Document bBX1OXLjLVLR5R5g0Kr6xBXqZ

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 WESTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK 3 4 HOLLY M. SMITH, Administratrix of the Estate of WILLIAM R. SMITH, Deceased, and Individually as 5 the Widow of WILLIAM R. SMITH and as Parent of and on Behalf of the Infant Child, ASHLEY MARIE 6 SMITH 7 Plaintiffs, 8 -vs- 9 4 -CV- 0 3 9 3 S 9 THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY, PPG INDUSTRIES, INC., 10 and SHELL OIL COMPANY, 11 Defendant. 12 THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY, PPG INDUSTRIES, INC., and SHELL OIL COMPANY 13 Third-Party Plaintiffs 14 -vs- 94-CV-0393S 15 THE GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY 16 Third-Party Defendant. 17 18 19 Deposition of LAWRENCE G. WINKWORTH, 20 held before Mary Ann Youknut, Notary Public, at 21 1600 Empire Tower, Buffalo, New York, on 22 Tuesday, July 18, 1995, at 9:30 a.m. pursuant to 23 notice. R&S165157 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 1 APPEARANCES: STEVEN H. WODKA, ESQ., 21 Rosslyn court 2 Little Silver, NJ 07739 Attorney for the Plaintiff 3 NIXON, HARGRAVE, DEVANS & DOYLE 4 BY: SAMUEL GOLDBLATT, ESQ., 1600 Empire Towers 5 Buffalo, New York 14202 Attorneys for Defendants and 6 Third-Party Plaintiffs 7 VOLGENAU & BOSSE BY: DIANE BOSSE, ESQ., 8 1400 Main Seneca Building Buffalo, NY 14203-2782 9 Attorneys for Third-Party Defendant 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 8Sl99(S?tf DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 3 1 REPORTER: Usual stipulations? 2 MR. GOLDBLATT: We'll talk to the witness 3 about reading and signing in a minute. Swear 4 him in first. 5 6 LAWRENCE G. WINKWORTH, 999 7 Balmer Road, Lot C-3, Youngstown, New York, 8 14174 having been first duly sworn, was examined 9 and testified as follows: 10 11 EXAMINATION BY MR. GOLDBLATT: 12 Q. Mr. Winkworth, my name is Sam Goldblatt and I 13 represent the Defendants in an action commenced 14 by Mrs. Smith which is pending here in the 15 Western District of New York. Mrs. Smith is 16 represented by Mr. Wodka who is seated to your 17 left. Ms. Bosse who is seated to my right 18 represents the 3rd Party Defendant, Goodyear in 19 that same action, so you understand each of the 20 people that are here, is that right? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. Do you understand that you are here today to 23 give testimony pursuant to subpoena as a DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165159 4 1 nonparty witness in this lawsuit, is that right? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. The woman seated to my left, your right is our 4 court reporter. She will be taking down each of 5 the questions that I ask and each of the answers 6 that you give. In order for her to do her job 7 it's important that you let me finish asking the 8 question before you answer and that I in turn 9 let you finish your answer before asking the 10 next question. Do you understand that? 11 A. Yes, I do. 12 Q. Okay. In addition, you may hear some of the 13 attorneys make objections for the record from 14 time to time. When you hear them do give them 15 an opportunity to do that so that we're not 16 talking over each other which makes it very 17 difficult for the court reporter, okay? 18 One of the first questions that you need to 19 answer is whether you would like* the opportunity 20 to read and review the transcript of your 21 deposition when it is ready for accuracy and to 22 be able to note any corrections that you feel 23 are necessary in your testimony and to sign it. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165160 5 X As a nonparty witness you have the right to read 2 and sign the transcript. 3 On the other hand you can waive that right 4 in which case the transcript will have been 5 deemed to be accurate. So the first question we 6 all have for you is what would you like to do as 7 a witness? Do you want to read and sign your 8 transcript or do you wish to waive that right? 9 A. I'd like to read and sign it. 10 Q. Okay. Then pursuant to our rules when the 11 original transcript is ready it will be provided 12 to you by the court reporter. The rules provide 13 that you have 30 days within which to note any 14 corrections and to return the correction sheets 15 and the signed transcript. If for whatever 16 reason you fail to do that within the 30 days 17 the transcript will be deemed to be accurate as 18 if you had read it, corrected it and signed it. 19 Do you understand that? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. Okay. With that, let's begin with the 22 deposition. I will be the first person to ask 23 you questions and as we proceed if for any DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165161 6 1 reason you don't understand what I'm asking you 2 or it's not clear to you what I'm asking, please 3 tell me and I will try to ask you a different 4 question or ask the question in a different 5 way. Do you have that understanding? 6 A Yes . 7 Q Okay. By whom are you currently employed? 8 A Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. 9 Q What do you do for them? 10 A Right now I'm in the shipping department as a 11 warehouse person. 12 Q How long have you held that position? 13 A Seven months. 14 Q How long in total have you been employed at 15 Goodyear? 16 A 27 years. 17 Q When did you begin? 18 A June 7th, 1968. 19 Q Are you currently assigned to any department 20 within Goodyear? 21 A Department 121. 22 Q What does that department make or do? 23 A It's a shipping department. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165162 7 1 Q. What product do you ship? 2 A. Vinyl and Nalex, can't think of their particular 3 name for it but it's a rubber compound. 4 Q. Okay. We will come back to your employment at 5 Goodyear in a minute. I want to ask you a 6 couple other background questions first. Are 7 you currently under any medical disability or 8 taking any medication or being treated for any 9 disease that might interfere with your ability 10 to testify here today? 11 A. No . 12 Q. Tell us your educational background, if you 13 will? 14 A Graduated from LaSalle High School in Niagara 15 Falls in 1967. I took a couple adult 16 continuation education courses. That s it. 17 Q What were these courses and the types of things? 18 A Bookkeeping. 19 Q Are you a native to Western New York? 20 A Yes . 21 Q Born and raised in Niagara County? 22 A Yes . 23 Q Lived there your entire life? ] R&S165163 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 8 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. Are you married? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. What is your spouse's name? 5 A. Penny. 6 Q. Kids, do you have any children? 7 A. Yes, I have five. 8 Q. Are you a member of any union? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. What union? 11 A. Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International 12 Union. 13 Q. Are you a member of a local? 14 A. Local 8-277 . 15 Q. Where is that local located? 16 A. 110 24th Street, Niagara Falls, New York, 14303. 17 Q. How long have you been a member of the 18 international and the local? 19 A. 27 years. Almost 27 years. 20 Q. Joined shortly after you began work at Goodyear? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. Have you held any positions, either appointed, 23 elected or voluntary in either the international DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165164 9 1 or the local? 2 A Yes, I have. 3 Q Would you tell me what positions you have held 4 and when? 5 A First off was union steward somewhere around 6 1970 and secondly as a secretary/treasurer from 7 April '91 until April '95 and now I'm currently 8 a trustee. 9 Q When did you become a trustee? 10 A April '95. 11 Q What does a union steward do? 12 A Protect the rights of the workers in the work 13 place. 14 Q How long were you a union steward? 15 A Maybe a year, year and a half. 16 Q Fair to say based on your recollection you were 17 a union steward from about 1970 to about 1971 or 18 early 1972? 19 A Yes, I would say that would be close. 20 Q Who-- strike that. You were a union steward 21 then for purposes of your employment at the 22 Goodyear facility, is that right? 23 A For purposes-- DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165165 10 1 Q. Well, let me ask you a different question then. 2 You told me that a union steward protects the 3 rights of workers? 4 A. Yes, according to the, according to the 5 agreement, the contract agreement between the 6 company and the bargaining unit members. 7 Q. Is that what is commonly referred to as a 8 collective bargaining agreement? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. The workers to whom you are referring are 11 workers for Goodyear, is that right? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. And were you responsible for a certain segment 14 of workers or all workers? Can you explain that 15 for us? 16 A. For a certain segment of workers. 17 Q. What was that segment? 18 A. My work group was in department 232, compound. 19 Q. Were there other union stewards dt Goodyear? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. Can you tell me about how many there were in 22 this period in the 1970's when you were a union 23 steward? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S?65166 11 1 A. I would say under 16. You know, 14 to 16. 2 Q. Was there a union steward in and around this 3 period of time for Department 145? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Who was that? 6 A. There was one per shift in each department. I 7 don't remember who they all were. I can't say. 8 I know a few but there was a steward at the 9 time, one would be Gene Campagna, Sr. 10 Q. Let me ask-11 A. There's quite a few of them. 12 Q. I understand. Let me ask you a more specific 13 question. Do you know who the union stewards 14 were for the shifts for Department 145 during 15 the years 1973 and 1974? 16 A. Not*offhand, no. 17 Q. Fair to say you were not a union steward for 18 that department during that time period, is that 19 correct ? 20 A. That is correct. 21 Q. Were you ever a union steward with 22 responsibility for Department 145? 23 A. No . DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165167 12 1 Q. How-- I'm sorry? 2 A. Yes. Yes, I was. 3 Q. You were? 4 A. Can't remember the years but it would be 5 somewhere around '84, '85 was also a union 6 steward again in Department 145. 7 Q. Is this an elected or appointed position? 8 A. Both. 9 Q. How did you get elected? 10 A. From the bargaining unit, employees on your 11 shift. 12 Q. Okay. So you get together and you decide who is 13 going to be the union steward and you have an 14 election, is that right? 15 A. If more than one person wants to run, you have 16 an election. 17 Q. Okay. And is the positi on for one year or more 18 than one year? 19 A. Two . 4 20 Q. Two year term. Are the re records kept of the 21 identity of the union s tewards elected for the 22 different time periods? 23 A. I'm not sure. R&S165168 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 13 1 Q. Were there records kept at that time when you 2 were a union steward? 3 A. I'm not sure. 4 Q. You were treasurer of the unit of the local 5 between 1991 and 1995? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. In that capacity did you become familiar with 8 that which were regularly generated, kept and 9 maintained by the local? 10 A. Not all, no. 11 Q. Was that secretary for the union in the 1970's 12 for the local? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. Who was the secretary? 15 A. Joe Lougette. 16 Q. Would the secretary be the person most familiar 17 with what's generated, kept and maintained by 18 the local? 19 A. Secretary, that is his responsibility. 20 Q. Was Bill Smith ever a steward? 21 A. Not that I am aware of. 22 Q. Do you know who currently is secretary of the 23 local? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165169 14 1 A. John Pallaci, P-a-1-1-a-c-i. 2 Q. Did you ever hold any office or position at the 3 international? 4 A. No . 5 Q. Are you acquainted with any of the attorneys or 6 the parties to this lawsuit? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. Who are you acquainted with? 9 A. Steven Wodka. 10 Q. Te 11 me what the nat ure 11 A. I met Steve a few ye ar s 12 di s t r ic t eight counc il 13 Q. In what capacity was he 14 A. He was representing one 15 Q. Wh at is the district ei 16 A. Th at is for the loca 1 8 17 f o r dis trict eight f or 18 Q. Do es th e counsel con sis 19 f o r the different lo cal 20 A. Ye s . 21 Q. Do you know what the se 22 th ey' re located with in 23 A. Th ere a re 17 . DE PAOLO- CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165170 15 1 Are any of them plants involved in the 2 manufacture or production or use of vinyl 3 chloride polymers or vinyl chloride polymerized 4 products? 5 A Not that I know of. 6 Q Tell me a little bit more about your 7 acquaintance with Mr. Wodka. Have you met him 8 on other occasions? 9 A Yes, I have. 10 Q And on about how many occasions? 11 A Very few. Less than five or six times. 12 Q When was this district counsel meeting that you 13 first met Mr. Wodka at? 14 I would roughly say June, May or June of '93. I 15 think it was Cherry Hill, New Jersey. 16 Now, other than that meeting that you had have 17 there also been district counsel meeting--that 18 is a poor question. Let me rephrase. 19 The other five of six times that you met 20 with Mr. Wodka were these also at district 21 council meetings? 22 A All but one. 23 Q And about how often are these district council DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165171 16 1 meetings held? 2 A. Every six months. 3 Q. And have you seen Mr. Wodka then at each of the 4 district council meetings that have been held 5 between June of 1993 and the present? 6 A. Yes. Comes in on occasion, yes. 7 Q. Has his role or reason for being there changed 8 from meeting to meeting or always the same? 9 A. I'm not sure. 10 Q. Have you had any professional dealings with Mr. 11 Wodka in connection with your union position or 12 activities? 13 A. I would say we've referred clients to him that I 14 know of. 15 Q. What kind of clients? 16 A. That was not my end of the dealings in my 17 local. I know people have been referred to him 18 from our local. 19 Q. Who is the "we" that you are referring to? 20 A. Executive board members of my local, mainly the 21 president and vice-president. 22 Q. So that group has, from time to time, been in a 23 position to make a recommendation to someone DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165172 17 1 regarding counsel for some matter and your 2 testimony is that on these occasions Mr. Wodka 3 was the name that was provided to these 4 individuals, correct? 5 A. Other lawyers also but yes, he was one. 6 Q. Okay. Do you yourself have an attorney client 7 relationship with Mr. Wodka? 8 A. No. 9 Q. Not representing you currently in any matter? 10 A. No . 11 Q. Has he represented you in any matter in the 12 pas t ? 13 A. No. 14 Q. Have you ever met with Mr. Wodka concerning 15 vinyl chloride matters? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. When did you first meet with him about that 18 subject ? 19 A. Last night. * 20 Q. Prior to last night had you had any discussions 21 with Mr. Wodka either in person or on the 22 telephone or communications in writing 23 concerning anything having to do with vinyl R&S165173 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 18 1 chloride ? 2 A Yes . 3 Q When was the first communications between you 4 and Mr. Wodka about vinyl chloride? 5 A It's been in the past year. I would not give 6 you exact dates. 7 Q Have you had more than one communication with 8 him or just one during the past year? 9 A More than one. 10 Q About how many? 11 A Maybe three. 12 Q Have any of these communications involved face 13 to face meetings? 14 A I think only one, that was last night. 15 Q So the first time that you met face to face with 16 Mr. Wodka about anything having to do with vinyl 17 chloride is last night, is that right? 18 A Yes . 19 Q Was that in preparing for the testimony that you 20 are giving here today? 21 A Uh-huh. 22 Q Yes? 23 A Yes . DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165174 19 1 Q. Let me back up and talk no you about the prior 2 communications that you had with him, okay? 3 A. I'm sorry. 4 Q. That's okay. The court reporter can take down a 5 nod of the head but we leave it up to her to 6 interpret how that nod is so please try and 7 answer audibly. The question I had for you; 8 what were the nature of these prior 9 communications? Were they in writing, on the 10 telephone? Tell us what they were? 11 A. On the telephone. 12 Q. Were all of them on the telephone? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. Have you exchanged any communications in 15 writing? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. Tell us what written communications you have 18 had? 19 A. He sent me a picture of Bill Smith and a list of 20 people that may have been on his shift during 21 the time in question. 22 Q. Now, did this written communication follow one 23 of your telephone communications? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&St65175 20 1 A Yes . 2 Q In other words, he just didn't send you the 3 letter and picture out of the blue? 4 A Yes . 5 Q It was a prior telephone communication? 6 A Yes . 7 Q Was the prior telephone communication your first 8 communication with Mr. Wodka about vinyl 9 chloride ? 10 MS. BOSSE: I don't think-11 Let me ask a different question then. Thank 12 you. You told me before that you had one to 13 three communications with Mr. Wodka? 14 A Telephone. 15 Q Communications and you told me that you 16 exchanged one written communication with him and 17 you told me that your written communications 18 were preceded by a verbal or telephone 19 communication. What I'm trying to find out is 20 did you get the picture from him right after the 21 first conversation that you had? 22 A I believe it was, yes. 23 Q So let's talk about that very first conversation DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165176 21 1 you had with Mr. Wodka. Did you, before you got 2 the picture and list, did you call him or did he 3 call you? 4 That is a good question. I can't remember right 5 offhand how it started. 6 Q. Did anyone ask you to CO 7 the Smith matt er ? 8 A. Maybe, yes 9 Q. Can you be any more spec 10 particular ask you to do 11 A. I believe it may have be 12 board. 13 Q. This would be the executive board of the local? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. And who on the board made that request to you? 16 A. What it is, I may have seen a letter that Mr. 17 Wodka sent to the local and I responded on it. 18 Q. Do you have a copy of that letter? 19 A. No, I don't. 20 Q. What did that letter say? 21 A. I don't remember the exact content of it other 22 than I believe he asked for help in finding 23 people that would remember working with Bill DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165177 22 1 Smith. 2 Q. Why did you respond to that letter? 3 A. I remember working directly with Bill Smith. 4 Q. When do you remember that? 5 A. Somewhere between December of ' 73 and December 6 of '74 . 7 Q. When you-- by the way, did anyone else respond 8 to that letter, if you know? 9 A. All I know of is the o ther person that showed up 10 here today. 11 Q. Is that Mr. Messing? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. Is it your belief that he responded to that same 14 inquiry? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. Now, regardless of whether he called Mr. Wodka 17 or he called you, tell me as best as you can the 18 substance of what you discussed during that 19 first telephone conversation? 20 A. If I had a recollection of working directly with 21 Bill Smith and whether I knew prior to 1974, if 22 I knew if vinyl chloride was harmful to us in 23 the work place. I think in general that would DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 15178 23 1 be a start to answer your question. 2 Q. So your general recollection is that in 3 substance you discussed two issues, one whether 4 you recall working with Bill Smith during that 5 time frame and two, what if anything you knew 6 about the health affects of working with vinyl 7 chloride prior to 1974, is that fair? 8 A. Right. 9 Q. Were these questions that Mr. Wodka asked of 10 you? 11 A . Yes . 12 Q. Now, as of that moment in time did you remember 13 Bill Smith? 14 A. Oh, yes. 15 Q. Did you work with him for any period of time 16 other than December of 1973 to December of 1974? 17 A . Yes . 18 Q. What other periods had you worked with Mr. 19 Smith? 20 A. I was on the same shift with Bill from 21 approximately, approximately now, 1980 to 1985. 22 Q. In what capacity? 23 A. 145 . DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165179 24 1 Q. Did you work with Bill Smith on the same shift 2 as Bill Smith from 1985 to 1993? 3 A. Say that again. 4 Q. Did you work on the same shift with Bill Smith 5 at any later point in time after 1985? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. What other periods of time did you work the same 8 shift with him? 9 A. I took a job that was called day shift relief in 10 the E-2 building that would work with these 11 people on Bill's shift one week a month when we 12 were on day shift. 13 Q. Was Bill on swing shift during this period of 14 time? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. And referring to the period from 1985 until he 17 left Goodyear in about January of 1993? 18 A. Yes . 19 Q. And you were assigned to work the day shift 20 only, is that right? 21 A. Yes . 22 Q. So whenever his shift worked day shift then you 23 would be on the same shift, is that right? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165180 25 1 A. Correct. 2 Q. Now, do you claim to have worked side by side 3 with Mr. Smith during any of these periods of 4 t ime ? 5 A. Oh, yes. 6 Q. Which periods of time? 7 A. The earliest recollection would be, like I said, 8 between December '73 and December '74 and 9 occasionally on other dates. The other dates 10 from '85 to '93 that is the occasional part but 11 we interacted together between my job and his 12 job, you know. 13 Q. How did your jobs interact together during that 14 period of time? 15 A. He supplied vinyl chloride to the building and I 16 in turn charged reactors with this. 17 Q. During this period of time after 1985 was Bill 18 involved in unloading tank cars of VC delivered 19 to the facility? 20 MR. WODKA: I thought you were talking about 21 '80 to '85. 22 MR. GOLDBLATT: Your point is well taken. I 23 was looking at the later part of my notes DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165181 26 1 instead of the first part. 2 MR. WODKA: Why don't you clarify that. 3 Q. During the period from 1980 to 1993 did you 4 understand that Bill was involved in unloading 5 of tank cars of VC for Department 145? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. And then your job involved the charge of 8 reactors within the department building with 9 that VC, is that right? 10 A. Right. 11 Q. Did you tell all of this to Mr. Wodka during 12 this first conversation? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. And do you recall what Mr. Smith looked like? 15 A. Oh, yes. 16 Q. What else did you tell Mr. Wodka during that 17 first conversation about your work relationship 18 with Bill Smith, if anything? 19 A. One thing that stayed in my memory about working 20 with Bill was at the time I was in the 21 maintenance shop and that was a shift, as a 22 shift maintenance person I would follow 23 particular shift and one of my duties were DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165182 27 1 installing a platform in reactors, large 2 reactors in order for individuals to reach the 3 top of the reactors for cleaning and the 4 operators used to assist in assembling these 5 platforms in the reactors and one time in 6 particular I remember Bill, he almost dropped a 7 piece of it on me. 8 Q So you have an independent recollection of that 9 but you almost got hit by something? 10 A Oh, yes. 11 Q Was this during this period of 1973 to 1974? 12 A Oh, yes. 13 Q Did you relate anything else to Mr. Wodka during 14 that conversation about this same subject? 15 A I believe he questioned me about the use of 16 respirators during that time and I think that 17 was about it basically. 18 Q what did you tell Mr. Wodka on the subject of 19 respirator use during that time period? 20 A I told him that respirators were not given to 21 the operators, to my knowledge, to clean 22 reactors, ever. 23 Q You're talking right through the present? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165183 28 1 A No . 2 Q Okay. You used the word ever. 3 A Ever up to somewhere near 1975 is when Goodyear 4 began instituting mandatory wearing of 5 respirators when in high parts per million 6 exposure. 7 Q To vinyl chloride? 8 A To vinyl chloride. 9 Q Is it your testimony then that to the best of 10 your knowledge Goodyear did not issue 11 respirators to Department 145 chemical and 12 production operators for use in cleaning 13 reactors until sometime in 1975? 14 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 15 A Pardon? 16 Q She objected to the form. You may answer the 17 question. I told you from time to time the 18 attorneys will interpose objections. 19 Yes, I do not remember the operators being given 20 respirators. 21 Did you ever see Bill Smith wear a respirator 22 during 1973 or 1974? 23 Sir? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165184 29 1 Q. Do you know of your own knowledge whether Bill 2 Smith was issued a respirator by Goodyear during 3 1973 or 1974? 4 A. No, he was not. 5 Q. To the best of your knowledge he was not issued 6 one ? 7 A. No . 8 Q. Did you ever-- strike that. What is it about 9 1975 that you recall as the date when 10 respirators were issued by Goodyear to workers? 11 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 12 A. The respirators that they issued were lined 13 respirators where you had an air supply to 14 them. The pipe work for this supply system 15 probably was not completed until late '74, early 16 '75, maybe. 