Plastimet claims in limbo

["Lynda M Lukasik" <llukasik@worldchat.com>]

PLASTIMET CLAIMS IN LIMBO
Board says firefighters' cases will be judged on their merits

By Joanna Frape, The Hamilton Spectator: Saturday, August 14, 1999

	Hundreds of firefighters who claim the Plastimet blaze destroyed their
health are still waiting for compensation with little hope of ever
collecting.  
	Hamilton's Professional Firefighters Association reports only 17 of the
229 claims to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (formerly Workmen's
Compensation Board) have been resolved since the city's worst fire two
years ago.  At least two other claims are on appeal after being denied
without explanation.  
	"The rest are in a limbo stage", said Colin Grieve, the workplace safety
representative for the associatiton.  "It's a very screwed up system".  
	Most of the men will have to wait until they are too sick to work for
their claims to go any further with the board.  
	"Until you've lost time at work, in the eyes of the board there is no
injury", Grieve explained.  "We have guys who are seeking ongoing treatment
(for health problems), but they haven't been off work on a long-term
basis."
	If the claims are finally heard by the appeal board, he admitted they will
be practically impossible to win.
	"We're going to have to prove it's Plastimet that caused this, and that's
difficult in this profession," he said.  "When you've had exposure to so
many other fires the defence will ask 'How can you pinpoint this to
Plastimet?'"
	An official with the board was not able to comment on the claims yesterday
but said each case would be looked at carefully.  
	"Each claim is judged on its own merits," aid Renato Ciolfi, spokesperson
for the board.  
	The only claims to have been settled so far involved time taken of work in
the weeks immediately following the four-day fire in July 1997.
	Many Hamilton firefighters have given up hope of ever seeing compensation
for the chronic illnesses they attribute to Plastimet such as headaches,
shortness of breath, burning eyes and throat, bleeding from their rectum,
lumps and even depression.
	"We just lost", said Frank Kunkel, 45, who had to take six months off work
after the fire.  "I don't expect them to acknowledge us and I think most of
us feel that way."
	Kunkel, a 25-year veteran of the department, had 28 hours of exposure to
the toxic smoke that spewed out of Jack Lieberman's plastics recycling
plant on Wellington Street North.  For more than a year after the fire, he
had a constant headache, felt run-down and suffered memory loss and
depression.  He eventually began telling his superiors he was phoning in
sick because of Plastimet in hopes that it would help his claim down the
line.  
	"What I really want is to get better and feel normal again," he said. 
Many firefighters live in fear of developing cancers or other deadly
diseases from Plastimet.  George Cook, 55, was diagnosed with post
traumatic stress disorder after he started having nightmares about waking
up with tumours all over his body.  Cooke fell face first into a pool of
toxic run-off while fighting the blaze and swallowed a mouthful of
contaminated water.  
	He was given compensation for his psychological problems following the
fire, but has since been refused for a chronic lung problem he says he
developed from Plastimet.  
	Cooke has not returned to work since the blaze.  "You do your job and put
your life at risk, and when you do get hurt they deny you," he said.  "It
leaves a sour taste in your mouth".