Shipbuilder Sumitomo ordered to pay damages
Japanese shipbuilder Sumitomo Heavy Industries has been ordered to pay a total of ¥210M ($1.76M) in damages in a ruling on industrial safety. The Yokohama District Court today ruled that 12 former employees of Sumitomo’s Uraga and Oppama shipyards had contracted the lung disease pneumoconiosis as a result of their work for the company between 1939 and 1996. Pneumoconiosis is a potentially fatal lung condition caused by the inhalation of dust particles from substances such as silicates and asbestos. The company has so far made no comment on the ruling, which was awarded to nine former workers aged between 70 and 86 and the bereaved relatives of three workers who have already died from the condition. Presiding Judge Takayanagi told the court that Sumitomo had “violated all of its responsibilities” to the plaintiffs, in exposing its workers to hazardous dust and by failing to provide suitable training and protective clothing.