17 Q. So then is it your belief that the issuance of 18 respirators was tied in with the completion of 19 an air supply piping system for the facility? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. Were you involved in installing that system? 22 A. Yes, I was. 23 Q. What did you do in that regard? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165185 30 1 A. In the E-l, in the E-2 building worked overtime 2 installing these lines. 3 Q. Were respirators ever issued for use in the E-l 4 building? 5 A. Not to the chemical operators or the production 6 people, no. Not in that time period. 7 Q. You agree with me that Goodyear ultimately 8 decided to close the E-l building, is that 9 right ? 10 A. Oh, yes. 11 Q. Do you recall when that was? 12 A. Late '74 . 13 Q. And so my question to you then is, let me ask 14 this more specific question-- strike that. Was 15 the air supply system that you described 16 completed for building E-l? 17 A. No . 18 Q. Were respirators ever issued for use on an air 19 supply basis within building E-l*by production 20 or chemical operators such as Bill Smith? 21 A. No, I don't believe they were. 22 Q. So the air supply was not completed and the 23 respirators were not issued for use in that DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165186 31 1 building, is that your testimony? 2 A. Right. What they did do there, they had areas 3 that they considered hot points, that they 4 wanted the air supply done, completed first and 5 it was for mostly for maintenance people that 6 had to clean VC filters. 7 Q. And these were the hot spots, these were 8 completed first? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Are you telling us that prior to 1975 11 respirators were issued to some but not all of 12 the Department 145 employees? 13 A. The Department 145 employees were not given 14 respirators, maintenance personnel were. 15 Q. So maintenance personnel who worked within the 16 Department 145 facility were issued respirators 17 prior to 1975, is that your testimony? 18 A. The shift maintenance men were issued 19 respirators and the rest of the maintenance 20 department had access to respirators from the 21 maintenance department. 22 Q. Did Bill Smith ever work in these groups during 23 this period of '73 to '74? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 C3o3 Co2J>1? CD 32 1 A. No . 2 Q- We were talking about the first conversation 3 with Mr. Wodka. Did you tell him anything else 4 about the subject of respirator use that we have 5 not talked about yet? 6 A . Not that I know of. 7 Q. The other subject that you discussed with Mr. 8 Wodka during this first conversation had to do 9 with what you knew about the effects of working 10 with vi nyl chloride pr ior to 19 74 . Tell me what 11 you dis cussed with Mr. Wodka ab out that s ub;j ect ? 12 A. He a ske d me i f I kn ew if it was ha rmful, if I 13 knew wh ether it was or was not harmful to 14 brea the vinyl chlor ide before 1 974 and I told 15 him no . 16 Q. Prior to 1974 were you given any information by 17 Goodyear about the health effects, if any, of 18 working with vinyl chloride at that plant? 19 A. No . 20 Q. Prior to January of 1974 were you given anything 21 by the company in writing about that subject? 22 A. No . 23 Q. Prior to January 1974 had you seen anything DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165188 33 1 posted at the plant, either a notice or warning 2 sign or any other cautionary information about 3 the subject of the health effects of working 4 with vinyl chloride? 5 A. No . 6 Q. Now, the questions that you were asked were 7 keyed to 1974 in your first conversation with 8 Mr. Wodka. Now, let me ask you the other side 9 of the question. Did there come a time after 10 January of 1974 when you did learn information 11 about the health effects of working with vinyl 12 chloride? 13 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form of the 14 question in that you said after January. 15 Q. Let me ask a different question. 16 MR. WODKA: When did, when did you learn 17 about the health effects. 18 A. I learned-19 Q. Let me finish the question. When did you learn 20 about the health effects, if any, of working 21 with vinyl chloride at the Goodyear Niagara 22 Falls plant? 23 A. I learned about the possibility of health DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&Sf65189 34 1 effects of vinyl chloride at a union meeting 2 somewhere in February of 1974. 3 Q Did you talk about this subject with Mr. Wodka 4 during that first conversation? 5 A I may have. 6 Q And who was at that meeting? 7 A Telephone conversation. .8 Q No, I'm sorry. The union meeting that you 9 referred to in February 1974, who was there? 10 A The executive board, the local executive board 11 and a minimum of 15 people to start the 12 meeting. Who in general, I kn ow Frank McCalley 13 was president at the time and I believe Joe 14 Lougette was secretary. 15 Q The meeting was open to all of the members of 16 the local? 17 A Oh, yes. 18 Q And was there a prior notice distributed to the 19 members about the meeting? * 20 A Yes . 21 Q And did that notice reflect that this was a 22 subject to be discussed at the meeting? 23 A I don't remember offhand. R&S165190 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 35 1 Q. You recall getting notice of this meeting and 2 you knew it was going to take place? 3 A. The meeting times and dates are always posted 4 ten days prior to the meeting on the union, on 5 the union bulletin board sign at the plant. 6 Q. Was the meeting called in response to the 7 disclosure by BF Goodrich of the death of 8 several of its workers in Louisville from 9 angiosarcoma of the liver, do you know? 10 MR. WODKA: No foundation. 11 MR. GOLDBLATT: I asked if he knew. 12 A. No . 13 Q. Do you know what'prompted the meeting? 14 A. Yes They were trying to f ind out why some of 15 the workers were becoming ill at the plant in 16 the vinyl department. 17 Q. Do you know what kind of illness they were 18 getting? * 19 A. A type of liver cancer that I know of and they 20 listed other things but I don't remember exactly 21 what they were. 22 Q. Was that the first time that you had heard of a 23 possible link between exposure to vinyl chloride R&S165191 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 36 1 and cancer? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. Now, prior to that meeting at the union local 4 had you received any information from Goodyear 5 about that subject? 6 A. No . 7 Q. Had you attended any meeting at Goodyear about 8 that subject? 9 A. No . 10 Q. We're talking about your first discussion with 11 Mr. Wodka. Did you talk about anything else 12 with him during that first conversation that you 13 have not told me about already? 14 A. Like I said, not off the top of my head. I 15 can't think of anything. 16 Q. Did Mr. Wodka ask you if you would be a witness 17 in Bill Smith's case? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. Did you agree to do that? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. Did he ask you if you knew of anyone else who 22 might have knowledge about these same subjects? 23 A. He asked me if I knew of anyone. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165192 37 1 Q. Were you able to provide him with the names of 2 any other people who you felt woul d know about 3 the same things that you know abou t? 4 A . One . 5 Q. Who is that? 6 A. Charles Messing. 7 Q. Mr. Messing, do you understand, is also going to 8 testify here today, is that right? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Now, how is it then or-- strike that. When you 11 left this first conversation with Mr. Wodka did 12 you understand that he was going to be sending 13 you the photograph and the list that you told me 14 about earlier? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. Why was he sendi 17 the circumstance 18 A. He sent me a pho 19 dur ing this time 20 Q. Why was that? 21 A. Bee ause his hair 22 couple pounds, changed his appearance, combed 23 his hair differently. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165193 38 1 Q. When you received that photograph did you 2 recognize him as the man that you had been 3 thinking about? 4 A. Oh, yes. 5 Q. Do you still have that photograph? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. Did you bring it with you here today? 8 A. No . 9 Q. Do you have the list that Mr. Wodka provided 10 you? 11 A. I believe I do. 12 Q. Did you bring that with you today? 13 A. No, I did not. I didn't even think of it. 14 Q. Did you receive a subpoena asking you to bring 15 some documents today? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. Did you make a search of your personal 18 recollection to see if you had anything 19 responsive to that subpoena? * 20 A. No . 21 Q. Did you find anything? 22 A. Not really, no. 23 Q. Tell us what you did to look for records? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 39 1 A. I have a small metal chest at home that I keep 2 some documents in but I didn't have anything in 3 there on Goodyear. 4 Q. Did you maintain files at the union local? 5 A. Yes , I did. 6 Q. Did you check these files to see if you had 7 anything responsive to the company? 8 A. No. They were all financial files is all I 9 kept. 10 Q. So to the best of your knowledge no documents in 11 your possession at home or at the facility, the 12 local that you have that are responsive to the 13 subpoena? 14 A. Right. 15 Q. But you do believe that you have a photograph 16 and list some where at home? 17 A. Yes, I believe, I do believe I do. I could not 18 put my hands on it and I didn't think of it 19 until I was on my way up here. * 20 Q. Do you have any objection to providing that 21 photograph and that list when you return the 22 original transcript so it can be made a 23 permanent record of your deposition? S6tS9lSyy DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 40 1 A No . 2 Q I ask you then to do that? 3 A As long as I can find it. 4 Q Will you make a search? 5 A Oh yes, I will. 6 Q Okay. Now from the list that Mr. Wodka provided 7 you were you able to identify any people who may 8 have worked with Mr. Smith during this same time 9 period? 10 A Nobody really remembered him then. 11 Q Did you actual talk to these folks and try to 12 find out who might remember him? 13 A Yes . 14 Q After you got that list you made your own 15 investigation for Mr. Wodka to see if any of 16 these people had knowledge about the same 17 subject, right? 18 A Yes . 19 Q And did you talk to each one of t'hem? 20 A No. Some weren't working at Goodyear anymore 21 and I talked to most people that were on that 22 list. 23 Okay. Was Mr. Messing the only person that DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 o33 0> oC>D 41 1 you' ve been able to ide ntify who ha s knowledge 2 abou t these subjects? 3 A Yes . Wait . 4 Q I' m sorry, g o ahead. 5 A Mr . Messing is the only one who had direct 6 reco 1lection of working with Bill S mith . 7 Q Did any of t hese people have knowle dge about 8 thes e two subjects that you explore d with Mr. 9 Wodk a on the phone ? 10 A. No . 11 Q. Did you talk to anybody at the local or the 12 international about what Niagara Falls plant 13 employees such as yourself were told about the 14 health effects of working with vinyl chloride 15 either before 1974 or after? 16 A. Did I have conversations with the 17 international? 18 Q. In other words, did you make inquiry at either 19 the local or international for information about 20 these two subjects that you discussed with Mr. 21 Wodka? 22 A. No . 23 Q. Did you talk to anyone else associated with the DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165197 42 1 union like Mr. DeLong or anyone else about these 2 subj ects? 3 A. I personally did not, no. 4 Q. Did you suggest that Mr. Wodka talk to anybody 5 associated with the union? 6 A. I may have, yes. 7 Q. Who did you suggest? 8 A. Like I said, I may have. I'm not sure if I did 9 or not. 10 Q. Do you have a recollection of who that might 11 have been? 12 A. No . 13 Q. During the course of your conversation with any 14 of the folks listed that you talked to did you 15 learn of the existence of any documents or 16 writings about these subjects? 17 A. None. 18 Q. Okay. Then you had one or two more telephone 19 conversations with Mr. Wodka before your meeting 20 last night. Tell us what was discussed during 21 these conversations? 22 A. One was in general if I did find anybody that 23 remembered working with Bill and I believe that DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 43 1 was, and I believe that was a short call and the 2 other call I don't really remember what we 3 discussed other than the vinyl chloride issue. 4 Q. So you recall one call where you reported the 5 results of your having contacted these folks to 6 see who knew something about that subject, 7 right ? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. Then you had one other conversation about the 10 vinyl chloride issue generally? 11 A. In general, yes. 12 Q. And what did you discuss during that 13 conversation? 14 A. I don't remember. I didn't take notes during 15 the conversation. 16 Q. Have no notes of any of these conversations? 17 A. No . 18 Q. Did you discuss any subject other than these 19 that you identified for us already? 20 A. I don't believe so. 21 Q. Okay. Have you given any statements in writing 22 to Mr. Wodka or anyone else about these matters? 23 A. I don't know if I wrote anything for you or DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&SI65199 44 1 not. Did I personally you mean? 2 MR. WODKA: Answer his question. 3 A. I don't remember if I did or not. 4 Q. If you did, did you keep a copy of it? 5 A. No . 6 Q. Did you give any interviews that were recorded, 7 to your knowledge? 8 A. I may have with Mr. Wodka, yes. 9 Q. And were these the telephone conversations? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. Did he ask you for permission to record them? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. Did you give him that permission? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. And in preparing for your testimony here today 16 were you given an opportunity to review the 17 transcripts of the recordings, if any? 18 A. No, I didn't really need to, I don't think. 19 Q. Did you ask for that opportunity? 20 A. No . 21 Q. Was that opportunity offered to you? 22 A. I believe it was through a telephone 23 conversation, yes. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165200 45 1 Q. And was anything read to you that you understood 2 was from these recordings? 3 A . No . 4 Q. Have you been interviewed by anyone else about 5 this case? 6 A. I spoke with Diane one day. 7 Q. You're referring to Ms. Bosse p 8 A. Yes . 9 Q. When did you do that? 10 A. Monday. 11 Q- That would be Monday of this week? 12 A. I believe it was. 13 Q. How did that come about? 14 A. She sent a fax to the plant requesting to meet 15 with me prior to this meeting 16 Q. And who gave you that fax? 17 A. Jim Leary. 18 Q. Who is he? 19 A. He is personnel staff. * 20 Q. Personnel staff. Was the fax directed to him or 21 to you? 22 A. To me . 23 Q. Did you bring that fax with you here today? R&S165201 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 46 A No, not the fax. 2 Q Do you have a copy of that fax? Did you keep 3 it? 4 A Yes, I did. 5 Q Would you also attach that with your transcript? 6 A Sure . 7 Q By the way, did you bring any documents here 8 today? 9 A No . 10 Q All right. So there was a request from Ms. 11 Bosse through personnel at Goodyear to meet with 12 you before you testified here today? 13 A Yes . 14 Q What did, what did it say, do you remember? 15 A Basically the time and you know, it was an hour 16 prior to meeting here and she wanted to go over 17 what was going to be discussed. 18 Q Were you lead to believe that you had to meet 19 with her? 20 A No . 21 Q Were you lead to understand that it was 22 voluntary? 23 A I asked if it was voluntary. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&Sl 65202 47 1 Q. You wanted to know whether you had to or not? 2 A. Yes . 3 Q. Who did you make that inquiry of? 4 A. I asked Ms. Bosse myself. 5 Q. On the phone you called her up? 6 A. Yes . 7 Q. What did she tell you? 8 A. She said no, it was not mandatory, that it would 9 be voluntary. 10 Q. Did she tell you anything else? 11 A. Not as such. That's basically the conversation. 12 Q. And did you agree to meet with her? 13 A. No, I did not. 14 Q. When she told you it was voluntary you decided 15 not to meet with her? 16 A. Yes . 17 Q. Why would you, tell me why you decided not to 18 meet with her? 4 19 A. I didn't feel it was necessary. 20 Q. Why did you feel it was necessary to meet with 21 Mr. Wodka last night but you felt it was not 22 necessary to meet with Ms. Bosse? 23 MR. WODKA: Objection to form. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 J3 is 05 cn ft) s 48 1 A. I would say I wanted to make the testimony, the 2 deposition. 3 Q. Did you agree to meet with Mr. Wodka but not Ms. 4 Bosse because you felt that you wanted to be 5 cooperative with Mr. Wodka but not with Ms. 6 Bosse? 7 A. No . 8 Q. What reason did you give Ms. Bosse for refusing 9 to go meet with her? 10 A. I felt it was not necessary. 11 Q. Why did you feel it was not necessary? 12 A. I just didn't feel like it was necessary. 13 Q. Why did you feel it was necessary to meet with 14 Mr. Wodka last night? 15 MR. WODKA: Objection. It's been asked and 16 answered. 17 MS. BOSSE: Well, I would make an 18 observation for the record, that the prior 19 answer was not responsive so I tliink that is an 20 inappropriate objection. 21 MR. WODKA: Referring to the question 22 before? I think you pounded this pretty well, 23 Sam. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165204 49 1 MR. GOLDBLATT: I'd like an answer to the 2 question. Read it back. 3 (record read back by the reporter) 4 Why did you feel that it was necessary to meet 5 with Mr. Wodka last night? 6 MR. WODKA: Objection. Its been asked and 7 answered? 8 A He asked me to. 9 Q Where did you meet with Mr. Wodka last night? 10 A At my home. 11 Q About what time? 12 A Four o'clock p.m. 13 Q How long did the meeting last? 14 A Hour, hour and a quarter. 15 Q And did you discuss any subject other than your 16 testimony here today? 17 A No . 18 Q Tell me in substance what you talked about with 19 Mr. Wodka during this hour or hour and a half 20 meeting last night? 21 He just asked, he just asked me questions 22 regarding what was going to take place here 23 today. Asked me if I still remembered working DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165205 50 1 with Bill and just things of that nature and the 2 vinyl chloride and the respirator. 3 Did he ask you the questions that he suggested 4 might be asking during the course of your 5 deposition here today? 6 A Repeat that. 7 Q In other words, did he go over with you what he 8 felt might be asked of you during your 9 deposition here today? 10 A Yes . 11 Q Did you give him the answers to these questions 12 as you felt they were? 13 A Yes . 14 Q Did you have a chance to discuss these answers 15 with him? 16 A There was not much discussion of the answers. 17 Q You had an opportunity to ask him whatever 18 questions that you had about these subjects, 19 right? 20 A Yes . 21 Q And he had an opportunity to ask you whatever he 22 wanted about these subjects, right? 23 I believe so, yes. DE PA0L0-CR0SBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 ex <2 03 Orooo>l 51 1 Q Was your conversation recorded or transcribed 2 like your deposition is here today? 3 A Just took a couple notes. 4 Q Is that he took notes? 5 A Yes . 6 Q He took notes of what you said? 7 A Yes . 8 Q Were you given a copy of these notes? 9 A No . 10 Q Okay. I'd like to ask you as best at you can 11 tell me the substance of what information you 12 provided him last night? 13 A Just my recollection of working with Bill. I 14 told him why I remember, because he almost 15 dropped a piece of equipment on me and asked me 16 about respirators being used prior to '74. 17 Q Did you have any conversation about the subject 18 of exposure limits at Goodyear before and after 19 1974? 20 A Could you be more definite? What are you 21 saying? 22 Q You used a term before, parts per million. Do 23 you remember that? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 65207 52 1 A Yes . 2 Q And what does that term mean to you? 3 A Parts of vinyl chloride in the atmosphere. 4 Q Measurement of the amount of vinyl chloride in 5 an environment? 6 A Right. 7 Q Are you familiar with any limits for the 8 exposure of workers to vinyl chloride in the 9 work place? 10 A Now I am, yes. 11 Q Did you discuss that subject with Mr. Wodka? 12 A No. We discussed parts per million of VC in 13 strip batches. 14 Q What is a strip batch? 15 A Once a reactor is finished reacting they 16 transfer it to a reservoir and they steam strip 17 it under a vacuum. 18 Q Do they steam strip the reactors with a vacuum? 19 A Some they do, some they don't. * 20 Q Okay. My question is did he-21 A Depends on the type of material. 22 Q Then what is steam strip? 23 A Q and M resin. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165208 53 1 Q So these are particular resins that are placed 2 in reactors at Goodyear? 3 A Right but they're steam stripped in a receiver. 4 Q And what if any significance do you attach to 5 that in terms of parts per million of vinyl 6 chloride ? 7 A They wanted it down to a certain level so it's 8 safe to handle in the drying end of the process. 9 Q Is this near the bagging operation? 10 A Yes . 11 Q Was this in the K-l building? 12 A The steam stripping? 13 Q Yes . 14 A No, no. The steam stripping was done in E-2. 15 Q E-2. Now, did you ever work on the steam 16 stripping? 17 A Oh, yes. 18 Q Did Bill Smith work on steam stripping? 19 A No. He did work in steam stripping, he didn't 20 work in steam stripping the finished product, 21 no. 22 Q Did the steam stripping operation that you 23 described have something to do with the DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 S? cSo? 54 1 background or ambient air level of VC in that 2 building? 3 A. Oh, yes. 4 Q. Okay. Was that a subject that you discussed 5 with Mr. Wodka about steam stripping? 6 A. We just touched on it. 7 Q. So it's fair to say that you touched on it in 8 the discussion about the subject of sources of 9 VC for the plant environment in that building? 10 A. Right. 11 Q. During what period of time were you referring 12 to? 13 A. Between '73 and '74. 14 Q. Okay. Talk about anything else with Mr. Wodka 15 today you recall now that you have not told me 16 about already? 17 A. No . 18 Q. Okay. Fair to say then, Mr. Winkworth, as you 19 sit here the only attorney in this case who you 20 have not talked to before is me? 21 A. Yes. 22 MR. WODKA: Objection. 23 Q. Now, in your conversation with Ms. Bosse on the DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 0 lZS9lSSfc| 55 1 telephone did you get into the substance of any 2 matters ? 3 A. No . 4 Q. All right. Have you met with anyone else about 5 this case that you have not told me about 6 already? 7 A. No . .8 Q. Have you met Holly Smith before this morning? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Did you know the Smiths socially? 11 A. No . 12 Q. Was your acquaintance then with Bill Smith 13 limited to a working acquaintance? 14 A. Yes but you know, you do run into people outside 15 the plant. 16 Q. Might run into each other in a grocery store or 17 movie house? 18 A. Or plant picnic. 19 Q. And I'm trying to find out how. * Did you and 20 your spouse have a social relationship with the 21 Smiths? 22 A. Not at all. 23 Q. Do you know Bill's daughter? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165211 56 1 A. I met her a couple times, yes but not recently. 2 It's been years since I've seen the child. 3 Q. Okay. Have you done anything to refresh your 4 recollection about the matters that you 5 understood that you were going to testify here 6 today about other than what you described? 7 A. No. 8 Q. You have not looked at any documents, is that 9 right ? 10 A. No . 11 Q. Have not talked to anybody else, is that right? 12 A. Right. 13 Q. I'd like to now talk about your employment 14 history at Goodyear and get a sense of what 15 you've done over the years and where you have 16 done it. Can you describe briefly, trace for me 17 what positions you've held when you held them 18 since you joined the company after graduating 19 from high school? * 20 A. Starting in June of '68 I was hired in as a 21 production bagger, entry level and then I was 22 immediately taken to E-l and E-2 building to be 23 trained in charge reactors, charge stripping and R&S165212 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 57 1 transfer reactors. 2 Q How long did you do that? 3 A About 13 months. 12, 13 months. 4 Q Were you assigned to a particular department? 5 A 145 . 6 Q Was this generally the entry level job in the late '60's? 8 MS. BOSSE: Form. 9 Entry level job was always bagging and they took 10 me to the E-l, E-2 building to train for a 11 relief position. 12 Q As what? 13 A Relieve people for days off and vacation. 14 Q I'm sorry, my question was not specific. Were 15 you being trained for a specific relief position 16 or chemical operator or production operator? 17 A Chemical operator relief is what they call it. 18 Q I see in some of the documents that have been h 19 made available that in addition I have seen 20 reference to chemical operators and production 21 operators; are these the same job or different 22 jobs as you understand it? 23 Different jobs. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165213 58 1 Q Okay. What did you do next? 2 A I went to Department 232 compound. I was there 3 until roughly September, October of '69 to May 4 or June of '72. 5 Q And what did they do in Department 232? 6 A We made shoe sole compound. 7 Q Out of what? 8 A Out of vinyl resin that we made in the plant. 9 Q This would be the end product, is that right? 10 A We didn't make the shoe soles themselves, we 11 just made the compound for them and shipped them 12 to the shoe manufacturing industry. 