Fortunately for employers, Safety."
The 54 training topics in the Resources Center include Spanish
handouts and quizzes on confined spaces, defensive driving, electrical
safety, and eye protection.
As the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported[1], 3M has faced lawsuits
alleging that it "marketed its disposable respirator for more than 25 years
although it was defective and exposed thousands of workers to asbestos, silica
and other deadly dusts.

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For a free catalog, call 800-727-5257 or visit www. Paul , Minnesota, President Bush called on Congress
to pass legislation that would give 3M and other asbestos defendants that
knowingly exposed workers to asbestos a $20 billion, taxpayer-guaranteed
liability bailout." The paper noted that internal 3M documents showed
that "its masks overwhelmingly failed its own quality control checks in 1977,
1978 and 1979." Robert Schutz, a National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH) chief of laboratory testing who oversaw the approval of the
3M mask, has testified that had he been informed of those test results, he
might have revoked its certification.

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"The asbestos bailout bill is a brazen $20 billion giveaway to the
President 's corporate contributors that rewards companies that knowingly
poisoned their workers with asbestos and leaves many victims with nothing,"
said Jon Haber, Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Trial Lawyers of
America (ATLA).S. In 1982, a Western region OSHA industrial
hygienist , William Gribble, wrote his supervisors that 3M's masks
'are dangerous because employees are using them for protection .
against carcinogens such as asbestos.

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It also features news , white papers, forms, guidance
documents, regulatory activity, and agency directives and
interpretations to help manage occupational safety and health for the
Spanish-speaking workforce.

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com/spanish.
Ironically, Bush chose the same day to travel to one of the corporate
beneficiaries of the asbestos bill that asbestos victims from all over the
country traveled to the Capitol to deliver 150,000 petition signatures,
including those of thousands of veterans, against the asbestos bailout bill. Perhaps most appallingly, W.atla.org/pressroom for more information

[1] "Liability lawsuits galore dog 3M; The company is accused of selling
millions of defective dust masks" Minneapolis Star Tribune, 4/18/04

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com has just created a
Spanish Resources Center at http://safety.8 billion . Occupational
Safety and Health Administration later worked to strengthen the regulations on
protective disposable masks in the early 1980s, 3M reportedly fought
government rules prohibiting use of the masks for asbestos.

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----March 15,
2005--Safety. workforce.com, commented on the site's
new Resources Center: "OSHA requires companies to make sure their
employees understand safety training and follow OSHA requirements. Occupational
Safety and Health Administration, were beginning to tighten controls
on disposable masks.

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BLR.S.."

Please visit http://www.

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S.
That translates into a big challenge for employers: how to keep a
multilingual workforce in compliance with OSHA 's safety and health
requirements.
That obligation doesn't change if their employees have a limited
understanding of English.
The bill has even generated major Republican opposition. While the Norton Co.

respirator signatory

With Immigrants at 14 Percent of the U.S. Workforce the New Spanish Resources Center at Safety.BLR.com Helps Employers Deliver Required OSHA Training to Hispa

, a corporation criminally
indicted by Bush's own Justice Department for covering up the dangers of
asbestos, would receive a bailout worth $2.
How much would 3M directly benefit from the bill? No one knows.'

"'Many times I have examined these respirators during and after
employees have worn them, to find nearly as much visible contaminant
inside the mask as on the surface outside .

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Only Goldman Sachs and the asbestos defendants know exactly what the
bailout is worth, but they have refused to release the list -- even to Senator
Arlen Specter, the sponsor of the bill.

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blr.
Steve Quilliam, editor at Safety.BLR.'

"Meantime, in 1980, top NIOSH officials wrote 3M and other
disposable-mask makers, expressing concern that those products might
be inadequate to protect workers against asbestos, by then a known
cancer-causing agent.

hazcom hygienist

blr.

Standing at 3M Corporate Headquarters Bush Makes Clear He Stands with Asbestos Corporations and Against Victims Says Association of Trial Lawyers of America

"How can the President say he's serious about ethics, when, two days after
he urged Congress to pass lobby reform, he's stumping at a corporate
headquarters for an asbestos bailout bill that was written in secret by the
lobby to give asbestos defendants a multi-billion-dollar bailout?" asked
Haber.
The asbestos bill is being pushed by a small group of large, politically
connected corporations, including 3M , that stand to get the multi-billion-
dollar bailout; the bill is opposed by every major asbestos victims'
organization, organized labor, the insurance industry, and a large portion of
the business community. Bush's former
Solicitor General, Ted Olson, says the bill is unconstitutional.

respirator cih

BLR.com

According to a study of the asbestos liabilities of major corporations,
the top ten asbestos companies would reap at least $20 billion in windfall
profits -- paying victims less under the bill than they do in the current
system.
"This bill is unfair to victims, under -funded, and unworkable," concluded
Haber, noting that every independent analysis of the proposed trust fund
predicts it is destined to fail, leaving victims and taxpayers worse off..

h2s hygienist

Business Editors

OLD SAYBROOK, Conn. Nearly half the immigrants
in this country are considered to have limited proficiency in English. So with its prewritten training materials
and handouts, our new Spanish Resources Center can be a helpful
solution to this challenge.

The challenge: finding safety meetings for Hispanic workers

OSHA itself has acknowledged this challenge, recently announcing a
cooperative alliance with officials from Mexico and specialists from
Georgia Tech aimed at improving safety among Hispanic workers.com. The
Republican Governor of Texas has written the President asking him to oppose
the bill..

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When NIOSH and the U.. has denigrated this respirator.

hygienist safecity

and some other 3M
competitors recommended to their customers that they use a
higher-quality respirator , 3M fought government rules prohibiting use
of the masks for asbestos, until losing its appeal in 1986.

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To download
this free sample, go to www. Grace + Co. Because
the financial aspects of the bill were written in secret by Goldman Sachs, the
company hired by asbestos defendants to develop a bailout scheme, no one knows
who pays for the asbestos fund created by the bill (and, accordingly , how much
of each company's liability is bailed out by the fund). Every expert on
respiratory protective devices I have talked to, including those in
NIOSH and Los Alamos .

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BLR.cfm. R . Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), Chair of the Senate Budget Committee,
has warned that bill poses, "potentially serious costs to federal taxpayers,"
and the National Taxpayers Union predicts it will burden taxpayers with at
least $45 billion in additional debt.

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The
Center includes Spanish training handouts and quizzes on 54 OSHA
topics.-based BLR produces plain-English compliance
and training resources for safety, environmental, HR, and compensation
managers.
In 2004, 3M's then-CEO, Jim McNerney , personally asked the Senate to pass
the bailout, and federal lobby disclosure reports indicate the company has
lobbied for the bill.

osha cih

Bush-Favored Asbestos Bill Gives Corporations a $20 Billion Bailout While
Victims Lose Out

WASHINGTON, In a speech today at the corporate
headquarters of 3M in St.

More on 3M from the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

" . [B]oth NIOSH and its sister agency, the U.

gillin hygienist

com, the website for safety professionals that makes
training and compliance easier, reports that immigrants make up an
estimated 14 percent of the U.com/81001600/PRS3

About BLR

Old Saybrook, Conn.

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BLR.
To help employers get their training started, BLR has made
available a sample hazard communication training meeting in English
and Spanish, similar to those available at Safety..