Silicosis Litigation

Being in the construction trade is hard.

It is tough work doing things like cutting, sawing, grinding, and drilling fiber cement siding, drywall, engineered stone countertops, and cement.

It is even tougher when you realize you likely have spent years filling your lungs full of dangerous debilitating and deadly dust. Drywall, fiber cement siding, engineered stone, glass tiles, cement, and many other construction materials release respirable crystalline silica particles – particles 100 times smaller than sand – through common construction tasks such as cutting, grinding, and drilling. You may have seen the clouds of dust when cutting, sawing, grinding, or drilling these materials.

According to the federal government, “Around 2.3 million workers are exposed to crystalline silica on the job.” * Inhaling those particles causes several diseases such as silicosis, which as stated by OSHA is “an incurable lung disease that can lead to disability and death”; lung cancer; kidney disease; and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also called COPD.

These are horrible diseases that impact your time with family

and your ability to continue to work and lead a normal life. Moreover, these diseases may be diagnosed when health problems arising years after exposure.

Recognizing the great impact on workers, the federal government recently reduced the permissible exposure limits for workers in the construction and related trades. In fact, the government concern with how dangerous the particles are resulted in mandating decreasing exposure limits by greater than 50% for some materials. *

While the companies profited from selling construction materials, workers and their families have suffered and continue to suffer from inhalation of respirable silica.

Our firm obtains justice for those hard working people who unknowingly exposed themselves to years of respirable crystalline silica. We represent workers and their families against manufacturers of fiber cement siding, drywall, engineered stone countertops, and cement.