13 Q Did you have a specific title or position there? 14 A Just production operator. 15 Q Where did you work next? 16 A I worked in the storeroom from approximately 17 June '72 until November of '73. 18 Q Where? I'm sorry, tell us what you did in the 19 storeroom? 20 A Dispensed store items like gloves, gaskets, 21 pumps, paper products, things of that nature. 22 Supplies, just simply supplies. 23 Q Was it for Department 145 only or all? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 W2S9IS1PB 59 1 A. All departments. 2 Q. Fair to say then that you were mostly involved 3 in delivering materials throughout the plant 4 that were needed in the process? 5 A. They came to me, I didn't deliver. 6 Q. You were an operates in the storeroom and people 7 would come and requisition material? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. You did that for a little more than a year, 10 almost a year and a half, right? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Was that the storeroom that included Department 13 145? 14 A. Was not in the same building as Department one. 15 Q. I'm sorry, my question was not clear. Was that 16 the same storeroom that people in Department 145 17 would come to for things? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. During that period of time did ydu stock 20 respirators? 21 A. No . 22 Q. Did you stock cartridges for respirators? 23 A. No . DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 o2>2 cn 60 1 Q Did you stock any components that you understood 2 were used in respirators in the plant? 3 A They had paper dust masks. 4 Q Where were they used? 5 A Usually in the bagging stations where it was 6 dusty. 7 Q Did you store any monitoring equipment? 8 A We did have some lab store supplies, you know, 9 pH testing equipment. 10 Q Did you stock any equipment or supplies for any 11 monitoring devices that you understood were used 12 to measure the amount of vinyl chloride in any 13 of the environments at the plant? 14 A No . 15 Q Are you aware of any monitoring being performed 16 at the plant prior to 1974? 17 A Rarely. 18 Q What did you know about that monitoring? 19 A I knew they checked for oxygen levels in 20 reactors in Department 245. 21 Q Is that the other side of the plant? 22 A Yes . 23 Q How do you know that? DE PA0L0-CR0SBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 i? topo>i 05 61 1 On occasion if they were short they'd pull one 2 of us to go over and work and then X witnessed 3 them using, I believe it was an oxygen meter. 4 Q Are you aware of any other monitoring performed 5 before 1974? 6 A No . 7 Q As you sit here today do you have any knowledge 8 of any monitoring done at Goodyear within 9 Department 145 for vinyl chloride prior to 1974? 10 A Not for vinyl chloride. 11 Q Do you know of any monitoring that was done in 12 the vinyl chloride polymer reactors at 13 Department 145 before 1974? 14 A No . 15 Q What did you do after you left the storeroom? 16 A I went into the maintenance department as a 17 millwright. 18 Q What is a millwright? 19 A Jack-of-all-trades, fix it all. * 20 Q How long were you a millwright? 21 A For 13 months. From November of '73 until 22 approximately January '75 and then we had a cut 23 back in the maintenance department and I was DE PAOLO- CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 8 5 05 62 1 bumped to another department. 2 Q. Where were you bumped to? 3 A. To Department 245. 4 Q. How long were you in 245? 5 A. About seven months. Six, seven months. 6 Q. Where did you go after that? 7 A. Back to Department 145. 8 Q. As what? 9 A. As a bagger. 10 Q. Is this sometime in 1975 still then? 11 A. Yes. Early '75 or that would be near late '75. 12 Q. How long were you a bagger in 145 then? 13 A. Couple months. 14 Q. What did you do after that? 15 A. I had the same position Bill had as utility 16 operator. 17 Q. When did you do that? 18 A. Pardon? 19 Q. When did you do that? 20 A. Probably December '75, somewhere in that area. 21 Q. For how long? 22 A. For the next seven months or so. Six, seven 23 months and then we went on strike in '76, March DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 812991SSB 63 15th of '76 until December 9th, somewhere in that area. Q. '76? A . '76 . Q. After the strike what did you do? A. Went back as a utility operator. Q. From when to when? A. Until approximately-- I had it for a couple three years. Q. Until about 1980? A. Oh, no. I take that back. I went back in the maintenance shop for about a year and a half until they had another-- about four years, I take that back and then I was bumped out of there in November of '82 but I was utility operator for a couple years there, you know, two and a half years from like January '77 when we got off strike until mid '78 or something like that. Then I went back to the maintenance department until November of '82. Q. As a millwright? A. Yes. Q. What did you do after that? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165219 64 1 A. I was bumped back into Department 245. 2 Q. How long were you there? 3 A. Just a few months that I can remember. 4 Q. What did you do after that? 5 A. I went back to Department 145 and became a 6 chemical operator in E-2 building. 7 Q. And how long, from when to when were you a 8 chemical operator in E-2? 9 A. From approximately May, June of '78 until 10 November '95. 11 Q. I'm sorry, I'm a little confused. Some of these 12 dates seem to be overlapping. 13 A. Well, I'm trying to give you the best that I 14 can . 15 Q. Okay. You just told me that you were chemical 16 operator in the E-2 building from May of '78 17 through November of '95. I thought you had just 18 told me that? 19 A. Right. 20 Q. That for some period of time from '77 to '78 you 21 were utility operator? 22 A. Right. 23 Q. And that for some period of time from '76 to '82 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165220 65 1 you were also a maintenance person as a 2 millwright again. Can you help me out here? 3 A. Sure. When exactly I went back to, back into the 4 maintenance shop prior to '82 I was trying to 5 give you my best recollection. I think it was 6 somewhere around mid '78. 7 Q. This would be after you worked as a utility 8 operator sometime between '77 and '78? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Then you went back to maintenance for some 11 period of time? 12 A. Yes, until November '82. 13 Q. And then in November '82 you went to Department 14 245? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. For a few months only, right? 17 A. Yes . 18 Q. So then some time in late 1982 or early 1983 did 19 you then go to 145 as a chemical* operator? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. So would be early '83 to about November '95 that 22 you worked as a chemical operator in the E-2 23 building? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 66 1 MS. BOSSE: I don't think that we're there 2 yet, November of '95. 3 A. '94. Nice try. 4 Q. Okay. Then you took your current position, is 5 that right? 6 A. Yes . 7 Q. Now, when you were employed as an utility 8 operator what did you do? 9 A. I stocked supplies for E-2 building and unloaded 10 the VC rail cars and prepared equipment for 11 maintenance. 12 Q. Do you have a recollection of your activities as 13 a utility operator? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. Do you have a specific recollection of unloading 16 VC cars? 17 A. Yes, I do. 18 Q. And tell me as best as you recall about the 4 19 cars. What do you remember about them, wha 20 they looked like, their appearance, their size, 21 things like that? 22 A. They're 23,000 gallon capacity cars under 23 pressure. Could you be more specific? 33 Bo DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 67 1 Q Sure. Did these-- how often did these cars 2 arrive at the plant during that period of time? 3 A Once or twice a week. 4 Q How many cars would arrive? 5 A How many cars did they deliver? 6 Q At that time, yes? 7 A That varied also. You know, as little as five 8 or six and as many X would say up to 14. 9 Q Did you handle any paperwork associated with the 10 delivery of these rail cars to the plant? 11 A No . 12 Q Do you have any knowledge of the identity of the 13 manufacturer of the materials inside of these 14 rail cars? 15 A Yes . 16 Q And what is that knowledge based on? Is it 17 based on observations you made or was it based 18 upon documents or things that you heard from 19 other people? 20 A It would be documents when we unloaded cars 21 depending on who the manufacturer was. We had 22 to split them up into different storage tanks in 23 the facility. R&St 65223 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 68 1 Q. Were they all kinds of materials-- strike that. 2 What kinds of materials were delivered in rail 3 cars ? 4 A. Vinyl chloride is about all of it, as far as 5 rail cars for Department 145. 6 Q. Okay. And during these few months when you were 7 working as a utility operator in January of '77 8 to sometime in 1978 did Goodyear receive rail 9 cars of vinyl chloride from more than one 10 manufacturer or just one? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. And do you believe that you have knowledge 13 regarding the identity of manufacturers of any 14 specific rail cars? 15 A. That's all I can remember is three 16 manufacturers. 17 Q. So you have a general recollection of three 18 names on the rail cars, is that what you are 19 telling us? 20 A. Not three names on rail cars. 21 Q. Okay. I'm trying to find out what is the basis 22 for what it is that you know? 23 A. (no response). 2 O) DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 69 1 Q. Can you tell me? 2 A. They would post car numbers and manufacturers in 3 the unloading station building and you would 4 have to unload them into certain tanks depending 5 on the manufacturer. 6 Q. Were there separate storage tanks for vinyl 7 chloride for different manufacturers back then? 8 A. No, we just made sure they were empty before we 9 would begin unloading a particular car in to a 10 given tank. 11 Q. Okay. And how did you identify or note what 12 materials was contained within which storage 13 tank? 14 A. We would write it down and notify the supervisor 15 what we unloaded so they knew what to use in the 16 building. 17 Q. Where would you note it? Where would you write 18 it down? 4 19 A. Just a note pad and tear it off and hand it to 20 the supervisor and he would notify the operator 21 in the building. 22 Q. And so then would-- strike that. So you would 23 see a notice posted that would tell you that R&Sl 65225 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 70 1 rail cars were arriving and would associate a 2 name of a company, right? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. And is that the basis for your knowledge and 5 belief about the manufacturer of the contents of 6 cars that you unloaded during this period of 7 t ime ? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. Did you see anything else in writing that lead 10 you to believe that you knew the identity of the 11 manufacturer of vinyl chloride delivered during 12 that period of time? 13 A. Almost all cars are painted a certain color. 14 Q. What color? 15 A. I'm somewhat colorblind. You got me. It's like 16 an off cream type white. 17 Q. How about the other cars? 18 A. Black. 19 Q. And so that in your own mind you* can at least 20 associate particular cars with manufacturers by 21 the color of the car, is that right? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. Are you able to tell us anything about specific R&S165226 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 71 1 cars or number of cars delivered from any 2 particular manufacturer or any particular 3 distributor during this period of time? 4 A. No. 5 Q. You're not in a position then to give us numbers 6 in terms of the number of cars delivered, the 7 amount of material or frequency of delivery or 8 anything like that during this period of time, 9 are you? 10 A. No . 11 Q. Fair to say then that your knowledge and 12 information is based on a general sense of 13 recollection from that time period? 14 A. Well, I can tell you that almost all of the 15 vinyl chloride cars were Dow and I believe to my 16 knowledge that if Dow was going to run a little 17 short and could not supply us that is about the 18 only time Goodyear would pick up from another 19 supplier because it was not, the other suppliers 20 of vinyl was not as pure, I guess, as Dow. 21 Q. What is your, what is your basis for that 22 knowledge? Is that something someone told you? 23 A. Oh yes, the lab personnel. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165227 72 1 Q. Are you able to identify any particular people 2 who told you that? 3 A. Yes, man by the name of Don Burton. 4 Q. So is it your general sense that during this 5 period of time when you were the utility 6 operator Dow was the principal supplier to 7 Goodyear as you understood it? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. But did you understand that from time to time 10 Goodyear would make purchases of vinyl chloride 11 from other manufacturer as well? 12 A. Yes . 13 Q. Now, do you have a specific recollection of 14 unloading cars from other manufacturers? 15 A. Oh, I know I have. 16 Q. And how do you know that? 17 A. Like I said, basically by the color. I don't 18 believe Dow owns a black railroad vinyl chloride 19 car. 20 Q. What I'm asking you though; do you have a 21 specific recollection of unloading other 22 manufacturers chemicals? 23 A. Yes. R&S165228 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 73 1 Q. Can you tell us anything about the frequency of 2 these deliveries, the amount of these deliveries 3 or any specifics of that during this period of 4 time of '77 to '78? 5 A. Other manufacturers other than Dow is very few, 6 very few. I would say Dow was the major 7 supplier. 8 Q. I understand that. Can you tell us the name of 9 other companies whose vinyl chloride you 10 personally were involved with in unloading 11 during this period of time? 12 A. Georgia Pacific and BF Goodrich. 13 Q. And you recall them as having black rail cars, 14 is that right? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. Do you recall seeing those names on these 17 notices that were posted for you? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. Mr. Winkworth, I want to go back^to your first 20 job when you first joined the company back in 21 June of 1968. Was there a formal training 22 program at Goodyear when you joined the company? 23 A. No. R&Sl 65229 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 74 X Q. Can you describe for us generally what your 2 training consisted of from the company? 3 A. They were entry level bagging positions is what 4 most of it was in either department. Was always 5 a bagging position. They would pair you up with 6 an individual and he would go through the 7 particular process of drying the material or 8 grinding the material depending on what it would 9 be but you would package it somehow until you 10 learned the job and he would stay with you until 11 you knew it. 12 Q. Okay. 13 A. Each individual job. 14 Q. So your training was on-the-job? 15 A. Right. 16 Q. And it consisted primarily of being assigned to 17 someone who is experienced in the operation of 18 that job who would teach you how to do it but 19 personal observation and verbally explain to you 20 what needed to be done? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. Do you know did Bill Smith ever work as a 23 production bagger in Department 145? R&St 65230 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 75 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. And you also told us that you would then take 3 and train as a chemical operator relief, is that 4 right ? 5 A. Uh-huh. 6 Q. Did Bill Smith ever work as a chemical operator? 7 A. Not to my knowledge. 8 Q. Let me stay with your first-- I'm sorry, did you 9 want to correct something? 10 A. No, no. 11 Q. Now, were you given anything in writing from the 12 company when you joined in June of 1968? 13 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 14 Q. Let me ask a more specific question. Were you 15 given an employee manual, a health and safety 16 manual or any similar kind of document when you 17 joined the company? 18 MR. WODKA: Object to the form. 19 A. No. 20 Q. Let me ask a more limited question so I overcome 21 the objection. Were you given a health and 22 safety manual? 23 A. No . R&SJ 65231 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 76 1 Q. Were you given a safety manual of any kind? 2 A. No . 3 Q. Were you given any written information about the 4 jobs that you were going to perform? 5 A. No . 6 Q. Were you give 7 that you were 8 A. No . 9 Q. Were you give 10 for vinyl chloride? 11 A. No . 12 Q. Do you know what a material safety data sheet 13 is? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. What is it? 16 A. It's describes the compound in question. 17 Q. Okay. Does it also give you information about 18 exposure limits and possible health effects and 19 things of that nature? 20 A. If they note it, yes. 21 Q. Did there come a time when you were given MSDS's 22 for vinyl chloride? 23 A. Yes, there was a time. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165232 77 1 Q. When was that? 2 A. During the late '80's. 3 Q. Who gave them to you? 4 A. Nobody gave them to you, they put them in a 5 book, loose-leaf binder and had them in the 6 building. 7 Q. Okay. And you were advised that they were 8 available for your review? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Did you go and review them? 11 A. Not immediately, no. 12 Q. Did you at some point in time review the MSDS? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. Did you review the MSDS for vinyl chloride? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. And do you recall who prepared that MSDS, whose 17 name is on it? 18 A. Dow. 19 Q. Was there just one MSDS or more than one? 20 A. One that I can remember. 21 MS. BOSSE: You mean one for vinyl chloride? 22 A. One for vinyl chloride. 23 Q. Is that the first time that you had seen an MSDS R&S165233 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 78 1 by Dow or anyone else about vinyl chloride? 2 A Yes . 3 Q Is that th e first time that you had, were you 4 aware that MSDS's were available for you at the 5 plant abou t vinyl chloride ? 6 A Yes . 7 Q At any tim e prior to 19-- strike that. At 8 anytime du ring 1973 or 1974 were you provided 9 with or gi ven an opportunity to look at any MSDS 10 for vinyl chloride? 11 A No . 12 Q You had no t seen any, right? 13 A Right. 14 Q Were you g iven any manufacturers brochures or 15 literature or information about vinyl chloride IS when you j oined the company? 17 A No . 18 Q Were you g iven that kind of material? 19 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 20 A Later in the '80's, you know. 21 Q What were you given? 22 A The company somewhere around '84, '85, I 23 believe, it would hold a safety meeting and they DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 79 1 would go over certain items of certain chemical 2 items to be aware of. 3 Q We'll get to this meeting. These are meetings 4 that took place in the '80's is your 5 recollection? 6 A Yes . 7 Q What if anything do you remember about the Dow 8 MSDS for vinyl chloride that you looked at? 9 A In particular? 10 Q Yes . 11 A I read it. I mean, you know, it was flammable 12 and a health risk, they said. I believe it was 13 a possible carcinogen. 14 Q Was it referred to as a cancer suspect agent? 15 A Yes . 16 Q Now, was that new to you at that time or had you 17 already heard that before? 18 A Oh, in what time span are you talking about? 19 Q Well, you told us that you looked at this MSDS 20 in the mid '80's sometime. What I'm trying to 21 find out; did it give you information that you 22 didn't already have? Was anything new to you 23 that you found in that document? R&S165235 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 80 1 A No, no. 2 Q So basically by that time you had heard about 3 the things that were listed in the MSDS, right 4 and did I hear-- 5 A Yes . 6 Q And had you heard about it from people at 7 Goodyear? 8 A Yes . 9 Q Had you also heard about it at the union 10 meetings? 11 A Yes . 12 Q Had heard about it from any other source? 13 A No . 14 MR. WODKA: Can we take a break? 15 MR. GOLDBLATT: Sure. 16 17 (recess) 18 19 BY MR. GOLDBLATT: 20 Q. Mr. Winkworth, just before the break we were 21 talking about these material safety data sheets 22 that were available for you. Is it fair to say 23 that they were available for any of the workers R&S165236 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 81 1 at maintenance to look at? 2 MR. WODKA: Time frame? 3 Q. Well, why don't you tell us when were they first 4 available, sir? 5 A. To the best of my recollection it was around 6 '86, '87, '88, somewhere in there but you had 7 to ask for them. They kept them in the office 8 pretty much at that time and I think some were 9 around '89 or '90 when they placed them in the 10 building. Like I said, I'm not real sure about 11 the exact dates. 12 Q. When they were first made available were they 13 made available to everyone? 14 MR. WODKA: Object to the form. What do you 15 mean by "made available". 16 MR. GOLDBLATT: The witness just said or 17 said earlier that MSDS's were made available in 18 a book. 19 Q. You had to go and look at them. You said 20 initially this was some time in the mid 1980's 21 and I'm trying to find out was it made available 22 to everyone or was it made available to 23 particular people? Was it made available to him R&S165237 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK .14 2 0 2 - 2 1 0 2 82 1 because of his position with the union? What 2 was the story? 3 A. I would say most people didn't know about the 4 MSDS sheets. 5 Q. What is your basis for saying that? 6 A. Because of the maintenance training that they 7 have now they explained to the operators in the 8 late '80's, early '90, '91 what MSDS sheets were 9 for. 10 Q. So at some time the MSDS's were incorporated 11 into the training program that was given to new 12 employees, right? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. Now, let me you ask how did the existence and 15 availability of these MSDS's become known to 16 you? 17 A. In 1991, before '91 I heard of MSDS sheets but - 18 you know and looked at a couple-- as far as like 19 formal training for MSDS sheets and the direct 20 importance of them I probably somewhere around 21 '91, you know, they said that you should know 22 everything that you are working with and 23 everyone should have knowledge of what they're DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165238 83 1 working with. 2 Q. Did the "they" that you are referring to, is 3 that Goodyear? 4 A. Pardon? 5 Q. Who is the "they" that you're referring to? 6 A. The plant, yes. 7 Q. And you told me about that before, that you went . 8 and looked at MSDS's for vinyl chloride? 9 A. Right. 10 Q. In the mid '80's, right? 11 A. Somewhere in that, yes. 12 Q. What I'm trying to find out is how did you know 13 that that document was available? How did that 14 come to your attention? Who told you about 15 that ? 16 A. Through my safety man. 17 Q. Who was that? 18 A. Don't remember offhand. 19 Q. What did he tell you? 4 20 A. That Goodyear had information on vinyl chloride. 21 Q. And was that the first time somebody told you 22 t hat ? 23 A. Yes. R&S165239 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 84 1 Q. So you went to look at it? 2 A. Yes. I wanted to know where they were. 3 Q. Where did you go to look for them? 4 A. In the foreman's office. 5 Q. Who was that? 6 A. There were several foremen and they had an 7 office of their own, each shift had a form and 8 my immediate foreman was Don Moreland at the 9 time . 10 Q. And so you went to his office and you asked to 11 see these? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. Did he give them to you? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. Did anybody give you a hard time about it? 16 MR. WODKA: Objection. 17 A. Not that I recall. 18 Q. Okay. And did you then let other people know 19 about the availability of these MSDS's on vinyl 20 chloride ? 21 A. I'm not sure. 22 Q. Did you ever talk to Bill Smith about it? 23 A. No . R&S165240 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 85 1 Q. Ever ask or suggest to Bill Smith that he look 2 at the MSDS-- 3 A. No. 4 MR. WODKA: Objection. No foundation that 5 there were MSDS's available at the time Mr. 6 Smith was there at the, excuse me, at the time-- 7 I see where you are going. 8 MR. GOLDBLATT: Repeat the question. 9 Q. Let me finish the question. Did you ever 10 suggest to Bill Smith that he look at the MSDS 11 on vinyl chloride that you looked at in the mid 12 '80's? 13 A. No . 14 Q. Did you ever suggest to anyone else with whom 15 you worked that they do that at that time? 16 A. Not that I know of. 17 Q. Okay. Let me, before I leave your job 18 description, are we clear that in 1973 and 1974 19 when Bill Smith worked at the plant you were 20 working for the maintenance department as a 21 millwright ? 22 A. Right. 23 Q. Okay. And you held that job throughout the R&S165241 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 86 1 period of time when Bill was first employed at 2 the plant from November '73 to about 3 December'74, is that right? 4 A. Right. 5 Q. Now, when you were-- strike that. Did you ever 6 work within the vinyl production side of the 7 business at Goodyear? 8 A. No, that was shut down before I was hired. 9 Q. Did you ever work unloading tank cars other than 10 during the time period we talked about before? 11 A. I would say the first time X unloaded a tank car 12 was when I was, when I first went on utility. 13 Q. Okay. Perhaps I confused you. We talked about 14 the period of time-- oh, I'm sorry. Did you 15 also work as a utility operator for a couple 16 months in late 1975, early '76? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. And were you unloading tanks cars at that time, 19 too ? