‘Horrific’ conditions?

Hauling hazardous materials comes with a lot of responsibility and regulation. When companies fail to comply, it can mean the loss of lives.

In some instances, truckers hauling hazardous material are still being exposed to carcinogenic chemicals. That allegation is the center of a class-action lawsuit against Calgary, Alberta-based Trimac.

Complaint filed

In a complaint filed in February, former Trimac employees accuse the trucking company of lying to them for more than 20 years about the dangers of the chemicals they were exposed to at the company’s two Georgia facilities.

Plaintiffs claim the chemicals directly led to diagnoses of severe illnesses, including lymphoma, colon cancer, pancreatic tumors, tumors in groin, lymphadenopathy and extreme difficulty breathing.

Former employees claim that Trimac knowingly lied when management told them the chemicals were safe and did not necessitate legally required protective measures. They also accuse the company of failing to provide proper showers in the event of chemical exposure.

“These are good hardworking people. Some of the largest companies in the world have lied to these men for years about their acutely toxic chemicals,” lead trial lawyer James Hugh Potts II said in a statement.

The lawsuit is essentially an extension of another complaint filed in December 2020. However, there are a few key differences.

First, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have gotten involved since the first lawsuit. Second, plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit were hired as Trimac employees after the first lawsuit was filed, suggesting the company allegedly continued to expose employees to toxic chemicals despite the pending lawsuit.

Two plaintiffs in the first lawsuit have died since it was filed. Many more have been diagnosed with illnesses after “horrific” chemical exposure, according to Potts.

‘We should be talking about this more, and we’re not.’

News of the lawsuit has prompted at least one daughter of a former driver to share the story of her father.

Kara Converse, Vince’s daughter, told Land Line that her father was a lifelong trucker, nearly 30 years of which were spent driving for Trimac in Canada and the United States.

“My dad was awesome,” Kara told Land Line. “He loved driving. I remember talking to him one time and asked, ‘Hey, Dad. What did you always want to do when you were growing up?’ People always thought of boys wanting to be a policeman or a fireman. He’s like, ‘I always wanted to drive truck.’ That was my dad.”

Vince was a relatively healthy truck driver. A former smoker, Kara said he hadn’t had a cigarette in more than 25 years. However, a CAT scan taken during a standard physical to renew his CDL revealed a spot on his lungs. Soon after, Vince was diagnosed with a form of cancer called myelodysplastic syndrome.

After a run-of-the-mill government-required health exam, his life expectancy was estimated at 12-24 months.

Despite Vince’s body reacting well to treatment, the cancer started to progress rapidly around September 2020. He died in January 2021.

Nobody, including doctors, told Kara what had caused the MDS to develop in her dad.

Kara said she always had her suspicions that the chemicals he hauled were the root cause. However, the shock stemming from the sudden realization that her father’s life had just been significantly and abruptly shortened put that thought on the back burner. It would not be revisited for another year.

In March, Kara’s brother sent her a link to a recent Land Line story about the Trimac lawsuit.

“I was shocked but not really shocked,” Kara said. “Other people are going through what my dad went through. We should be talking about this more, and we’re not. We should be talking about all these chemicals that all these men and women were exposed to. It’s not right. That’s why I kind of thought, well, I’m going to do something and say this is what’s going on in Canada.”

How is this still happening?

That’s the question that Potts is trying to answer.

Land Line acquired more than 2GB of documents detailing former Trimac drivers’ claims of unsafe working conditions, including nearly 2,000 photos, tank entry permits, employee lab results, regulatory agency visits, violation documents, inspections, etc.

Those documents are part of the plaintiff’s case against Trimac, alleging that workers faced health risks because of the hazards at its Georgia facilities. The plaintiffs allege that authority figures were aware of the issues.

“They’ve lied too about the dangers of working in confined spaces with these acutely toxic chemicals,” Potts said. “All to keep their chemicals flowing. We are going to stop it.

“No telling how many of these good hardworking men have already died. All for what? To make another billion dollars? Fortunately, as we continue to uncover evidence of this widespread misconduct, the EPA and OSHA are taking notice,” Potts said.

In a memo sent to employees, Trimac Chief Operating Officer Bill Marchbank denied allegations contained in the lawsuit. Marchbank said that the photos and documents being distributed publicly were out of context and “leave out key information about the overall testimony and true facts of this case.”

“The health and safety of our employees and the community are paramount at Trimac,” Marchbank said in the memo. “We take the claims being made very seriously, including allegations regarding our emphasis on safety and training for the proper handling and disposal of various chemicals. In addition to the regularly scheduled monitoring of our facilities by local, state, and federal agencies, we consult with experts in industrial hygiene and environmental health and safety to review and benchmark our procedures and protocols against industry standards.”

Regarding allegations of hazardous conditions at the Georgia facilities, Marchbank stated that in addition to allowing plaintiffs and their attorneys to conduct their own on-site inspections, federal agencies recently inspected the same Trimac sites and identified no serious offenses.

Pamela Pollet, the safety program coordinator at Georgia Tech’s School of Chemistry and Biology, has conducted hundreds of inspections during her career. She is a paid expert witness for the plaintiffs.

Earlier this year, Pollet visited Trimac’s Georgia facilities before and after the lawsuit was filed. Pollet told Land Line, that in her professional opinion, the chemicals played a role in the illnesses.

However, it can take more than a decade for noticeable symptoms to develop, leaving open the possibility that something else contributed to the cancer.

Potts is aware of more than a dozen Trimac employees who claim to have been exposed to dangerous chemicals. That does not count Vince Converse, who Potts did not know about before Kara Converse reached out to Land Line.

Potts said he sees the potential for more lawsuits against Trimac on the horizon.

What’s next?

As of press time, the trial in the Trimac case in a Fulton County, Ga., state courtroom is ongoing. Trimac’s team of attorneys is vehemently defending their stance against claims within the lawsuit.

Keep an eye on LandLine.Media for updates. LL