When it comes to cancer risk, using cancer causing chemicals in the workplace is similar to smoking cigarettes. People are often exposed to cancer causing agents countless time before they develop the disease that ends their life. But some people, as if they thumbed their nose at fate, never develop the disease.
Even so, betting against scientific evidence and continuing to use inexpensive cancer causing chemicals like trichloroethylene (TCE) and 1-bromopropane (nPB) is bad business, to say the least. Just ask attorneys that specialize in chemical injury lawsuits. They try and win thousands of chemical injury lawsuits each year, costing companies millions of dollars in settlements and legal fees.
Chemical Injuries Galore
Chronic chemical injuries from substances such as TCE and nPB usually rear their ugly head over a period of years. Like a smoker who religiously puffs away at cigarettes for decades, until a amalgam of abnormal symptoms leads to a diagnosis of the “big C”, a worker who inhales hazardous chemical vapors can go for years without showing chronic ill effects, but the exposure often takes its expected course and turns him into a walking dead man.
Courtesy of Resource4thePeople — an online source for free legal help and information — the following statistics from the past year give a ballpark idea of how many chemical injury cases are likely to see the inside of a courtroom and generate six-figure and seven-figure settlements.
- Contusions or abrasions suffered as a result of chemical exposure: 3,200
- Burns suffered as a result of chemical exposure: 33,200
- Poisoning as a result of chemical exposure: 22,900
- Dermatitis and conjunctivitis linked to chemical exposure: 20,500
According to Willens Law Offices in Chicago, “More than 10 percent of the occupational deaths are attributed to environmental and chemical exposure.” It’s a sobering statistics for companies that use cancer causing chemicals for solvent applications. It’s also a statistic that’s preventable when a company replaces toxic chemicals with non-toxic ones, and equips workers with personal protective equipment (PPE) that eliminates remaining exposure risks.
Choosing Replacement Solvents
Over the years, companies have elected not to replace solvent with cancer causing chemicals for various reasons. Two of the biggest reasons have been difficulty finding substitute solvents that don’t have cancer causing chemicals and deliver the same power, and difficulty finding a replacement solvent that can be “dropped in” without requiring downtime during the changeover.
From a business perspective, there was a time when these concerns were legitimate, but they aren’t anymore. Solvents that have a better safety profile than ones such as TCE and nPB and have just as much cleaning power are available online. Ecolink has emerged as one of the top destinations for these solvents.
Contact Us About Cancer Causing Chemical Replacements
If you use solvents that have cancer causing chemicals, don’t wait until Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bans them, or the solvents cause workers to develop health problems. Save money, the health of your workers, and the hassle of replacing solvents on short notice by getting started on selecting replacements today. Call us at (800) 563-1305, or send us an email through the contact form on our website.
Mark
Khatera Barati