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. And do you have a recollection of unloading 22 vinyl chloride tank cars during that period of 23 t ime ? R&S165242 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 87 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. And is your recollection of the manufacturers of 3 vinyl chloride essentially the same as what you 4 told us occurred when you next worked as a 5 utility operator in 1977 to '78? 6 A. Yes. 7 MR. WODKA: Objection to form. 8 Q. Do you have any more knowledge about the 9 identity of the makers of vinyl chloride that 10 was delivered to the plant during this period of 11 time in '75 and '76 than you do about the makers 12 of the vinyl chloride later? 13 A. No . 14 Q. Okay. Now, there came a time then after you 15 joined the company that you were given training 16 for charging, stripping and transferring vinyl 17 chloride at the reactors in the E-l and E-2 18 building? 19 A. Right. 20 Q. Were you involved at all in cleaning reactors? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. Okay. At what point in your career were you 23 involved in cleaning reactors? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 35 Co 22 <T> rOol 88 1 A. From the first day I started until approximately 2 September of '69 and then from there they were 3 letting us do it again and I moved to another 4 department and we were not included in their 5 overtime sheets again until sometime in '71 or 6 something, I think it was early '71 and I was 7 able, I was allowed to, from '71 until '72 when 8 I went into the storeroom. 9 Q. Were you involved in reactor cleaning at any 10 other time during your career at Goodyear? 11 A. Not reactor cleaning, no. 12 Q. Let's-- 13 A. X did maintenance on reactors when I was in the 14 maintenance job. 15 Q. You told us you erected platforms to assist in 16 the cleaning operation. Are you also talking 17 about as a millwright where you actually would 18 be working around the reactors themse 19 A. Yes . 4 20 Q. Okay. Let me get a little better sen 21 Department 145 during this period of 22 you tell us generally what was done a 23 Department 145? DE PA0L0-CR0SBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 33 s r0con5 .u 89 1 A. What time period? 2 Q. Let's talk about from '68 when you joined the 3 company through 1974 when you understand Bill 4 Smith left the first time. 5 A. Could you be more specific on what went on? 6 Q. I'm trying to understand what was the process, 7 what were they making there? What were they 8 doing? Give us a general description of what 9 you and other workers were engaged in doing so 10 we have a framework to work forward. 11 A. Well, they would charge reactors, that was open 12 charging, it was not closed charging when I was 13 first hired. You want the process of charging 14 reactors ? 15 Q. Not yet, just tell me generally about the steps 16 in the process as you understood them. 17 A. You would charge the reactors, the reactors cook 18 is what we're getting at and once the reaction 19 was completed you would transfer from the 20 reactor a receiver and batch them, would be 21 steam stripped to certain specifications and 22 then it would be transferred over an open 23 selectro and transfer box pumping system to F R&S165245 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 90 1 building where the storage tanks were for the 2 drying process. 3 The drying process, I was involved in all of 4 it being relief man for the building and as a 5 production operator. I would then open certain 6 lines from the tanks and put them through a 7 de-watering centrifuge and then through the 8 dryer and then package it out either in bags or 9 GRB's which were tubes, were rubber bags that 10 were capable of holding 2,000 pounds of resin or 11 transferring them from the dry resin, transfer 12 the dry resin from a hopper into a large farm 13 type silo for storage and then if I was working 14 on the bulk system, that was the bulk system, 15 the silo was the bulk system, you would fill air 16 slide railroad cars. 17 MS. BOSSE: Fill, I'm sorry? 18 A. Fill air slide railroad cars. Basically that is 19 just a general rundown. 20 Q. So what you just described is the general 21 process at 145 for making vinyl chloride resin 22 and drying it and packaging it for storing it? 23 A. Right. R&S165246 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 A 91 1 Q. That is generally what was being done at 2 Department 145 during this period of time, is 3 that right? 4 A, Right. 5 Q. So do you understand vinyl chloride polymers 6 would be brought to the reactors and placed into 7 resin and then dried and hand packaged? Is that 8 a general overview? 9 A. Sure. 10 Q. Now, about how many men were, men or women were 11 involved in that process during this period of 12 t ime? 13 A. We're still talking '68, '69 time frame. Each 14 shift was approximately 30, 35 people. 15 Q. How many shifts were they running? 16 A. Four. 17 Q. Okay. For those of us who are having trouble 18 with the math can you explain how they ran four 19 shifts? 20 A. Continuous shift process, 28 day schedule. 21 Q. How did it work? 22 A. Beginning with the afternoon shift on Wednesday 23 you would work seven afternoons which you would R&S165247 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 92 1 finish up Tuesday afternoon, you would have two 2 rotating days off which were Wednesday and 3 Thursday, you would start days Friday through 4 the following Thursday with a rotating day off 5 in between Monday and Thursday of the day shift 6 and then you would begin midnights, Friday 7 midnight and finish up eight o'clock in the 8 morning the following Friday. 9 Q. Then two days off? 10 A. Would actually have all of Saturday, Sunday and 11 Monday and Tuesday off. 12 Q. And you would go back on? 13 A. Start all over again. 14 Q. By doing this it was possible to then keep the 15 maintenance in a continuous 24 hour operation, 16 cover everybody's day off and-17 A. Just in production, yes. 18 Q. But on any particular shift there was somewhere 19 between 30 or 35 people involved*in this 20 production process? 21 A. In the late '60's I believe there were, yes. 22 Q. Did that remain generally the same through about 23 1974 when Bill left the first time? DE PAOLO - CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165248 93 1 A. Up until we installed the THF cleaning system 2 for the vinyl reactors they held approximately 3 this many positions per shift. 4 Q. When was THF installed? 5 A. I don't remember exactly but it was like late 6 '74, early '75. 7 Q. Was it after your first learned that vinyl 8 chloride was a cancer suspect agent? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. What is the THF cleaning system? 11 A. It is a chemical solution that we would pump in 12 the bottom of the reactor and out the top and 13 back to the tank farm that we had at the tank 14 farm headed it would dissolve the residual vinyl 15 in the reactor vessel itself. 16 Q. Was this a solvent cleaning system for the 17 reactors ? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. Was this a system installed to replace the prior 20 manual system whereby workers were asked to 21 enter reactors to manually remove by hand vinyl 22 chloride residue? 23 A. Yes. DE PAOLO- CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&Sf 65249 94 1 Q. Was this system ever installed in building E-l? 2 A. No . 3 Q. Was it installed in only building E-2? 4 A. Yes . 5 Q. Were reactors ever cleaned by solvent or any 6 other automatic method in building E-l? 7 A. No. 8 Q. Reactors were always cleaned by hand to the best 9 of your knowledge in building E-l while you were 10 employed at the company? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Were there both union and nonunion people on 13 each shift? 14 A. Yes . 15 Q. How many of the 30 or 35 people were union and 16 how many were nonunion? 17 A. Only nonunion personnel was supervision, 18 management people. k 19 Q. Perhaps you can describe for us what the shift 20 structure was during this period of time in 21 terms of management or supervision, overall 22 personnel and production personnel. Can you do 23 that for us, give us an overview? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&SI 65250 95 1 A. You had a foreman who would take care of, he 2 would oversee the two supervisors. There were 3 three salaried personnel directly involved with 4 Department 145 per shift; foreman would oversee 5 all operations in Department 145 and then we had 6 a specific supervisor for E-l, E-2 building and 7 a supervisor for the F building. Operators, 8 there were four in E-l building, there were four 9 chemical operators per shift and I would have 10 two men upstairs in charge of reactors and you 11 would have one man downstairs transferring 12 batches from reactors to receivers and 13 transferring stripped resin to the F building 14 and then would have had a pump room operator who 15 would operate weigh scales and tanks, tanks on 16 weigh scales for specific amounts of vinyl 17 chloride to be charged to each reactor. 18 Q. Who would be the person who would determine the 19 amount going into the reactors before the batch 20 was started? 21 MS . BOSSE: Object t o the form. 22 A. We had two scales in the pump room and gene rally 23 we ran two product lines in E- 1 building at the R&Sf 65251 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 96 1 same time, generally two. So we would, the 2 amounts would be the same for half and the other 3 half and you would leave certain amounts just 4 for certain reactors and the man would call you 5 and tell you which one he was going to charge 6 and you would automatically know by the spec 7 sheets how much you were supposed to give him. 8 Q. I interrupted your description of the people, 9 I'm sorry. After the pump room who else was on 10 the shift? 11 A. The utility man who unloaded VC cars and 12 supplied the building with other chemical 13 material. The production end there were several 14 rotating positions. We never worked the same 15 job all the time. 16 Q. What were they called? 17 A. You had P-1 rotary bagger operator and P-1 18 relief man who would give him the breaks. P-2 19 rotary bagger operator and P-2 relief man. You 20 had two emp operators. 21 Q. Emp? 22 A. Emp. 23 Q. E-m-p? R&Sl 65252 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 97 1 A. I think it's e-m-p and he was a grinder operator 2 and bagger and a three emp mill operator 3 bagger. You had a dry blend operator and bagger 4 or boxer. You had two atomizer bagging 5 positions. You had three PNS operators, they 6 were separate dryers; 1PNS, 2PNS, 3PNS and, one 7 of these individuals of the three would monitor . 8 the levels in the storage tanks of polyvinyl and 9 you had two rotary operators and two rotary 10 relief persons and then you had a seal bin 11 operator. These were large, they're ten 12 thousand bags, rubber bags and you had a bulk 13 car operator and then you had two relief people, 14 I believe they called us floaters, then you 15 would float for two weeks and you would be IS given, 90 percent of the time you would be 17 cleaning reactors during these two week periods 18 or relieving somebody in the bagging station 19 that would be on vacation or reported off, 20 something on that line but 90 percent of it was 21 cleaning reactors. I'm trying to think who 22 else. I did the E-l building. 23 In the E-2 building they had three R&S165253 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 98 1 operators, their positions were small reactor 2 operator, other one was large reactor operator 3 and there were two large reactors and seven 4 small ones and then you had a transfer man 5 downstairs. Then you had a lab office in the 6 department at the time, was like little 7 satellite building office and he would do 8 moisture and solids and slurries and packaging 9 stations, Things of that nature. He was a 10 salaried position and we had a bag maker, he 11 would stencil product codes on bags for all 12 bagging stations. I think that's it. 13 Q. Who was the foreman for, who were the foremen 14 during this period of time, do you know? Let me 15 ask a more specific question. 16 A. I can hit on that. 17 Q. Can you? Okay, tell me who the foremen were. 18 A. Bob Richardson, Masikas, Blinkly, Blinkly or 19 Blakely, I can't remember and the fourth one, 20 can't remember. Oh, Bookout. 21 MR. WODKA: Who? 22 A. Ed Bookout. X believe his name was spelled as 23 it sounds. R&S165254 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 99 1 Q. Who were the supervisors? 2 A. Okay. Directly under Richardson was Ed Bowen 3 and Paul Pardee. Under Masikas, I believe one 4 of them was A1 Sarkes and Bill Free. I can't 5 think of the other right offhand. 6 Q. What did the supervisor do? 7 A. He was just guiding people in the operation of 8 their job. 9 Q. Who would assign people to a particular job on 10 the shift? 11 A. It was, it was mostly a decision on what your 12 pool was to work from during the day but your E 13 buildings and utility jobs were posted jobs so 14 you always knew where you were working on these 15 and you followed the rotation for bagging 16 stations so it was more or less written in stone 17 where you would work, as far as, you know, if 18 you were bagging you would rotate in a 19 particular fashion. * 20 Q. So there were records generated at the time 21 which indicated what each person was doing on 22 their shift, right? 23 A. I don't know if this would be an accurate record R&S165255 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 100 1 to show exactly what you did from day to day 2 other than you're working in F building or let's 3 say you worked over, you were held over that 4 day, I don't know if they would actually say the 5 man was cleaning reactors or he was just 6 sweeping a floor or-- 7 Q. Let me ask you a different question. Are there 8 records that at least would tell me what 9 building they would be assigned to, what 10 position they would be filling? 11 A. Sure. 12 Q. What were these called, these records? 13 A. Job postings. It was a permanent posting, job 14 award posting. 15 Q. If it was not permanent? 16 A. We used to have a book, like a ledger book, just 17 straight line ledger book on how your rotation 18 works from week to week. 19 Q. Which of the positions that you described 20 regularly involved cleaning reactors? 21 A. 90 percent, 95 percent of the time I would say 22 that two floating personnel at the time, they 23 had more than two, maybe three and sometimes one R&S165256 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 101 1 but it was generally two throughout my 2 experience. 3 Q. Was any one individual in charge of reactor 4 cleaning? 5 A. E-2 supervision. E-l, E-2 supervision. 6 Q. These would be supervisors that you referred to 7 earlier? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. Was there any other floaters--let me ask it this 10 way. Was there anyone else involved in cleaning 11 reactors besides the floaters? 12 A. There were never enough personnel to run a shift 13 without having to ask for overtime. Never. 14 During, between my experience in '68 to '74 They 15 always asked for overtime every night, every 16 shift to clean reactors or to, if you were 17 trained accordingly to replace somebody that 18 booked off of charging reactors or something of 19 that deal but there was always overtime for 20 cleaning reactors. 21 Q. My question is; was that particular job 22 description in addition to floaters that 23 involved reactor cleaning? R&S165257 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 102 1 A. Not in general. If they ran short of people 2 they would pull the bag makers or possibly shut 3 the job down in order to get enough manpower to 4 clean reactors. 5 Q. Would the chemical operators regularly be 6 involved in cleaning reactors? 7 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 8 A. Not on their particular shift. On overt ime they 9 would-- 10 Q. So that 11 A. - -offer it. 12 Q. If they booked on. for overtime essential ly a 13 floater to clean reactors they might be involved 14 in that , is that what you're sa ying? 15 A. Oh, they'd tell you. They would tell you when 16 they asked you for overtime what the job opening 17 was and depending on your hours, if you were the 18 low man in history you would have your choice of 19 which job you were capable of doing and it would 20 come down in fact like that. 21 Q. You told me before that they ran two product 22 lines in building E-l, do you recall that? 23 A. Two and maybe three. At times there was three. R&S165258 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 103 1 Q. How many product lines did they run in E-2? 2 A. Two. 3 Q. Okay. What were the product lines that they ran 4 in building E-l during this period of time and 5 in particular 1973, 1974 when Bill Smith worked 6 for the company? 7 A. They made K-resins, that's the only name for 8 them, K-resins, M-resins and AO/WO, these were 9 both latex and they were very similar. They ran 10 one and they would clean reactors and run the 11 other one when needed. 12 Q. What about building E-2, what lines did they 13 run? 14 A. They ran them all as E-l but they would only run 15 two at a time and that would be M or K-resins 16 and WO/AO. 17 Q. Were both buildings open systems? 18 A. Yes. 19 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 20 Q. Can you tell us how many reactors there were in 21 building E-l? 22 A. 22 1500 gallon reactors. 23 Q. How many reactors were there in E-2? R &Sl 65259 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 104 1 A. Nine. There were 73 500 gallon reactors and two 2 10,000 gallon reactors. 3 Q. How often would the reactor have to be cleaned 4 on a shift? 5 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 6 Q. You may answer. 7 A. You would get approximately four to five batches 8 per reactor before cleaning unless there was a 9 problem with the batch. Rarely they would go to 10 six because you just could not keep control of 11 the batch for the heat transfer to keep it under 12 control. 13 Q. Were all the reactors usually in service on 14 every shift? 15 A. No . 16 Q. Can you give us some order of magnitude of how 17 many reactors would be in service? 18 A. Well, I would say at any given time per shift 4 19 you probably had three or four reactors in E-l 20 being cleaned, I think two to four, let's say 21 two to four and E-2 building there is always at 22 least one, sometimes two or three and if you had 23 a problem with the process you'd cleaned them R&S16 5 2 6 0 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 105 1 all, you were just down. 2 Q. I'm trying to understand. Are you telling us 3 that in building E-2 during this period of time 4 '7 3 -'74, at anytime during a shift two to four 5 reactors were in the process of being cleaned? 6 A. E-2. 7 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 8 A. E-2. 9 Q. E-1? 10 A. Minimum of two. Minimum. 11 Q . And are you tell ing us that in building E-2 12 during this time frame at least one and 13 sometimes two or three reactors were in the 14 process of being cleaned at any one time 7 15 A. Right. 16 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 17 Q. What is your basis for knowing that during thi.is 18 time frame? 19 A. I was involved in cleaning. I would see other 20 reactors being cleaned at the same time as I was 21 doing mine. 22 Q. In addition to the people that you described 23 would there be maintenance personnel who would DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 106 1 be in and around these facilities on any given 2 shift? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. How many maintenance people? 5 A. You had two maintenance shift men on each of the 6 four shifts and the rest were called in as 7 needed except for day shift. Day shift was a 8 full maintenance crew of approximately 40 to 50. 9 Q. During '73 and '74 were you actually involved in 10 physically entering and cleaning these reactors? 11 A. I was in the maintenance shop, I did not clean 12 reactors per say as we know as you're getting at 13 right now. I would enter the reactor to do 14 maintenance work which would be installing the 15 platform for the operators to use during their 16 cleaning procedure and from my end of it I would 17 install and disassemble the platform and I would 18 also do some maintenance on the top of the body 19 of the reactors while the operators were in it 20 like before the operator could enter the reactor 21 I had to break off certain lines before they 22 went in, remove the pieces of the discharge 23 valve, they were called diaphragm valves and you R & S t6 5 2 6 2 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2X02 107 1 would remove the bonnet from the diaphragm 2 involved and I would perform, like maybe change 3 a ruptured disk on top or clean a line. 4 Q Was it always necessary for a millwright to do 5 some preparatory work before reactors were 6 cleaned? 7 A Yes . 8 Q Was it always necessary for a millwright to do 9 some preparatory work after the reactor was 10 cleaned and before it was put back into service? 11 A Yes . 12 Q And so how much of your time was spent during 13 this period of time, '73 to '74 involved in 14 these activities? 15 A On a daily basis I would say, I would have to 16 prepare about half of the reactors in question 17 that I said would be manually cleaned on a daily 18 basis. 19 Q Who was the other millwright who worked your 20 shift during this period of time '73-'74? 21 A Bill Sapp. 22 Q Spell his name. 23 A S-a-p-p. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165263 108 1 Q Is he alive? 2 A Yes . 3 Q Is he one of the people that you contacted? 4 A No . 5 Q Have you discussed this ca se with him? 6 A No . I believe he lives in Florida. I'm not 7 sure , He owned a house on Woodcup in Niagara 8 Falls, 9 I want to see if I can get some order of 10 magnitude here You told us about how many 11 reactors were in the process of being cleaned at 12 any one time during a shift. What I would like 13' to do is get some total idea. Building E-l, how 14 many reactors were typically cleaned? How many 15 times were reactors typically-- strike that. 16 Let me start over and rephrase my question. 17 During the time period 1973 and 1974 how 18 many reactors were cleaned on a typical shift in 19 building E-l? * 20 A I already answered that. Two to four reactors. 21 Q How many times were they cleaned on a typical 22 shift? 23 That is not a good question. You only clean them DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 3J 00 2? orcoo>n> 109 1 after so many batches so you didn't do every 2 reactor every shift. That is what I'm getting 3 from you. 4 Q. Okay. Is it correct then that on a typical 5 shift during this period of time men were 6 involved in cleaning reactors two to four times 7 per shift? 8 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 9 A. All right. The process of cleaning reactors, 10 production people, it would be two men per 11 reactor. Maybe this is where you are missing. 12 One man would be the safety man outside of the 13 vessel overlooking the man that was inside the 14 vessel and you would usually switch on and off 15 every half hour to give yourself a break from 16 doing all the hammering with the hammer and 17 chisels. 18 Q. So then at any one time in building E-l several 19 teams of men were involved in cleaning reactors, 20 is that right? 21 MS. BOSSE: Form. 22 A. Right. 23 Q. How long did it take to clean the reactors? R&S165265 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 110 1 A. To clean a WO/AO 1500 gallon reactor would take 2 approximately four to six hours. To clean a K 3 or M resin reactor, normal type cleaning, no 4 problem type stuff, three to four hours, 5 approximately. A 350 gallon E-2 K or M resin 6 reactor would be six to eight hours and a 10,000 7 gallon K or M resin reactor which was No. 9 8 would take also four to six hours some times. 9 No. 8 reactor which was an A/WO reactor, that 10 was 10,000 gallons and that would take sometimes 11 approximately more than eight hours at times, 12 possibly 10, ll. 13 Q. During the same time period, 1972 to 1973 were 14 there any placards or signs posted on the 15 reactors ? 16 MR. WODKA: I'm confused. I thought it was 17 '73 -'74 and you sai d '72 -'73 . 18 Q. Strike the question. Slowing down. During the 19 time period '73-'74 that we've been discussing 20 were there any signs or placards or writings of 21 any kind on the reactors? 22 A. Just the number of the reactors and they did 23 identify some lines by paint and lettering. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 jj B SG o> Crooo>n> Ill 1 Q. Were there any signs or placards that talked 2 about precautionary information or hazard 3 information concerning the materials contained 4 within the vessels? 5 A. No. 6 Q. Were there any written procedures for reactor 7 cleaning during this time period that you are '8 aware of? 9 A. I'm not sure . They did have, I' m not sure of 10 the time frame though, you would have to say 11 they did have a checkoff list of opera tors and 12 reactor cleaners, excuse me, maintenance men and 13 the reactor cleaners before entering a vessel to 14 see if blanked, that certain lines were blanked 15 off and the bonnet of the discharge valves and 16 so on. There was a list of maybe 15, 20 17 questions but I don't know if-- I don't remember 18 that being in effect in '68 to '74. It may have 4 19 been but I'm not sure. 20 Q. Now, I apologize if I asked you this question, 21 I'm sure everybody will jump all over me but I 22 don't have it clear in my notes; were you ever 23 in your early years actually involved in the R&S165267 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 112 1 hand cleaning of reactors? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. So you did that yourself for a period of time? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. And was that during this first 12 to 13 months 6 when you were employed in Department 145? 7 A. Yes . 8 Q. So were you then familiar with the procedure for 9 cleaning reactors back then? 10 A. Not really. I knew how to clean them, I was 11 taught how to enter them and that sort of thing. 12 Q. So you knew what you were told back then and how 13 you were instructed to do that job? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. And is it your testimony that you also had an 16 opportunity in 1973 and '74 to observe other 17 people cleaning reactors? 