KITCHENER—More compensation claims from families of former rubber workers are coming forward as Ontario’s workplace compensation board reviews cases it had previously rejected.

Many of the new cases involve workers who have been retired for years, or who died decades ago, and come as questions grow about what employees in Kitchener’s rubber industry were exposed to during the course of their jobs.

Among them is Kitchener’s Patricia Murphy, who is filing a claim on behalf of her late husband Glen Murphy. He died of leukemia in 1996 at the age of 45, after working as a tire builder at Uniroyal for 15 years.

He fought a rare form of nasopharyngeal cancer for five years before he was diagnosed with leukemia, which killed him within four months. While still alive, Glen sought compensation from Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), believing his cancer was connected to the chemicals he breathed in during the manufacturing process.

His concerns were dismissed at the time.

“They said it had nothing to do with his work,” Murphy said. “But something had to give it to him. He was exposed to all those chemicals.”

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She hopes the WSIB is willing to give rubber workers’ cases a serious second look, after the agency’s chair, Elizabeth Witmer, recently ordered a review of more than 300 occupational disease claims denied since 2002.

“I just want them to be aware of what people went through. It was horrible,” Murphy said.

“Just for them to acknowledge that there was a problem, that would make me feel better. It should have been done a long time ago.”

Other claims are coming from workers who are still alive. Marc Leacock worked at BF Goodrich from 1988 until 2005, just over a year before the plant closed. He was diagnosed a year ago with skin cancer on the right side of his face, spreading into his jaw and ear.

Leacock believes there are others like him who are sick but don’t want to file a claim for occupational disease because they feel the WSIB process is slanted against them.

“Most are hesitant to apply for compensation because the WSIB isn’t worker-friendly,” he said.

“I just think the (WSIB) is saying, ‘the tire plant’s closed, it’s not our issue.’ But it’s going to become their issue now.”

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He’s worried he was exposed to harmful chemicals over the decades he worked in a unit that heated rubber to make treads for tires.

“It really plays on your mind,” Leacock said. “I had an open sore on my face that wouldn’t heal. They told me it was cancerous. I realized, ‘Oh my God, this was not caused by the sun.”

Michelin North America, which owns Uniroyal and BF Goodrich, has declined to comment on whether it carries any responsibility for workplace exposures in previous eras — saying only that its facilities meet or exceed government standards.

The rubber industry has worked to remove known carcinogens from the rubber manufacturing process since the 1980s, when an International Agency for Research on Cancer report showed rubber workers had elevated rates of many types of cancers.

It’s not just cancer that has workers or their surviving families asking questions. Others have long worried about respiratory issues and other health problems they believe were connected to their working conditions.

Amy Knechtel’s father, Donald Hall, died in 1990 from pneumonia at age 40. He complained often about breathing problems over roughly two decades working as a mixer at BF Goodrich and later Epton Industries, she said.

He developed severe lung problems, chronic skin infections and sleep apnea as a result of his alternating day-night-afternoon shifts, she said. Hall was hospitalized repeatedly in his final years, and died a week before his first grandchild was born.

“It was really hard on his system,” Knechtel said.

“I remember him complaining about the extreme heat and not being able to breathe. But back then, it was all about supporting your family.”

Occupational disease claims still represent a small portion of WSIB cases, but it’s a growing issue — up from four per cent of benefits the agency paid out in 2014 to 11 per cent in 2017.

The WSIB says new claims can be filed at any time, regardless of how old the case is. Next of kin should contact the board at 1-800-387-0750 before starting a claim on behalf of a deceased rubber worker.