State agency finds GE liable
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By Brent Curtis STAFF WRITER - Published: March 9, 2010
A former employee for General Electric has been awarded compensation by state labor officials who agreed that her longstanding lung ailment was a reaction to inhaling and absorbing beryllium at the company's two Rutland-area plants.
In a Feb. 19 decision and order issued by the state Department of Labor, Commissioner Patricia Moulton Powden awarded Patricia Alexander permanent partial disability benefits, medical benefits and attorneys' fees for a medical condition that Alexander's attorney said has forced the 68-year-old Rutland woman to rely on bottled oxygen to breath and a motorized scooter to get around.
"It's been very hard for her," said Burlington attorney Michael Green, who represented Alexander in a disputed workers compensation claim brought to the state. "This decision is good news for her and should serve to put other workers on notice. If someone worked (at GE in Rutland) and was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, I would get myself back to my doctor."
Sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease characterized by small nodules called granulomas, was the initial diagnosis for Alexander, who experienced worsening shortness of breath after her retirement from GE in 1996, according to the Labor decision.
As the years passed and the problem worsened despite attempts at treatment, Alexander, who worked on grinding and polishing wheels at both GE plants, said she decided to undergo a test for beryllium — an element primarily used as a hardening agent in alloys.
At the GE plant in Rutland, the manufacture of beryllium and copper alloy blades is part of the process at the aircraft engine plants.
According to the decision, Alexander didn't work on the copper-beryllium alloys, but for 6-1/2 years she worked near those areas and often came home covered in "dust" of all types each day.
Air samples taken from the Rutland plants confirmed the presence of beryllium at low levels, the Labor Department said.
But GE spokeswoman Heather Porzuczek said Monday health and safety conditions at the plant were in compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.
"Our priority continues to be the wellbeing of our employees," Porzuczek said, adding that GE disagreed with Moulton Powden's decision and was considering an appeal.
GE argued in filings presented to the Labor Department that Alexander's original diagnosis of sarcoidosis was the correct one.
According to Green and the National Jewish Health Center in Denver, which specializes in respiratory ailments, it may not take much exposure to the beryllium to affect people sensitive to the element.
NJHC describes the beryllium sensitization as an "allergic" condition that can develop after a person breathes the element's dust or fumes and some researchers believe beryllium can also penetrate the skin through an open cut or from a splinter of the material.
The immune system of those who suffer the condition see beryllium as a "foreign invader" and their bodies form antibodies to combat the element, eventually leading to scarring in the lungs — in a manner very similar to sarcoidosis.
brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com
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