18 A. Oh, yes. 19 Q. And was the procedure generally the same or was 20 it different than the one that you had been 21 taught back in '68? 22 A. It was exactly the same. 23 Q. We'll come back to the your training and R&S165268 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 113 1 instruction for cleaning reactors in a minute 2 but let me see if I can get time parameters 3 around something about your relationship with 4 Bill Smith. When did you first meet Bill? 5 A. Oh, probably shortly after he was hired. 6 Q. When was he hired? 7 A. I believe November, December '73, something like 8 that . 9 Q. How do you know that? Is that your recollection 10 or is that information that you've been 11 provided? 12 A. Well, speaking with Bill on several occasions 13 seeing that I worked with him, yes. It did come 14 up in conversation. 15 Q. Let me ask a different question. Do you have a 16 recollection as you sit here today in 1995 of 17 Bill first coming to go work at the plant some 18 22 years ago? 19 A . Ye s . 4 20 Q. What is your first recollection of Mr. Smith? 21 A. Cleaning reactors. 22 Q. When did it occur? 23 A. Well, it had to have happened somewhere around. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 jj R a o> CroJi o<>> 114 1 between December of '73 and December of '74. 2 Q. Can you be any more specific? 3 A. Well, I got to meet all the new people. I tried 4 to meet everybody, that is the way that I am but 5 when the people are helping you install 6 platforms in reactors and stuff you get to know 7 them right away. 8 Q. What shift were you working back in November and 9 December of 1973? 10 A. X believe I was on Cliff Gannon's shift. I 11 don't remember if it was B shift or D shift. 12 I'm not real sure. It was one of the two. I'm 13 almost sure. 14 Q. Who were the supervisors on that shift or these 15 shifts? 16 A. It would be Paul Pardee, Bob Richardson and 17 there was another Bob there, I can't think of 18 his last name. 19 Q. Is Richardson the foreman? 20 A. Yes. Bob Leonard. 21 Q. Were you on the same shift throughout 1973 and 22 1974? 23 A. Yes. R&S165270 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202.-2102 115 1 Q. What shift was Bill Smith on? 2 A. I'm not sure but I don't believe he was on my 3 shift. 4 Q. Would Bill be on the same shift as you if he 5 worked overtime and was on a different shift 6 from his regular shift? 7 A. And vice versa, me working over on another 8 shift, his shift. 9 Q. So during this 12 month or so period of time 10 when you first worked at the plant you would be 11 on the same shift when either of you were 12 working overtime and happened to be on the same 13 shift? 14 A. Right. 15 Q. Is that right? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. But you didn't work together on regular shifts, 18 right? 19 A. Not in '73 -'74 . 20 Q. So during the-21 A. I don't think so. 22 Q. During the period of time November 26th, 1973 23 through December 8, 1974 when Bill first worked DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165271 116 1 at the plant are you in a position to tell us 2 exactly how many shifts you worked on together? 3 A No . 4 Q Do you have any records that would reflect that 7 5 A No . 6 Q Do you know how much overtime you had during 7 that period of time? 8 A No . 9 Q Do you know what percentage of your personal 10 time at the plant was overtime versus regular 11 time? 12 A I was known to work one shift extra a week 13 average. 14 Q Do you have any records or recollection or other 15 information that would permit you to tell us on 16 what specif ic days you and Bill Smith worked the 17 same shift? 18 A No. 4 19 Q Do you know of any records at maintenance that 20 would do that? 21 A No . 22 Q Do you know of any people at the plant who might 23 have that knowledge? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165272 117 1 A No, I don't . 2 Q Now, were you involved in hiring Bill Smith? 3 A No . 4 Q You didn't have anything to do with him getting 5 the job, right? 6 A No . 7 Q Do you know what he was hired as? 8 A If he was in my department he was hired for one 9 of two things, production bagger or for the sole 10 purpose of cleaning reactors for his first 90 11 days . 12 Q And if he was hired for someone else's 13 department do you know what he would have been 14 hired as? 15 A Entry level packaging. 16 Q When you say hired for your department, what 17 department are you referring to? 18 A Referring to 145. That is where I spent most of 19 my time at Goodyear. 20 Q What other department could he have been hired 21 in? 22 A At the time the only place he would have been 23 hired would have been Department 245 and on a DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165273 118 1 very rare occasion they had a temporary entry 2 level for the yard or something. 3 Q. And from time to time would people from these 4 other departments work Department 145? 5 A. No. Yard people would perform duties in all 6 departments but-- no. 7 Q. As you sit here today do you know if he was 8 hired for the yard department? 9 A. No, I'm almost positive that he was hired 10 directly for Department 145. 11 Q. But you are not certain, are you? 12 A. No. Once they hired someone they very rarely 13 jumped you from department to department. That, 14 you know, that just didn't happen. 15 Q. Okay. Was there a position known as production 16 operator at Department 145 during this time 17 frame of December '73 to, I'm sorry, November 18 '73 to December '74? 4 19 A. Exact title, offhand I believe they were called 20 production operators. 21 Q. Can you tell me what Bill Smith's specific title 22 was during the period November 1973 to December 23 1974? R&S165274 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 119 1 A. Production operator. 2 Q. And what is that based on? 3 A. At that time they didn't get hired off the 4 street and put into a reactor building because 5 higher senior personnel wanted these positions 6 and you just had to have like ten years minimum 7 seniority in order to bid on them. 8 Q. So then did most people coming into the 9 department work at other areas of the plant 10 before coming into 145? 11 MR. WODKA: Objection. By other-- 12 Q. I'm sorry, maybe I misunderstood. Are you 13 telling us that the Department 145 workers 14 usually had some years at Goodyear before they 15 came into that department? IS A. No, not necessarily. What I'm getting at is the 17 E-2 jobs, E-l's were preference posted 18 positions. They paid a little bit more money and 19 you needed some seniority in order to bid on a 20 job when there was an opening in order to be 21 awarded that position and rarely to my knowledge 22 did anyone less than ten years seniority ever 23 have was a chemical operator, permanent chemical R&S165275 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 120 1 operator in these instances. 2 Q. If people came into the department from off of 3 the street what position did they usually come 4 in at? 5 A. Either a production bagger or reactor cleaning 6 and when I say that, you still have your 90 days 7 in. The union cannot force the company to start 8 training you on any particular job beginning 9 position which there were several. You were 10 like, for lack of a better word, the company 11 slave for the first 90 days. They would use you 12 anywhere they wanted and it was usually cleaning 13 reactors. 14 Q. Under the collective bargaining agreement then 15 after 90 days was the company required to 16 designate a specific union designation job or 17 slot for each person? 18 A. They would have to after 90 days and after the 19 union would enforce the company to start 20 training you on bagging positions, someone to 21 quote, train you so you can get into the 22 rotation slot over in the packaging area. 23 Q. Did you have anything do with Mr. Smith's R & S t65276 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 121 1 training when he first joined the company? 2 A. No . 3 Q. Can you tell us who trained Mr. Smith during his 4 first 90 days for the job that he performed? 5 A. No. 6 Q. Can you tell us who taught Mr. Smith to clean 7 reactors assuming that he did clean reactors 8 during this period of time? 9 A. No . 10 Q. Was there a particular person in Department 145 11 during this period of this, November '73 to 12 December of 1974 that trained all of the new 13 people in cleaning reactors? 14 A. There was no one individual. Everybody was 15 trained by someone who knew how to do it and 16 clean reactors was not a high skill job, you 17 went in there and you used a hammer and chisel 18 and scrapper, whatever needed to be done. 4 19 Q. So if we assume for purposes of my next question 20 that Mr. Smith was involved in cleaning reactors 21 during this period of time he would have been 22 assigned essentially to someone more experienced 23 than him to teach him how to do it, is that DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&SI 65277 122 1 right ? 2 MS. BOSSE: Form. 3 Q. You can answer. 4 A. A person that would have two to three days on 5 Bill would be able to teach him how to clean 6 reactors because I guaranty you when you are 7 hired you were cleaning reactors right off the 8 street. 9 Q. So what you're saying is that the nature of the 10 job was such that with a few days experience you 11 could master the work and you could in fact 12 teach someone else how to do it, is that what 13 you are saying? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. Okay. So you don't know of your own personal 16 knowledge who taught Bill Smith how to clean 17 reactors ? 18 A. No . 19 Q. Do you have any knowledge or information that 20 would help shed light on that question? 21 A. No. 22 Q. Do you have any understanding as to who the 23 people were on his shift that would have been in ft& S f65278 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 123 1 a position to teach him at that time? 2 A Do I know people that were on his shift? 3 Q Yes, that would have been in that position? 4 A Yes . 5 Q Can you give me their names? 6 A Not all of them. 7 Q Give me as many as you can. 8 A I know of one in particular, two in particular. 9 I believe one was Rich Wilson and Bob Dutton. I 10 think possibly Larry Moser was on his shift. 11 Q Do you know of any-- I'm sorry, go ahead. 12 A I can relate to this because we played ball 13 against different shifts. That was quite a 14 deal. 15 Q Do you know anybody on your shift who you 16 believe trained Bill Smith in cleaning reactors? 17 A No . 18 Q Okay. Did you do any work with Bill Smith 4 19 bagging during this period of time? 20 A No . 21 Q If he was working as a bagger as a new man 22 during this 12 month period and assuming that 23 for the purpose of my next question, do you have R&S165279 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 124 1 any knowledge who would have taught him how to 2 do that job? 3 A. These same people that I just mentioned and 4 others, whoever he may have been put with. 5 Q. Safe to say it was not you? 6 A. Definitely was not me. 7 Q. Had you ever done that job? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. During that same period of time in 1968? 10 A. I trained people in that department before X 11 left it. 12 Q. When someone first came to the department back 13 in November of 1973, early '74 were they 14 assigned to a particular building? 15 A. F building. Everybody started entry level, 16 packager and reactor cleaning in either 17 Department 245 or 145. 18 Q. And is it your testimony that they would have 4 19 principally been engaged in these two activities 20 during at least the first 90 days of their 21 employment with the company? 22 A. Yes and mostly cleaning reactors. 23 Q. Would they be assigned to one building, one R&St 65280 DE PAOLO- CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 125 1 reactor building versus another or would they 2 float between the two? 3 A. Didn't matter. 4 Q. So if you were cleaning reactors you would clean 5 them in E-l or clean them in E-2? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. If you were bagging, you were bagging in F-l, is 8 that right? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Do you have any personal knowledge of what 11 information if any Bill Smith was provided with 12 during the first 90 days of his employment about 13 cleaning reactors or bagging? 14 A. General knowledge was, general knowledge was 15 there was not anything there to hurt you, you 16 know. Vinyl chloride being what it is isn't 17 like chlorine or bleach, you know, lesser of the 18 more pungent type chemical or gases. It's sweet * 19 and it does not interrupt your breathing like 20 chlorine or something on that nature. So you 21 didn't really feel like it was going to be 22 something that's harmful and was told to me 23 directly by supervisors, don't worry about it. R&S165281 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 126 1 that stuff won't hurt you. 2 Q. What you just told me is your perception of the 3 general belief during this period of time before 4 you first became aware that this VC was a cancer 5 suspect agent as you told us about before, 6 right ? 7 A. Right. 8 Q. And is that based upon your having been in that 9 plant since about June of 1968, right? 10 A. Right. 11 Q. And are you telling us that you had a specific 12 conversation with supervisory personnel at the 13 plant during these years where they made 14 representations to you about the possible health 15 effects from exposure to vinyl chloride in the 16 work place? 17 A. Supervisors and bargaining unit members both. 18 Don't worry about it they said. 4 19 Q. I'd like you to tell me specifically as you can 20 who you talked to and who made what 21 representations to you in that regard? 22 A. I would probably have-- I can't remember exactly 23 but it probably would have to be just direct DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 Pjoj tppo<ii2 tcoo 127 1 supervision in general because I didn't work 2 overtime when I was first hired there cleaning 3 reactors, that was my first two to three weeks 4 on the job so I would, I would say I guess that 5 was as a trainee cleaning reactors would 6 probably be my primary source of information. 7 Q. Would that be a supervisor? 8 A. Not exactly but to the best of my knowledge I do 9 believe one of them, you know, which would 10 probably be my immediate supervisor which would 11 have been either Richardson or Ed Bowen saying 12 don't worry about it, it's not going to hurt 13 you. When I was hired I was skeptical about 14 going in an enclosed vessel, you know and that 15 is basically how that all comes about, you know. 16 Q. So is it your testimony then that Mr. Richardson 17 and Mr. Bowen would have told you not to worry 18 about entering the reactor, vinyl chloride won't 4 19 hurt you? 20 A. Right. 21 Q. Do you recall any other conversation with 22 anyone, other supervisors or personnel over the 23 years about that same subject? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&SJ6S2S3 128 1 A. No . 2 Q. Leading up to, of course, the point in time when 3 you attended meetings about VC? 4 A. No, I would not say. 5 Q. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, I thought I 6 understood you to say you were not involved in 7 Bill Smith's training, is that right? 8 A. Right. 9 Q. So you don't have any personal knowledge and you 10 can't tell me who specifically trained him in 11 either reactor cleaning or bagging, is that 12 right ? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. So would you agree with me then you have no 15 personal knowledge of what information in 16 particular he was given when he was trained to 17 do these jobs? 18 A. I do not have that knowledge. 19 Q. Okay. You also don't have any knowledge about 20 what if anything in writing he was given at that 21 time, do you? 22 A. No . 23 Q. Can you tell me when is your first recollection ! < ( 1 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 129 1 of work ing s ide by s id,e wi th B ill S mi th? 2 A I could not give a dat e . I me an an exact date, 3 be tween like Dec ember and so o f ' 73 to December 4 of ' 74 but I did work dire ctly wi t h him. 5 Q In your mind ' s e ye can. you see your first 6 oc casion to work with Bill Smi th du ring that 7 time period? 8 A Oh, yes. 9 Q What were you doing? 10 A I was installing a platform in a reactor that he was previously cleaning. 12 Q Who else was on that cleaning operation? 13 A I don't remember. 14 Q So you remember Bill but you don't remember 15 other men who would have been working with him, 16 is that your testimony? 17 A Yes . 18 Q Is that the occasion when something was dropped 19 on you? 20 A Yes . 21 Q And you can't be anymore specific as to when it 22 occurred, can you? 23 A No . R&S165285 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 13 0 1 Q. How long did you work together on that occasion? 2 A. Probably about 25 minutes to a half hour. 3 Q. What were you doing during that period of time? 4 A. I was in the vessel installing pieces of this 5 platform to stand on. 6 Q. Were there platforms that were prefabricated for 7 each vessel or did you make them each time the 8 vessel was cleaned? 9 A. No, it was metal. It was-- it was metal 10 scaffolding, let's say and it had like five or 11 six fins that came off the agitator, flat 12 V-shaped fins that you would put grading on. 13 There were several pieces involved but there was 14 a platform for the 10,000 gallon reactors and a 15 platform for the 3500 gallon reactor. They 16 would be different sizes. Like I said, there 17 were several pieces to it and they would hand 18 them down to me as I was installing them. 19 Q. So there was some platforms that you would erect 20 on location each time, they weren't necessarily 21 prefabricated and you had all the parts, you 22 just had to erect them in place, is that what 23 you're telling us? R&S165286 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 131 1 A. Right. 2 Q. You have a recollection of doing that on this 3 occasion when you first met Mr. Smith, right? 4 A. It would not be the first day I met Bill. 5 Q. But the first time you worked with him side by 6 side though, isn't it? 7 A. Yes. 6 Q. What building were you in? 9 A. E-2 . 10 Q. What reactor were you working on? 11 A. No. 8. 12 Q. How big was it? 13 A. 10,000 gallons. 14 Q. Had any cleaning been done before you got there? 15 A. Yes . 16 Q. And was it usually the case that they began 17 cleaning the lower parts before upper parts? 18 A. Yes . 19 Q. Had you done any work to set that reactor up for 20 cleaning before they entered the vessel? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. I'd like you to-- strike that. As of this 23 period of time your first recollection of DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&SJ65287 132 1 working side by side with Bill, I'd like to 2 confine my questions now to that occasion, that 3 time period, okay, is that clear? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Were reactors purged before cleaning? 6 MS. BOSSE: Objection to form. 7 A. Reactors were ventilated with an air mover prior 8 to entry. 9 Q. Can you describe for me as completely as you can 10 what the procedure was for preparing a reactor 11 for manual cleaning? 12 A. Well, first off you would call maintenance and 13 they would remove the discharge flange or 14 discharge value bonnet and blank any lines going 15 to that valve and then maintenance would go 16 upstairs and blank various lines that chemicals 17 come through for charging that reactor and the 18 operator would remove the manway lid reactor 19 which is approximately 26, 28 inches in diameter 20 and they would get in an air moving device with 21 an inlet and discharge hose and lower the inlet 22 hose into the reactor and try to make it go 23 through a doorway or window for the discharge DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165288 133 1 hose to vent outside. 2 Q. Okay. Are you telling us that they'd take two 3 lines and they introduce air into the reactor 4 and they'd exhaust what was in the reactor to 5 some exterior portion of the building? 6 A. Right. 7 Q. Was there any automated system for purging or 8 ventilating these vessels at that time? 9 MS. BOSSE: Form. 10 A. When a maintenance man worked on the vessel he 11 would first get a hold of the operator or go 12 visually check this chart to make sure the 13 reactor was on vacuum before he started working 14 on i t. 15 Q. What is on vacuum mean? 16 A. Below atmospheric pressure. 17 Q. Okay. How was that accomplished? 18 A. By degassing the equipment in the building. 4 19 Q. What kind of equipment? 20 A. Vacuum pumps. 21 Q. And would they have to bring their equipment to 22 the particular reactor? 23 A. No. There is a line already on the vessel and DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165289 134 1 we just had to open the valve or two to perform 2 that . 3 Q. And what did that accomplish? What did that do 4 to whatever the environment was within the 5 reactor? 6 A. It would remove any pressure and bring the 7 reactor on a vacuum. 8 Q. What if anything did they have to do before 9 opening the manway? 10 A. The operator? 11 Q. Or maintenance? 12 A. Make sure all the valves were closed and started 13 installing flanges. 14 Q. Was there any procedure in place for determining 15 testing or monitoring the concentration of vinyl 16 chloride in the environment within the reactor 17 before the manway was opened? 18 A. No. 4 19 Q. Was there any process or procedure for 20 determining or testing the concentration of 21 vinyl chloride when the manway was opened? 22 A. No . 23 Q. Was there portable or other monitoring or R&S165290 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 13 5 1 testing equipment that was available for 2 purposes of determining the amount of vinyl 3 chloride there in the environment before anyone 4 was asked to enter the vessel? 5 A. No . 6 Q. So then after the manway is opened then for some 7 period of time an attempt would be made to 8 ventilate that atmosphere, is that right? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. With the hose that you described? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Where would the hose exhaust to? 13 A. Most of the time we vented them out a window or 14 a door that would always be on the second 15 floor. That is where the manway would be that 16 is on top of the reactor. 17 Q. And what would you pump in? 18 A. You didn't pump anything in, you just removed-19 you moved air out of the vessel and into the 20 atmosphere. 21 Q. I'm sorry, I thought there were two hoses and 22 one was fresh intake? 23 A. No. Two hoses; one went on the discharge side DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165291 136 1 of this air mover, be like your furnace blower 2 basically is what it is and there would be an 3 inlet hose approximately six inches and 4 discharge hose of six inches and just pulls air, 5 you would pull vapors or air out of the vessel 6 and into the atmosphere. 7 Q. Okay. What was replaced in the vessel? 8 A . (no response) . 9 Q. Was it air from within the plant itself? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. From within the building? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. Is the ventilator something that you actually 14 physically place into the reactor? 15 A. You didn't place it inside, not the blower 16 itself, did not go inside the reactor, just the 17 hose. 18 Q. Where was it located, up on the gangway near the 19 manway? 20 A. Just on the reactor deck. 21 Q. How many of these did they have at Goodyear at 22 this time? 23 A. I would say there was four, f ive . Four in E-2 R&S165292 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 137 1 building and probably six in E-l building. 2 Q. Were they all the same size or were they 3 different capacities? 4 A. Different capacities, two different capacities. 5 Q. What were they? 6 A. I believe one took four inch hose and the other 7 two, six inch hoses. 8 Q. Was there a procedure at Goodyear for how long 9 these reactors would be ventilated before they 10 were cleaned? 11 A. 20 minutes. 12 Q. That was standard? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. Did it matter if the reactor was bigger or 15 smal ler ? 16 A. No . 17 Q. Was it a practice back then to always give 20 18 minu tes whether it needed it or not? 1 19 A. Yes . 20 Q. Did you ever give it more time? 21 A. Yes . 22 Q. How would you determine if you needed to give 23 more time ? DE PAOLQ-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165293 138 1 A. You didn't. 2 Q. What would determine whether you gave it more 3 time ? 4 A. What would give it more time is like if they had 5 a problem with the reaction and could not get 6 the entire batch out of the reactor then you 7 would give it more time. If you saw heavy 8 residue in the bottom or something. 9 Q. So it's a judgment call by people cleaning the 10 reactor who made the determination? 11 A. That is the way that you were trained. 12 Q. I'm just trying to find out who made the 13 decision. In other words, would it be the 14 people who were cleaning it if they looked in 15 and saw there was more residue than usual, they 16 might run the ventilator more? 17 A. No. Probably contact the supervisor and let 18 them know. 19 Q. Why was it that the reactors were ventilated 20 before men entered? 21 A. It was supposed to bring in more oxygenated air 22 into the vessel. 23 Q. Why was that important, do you know? R&St 65294 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 13 9 1 A. Because there would be heavy concentration of 2 vinyl chloride gas in the reactor. 3 Q. What significance is that to you? 4 A. If there was too much you become very light 5 headed, possibly get headaches, you know. 6 Q. So you understood there could be some adverse 7 affects from exposure to too much vinyl 8 chloride? 9 MR. WODKA: Objection to form. 10 Q. You may answer. 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Were you given any information about how much 13 may have been too much? 14 A. No, not at all. 15 Q. As of this point in time had you heard anything 16 about parts per million mentioned? 17 A. Never. 