbestos containing products 55 12-58 6 Synkoloid required their employees to wear masks protection as a result of being exposed to high levels of and concentration No testing was conducted dust the amount of asbestos by Synkoloid to determine exposure the ultimate user would recieve as a result of using Synkoloids asbestos products Synkoloid did not put warnings on their asbestos products Subject states that at the point Synkoloid became aware of the dangers associated with asbestos they eliminated it from their not see products Subject did warnings on any of the other asbestos producers products 58 8-60 14 associated Subject states that with asbestos from the he learned news media about and the dangers environmentalists Subject agrees that to check products to ensure their safe constitutes good safety practice Subject states that he learned of the correlation between asbestos exposure and cancer in early 1975. He discovered in an article written about Manville this correlation Synkoloid used chrysotile asbestos in their products 60 15-61 19 Subject has neither read nor conducted determine which asbestos fibers research to cause cancer In retrospect subject believes Synkoloid should have conducted this type of preusbelaircch prior to releasing their asbestos products to the 62 18-64 17 Synkoloids research department began looking in 1974 for ways to eliminate asbestos in their products Synkoloid did not warn their distributors about the dangers associated with asbestos even did not issue after they themselves had a product recall of their found out Synkoloid asbestos containing also products after determining they could possibly be dangerous Subject states that no recall was issued because there was no proof that their asbestos products caused cancer 62 18-66 1 Subject states that as of this deposition he has no knowledge that Synkoloids asbestos containing products cause cancer He bases this conclusion on the fact that in his roughly 40 years in the business no one he knows in the manufacturing field has ever contracted cancer from asbestos No studies were conducted by Synkoloid to determine whether or not their personnel who were being exposed to asbestos were contracting asbestos related disease 66 2-67 14 Subject states that the Synkoloid medical records indicate that during subjects employment with the company no one quit the company due to illness asbestos related or otherwise The Synkoloid medical visiting doctors and that up until 1978 he records consisted of reports filed by hire medical checkups Subject states had not seen any medical articles that indicated that asbestos could be harmful to an individual's health 67 15-69 4 Subject contends that Synkoloid made little or no profit from their asbestos containing products during the 60s 695-71 695-71 20 Synkoloid research department did not focus on the health aspects related to exposure to asbestos Synkoloid did not conduct any house air counts to determine the levels of asbestos dust exposure OSHA did however conduct air sampling tests at Synkoloid's Compton facility Subject does not know were the OSHA report is Subject has no idea how many lawsuits Synkoloid is involved in Subject have been filed against Synkoloid asbestos containing products does not know how many claims regarding damage caused by 71 22-73 6 OSHA conducted its test of the Compton facility sometime in the 70s possible 78. Subject thinks the resulting report was good Synkoloid did not use air pumps in their facilities but did use large dust collectors Subject believes that the OSHA inspection had nothing to do with determining the amount of asbestos fibers in the air The workers in the Compton facility during the time of the OSHA inspection were working with raw asbestos material 73 8-74 25 Subject believes that the last year Synkoloid exposed any of their workers to raw asbestos fiber was in 1975 The people that were most likely to be exposed to asbestos in a Synkoloid facility were the mixer operators and the filler operators Subject has no knowledge as to how many worker comp claims alleging asbestos disease have been filed against Synkoloid 75 1-78 18 Robert Weck is asbestos containing products design of Synkoloids asbestos Synkoloid placed hoods on the the person who designed Synkoloids Subject acknowledges that Mr Weck's containing products was faulty mixers in order to reduce the amount of dust Subject does not know whether or not asbestos be present without being seen by the naked eye Synkoloid did conduct tests to determine whether or not unseen asbestos can not particles were present in their facilities Subject states that tests were not conducted because Synkoloid did not have any evidence that asbestos was harmful Subject believes that Synkoloid acted reasonably in relation to the distribution of its asbestos containing products 78 19-79 7 Synkoloid did not use laboratory animals to their asbestos products Epidemiological studies were not conducted regarding