Kodak Park, Rochester, New York

Lipsitz & Ponterio recently represented a gentleman who worked at Kodak Park in Rochester, New York for nearly 40 years.  Our client was employed as an electrician and worked in the telephone group that installed all different types of telephones and associated cables. As an electrician, he also repaired and maintained other electrical equipment, including motor starters. Up until the late 1970s, asbestos was incorporated into a variety of electrical equipment and building materials. Exposure to asbestos can cause mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.

While employed in the telephone group at Kodak Park, our client performed the duties of an electrician by running cables and wires to buildings, as well as performing repair work on motor starters. When cables or electrical lines were installed, he disturbed the asbestos-containing pipe covering, which emitted dust and fibers.  He worked in roll coating and in buildings at Kodak Park East and Kodak Park West. As an electrician, our client also worked on a variety of motor starters that controlled pumps. Motor starters were composed of Bakelite, an asbestos-reinforced plastic. Frequent wear and tear caused the asbestos-containing plastic that made up the body of motor starters to produce dust that settled in the bottom of the control cabinet or panel box. Each time our client opened the cabinet or box in order to perform repairs or maintenance, asbestos-containing dust became airborne, which he inhaled. 

In the case of our client, his asbestos exposure can be traced to his work as an electrician and working in the vicinity of other workers, such as pipefitters, carpenters, masons and pipe coverers that applied and removed asbestos-containing building materials. Asbestos could be found in pipe covering, gaskets, thermal insulation and packing material. Asbestos covered steam lines, chemical and refrigeration lines. Asbestos block material covered duct work and turbines. Block insulation that contained asbestos could be found any place where there were ducts that supplied heat or had heat exchangers in them. Asbestos could be found in virtually every building that occupied Kodak Park.

The attorneys at Lipsitz & Ponterio, LLC have gathered a vast amount of information concerning the type and variety of asbestos-containing products used by employees of Kodak. If you or a loved one worked as an electrician or worked at Kodak Park and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease, please contact us today.


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