18 Q. Was there a standard that was used for i 19 permissible exposure limits to vinyl chloride as 20 of this point in time in the plant? 21 A. Not that I know of. 22 Q. Anybody ever tell you that Goodyear was 23 following the five hundred parts per million DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165295 14 0 1 standard or 200 parts per million standard or 2 350 parts per million standard, for example? 3 A. Not to my knowledge. 4 Q. Okay. And I take it then there was no procedure 5 for determining just how many parts per million 6 if any of vinyl chloride were in the reactors 7 before men were asked to enter, is that correct? 8 A. I know of some testing going on to determine how 9 long a blower and hose should be hooked up to a 10 reactor before entering but I never knew the 11 results of it, was never passed on to the 12 operator. 13 Q . Who was doing this work? 14 A. The lab, I think. 15 Q. When were they doing it? 16 A. ' 74 . 17 Q. Were they doing it before or after this 18 time you worked side by s ide with Bill S 19 A. After. 20 Q. Okay. What would be left in the reactor 21 was ventilated. In other words, if you 1 22 into the reactor through the manway what 23 you see? Can you describe that for us? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165296 141 1 A. Normally you would see deposits of white vinyl 2 against a blue line reactor and it was glass 3 lined. At the time it would be heavy where you 4 could see no blue all the way up the straight 5 side of the reactor. 6 Q. What would the consistency of the material be? 7 A. Depends on the type of product that you were 8 running. 9 Q. Tell us what are the variances? 10 A. K and M-resins were usually very hard and thick 11 like a melted plastic ball or hard plastic ball 12 or very hard plastic sheet depending on how 13 dirty the reactor was. Some were dirtier than 14 others. The WO/AO reactors were always very 15 dirty and heavy build up on the wall and the 16 bottom the whole vessel, the whole vessel was 17 real dirty, agitator, the whole bit. 18 Q. Can you give us a feel for the size within the 4 19 vessel? In other words, if you climb through 20 the manway what is the configuration of the 21 space that you would be in? 22 A. On a 1500 gallon reactor I would roughly say 23 it's approximately six foot wide and ten foot R&S165297 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 142 1 high, maybe. That is rough. 2 Q. On larger reactors? 3 A. 3500 gallon reactor I would say would be 8, 9 4 feet in diameter and 20 feet deep, 5 approximately, from the manway. 6 Q. Was anything else done to prepare the reactor 7 before men entered it to clean? 8 A. Wash it. 9 Q. Tell us how they washed it? 10 A. They washed it with city water pressure, half 11 inch hose by hand. 12 Q. Somebody would stand inside the reactor or 13 outside? 14 A. Outside. 15 Q. And they sprayed the water on the sides and top 16 and bottom of the reactor from the outside using 17 a hose? 18 A. Yes, just to get rid of the fine particle sizes 19 and try to remove as much of the slime you could 20 from the WO reactors. 21 Q. Was anything else added to the water? 22 A. No . 23 Q. Any chemical used to speed up that process? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165298 143 1 Anything more efficient or anything like that? 2 A. No . 3 Q. How long would that take, typically? 4 A. A few minutes. 5 Q. Would one of the two men who were cleaning the 6 reactors do that? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. Was anything else done to the reactor to prepare 9 it? 10 A. Not that I can remember. 11 Q. Now, how then would the residue on the wall of 12 the reactor be removed? 13 A. Either by hammer and chisels or by approximately 14 a six inch scrapper, five foot handle. 15 Q. These are the tools that were prepared for 16 performing this work? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Were these the tools given for performing this 19 work back in '68? 20 A. Yes . 21 Q . And the steps that you j ust des cribed then to 22 us , are they the steps that you were taught to 23 do back in 1968? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165299 144 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. And were men given anything else to perform this 3 work? 4 A. No . 5 Q. Now-6 A. Cotton gloves. 7 Q. Cotton gloves, okay. Cotton gloves standard 8 issue for them at that time? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Available from the storeroom where you worked? 11 A. Right from the office, right from the production 12 office . 13 Q. So they can get as many of these as they want? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. Were the men provided with impervious clothing 16 at that point in time? 17 A. No. 18 MR. WODKA: Off the record. * 19 20 (discussion held off the record) 21 22 (lunch recess) 23 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165300 145 1 PROCEEDINGS AFTER LUNCH RECESS: 2 MR. WODKA: I have represented to all 3 parties that there were no statements taken of 4 Mr. Winkworth by myself or anybody connected 5 with me and to date no such statements have been 6 taken of anyone in this case other than what 7 already has been provided to counsel. 8 MR. GOLDBLATT: That includes, just so the 9 record is clear, there were no recordings of 10 telephone conversations or any recordings of 11 conversations in the face to face meeting as the 12 witness has testified to for whatever mistaken 13 reason or whatever the reason? 14 MR. WODKA: That's correct. 15 MS. BOSSE: That's fine. 16 BY MR. GOLDBLATT: 17 Q. Mr. Winkworth, welcome back. Let's continue. 18 When we left for the break we were talking about 19 the procedure for cleaning reactors in this 20 period of time around 1973 to 1974 when you 21 first worked side by side with Bill Smith on the 22 occasion that you described earlier, okay? You 23 have that back in your mind? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&SI6530-) 14 6 1 A. Yes . 2 Q. The last question I asked you was whether any 3 impervious clothing or gloves had been issued by 4 Goodyear for use by reactor cleaners or 5 maintenance personnel in performing reactor 6 cleaning operations and your answer was no, is 7 that right? 8 A. I think you added something to that as far as 9 maintenance personnel. 10 Q. Okay. 11 A. Production, no. Maintenance, they did have full 12 face masks for the sole purpose of cleaning 13 lines and reactors because they may apply 14 pressure back on, pressure back on you as you 15 were cleaning. 16 Q. First of all is it true that production workers 17 including these that were cleaning reactors were 18 not issued impervious clothing; aprons, shirts, 19 jackets, pants, booties or gloves for purposes 20 of reactor cleaning? 21 MS. BOSSE: Can you put a time frame on 22 that ? 23 Q. Same time period, 1973 or 1974 when you first i? SP S0ES9, DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 147 1 worked side by side with Bill Smith. Is that a 2 true statement? 3 A. Cotton gloves for reactor cleaners, everyone had 4 access to cotton gloves. 5 Q. Was that the only thing in terms of personal 6 protective equipment or clothing the production 7 people were given to use when performing this 8 work? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Now, are you telling us that respirators for air 11 supply, for air supply were issued to 12 maintenance personnel? 13 A. Right. 14 Q. Describe these respirators for us? 15 A. They were full face shields. The respirators, 16 the first ones they issued were a cartridge type 17 and then after the lines were, the breathing air 18 lines were installed they issued us other face * 19 shields for in-line breathing. 20 Q. You already told us that the air lines were 21 installed in time, right? 22 A. They started on it sometime in '74 but I know 23 that E-1 was never finished as far as air supply R&S165303 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 148 1 and I don't know exactly when E-2 was finished 2 where everybody had access to a line. 3 Did they start on it after the meeting you told 4 us about before where you learned that vinyl 5 chloride was a cancer suspect agent? 6 X don't believe they started on it until 7 somewhere around June or July of '74. 8 Q Okay. 9 A I think that is the earliest. 10 Q Were the cartridge type respirators issued to 11 maintenance people before you learned that vinyl 12 chloride was a cancer suspect agent? 13 A I don't believe so, no. 14 Q To the best of your knowledge when were the 15 cartridge type respirators issued to you? 16 After someone had an accident where a line blew 17 back on them. 18 Q Who was that person? 19 A I don't know for sure but I'm almost positive it 20 was a shift maintenance millwright. 21 Q What happened to him? 22 A They were cleaning out a line that was plugged 23 and there was pressure in between the two lines DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 B&S165304 14 9 1 that was plugged. When he broke into one side 2 of it it blew back on him. 3 Q. So he was sprayed with material? 4 A. Material. 5 Q. What kind of material? 6 A. If I'm not mistaken it was a catalyst called, 7 Goodyear code I believe was P7609. I can find 8 out the true chemical name but it's, you could 9 not breathe it. Your normal reaction, you would 10 not breathe it and it burnt your skin and eyes 11 badly. 12 Q. What was your understanding of when maintenance 13 people were to wear these respirators? 14 A. When drilling out and unplugging 1 15 Q. When did maintenanc e personnel typ 16 that? 17 A. Time-wise? 18 Q. Or in the course of the operation? 4 19 A. Or year? When they were notified 20 there was a plugged line somewhere 21 Q- What I'm trying to find out; is it 22 testimony that this had nothing to 23 cleaning reactors? R & SJ6 5 3 0 5 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 150 1 A Correct. 2 Q Okay. So you're not telling us that the se 3 respirators were issued for the purpose of 4 preparing reactors to be cleaned, are yo u? 5 A No . 6 Q Okay. And is it your testimony then tha t no 7 respirators of any kind were issued to e ither 8 production or maintenance people, mainte nance 9 people for purposes of cleaning reactors prior 10 to the time that you learned that vinyl chloride 11 was a cancer suspect agent? 12 MR. WODKA: You keep using that term and his 13 testimony was he learned of the possible effects 14 of vinyl chloride. He didn't use the te rm 15 cancer suspect agent according to my not es . 16 MR. GOLDBLATT: I disagree with your 17 recollection. I think there was some tes timony 18 about that. 19 MR. WODKA: But that was much later, That 20 was much later in time. 21 MR. GOLDBLATT: Well, we' 11 get to t hat and 22 clean it up. Your obj ection to the form i s 23 noted. 65306 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 151 1 Q. Talked about respirators, talked about clothing, 2 talked about ventilation of the reactors, we 3 talked about the tools that the men were 4 provided with to clean the reactors. What if 5 anything else was to be done to prepare reactors 6 before the men went in to physically remove the 7 residue from walls? Is there anything else that 8 we have not talked about? 9 A. Not that I can think of. 10 Q. Okay. Now, how would the men enter the manway? 11 Would there be a ladder for them? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. And was there a practice followed at Goodyear at 14 that point in time to limit the amount of time 15 that any man spent inside the reactor? 16 A. No, not to my knowledge. The reactor cleaning 17 people would either work a half hour at a time 18 or an hour at a time depending on who you worked 19 with. 20 Q. While they're in the reactors was it the 21 practice to continue to ventilate the reactor? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. How would that be done? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&SJ 65307 152 1 A. You would remove the hose from the reactor, then 2 you would descend through the manway down the 3 ladder and when you were in and near clear of 4 the reactor the man would reinstall the hose 5 into the vessel. 6 Q. So that at all times when a man was inside the 7 reactor the ventilation equipment was to be 8 running, is that right? 9 A. Yes . 10 Q. Okay. Do you know what the capability of the 11 equipment was in terms of the ability to turn 12 over- 13 A. CFM's? 14 Q. Yes. 15 A. No . 16 Q. Were any other procedures followed while the man 17 was in the reactor that you have not told me 18 about already? 4 19 A. The man on top would supply him with sharpened 20 tools as he needed them lowering them down in a 21 bucket or by rope, what needed to be and making 22 sure that he didn't fall and hurt himself. 23 Q. Was the second man always to be present top DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165308 153 1 side? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. Was that, was it your understanding that was for 4 safety purposes? 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. Okay. Was the man inside the reactor tied with 7 a lifeline or harness to any device so that he 8 could be extracted from the reactor? 9 A. Yes. He had a belt and the line. 10 Q. And do you know why that was done, sir? 11 A. For emergency purposes. If the man fell and 12 hurt himself because there were a probe sticking 13 up from the bottom of the reactor, a temperature 14 problem and there may have been something else 15 sticking up from the bottom of the reactor and 16 if he was to fall on it he could be severely 17 injured and if something else would have 18 happened by some chance, an accident where there 19 was gas released in the building or something 20 and/or he became dizzy you could get him out of 21 the reactor. 22 Q. Did you ever become dizzy or suffer any affects 23 like getting high as you described before while R&S165309 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 154 1 cleaning reactors? 2 A. Yes . 3 Q. On how many occasions? 4 A. Several. 5 Q. This is back in 1968? 6 A. Yes. Through all the time I was able or I 7 should say offered to work these areas it 8 happened several occasions, not every time but 9 there were several occasions. 10 Q. What would happen to you? 11 A. You would become light-headed and you weren't in 12 tune with your legs, so to speak. If you wanted 13 to walk you actually had to look at your legs to 14 make sure they were going in the direction or 15 doing what you wanted them to do bee ause you 16 lost all reality that your legs were part of you 17 and your arms too at this time. 18 Q. And what would you do for that? 4 19 A. Well, if I was in the vessel I would yell up to 20 the man upstairs and immediately get out of the 21 vessel. 22 Q. Is that one of the reasons why there was a belt 23 harness? R&S165310 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 155 1 A. Yes. It was mandatory that you wore it. 2 Q. Were belts and harnesses issued to particular 3 people? How were they available? 4 A. We had ladders with chisels, hammers, safety 5 belts and ropes at our access to clean reactors 6 Q. And it was mandatory that the man entering the 7 vessel have this belt harness? 8 A. It was mandatory. 9 Q. After you got out of the reactor what if 10 anything would be done for you when you 11 experienced these symptoms? 12 A. You would take in fresh air until you were 13 feeling proper. No medical attention. 14 Q. When you say you would take in fresh air, take 15 you outside, take you someplace, where did you 16 go? 17 A. Outside. 18 Q. For how long did you have to go outside? 4 19 A. Up to 15, 20 minutes if it was severe. 20 Q. What would happen to you? Would you recover 21 your gait or your sense or what would happen? 22 A. Yes, you would. 23 Q. Did you complain about this to anyone? Do & DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 156 1 Yes, I do remember once in particular I told a 2 Mr. Sarkes who was the supervisor that he 3 thought I was just playing a game with him, 4 didn't want to go down and clean reactors right 5 away or something and I told him there was a lot 6 of gas in there and yes we needed more 7 ventilation and then he told me to get back down 8 inside and I refused and I just told him I was 9 not going back down in for safety reasons until 10 we had a better purge reactor through the vent. 11 Q- Was this back in 1968? 12 A. No, this was like '72 or so. 13 Q. One - - 14 A. One of the later times, one of the last times 15 bas i cally I cleaned a reactor. 16 Q. Were you volunteering or not, involuntary? Were 17 you on an overtime shift at that time? 18 A. Yes . 4 19 Q. And what if any action was taken? 20 A. None 21 Q. Did you make any other complaints? 22 A. No . 23 Q. Did you file a grievance? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165312 157 1 A. No . 2 Q. Do you know if anybody else comp lained, made 3 similar complaints? 4 A. No, I don't know but I'm sure th ere were. 5 Q. Were you personally aware of, in other words, 6 did you see anyone else have sim ilar experiences 7 while you've been employed at th e company? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. On how many occasions? 10 A. One individual, several and we f inally got them 11 out of the building where he cou Id just not 12 work . 13 Q. Who was that? 14 A. Gerry Joris. 15 Q. Spell that. IS A. I think J-o-r-i-s. 17 Q. What did you see? 18 A. Anytime he became, anytime he was near any 4 19 exposure of vinyl chloride he just passed right 20 out. He passed right out and he was not, he was 21 an E-l chemical operator and the company and the 22 union finally decided to get him out of that 23 particular job. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&SI65313 158 1 Q. When was that? 2 A. I don't remember exact dates. I really don't. 3 Q. Was it early in your tenure or later? 4 A. I would say it was, to the best of my knowledge, 5 it was between December '73 and December '74. 6 Q. Was it before or after you attended that first 7 meeting at the local about health effects from 8 vinyl chloride exposure? 9 A. I believe it was before. 10 Q. Do you know what his medical status is? 11 A. Dead. 12 Q. When did he die? 13 A. Oh, I would have to say in the past six years. 14 Q. Do you know what he died of? 15 A. No . 16 Q. Was there a formal grievance procedure with 17 respect to the incident involving Mr. Joris? 18 A. I don't remember exactly how it worked out but * 19 the company didn't want to let him out of the 20 job. I know there was union intervention into 21 getting him out. 22 Q. Do you have personal knowledge of any similar 23 events occurring to Mr. Smith? R&SI65314 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 15 9 1 MR. WODKA: What do you mean by similar? 2 Q. Let me rephrase. Do you have any personal 3 knowledge as to, did you ever see Mr. Smith in 4 the reactor and experience the same kind of 5 symptoms that you described in terms of 6 dizziness, loss of connection with his legs, 7 these phenomenon? 8 A. No, I never witnessed that. 9 Q. You told us before that vinyl chloride had a 10 sweet smell, do you remember that? 11 A. Yes, pleasant. 12 Q. Pleasant smell. Were you always able to smell 13 vinyl chloride at the plant during this period 14 of time '7 3 - '7 4 ? 15 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 16 Q. Let me rephrase. When if at all were you able to 17 smell vinyl chloride at the Niagara Falls plant 18 in 1973 and 1974? 19 A. In E-l building you could always smell vinyl 20 chloride in the building almost constantly. E-2 21 building I believe had a little better 22 ventilation. Didn't smell it as often. 23 Q. What about from-- R&S165315 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 16 0 1 A. F-l? 2 Q. F-l. 3 A. You could smell vinyl chloride in F-l always 4 around the storage tanks, the slurry storage 5 tanks. 6 Q. Okay. I want to finish up on the reactor 7 pleading. Once the man entered the vessel he 8 would then use hammers and chisels and the 9 scrappers to remove the residue from the sides 10 of the vessel? 11 A. From the whole interior of the vessel. 12 Q. What would they do with the residue that was 13 coming off of the sides? 14 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 15 Q. How, if at all, would the man dispose of the 16 material that he was scraping or hammering or 17 chiselling from the vessel? 18 A. All the materials would basically fall to the 4 19 bottom of the vessel. We started from the 20 bottom, you work your way up. Maintenance would 21 install a platform and you would finish around 22 the top and around the baffles and around the 23 oil seal, anywhere where there was a buildup and DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165316 161 1 then maintenance would return and remove the 2 scaffolding and the reactor cleaner would go 3 down to the bottom of the vessel and sweep or 4 pick up large pieces by hand, put them into a 5 clothing bag, tie it off and the man on top 6 would rise it through the manway. 7 Q. Where would it be taken? 8 A. To a dumpster outside. 9 Q. Okay. And then would the maintenance personnel 10 return in order to prepare the reactor for the 11 next batch? 12 A. Yes . 13 Q- Would the reactor cleaning have anything else 14 that he would have to do that was part of the 15 cleaning process? 16 A. Before maintenance would come over they would 17 rinse the reactor real well by hand. 18 Q. And what do you mean, take pails or how would 19 they do it? 4 20 A. They would do it with a steady water hose. 21 Q. From outside the vessel? 22 A. Yes, half inch. 23 Q. Were there any other steps in the reactor R&S165317 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 162 1 cleaning process that we have not talked about 2 already? 3 A. X don't believe so. 4 Q. Okay. Now, framework for this discussion had 5 been, this first occasion when you worked side 6 by side with Bill Smith, you told us that you 7 recall him coming over after he and a coworker 8 had cleaned the lower half and you were going to 9 install the platform? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. Did he help you install that platform? 12 A. Yes, he lowered pieces to me. 13 Q. Was this the occasion when something fell toward 14 you? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. Were you actually struck by anything? 17 A. Almost. I was not struck. 18 Q. Didn't have to go to first aid or anything like 19 that ? 20 A. No, no. 21 Q. And what happened next after the platform was 22 installed? Did they then finish cleaning the 23 reactor? R&S165318 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 163 1 A Yes . 2 Q Do you know who was between the two of them? 3 Was the one inside the reactor and one on top of 4 the reactor? 5 I think Bill went in right after I installed the 6 platform. 7 Q You saw them do that? 8 A Yes . 9 Q Was he wearing a respirator? 10 A No . 11 Q Was he wearing cotton gloves? 12 A I would say most likely everybody did because it 13 was easier to grab the hammer with cotton gloves 14 on . 15 What I'm asking though, do you specifically 16 recall seeing him wear cotton gloves when he 17 entered the vessel on that occasion? 18 A No . 19 Q Can you tell us what clothing he 'was wearing? 20 A Blue jeans. 21 Q What kind of shirt was he wearing? 22 A I don't remember. 23 Q Okay. Did you stay at the reactor? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 6l99tS9tT 164 1 A. For a few minutes. 2 Q. What were you doing? 3 A. I was watching him going in and waiting for this 4 other person to show up. 5 Q. There was no second man there? 6 A. Well, he was on his way. 7 Q. Did you have the safety harness and tether? 8 A. Yes . 9 Q. What was it tethered to? Where was the other 10 end of the line? 11 A. You just tie it to one of the pipes on the 12 outside of the vessel. 13 Q. So you were serving as a second man until the 14 other guy showed up? 15 A. Just for a minute or two. 16 Q. Then where did you go? 17 A. I had to go button up another reactor. 18 Q. You didn't stay with him? 19 A. No . 20 Q. Did you return to that reactor again? 21 A. Yes, I did. 22 Q. Do you remember doing that? 23 A. Yes, I do. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165320 165 1 Q. When was it? 2 A. At the very end of the shift. 3 Q. About how long, how much time had expired when 4 you left and when you returned? 5 A. I would say about three, three and a half hours. 6 Q. And who was there when you got back? 7 A. Bill was there. 8 Q. Who else? 9 A. Probably the man he was working with. 10 Q. Probably. Do you have a recollection? 11 A. No, no. There is a routine these guys used to 12 do, you know. I mean the recollection part is, 13 the routine was like when you were done at the 14 end of the day and if was time to button up the 15 reactor, the main man would go in and hand these 16 pieces of the platform out and the other guy 17 would grab these one or two five gallon pails of 18 chisels and take them back to the maintenance t 19 shop so that the shift men, other shift men can 20 sharpen them. That is the way that things 21 always worked, you know. 22 Q. I appreciate that. What I want to know is 23 whether you have a specific recollection, that R&S165321 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 166 1 is, can you see in your mind's eye as you sit 2 here today who was there ? 3 A. Not the other guys. no, I don't remember. 4 Q. Okay. When was the next time that you worked 5 with Bill Smith after that side by side? 6 A. Not in a vessel that I can remember. Not in a 7 vessel. I worked with him when I went back to 8 E-2 building as an operator. 9 Q. So is it fair to say you have no other 10 recollection of working with Bill Smith side by 11 side cleaning reactors? 12 A. Right. 13 Q. Okay. Now you went back to the E-2 building as 14 an operator in early 1983, is that right? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. Did you have any other occasion to work side by 17 side with Bill Smith between the things that you 18 told us about and early 1983? 19 A. No . 4 20 Q. We touched on the ventilation in the E-l and E-2 21 buildings and I'd like to ask you a few more 22 questions about that. Will you describe first 23 off as a millwright were you familiar with the R&S165322 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 167 1 ventilation system in these buildings? 2 A. Yes . 