Synkoloid facilities test 798-80 798-80 15 Subject believes that Mr. Weck probably began looking for an asbestos substitute prior to 1974 or 1975. Subject knows what shellf ife is The shelf life forSynkoloids asbestos products is well over a year Subject does not remember whether Synkoloid took any actions to discourage the use by its customers of any stored asbestos products after Synkoloid became aware of the dangers associated with asbestos in 1974 or 1975 80 16-83 21 wall business Subject and then understands that Mr. Decker was in latter he was a painter Synkoloid the dry manufactured 15 asbestos containing products and about 30 non- asbestos products in the 60s The asbestos products were either powder or ready mix products Synkoloid withdrew its asbestos products from the market in 1975. These products were discontinued as the result of a newspaper article discussing the health hazards associated with asbestos During the 60s all eight Synkoloid facilities manufactured asbestos products These asbestos products included a joint compound a topping compound a texture paint product and a product called Triple Duty 83 23-84 15 Subject does not know if Synkoloid conducted research to determine the number of workers comp claims filed against them alleging asbestos related diseases Synkoloid did not employ or engage the services of an industrial hygienist 84 16-86 6 1955 and was consisted of Synkoloids research department was created in located in Los Angeles The research department between 2 and 3 people Subject does not know whether or not anyone inside Synkoloid ever directed the research department to study their asbestos products Subject does not believe that Synkoloid ever hired a medical professional to come in and determine whether or not their asbestos products were safe 86 7-86 15 other that Synkoloid air Subject is not sure whether any government agency facilties ever conducted air sample tests at any of the facilities to determine the amount of asbestos in the 86 16-90 7 Subject is not sure if Synkoloid upon learning of the dangers associated with asbestos ceased the production of asbestos containing products immediately Subject states that as president of Synkoloid once he learned that asbestos caused cancer he did not order the company officials to stop producing asbestos containing products immediately Subject states that when he left Synkoloid in 1978 he believes that they were no longer making asbestos containing products No 35 asbestos is a blend of fibers including asbestos 90 8-91 20 Subject does not know if Synkoloid ever produced brochures regarding its asbestos containing products Subject does not know what Synkoloids record retention policy is or was during his tenure with the company 90 21-97 16 Synkoloid was created in 1939. Its headquarters were in Los Angeles Subject believes that the Muralo company was part of the same corporation that owned Synkoloid Synkoloid was purchased by the Baltimore Paint and Chemical Company from Baltimore Maryland In the early 60s they were bought by a Colorado company subject does not remember the name of the company The Colorado company owned Synkoloid for a very short period of time Then Baltimore Paint bought them between 1961 and 1964. Synkoloid was still called Synkoloid while being owned by Baltimore Paint Synkoloid was controlled by the Baltimore Paint Board of Directors However the day to day decisions regarding Synkoloid were left to Synkoloid personnel Muralo was owned by Norton & Son who purchased Synkoloid from Baltimore Paint in the 70s 97 17-99 22 Subject had seen depositions from two gentlemen from Georgia Pacific in preparation for his deposition Subject had given one previous deposition but it did not involve asbestos Subject does not know any of the Plaintiffs attorneys Subject did study a Synkoloid products Brochure but did not read Synkoloids answers to interrogatories 100 1- 100 15 When subject learned about the dangers associated with asbestos from the newspaper article he did report this to the Synkoloid laboratory Subject told the lab to take the asbestos out of the products Subject does not remember writing any memos regarding the dangers associated with asbestos 100 16-101 16 Mr. Shuger of Baltimore Paint was the president of Subject does articles and Synkoloid while subject was the president not know how many documents such as scientific engineering articles there are that discuss the hazards of asbestos Synkoloids only warning placed on its products read asbestos free Synkoloids spackling powder did contain asbestos not 102 2-103 16 Synkoloid asbestos they might eat it There are many ways a person might misuse a product They might use to much or to little Subject has no evidence that Mr. Decker ever ate any of Synkoloids asbestos containing products Subject never heard of a corporate risk director Subject does know Dewitt Howse Synkoloid products were marketed for use by painters and paint contractors has Mr.