Above: Workers in Kipp factory
Is anyone assessing risks to Madison Kipp workers? There’s a plume of highly toxic PCE and TCE under the plant vaporizing into the air workers there breathe daily–adding to other poison exposures in the factory.
We raised these questions repeatedly years ago, to no avail. In 2014, a worker who cleaned in Kipp contacted me after he was fired for asking questions about safety and health risks in the factory. Here’s the story.
Is Kipp A Safe Place to Work? Cleaning Employee Fired by Contractor for Asking
In 2016, Tony Koblinski, Kipp’s CEO at the time, refused to answer my questions about how the company is assessing exposures and health risks to workers and whether it uses trichloroethylene (TCE). TCE (trichloroethylene) is “carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure and poses a potential human health hazard for non-cancer toxicity to the central nervous system, kidney, liver, immune system, male reproductive system, and the developing embryo/fetus.” His defensive, snarky non-answer indicated that the answer is yes–Kipp does use TCE.
As for any actions to assess or address exposures and health risks to Kipp workers by city officials, local and state public health agencies, and/or OSHA? Zip. Nada.
Does anyone care about Kipp’s non-unionized workers, many of whom are LTE’s (limited term employees), work release or recently released prisoners, and people of color? Apparently not.
“Happy” May Day in Madison?