3 Q. Did you have occasion to work on these 4 ventilation systems from time to time during 5 this period leading up to 1973 and 1974? 6 A. Yes . 7 Q. Okay. Would you describe for me as best as you 8 can what the ventilation system was in E-l 9 building and let me, so there is a framework for 10 my question, I want to know before any changes 11 were made in 1974 after the meetings about 12 possible health effects from vinyl chloride. Do 13 you have that clear in your mind? 14 A. Uh-huh. 15 Q. We both agree there were some changes that were 16 made starting in 1974 and going forward, right? 17 A. Yes . 18 Q. What I want to do now is I want to talk about 19 before the changes were made so we get a clear 20 picture of what it was like bef ore that, okay? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. Okay. So describe for us as best as you can what 23 the ventilation system for E-l building was DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165323 168 1 before the changes were made? 2 A. Ventilation consisted of fans on the first floor 3 drawing air from in the building outside. 4 Q. How big is the building? 5 A. Approximately one hundred by one hundred and 6 twenty, forty something like that. 7 Q. One hundred feet by approximately one hundred 8 forty feet? 9 A. Right. 10 Q. How many stories is it? 11 A. Two. 12 Q. Are they split-level or is just a two story 13 building? 14 A. It actually is two levels and the control room 15 where all the reactors, gages were, charts. 16 There was a cement floor in there. Everywhere 17 else throughout the building was floor, grated 18 steel floor where you can look down and see the 19 people walking on the first level or look and 20 see them walking on the second. 21 Q. Air could pass from one level to another? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. Do you know when the building was constructed? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165324 16 9 1 A Best of my knowledge is 1946. 2 Q Now, how many fans were there? 3 A Approximately eight, maybe a few more. 4 Q Can you describe the size or capacity of the 5 f ans ? 6 A I would say the size of the fan was two and a 7 half to three foot diameter with four to six 8 blades on it. 9 Q Do you know who made them, where they came from, 10 anything like that? 11 A No . 12 Q How often were they running? 13 A 24 hours a day when they were running. 14 Q Were they built into the walls or the structure? 15 A Into the cinder block. 16 Q And were they controlled by a master switch or 17 individually? 18 A Individually. 19 Q So someone had to go up while they were running 2 0 continuously until they broke down? 21 A Yes . 22 Q Who would repair them when they broke down? 23 A Yes, electrician. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165325 170 1 Q They were in the maintenance department? 2 A Yes . 3 Q Can you tell us about anything where they were 4 located in the circumference or exterior of the 5 building? 6 A There would be at least one fan probably ten, 7 twelve feet away from each corner of the 8 building and probably the doorway, the east 9 doorway on the first floor was in the middle of 10 the one hundred foot st rue ture and it would 11 probably be a fan or there was, again, the best 12 that I can remember is 12 , 14 f eet on either 13 side of the entrance -way. 14 Q Were there also windows to the exterior? 15 A On the second floor. 16 Q Are there any windows on the first floor? 17 A No . 18 Q Was there a policy of opening or closing the 19 windows ? 20 A No . 21 Q Who decided or determined if the windows were 22 open or closed on any given shift? 23 A Probably the operator. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&ST65326 171 1 Q. Were there any roof vents or fans? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. How many? 4 A. One that I know of and that would be a fan going 5 directly into the control room, not a fan but at 6 least a stack to draw the air down. 7 Q. Any other ventilation to that facility? 8 A. No . 9 Q. Were any of the reactors within that facility, 10 did they have direct ventilation? 11 A. That is what ventilation is. 12 Q. Let me ask a more specific question. Was there 13 a mechanical ventilation system within the plant 14 for any of the pieces of equipment in the 15 process? 16 A. Not before '75. 17 Q. No ventilation for the dryers? 18 A. That is a different building. 19 Q. Oh, I'm sorry. Staying within E-2. Before 1975 20 there was no mechanical ventilation system for 21 the machinery equipment that was in your plant, 22 is that your testimony? 23 A. Yes. R&St65327 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 172 1 Q. Are you aware of any monitoring that was done in 2 the E-l building to determine what the levels of 3 vinyl chloride were with the background air? 4 A. I know-5 Q. Again, the same time period. 6 MS. BOSSE: This is before? 7 Q. So you understand, this is before any changes 8 were made in '74 that was the last time? 9 A. I know that they did some testing but I don't 10 believe that they checked for-- well, they must 11 have checked. I know they did some testing in 12 '74 but like I said, information was not passed 13 on to operators. 14 Q. Prior to your attending the first meeting at 15 which health effects from vinyl chloride were 16 discussed with the union local did you ever see 17 anybody walking around Department 145 with 18 personal monitoring devices? That is, devices 19 that would monitor their personal exposure to 20 vinyl chloride while performing their duties? 21 A. Not before the meeting, no. 22 Q. Did you wear any personal monitoring devices 23 before that meeting? R&S165328 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 173 1 A . No . 2 Q. Later years were you asked to do that? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. And were you advised of the results of that 5 monitoring? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. Can you describe for us the results of the 8 monitoring that was performed on you? 9 A. There were a few times when I was overexposed 10 for the jobs that I, that I was doing at the 11 time . 12 Q. How was overexposure defined at that time? 13 A. Above five parts per million in an eight hour 14 period. 15 Q. And so you're aware that there were records kept 16 of that monitoring, is that right? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Have you seen these records? 19 A. They post them. 20 Q. So they were made available at the plant? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. Are you aware of any monitoring that was 23 performed on you that indicate that you were DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165329 174 1 exposed above 25 parts per million? 2 A. No. There may have been but you know, I can't 3 say for sure if I was over 25 but there is a 4 possibility I could have been. I remember an 5 incident but I don't know if I was wearing a 6 device then or not. 7 Q. How often did you wear this device? 8 A. I wore it more than other people because I was 9 on steady days for a while. The later years I 10 was in the department and it was easier to get a 11 hold of me than other people. They wanted to 12 get everybody, if I'm not mistaken, a minimum of 13 twice a year to be monitored but they tried to 14 do it more. 15 Q. And are you supposed to perform your regular 16 tasks for that period of time and the equipment 17 is constantly monitoring you, is that what 18 happened? 19 A. Yes and you also have to mark down if you were 20 in a high concentration area during that eight 21 hour period. 22 Q. Okay. We've been talking about ventilation. 23 Have you had a chance to describe for us all the R&St 65330 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 175 1 ventilation within building E-l before the 2 meeting? 3 A. That I can remember. 4 Q. Let's go to building E-2 then. 5 MS. BOSSE: Let me interrupt you for a 6 second, Sam, so I can ask a question. 7 When you say "before the meeting", are we 8 talking about that first meeting that you talked 9 about in February of 1974, a union meeting at 10 which you said you first heard of the possible 11 link between vinyl chloride and c ancer ? Is that 12 the meeting? 13 A. Yes . 14 MS. BOSSE: I t hought that is what he was 15 referring to. You referred to a c ouple meetings. 16 MR. WODKA: He learned of the possibility of 17 effects of vinyl chloride. 18 MS. BOSSE: My notes say the first possible 19 link between VC and cancer-- 20 MR. GOLDBLATT: The court rep orter has it in 21 the transcript and that will be the final 22 arbiter of what was testified to. 23 Q. Mr. Winkworth, let' s then move to building E-2, R&S165331 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 176 1 if you can. Can you describe for us the 2 ventilation system for building E-2 as it 3 existed before any changes were made in 1974? 4 A. Yes. There was a one roof vent and about the 5 same amount of first floor fans as was in E-l 6 building. 7 Q. You told us before that you felt the ventilation 8 in E-2 was a little bit better than E-l. Can 9 you explain why that was? 10 A. E-2 is a newer building, it was built in '57, 11 something like that and was newer equipment and 12 less leaks. I believe that is why it was better 13 because there were less leaks. E-l building 14 there were many leaks. 15 Q. Would it be fair to say then that you were not 16 really saying the ventilation is better, what 17 you're saying is that there was less vinyl 18 chloride in the atmosphere in the E-2 building 19 than E-l building? * 20 MS. BOSSE: Form.. 21 A. Yes . 22 Q-. You aattttrribute that to the age of the equipment 23 and the existence of leakage within the R&S165332 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 177 1 equipment, is that right? 2 A. Yes . 3 MS. BOSSE: Form. 4 Q. As a millwright or maintenance department 5 personnel were you involved in curing leaks 6 within these facilities? 7 A. Yes . 8 q. And tell us what you did in that regard again 9 during the same period of time, prior to that 10 first meeting with the local that you went to 11 about health effects from vinyl chloride? 12 A. It was common practice to just de-pressure a 13 line. I'm just talking lines now, I'm not 14 talking vessel leaks, just line leaks. We would 15 just de-pressure the line and then change the 16 A-gasket and then tighten the line back up 17 again. 18 As far as vessel leaks, they would be 19 checked with soapy water and determine where the 20 leak was at and then when the bag was out they 21 would send maintenance over to either tighten a 22 flange or a foot bearing or what may be the leak 23 and- - R&S165333 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 178 1 Q. When you say de-pressure the line, are you 2 saying if you had a to change a gasket or 3 something you'd just open the line as opposed to 4 purging the line before breaking the connection? 5 A. Right. 6 Q. Would that cause a release of material into the 7 plant environment? 8 A. Yes. 9 MS. BOSSE: Form. 10 Q. What kind of material was in these lines? 11 A. Vinyl chloride for one, water, gelatin, tensik, 12 other material that we used for charging 13 reactors. 14 Q. Were the vinyl chloride storage tanks inside the 15 building or outside? 16 A. Outside. 17 Q. Was the vinyl chloride monitor then pumped to 18 the reactor like that? Let me ask; how did the 19 vinyl chloride monitor get from the storage tank 20 outside the building to the reactor? 21 A. There was a storage tank inside the way scale. 22 You had 14,000 gallon capacity tanks and 22,000 23 gallon capacity tanks at the tank farm where you DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 65334 179 1 would unload the VC railroad cars to and from 2 there, you would pump VC from the storage tanks 3 at the tank farm to the way scale inside the 4 building and from the way scale then to the 5 reactor. 6 Q. What was the ventilation system in the F-l 7 building where the bagging operations took 8 place ? 9 A. Poor. 10 Q. How big was that building? 11 A. Not past tense, it's still there. 12 Q. How big is the building? 13 A. It's a few hundred feet. The production area 14 itself is a few hundred feet by a few hundred 15 feet. 16 Q. Is it larger than E-l? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Larger than E-2? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. Is E-2 bigger than E-l? 21 A. It was taller. 2 2 Q. And what did the ventilation system for F-l 23 consist of leaving aside however you may DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 H&SJ65335 180 1 characterize its effectiveness? 2 MS. BOSSE: Again we are talking about a 3 particular time frame? 4 Q. Same time frame prior to the first meeting you 5 attended at the local concerning health effects, 6 possible health effects of vinyl chloride. 7 A. You didn't have as many ventilation fans. 8 That's about all that I can say. Ventilation 9 was poor. 10 MS. BOSSE: I object to the 11 characterization. 12 Q. Are you aware of any testing or monitoring of 13 the level of vinyl chloride within either E-2 14 building or F-l building? Again, this period of 15 time, for this period of time prior to that 16 first meeting at the local that you attended? 17 A. No . 18 Q. Mr. Winkworth, I want to focus in on the 19 pleading and events which occurred in early 1974 20 that first brought to your attention possible 21 health effects from vinyl chloride. You told us 22 before that your first recollection was 23 attending a meeting at the union local in R&S165336 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO,. NEW YORK 14202-2102 181 v 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 182 1 knowledge ? 2 A. I couldn't say. 3 Q. Were any nonunion people at the meeting? 4 A. No . 5 Q. Any representatives of Goodyear management or 6 supervision? 7 A. I don't believe so, no. 8 Q. Were any medical doctors present? 9 A. I don't remember. 10 Q. Were any representatives of the oil, chemical 11 and atomic workers international present? 12 A. No . 13 Q. How long did the meeting last? 14 A. I don't remember how long that particular 15 meeting was . 16 Q. Can you tell us the substance of what Mr. 17 McCalley said about the subject of health 18 effects of vinyl chloride? 19 A. Only thing that I can really remember is that he 20 said that he believed there was a link between 21 some of the illnesses in the plant and vinyl 22 chloride and he wanted us all to participate in 23 a physical that was going to be performed by Mt. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165338 183 1 Sinai Hospital. 2 Q. And what were the health effects that had been 3 experiencing at the plant that he was referring 4 to? 5 MR. WODKA: Object to the form. Are you 6 saying what did he report or what did he think 7 was going on? 8 MR. GOLDBLATT: All right. Read back the 9 witness' answer about the substance of what Mr. 10 McCalley said. 11 (record read back by the reporter) 12 Q. What were the illnesses in the plant that you 13 understood he was referring to? 14 MR. WODKA: Same time? 15 MR. GOLDBLATT: Yes. 16 MR. WODKA: In 1974. 17 A. Liver cancer was one and he said anyone could 18 possibly contract this if they recall becoming i 19 dizzy from the vinyl chloride and people who 20 were more exposed were more likely, were more at 21 risk. 22 Q. So the illness that you understood he believed 23 was linked to vinyl chloride was liver cancer, DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&Sl 65339 184 1 right ? 2 A. That's all I personally can remember at this 3 time . 4 Q. And had people at the plant, had you been told 5 that people at the plant had died from liver 6 cancer? 7 A. I do recall him saying that yes, people had 8 become ill and I do remember him saying he 9 didn't want to say anything more for whatever 10 reason. I don't remember his reason. Like he 11 didn't want to let the cat out of the bag type 12 of thing. It was early in what he was trying to 13 get accomplished. 14 Q. Did you later learn that in fact three people 15 from the Goodyear plant had two or three 16 problems, from the Goodyear Niagara Falls plant 17 had died of liver cancer? 18 A. I don't remember the number but I do remember, 19 you know, the talk being that people had 20 contracted the disease. 21 Q. Okay. You strike me as a thoughtful kind of 22 person, you told us before that you had 23 experienced at least a couple occasions where R&S165340 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 185 1 you became dizzy and X take that it what Mr. 2 McCalley reported was of some concern to you 3 then? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Fair to say at least as of that moment you 6 understood that there was a risk of cancer from 7 exposure to vinyl chloride? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. And you understood that it was important for 10 your exposure to vinyl chloride to be reduced as 11 much as possible if not e1imina ted to reduce 12 that? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. When is the first-15 A. When the first reaction levels came out they 16 were much higher than one in five, they were 500 17 or whatever it was when they first brought it 18 out and then shortly they reduced it to what it 19 is now. 20 Q. Mr. Winkworth, if a meeting was called of the 21 Goodyear workers in Department 145 wherein you 22 were invited to attend to talk about health 23 effects from vinyl chloride exposure in 1974, is DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165341 186 1 there any reason why you would not attend such a 2 meeting? 3 MR. WODKA: Object to that. You're entering 4 into raw speculation. If there was a meeting? 5 Was there a meeting or wasn't there? 6 MR. GOLDBLATT: There was and we'll get to 7 that . 8 MR. WODKA: Why don't you ask him that. 9 MR. GOLDBLATT: I can ask him whatever 10 questions I want in whatever order. You made 11 your objection to the form. 12 A. I don't recall at this time. 13 Q. Okay. You don't recall there being a meeting? 14 A. No. 15 Q. Okay. What I'm asking you; can you conceive of 16 you learning of a meeting and not wanting to 17 attend for any reason having to do with this 18 subj ect? 19 MR. WODKA: Objection. 20 A. I just don't recall at this time. 21 Q. I mean is this a hard question for you? If this 22 subject, if you were told the subject was going 23 to be discussed at a meeting back then, could Ft&Sf 65342 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 187 1 you conceive that you would not attend? 2 MR. WODKA: Objection. 3 A. If there was a meeting I may have gone, I just 4 don't know what to tell you here at this point. 5 Q. Well I'm asking you, sir and if my question is 6 not clear please tell me, all I'm asking you is 7 if the people at Goodyear said we're going to 8 have a meeting about this subject and you were 9 told that you should attend because it would be 10 important to you-- 11 MR. WODKA: First of all, on that subject 12 it's been asked and answered. 13 Q. --since the subject is the health effects from 14 exposure to vinyl chloride would you attend? 15 MR. WODKA: Objection. 16 Q. Can you answer that question, sir? 17 MR. WODKA: You have my objection? 18 REPORTER: Yes. 19 A. No, I would probably go. 4 20 Q. Now, let me ask you a more specific question; 21 did you attend any meeting at Goodyear on either 22 February 7th or February 8th, 1974 about health 23 effects from vinyl chloride? Do you have a R&S165343 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 188 1 recollection of attending a meeting as you sit 2 here now? 3 A No . 4 Q Do you have a recollection of seeing any notice 5 postings about such a meeting? 6 A No . 7 Q Was there a bulletin board or posting place 8 where things would be posted in this period of 9 time, January or February 1974 for department 10 employees to review? 11 A Yes . 12 Q Where was that? 13 A It's a big building. It's near the mens locker 14 room. 15 Q In what building? 16 A F-l . 17 Q F-l. And this would be a place that you would 18 have visited or passed by each day? 19 A If you went to the building, yes, you would walk 20 passed it but you would be like 20 feet from 21 it. Normally going in, you, know, entering the 22 plant, going to the locker room and leaving the 23 plant it was, it was away from your-- 65344 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 189 1 Q. Okay. 2 MR. GOLDBLATT: Anybody remember what the 3 last marked exhibit was? 4 MR. WODKA: Why don't you do like I have 5 suggested, mark it Winkworth Exhibit 6 7 The following was marked for identification: 8 Winkworth Exhibit 1 9 10 Q. Mr. Winkworth, I'm going to show you a copy of a 11 three page document entitled Notice to Employees 12 that has been produced by your employer, 13 Goodyear and I'd like you to take a couple 14 minutes and read that document and then I will 15 ask you some questions about the document and 16 events described in it. Okay. Have you had a 17 chance to look at that document, sir? 18 A. Yes. * 19 Q. Have you ever seen that document before? 20 A. No. 21 Q. Do you have any recollection of ever seeing that 22 document posted anywhere at Goodyear in and 23 around February of 1974? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165345 190 1 A. No, I don't recall. 2 Q. You will agree with me that the first sentence 3 of the document says, quote; following 4 information was given at employee meetings 5 scheduled February 7 and February 8, 1974. I 6 read that correctly, didn't I? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. Does that refresh your recollection about 9 meetings at Goodyear in and around this time 10 period at which the subject of health effects 11 from vinyl chloride exposure was discussed? 12 MR. WODKA; objection to form. 13 A. No . 14 Q. So having read that document, it does not 15 refresh your recollection? You still don't 16 recall attending any such meeting, right? 17 A. No, not at this point. 18 Q. And you don't have a recollection of any such 19 meeting being published about this period of 20 time, notice being given to employee to attend 21 such a meeting? 22 MS. BOSSE: Form. 23 A. No . R&S165346 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 191 1 Q. Am I correct that this does not refresh your 2 recollection as to the notice? You still don't 3 recall the notice being given to you to attend 4 such a meeting? 5 A. No . 6 Q. Do you recall attending any meeting at which 7 representatives of management at Goodyear made a 8 presentation about the same subjects that are 9 listed in this memo? 10 A. I do recall John Gilmore came to one of our 11 union meetings. 12 Q. Who is John Gilmore? 13 A. Plant manager. 14 Q. Back in 1974? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. Can you tell us when in 1974? 17 A. No . 18 Q. Could it have been as early as February of 1947? 19 A. I don't recall. 20 Q. Was it before or after the meeting that you 21 attended where Mr. McCalley made the 22 presentation? 23 A. I'm not sure. DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 RSS165347 192 1 Q. Tell us as best-- well, strike that. Was the 2 meeting that Mr. Gilmore attended at the union 3 local? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. How many people were there? 6 A. Many. 7 Q. Was the hall large enough to accommodate 8 everybody in the union from the Niagara Falls 9 plant ? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. And the first meeting with Mr. McCalley, what is 12 your recollection about how many people were 13 there? Was it a pretty full house? 14 A. I don't remember. 15 Q. What about the second meeting with Mr. Gilmore, 16 was that pretty well attended? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Do you recall seeing Bill Smith there? 19 A. No. 20 Q. Do you have any recollection one way or the 21 other whether he was there? Any knowledge? 22 A. No . 23 Q. Was there any attendance list kept of this DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&St 65348 meeting from a check-in, sign-in? A. I believe people signed in, yes. Q. And who would keep the register or logs, if you signed in? A. They should be at the union hall. Q. If I wanted to see those documents who would I ask for them? What would I ask to see? A. You would ask for a meeting sign-in book. We used a book at the time. Q. Were there agendas for those meeting that were posted? A. For the union meetings themselves? Q. Yes. A. Yes, there is always. Q. Who keeps those? A. They would be at the union hall also right now. Q. Who? A. For that time period, you know, they would be at the hall if we still had them. Q. Who is in charge of records? Who has custody of records or who has responsibility at the union now? A. John Polongi. R&S1 65349 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 194 1 Q. And tell us as best as you can what you recall 2 Mr. Gilmore saying at this meeting? 3 A. One of the highlights was that he would never 4 put anybody's life in jeopardy and he was 5 referring to the vinyl chloride matter and he 6 was investigating, there was an ongoing 7 investigation to what was going on. That is 8 basically all I remember of what he was getting 9 across and I do know that he made a lot of other 10 people upset by what he was saying because a lot 11 of people just didn't believe that Goodyear 12 didn't know that VC was harmful. 13 Q. Did anyone else from the company speak at that 14 meeting? 15 A. I don't remember offhand. 16 Q. Did anyone else from the company attend that 17 meeting? 18 A. There were salaried people there, lab-- mostly 19 lab people and supervisors. 4 20 Q. Do you recall anything else that was discussed? 21 A. No . 22 Q. Do you have any notes of these meetings? 2 3 A. No . R&S165350 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 195 1 Q. Do you recall attending any other meetings at 2 the local about this subject? 3 A. Not offhand, no. 4 Q. Were there regular meetings at the local? In 5 other words, was there standard meetings, 6 standing meetings every month or every two 7 months? 8 A. First Friday of every month. 9 Q. And if you wanted to see what was on the agenda 10 for that meeting where did you have to go? 11 A. Union bulletin which was posted in four or five 12 places throughout the plant. 13 Q. Did you yourself have any discussion with Bill 14 Smith about health effects or possible health 15 effects or risks to your health from working in 16 the plant as a result of exposure to vinyl 17 chloride? 18 MR. WODKA: At what point in time? 19 Q. Any point in time? 20 A. Yes, I do recall talking to Bill sometime in the 21 '80's about being real careful. 22 Q. One conversation or more than one? 23 A. Definitely one. There may have been more but-- DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 J-SSS91SVU 196 1 Q. Tell me as best as you can what you said to him 2 and what he said to you? 3 A. He was explaining a problem that he was having 4 at unloading a station and basically told him 5 how to try to correct it to keep from exposing 6 himself. 7 Q. What was the problem? 8 A. Pressure between the plug and the valve at the 9 top of the car. 10 Q. How was this problem manifesting itself? 11 A. What was happening is there was pressure in 12 between the two points and you had to remove 13 this plug and there is no ventilation hose or 14 anything to carry this away and I was concerned 15 about his hands, you know, possible absorption 16 through the skin. 17 Q. Is that a concern that had been discussed over 18 the years, that is, exposure through the skin? 19 A. Not that I know of. 20 Q. Have you heard of the phrase acro-osteloysis? 21 A. No . 22 Q. Have you ever heard of finger disease from 23 exposure to vinyl chloride? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165352 197 1 A Yes . Q2 When did you first hear about that? 3 A When Mt. Sinai came they wanted to x-ray our 4 hands. I believe they did our hands and our 5 chest. 6 Q Now, the discussion that you had with Mr. Smith, 7 did he indicate to you that he was concerned 8 about how to do this in order to minimize or 9 avoid exposing himself to vinyl chloride? 10 A Yes . Q11 You at least understood from that conversation 12 that he was concerned about that, right? 13 A Yes . Q14 And did you give him some suggestions as for how 15 to do that, to cure that problem? 16 A Yes . 17 Q Do you have a recollection of any other 18 conversations that you had with Mr. Smith about 19 possible health effects from exposure to vinyl 20 chloride? 21 A No . 22 .Q Any other meetings at the union locally or 23 international about this subject that you recall R&St 65353 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 198 1 that we have not talked about already? 2 A No . 3 Q Now, in the Goodyear notice to employees, 4 Winkworth Exhibit No.1 there is reference on the 5 second page to a recommendation of going to a 50 6 ppm maximum exposure for vinyl chloride. Do you 7 see that in the document? 8 A Yes . 9 Q There is some suggestion at least in this 10 document that as of that time Goodyear was 11 adopting that recommendat ion for the Niagara 12 Falls pi ant. Do you see that, too? 13 A Yes . 14 Q Were you aware of that as of February 1974? 15 A I don't recall if it was February. 16 Q Do you recall a point in time when Goodyear 17 go to a 50 ppm maximum exposure limit at the 18 plant ? 19 A Yes. 20 Q And did you understand that in order to reach 21 that goal changes were going to have to be made 22 at the plant? 23 Yes . R&S165354 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 199 1 Q. And were these some of the changes that you were 2 referring to earlier in your testimony that took 3 place in '74 and '75 and thereafter? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. And you yourself personally were involved in 6 making some of these changes as a maintenance 7 department employee, isn't that right? 8 A. Yes, 9 Q. There's also reference on page two of Winkworth 10 Exhibit No. 1 to some earlier exposure levels. 11 In about the middle of the document there is 12 reference to 500 ppm exposure limit and then a 13 change last February. I'm assuming that refers 14 to February of 1972 to a TLV of 200 parts per 15 million. Do you have any recollection of being 16 advised of any changes in the exposure limits in 17 and around February of 1972? 18 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form in that I 19 assume last February is not February of '73. 20 Q. Oh, all right. I'm sorry. Thank you. You're 21 entirely right, I got my years screwed up. Let 22 me rephrase the question and strike it. 23 In the big paragraph in the middle of the Ft&Sl 65355 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 200 1 document there is reference to a change from 500 2 parts per million to 200 parts per million in 3 February of 1973. Do you have any recollection 4 or knowledge of such a change occurring at the 5 plant ? 6 A. I have a recollection but a lot of this, what 7 they said they were going to implement with this 8 meter I don't believe they checked everything 9 like they were saying. I don't remember anyone 10 coming to go check levels in reactors or vessels 11 in general. 12 Q. Okay. So you don't recall, you don't have a 13 specific recollection of some of the things 14 referenced in this document having been taken 15 place in your presence or to your knowledge, 16 right ? 17 A. No. 18 Q. My question was a little more specific and 19 perhaps I didn't ask it very clearly. Do you 20 remember any discussions at raaintenanc e the year 21 before, back in February of '73 about reducing 22 the level of exposure to employees of vinyl 23 chloride at the plant? R&S165356 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 201 1 A. I don't recall at this point. 2 Q. In the proceeding paragraph, again page two, the 3 document says; we have been, as you know, 4 monitoring the vinyl chloride levels on a 5 continuing basis for quite sometime now. The 6 instrument that we use for this monitoring is a 7 Johnson and Williams meter. Do you see that 8 paragraph? 9 A. Yes, I do. 10 Q. Did you see any evidence at the plant on the 11 shift that you worked that vinyl chloride 12 monitoring was ongoing on a continuing basis for 13 quite sometime prior to February 1974? 14 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 15 A. No . 16 Q. Were you ever made aware of the results of any 17 such monitoring? 18 A. Not that I'm aware of. kt 19 Q. Later on on that same page there is an 20 indication that as a result of the monitoring 21 they uncovered several, quote, trouble spots, 22 close quote and taking steps to correct them. 23 There is reference to the selectro in E building R&S165357 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 202 1 particularly. Are you familiar with these 2 devices ? 3 A Yes . Q4 Do you have any knowledge as to the problem that 5 is referred to in that paragraph? 6 A Yes . Q7 Can you describe that problem for us and what if 8 anything was done about it? 9 We used to get a lot of fumes off selectro which 10 is a sifter device and the fumes used to pour 11 out of each end, they did and I don't know when 12 they attached ventilation to these but I don't 13 recall them putting any ventilation on any of 14 them in the E-l building, ever. 15 Further down on that same page there is 16 reference to a budget having been approved for 17 improving ventilation in the E-l building to 18 provide central exhaust for E-l reactor purging. 19 Do you see that reference? * 20 A Yes . 21 Q And was that ever done? 22 A If it was, it was very late. Q23 When you say "very late" are you talking very R&S165358 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 203 1 close in time to when the plant closed building 2 E-l? 3 A. Yes. That's all I remember are the original 4 blowers that were used to remove air from the 5 reactors. 6 Q. Okay. That is what is referred to as the coppus, 7 c-o-p-p-u-s, blower? 8 A. That is what they referred to it as. 9 Q. What did you refer to it as? 10 A. I don't recall them bringing in anything 11 different than what I originally used when I was 12 hired. 13 Q. Okay. In the next paragraph it suggests that 14 the company had on order respirators to be 15 furnished to operators which were to be worn 16 when, quote, contaminations were above 350 parts 17 per million. Do you see that reference? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. Were .respirators provided to the* operators soon 20 after February of '74? 21 A. I don't recall that. 22 Q. Do you have a recollection of Department 145 23 personnel walking around the facilities with R&S16 5 3 5 9 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 204 1 personal respirators either on their belts or in 2 their hands or around their neck in that period 3 of time, early to mid to late 1974? 4 A. No. 5 Q. At any time during 1974 were you issued a 6 personal respirator for your own use? 7 A. In '74? 8 Q. Yes. 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Did you have to sign for it? 11 A. I don't recall. 12 Q. Did you have to turn them in each day to be 13 cleaned? 14 A. No, we cleaned them ourselves at first. 15 Q. When were you issued the respirators? 16 A. I don't recall. 17 Q. Was building E-l closed? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. What was your understanding of when you were 20 supposed to use it? 21 A. Anytime I opened up certain lines that I was 22 working on. 23 Q. Were there particular lines that you were told DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165360 205 1 to open, if you opened it up or was it left to 2 your judgment? 3 A Rephrase that. 4 Q I'll try. When did you use it? 5 A I used it while I was drilling outlines going 6 into the vessel and cleaning headers. 7 Q What did the respirators look like? 8 A It was full face, the ones that we were issued. 9 Q Did it have a cartridge? 10 A Yes . 11 Q Did it have air supply? 12 A No . 13 Q So that it would filter the air that you were 14 breathing, is that correct? 15 A That is what it was supposed to do. 16 Q From the nature of your answer I'm sensing some 17 cynicism. Do you believe for some reason it 18 didn't work? 19 A Yes . 20 Q What was that based on? 21 A That the cartridges were not able to filter out 22 all this, were not capable of filtering VC 23 through to the exposure level that we were being R&St 65361 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 206 X exposed. 2 Q. How do you know that? 3 A. Because the company, I believe either the 4 company or our safety people found out that this 5 was not working. 6 Q. Who made these respirators? 7 A. I think it was Scott. 8 Q. Scott air packs? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Were you issued new respirators? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. When were you issued new respirators? 13 A. I don't recall exactly. 14 Q. Do you recall the manufacturer, the name or 15 model? 16 A. I believe they were still Scott. Mine was full 17 f ace . 18 Q. How were they different from the ones that you 19 had before? * 20 A. They were in-line air. 21 Q. Okay. 22 A. And we used to have to string a lot of hose in 23 order to use them. It was inconvenient. R&S165362 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 207 1 Q. Were these respirators that hooked up to an air 2 supply? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. Were you ever issued or other personnel 5 respirators that was cartridge or filter type 6 that did not have to be hooked up to an air 7 line? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. When was that? 10 A. In the 1980's. 11 Q. Were you issued any such respirators in 1974 12 besides the Scott air packs? 13 A. I don't recall that. 14 Q. The document, Winkworth Exhibit 1 is signed by 15 John Gilmore, is that right? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. That is the same John Gilmore who attended the 18 meeting that you referred to earlier, right? 19 A. Yes. * 20 Q. Did there come a time in 1974 when workers who 21 were entering reactors to clean them were 22 required to wear full face respirators hooked to 23 air supply? R&Sl 65363 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 208 1 A. I don't recall and a lot of it may not have been 2 enforced either as far as-- 3 Q. Let me ask the question this way. Following the 4 discussion about possible health effects and 5 cancer from exposure to vinyl chloride were 6 changes made in the procedures for manually 7 cleaning the reactors in building E-l and E-2? 8 A. I'm not really sure. 9 Q. Okay. You would agree with me that at a certain 10 point in time Goodyear went to a solvent 11 cleaning method that eliminated a man having to 12 manually remove the residue as they had done in 13 the past? 14 A. Yes . 15 Q. That occurred for building E-2, is that right? 16 A. Right. 17 Q. And it occurred after they closed building E-l, 18 right? 19 MS. BOSSE; Form. 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. And to the best of your recollection that 22 practice was never implemented in E-l, is that 23 right ? R&S165364 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 209 1 MR. WODKA: Solvent cleaning? 2 A. Right. 3 Q. Okay. Now what I'm asking you is before then 4 were any changes made in the procedures that 5 were followed in cleaning reactors? 6 A. At that time I wouldn't know. 7 Q. Okay. So as you sit here today you don't know 8 what changes if any were implemented by Goodyear 9 for manually cleaning reactors during this time 10 frame? 11 A. I don't recall. 12 Q. Now, you told us before that you were advised 13 that a medical examination program was being 14 established through Mt. Sinai Hospital, is that 15 right? 16 MR. WODKA: Objection. That is not what he 17 said. 18 Q. Okay. Let me ask a different question. You 19 learned that at some point that Medical 20 examination of workers at the Niagara Falls 21 plant were going to be performed by people from 22 Mt. Sinai, right? 23 A. Yes. R&S165365 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 210 1 Q. And 1 think you told us that you learned that at 2 this meeting with Mr. McCalley, is that right? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. What was your understanding of arrangements with 5 Mt. Sinai at that time? 6 A. I don't know what you mean. 7 Q. Okay. Had you heard of Mt. Sinai before? 8 A. No. 9 Q. Did they mention the name of any physicians in 10 particular? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Who? 13 A. I don't recall but they did particular 14 physicians. 15 Q. Does the name Dr. Selicoff refresh your 16 recollection? 17 A. If sounds familiar like a name that might have 18 been mentioned. 19 Q. Tell me as best as you can what ^ou were told 20 they were going to do for workers such as 21 yourself? 22 A. They were going to examine us and ask us a 23 series of questions about exposure and things of DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 211 1 that nature. Q2 What was your understanding of the reason why 3 that was being done? 4 I would imagine, the only thing I can remember 5 is that they were looking in to see if there 6 were anymore cases of cancer linked to VC. 7 Q Were you examined? 8 A Yes . 9 Q Once or more than once? 10 A Initially by Mt. Sinai and then yearly I believe 11 afterwards by the plant physician. 12 Before then had you been examined yearly by the 13 plant physician? 14 A No. Q15 So one of the things that occurred following 16 these discussions was annual physical exams by 17 the plant? 18 MR. WODKA: What discussion? 19 The discussions about vinyl chldride health 20 effects? 21 MR. WODKA: Oh, all right. Q22 And have you gone to these exams yearly? 23 A Pretty much, yes. R&S165367 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 212 1 Q. Are some people examined more than yearly? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. Who is examined more than once a year? 4 A. Anybody in the wet end is twice a year and all 5 maintenance personnel and anyone over, I 6 believe, 20 years seniority in the plant. 7 Q. What is the wet end? 8 A. The reactor end. 9 Q. People working in building E-l and E-2? 10 A. And utility operators. 11 Q. Where were you examined by the Mt. Sinai people? 12 A. The union hall. 13 Q. When? 14 A. Early '74 I think it was. 15 Q. Can you be anymore specific? 16 A. I kind of think it was March, April type of 17 thing. Somewhere in there. 18 Q. And did you meet with a physician at that time? 19 A. Several. 20 Q. What if anything did they tell you about vinyl 21 chloride or your health? 22 A. I don't think they said anything to me about 23 vinyl chloride. They just asked me personal R&S165368 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 213 1 health questions. 2 Q. Did you fill out a questionnaire? 3 A. I do believe I did. 4 Q. Okay. Did you meet with them more than once or 5 just once? 6 A. I believe I only met with them once. 7 Q. Did you receive anything from them on the 8 results of your exam? 9 A. I believe everyone that attended. 10 Q. Did you get a letter from them? 11 A. I think I did. 12 Q. Do you recall what if anything it said? 13 A. No . 14 Q. Do you recall if it offered you any prognosis 15 for future health? 16 A. I don't recall at this time. 17 Q. Did you ever receive anything in writing from 18 your union about health effects from exposure to 19 vinyl chloride? 20 A. Ever? 21 Q. Yes. 22 A. I think I have. 23 Q. What kind of things have you received? DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 R&S165369 214 1 A. Newsletters, things of that nature. I don't 2 think I got anything personally as a letter. I 3 don't, I don't believe it was that. 4 Q. Is there a newsletter that is published 5 regularly by the international? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. How often does it come out? 8 A. I think it's every six weeks or so. 9 Q. What is it called? 10 A. It's just OCOG(sic) Reporter, I think it is. 11 Q. Does the local publish a newsletter as well? 12 A. I don't recall. 13 Q. During this period of time of 1974 and 14 thereafter when changes were being made in the 15 plant were people from the union involved in 16 discussions with management about these changes? 17 A. I was not personally involved. 18 Q. Who would have represented the local in these 19 discussions at that time? 20 A. Union executive board I'm just saying I'm sure 21 they would be and the plant safety man. 22 Q. Who was the plant safety man in 1974? 23 A. I believe it was Jack PeLong. R&S165370 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 215 1 Q Would he have been the person that you would go 2 to if you had questions about your personal 3 safety at the plant? 4 A I would if I was on that shift, maybe. 5 Q If he is not on your shift who would you go to? 6 A Maybe my supervisor. Q7 Okay. Were there regular safety meetings at 8 Goodyear during this period of time 1973, 1974 9 and '75? 10 MR. WODKA: Conducted by whom? 11 Q By Goodyear? 12 A You're saying like per shift or per plant? Q13 Yes or department, actually? 14 A I don't recall any. Q15 Did there come a time at all in your tenure with 16 the company where they instituted a practice of 17 having regular safety meetings? 18 A Yes . 19 Q When was that started? 20 A In the ' 8 0's that I know of. My first exposure 21 to them would probably be somewhere late '82 if 22 I was exposed to it, if I was exposed initially. Q23 Now, some of the documents that have been R&S165371 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 216 1 produced in this case have suggested that 2 following February 1974 monitoring devices were 3 installed at different buildings and in 4 Department 145. Do you have any recollection of 5 that occurring in 1974? 6 A. I recall installing the Bendix system. The date 7 I'm not sure of. 8 Q. Where was it installed? 9 A. In the E-2 building. 10 Q. Were you involved in its installation? 11 A. No . 12 Q. What did you understand it did? 13 A. Monitor parts per million in 20 areas. 14 Q. Were the results posted? 15 A. No . 16 Q. How if at all were the results communicated to 17 workers ? 18 A. Over the intercom. If an area became out, we 19 called it out of spec. I would `do it over the 20 intercom system. 21 Q- So after this-- strike that. Was the 22 installation of the Bendix the first time when 23 they instituted this procedure of advising Ft&SI 65372 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 217 1 people of the out of spec conditions? 2 A. Yes. Yes, that I know of that. 3 Q. Prior to the installation of the Bendix system 4 was there any other type of equipment that had 5 been installed that performed the similar 6 functions, did the same thing? 7 A. I don't recall them ever getting one to work 8 correctly before the Bendix. 9 Q. Do you recall that different devices were 10 installed and efforts were made to make them 11 functional? 12 A. I don't remember how much effort was put into 13 this. Only one that I remember working 14 correctly or near correctly was Bendix. 15 Q. Was that installed in E-2 only? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. Was any similar device ever installed in 18 building E-l? 19 A. Don't recall one. * 20 Q. What if anything would be said on the intercom 21 when out of spec conditions occurred? 22 A. You would give the parts per million and the O location. R&S165373 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 218 1 Q. What if anything would people do in response to 2 that information? 3 A. They were to either leave the area depending on 4 the concentration or don their masks. 5 Q. And did they have masks that they carried with 6 them for that purpose? 7 A. No one carried masks with them. To this day they 8 don't carry them with them. They're all up in 9 the control room. 10 Q. Is there a mask for everyone on the shift? 11 A. Everyone is issued one. Should be somewhere 12 they can get their hands on it. 13 Q. Okay. Did there come a time when-- do you know 14 whether there came a time when workers were 15 provided with impervious clothing and clothes 16 for use in reactor cleaning? 17 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form. 18 A. No. 19 Q. Was an alarm system installed that had to do 20 with VC exposure? 21 A. It is included in the Bendix system. 22 Q. So would an audible sound or alarm be heard when 23 out of spec conditions existed? R&St 65374 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 219 1 MR. WODKA: Where? 2 Q. At any of the locations monitored by the Bendix 3 machine in E-2? 4 A. An audible alarm would only go off where the 5 Bendix was in E-2. 6 Q. How loud was it? Could it be heard throughout 7 the building? 8 A. Not necessarily, no. 9 Q. Do you recall any other changes being made in 10 building E-l, E-2 or F-l during 1974 and up to 11 the period of time when the E-l building was 12 closed? 13 A. No, I don't. 14 Q. What is your first recollection of the closure 15 of the E-l building? 16 MS. BOSSE: Object to the form of it. I 17 don't understand it. I don't know if the witness 18 does . i 19 Q. Let me ask a different question. When did you 20 first learn that they were going to shut down or 21 close the E-l building? 22 A. I don't recall the exact date. 23 Q. When was that facility shut down? R&S165375 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 220 1 A. Late '74 that I can recollect. 2 Q. What were you told about the reason why it was 3 being shut down? 4 A. Outdated equipment and they could not keep it in 5 spec below five million parts or 350 parts, 6 whatever it was. 7 Q. So was it your understanding then that whatever 8 the permissible exposure level was they could 9 not bring that building into compliance and that 10 is why they were shutting it down? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. How was that communicated to you and other 13 workers at the plant? 14 A. I don't remember. 15 Q. Did you get anything in writing? 16 A. I don't know. 17 Q. Did you attend anymeetings? 18 A. I don't know. 19 MR. GOLDBLATT: I may be done. I need to 20 look at my notes. You're done. 21 (deposition concluded) 22 23 R&S165376 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 221 1 EXHIBITS 2 3 WINKWORTH 4 5 1- Document entitled Notice to 6 Employees consisting of 3 pages 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 4 19 20 21 22 23 PAGE 189 R S )6 5 3 7 7 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 222 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 DOS 07-18-95 PAGE LINE PROPOSED ERRATA SHEET CORRECTION I have read the foregoing transcript and, with the above proposed errata, if any, I find it to be a complete and accurate transcription of my testimony in* the above captioned matter. Signature Date Subscribed and sworn to before me thisday of, 1995 R&S165378 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 223 1 DOS 07-18-95 2 PAGE LINE PROPOSED ERRATA SHEET CORRECTION 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 I have read the foregoing transcript and, with the above proposed errata, if any, I find 18 it to be a complete and accurate transcription of my testimony in the above captioned matter. 19 Signature Date 20 Subscribed and sworn to before me 21 thisday of, 1995 22 23 R&S165379 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 224 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 DOS 07-18-95 PAGE LINE PROPOSED ERRATA SHEET CORRECTION I have read the foregoing transcript and, with the above proposed errata, if any, I find it to be a complete and accurate transcription of my testimony in* the above captioned matter- signature Date Subscribed and sworn to before me this__________day of, 1995 R&S165380 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102 225 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 STATE OF NEW YORK) ) COUNTY OF ERIE ) sS . I, Mary Ann Youknut, Notary Public, in for the County of Erie, State of New York, hereby certify: and do That the witness whose testimony appears hereinbefore was, before the commencement of their testimony, duly sworn to testify the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; that said testimony was taken pursuant to notice at the time and place as herein set forth; that said testimony was taken down by me and thereafter transcribed into typewriting, and I hereby certify the foregoing testimony is a full, true and correct transcription of my shorthand notes so taken. I further certify that I am neither counsel for nor related to any party to said action, nor in anyway interested in the outcome thereof. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have subscribed my name and affixed 7 day of /CTi Ay/ hereunto my seal this 1995 Mary Arfn Youkh Notary Public State of New York County of Erie Commission expires 5-31-96 R&S165381 DE PAOLO-CROSBY REPORTING SERVICES, INC. BUFFALO, NEW YORK 14202-2102