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On November 26, a jury in the consolidated welding fume litigation in Cleveland returned a verdict in favor of the welding industry following a 3-week trial. The jury found that Eddie Byers failed to prove that the 3 defendants (Lincoln, ESAB and Hobart) manufactured a product with an inadequate warning. Byers is a former welder who claimed to be permanently disabled as a result of exposure to welding fumes.

The win followed a verdict rendered in favor of plaintiff Stanley McLemore by a Mississippi jury on November 20. The Copiah County jury awarded McLemore $1.8 million in compensatory damages against welding rod manufacturers. The court denied McLemore’s claims for punitive damages on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to show that punitive damages should be awarded. No consumables distributors remained in the case by the time of trial. The defendants plan to appeal.

These trials were the first welding fume cases to go to trial since the industry won the Andre case in Louisiana last March. Plaintiffs won the two welding fume trials before Andre, including a $20.5 million verdict awarded to Jeff Tamraz last December. Overall, the industry has won 21 of the 25 welding fume cases that have gone to juries.

Mike Degan, GAWDA's Joint Defense Fund Coordinating Counsel for welding fume litigation, says, "While the McLemore verdict is certainly disappointing, there are a couple of factors to keep in mind. First, the fact that the court refused to allow the jury to consider punitive damages is a positive development. Second, the size of the verdict awarded is not particularly large—especially considering that the expenses and fees incurred by plaintiffs in the Jowers case exceeded $2 million."

The next welding fume trial is currently scheduled for January in Alameda County, CA.

Your voice has been heard! We have effectively petitioned Texas regulators. The rule that required us to track the pedigree of our medical products has been withdrawn. Texas will now go through a formal rules-making process. If you would like to be considered a stakeholder in the new rules-making process, please e-mail Susan Tennyson, director of the Environmental and Consumer Safety Section of the Department of State Health Services. For additional information, please call Tom Badstubner at 508-883-0927or e-mail tom@AsteRiskLLC.com.

GAWDA will continue to monitor this regulation and keep you informed.

SAFETY & COMPLIANCE NEWS

December Safety & Technology Organizer Online • The December Safety & Technology Organizer is now available on GAWDA's Web site. Topics include: vehicle attendance requirements, sharing validations and chemical safety board.

INDUSTRY BEAT
(what people are talking about)

Ayala Joins Tristar Welding Supply (Houston, TX) • Tristar Welding Supply Company hired Richard Ayala as a city salesman. Ayala has been in the industry for 15 years, having worked various positions in sales, driving and dock work. He is responsible for customer service and technical support.

American Welding & Tank Consolidates Plant (Mechanicsburg, PA) • American Welding & Tank, a division of Taylor-Wharton International, is consolidating its propane tank manufacturing and refurbishing service operations at its Jesup, GA, factory because of soft demand. The Jesup production and services processes are expected to cease on or around January 17, 2009, and will be relocated to the Fremont, OH; Crossville, TN; Bloomfield, IA; and Salt Lake City, UT, facilities. The head fabrication plants in Jesup will continue to operate.

New Branch for Sadler Welding (Dothan, AL) • Sadler Welding Products is opening a new store at 910 South Randolph Avenue in Eufaula, AL, due to business in the area. "We except the Eufaula store will increase our monthly sales, and we're excited about the energetic, talented young people who will be running the store," says President J.D. Sadler. The store is expected to open mid-December.

Linde Receives Certification (Murray Hill, NJ) • Linde North America's Vancouver, WA, manufacturing facility was certified under the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care program. Responsible Care is a management system offering an integrated, structured approach for continued improvement. The Vancouver site has two air separation plants that separate air cryogenically to produce over 600 tons a day of liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon.

Krupnicki Named President of AIWD (Rochester, NY) • Michael Krupnicki, president of Mahany Welding Supply Company, was named president of the Association of Independent Welding Distributors (AIWD) for the 2008-2009 term. The AIWD is a buying group with 135 independent distributor members nationwide. Krupnicki has been involved with the AIWD for 6 years.

Air Liquide Acquires Indian Company (Houston, TX) • Through its subsidiary Taema, Air Liquide acquired Electrocare Systems. Based in Chennai (Madras) in India, Electrocare Systems manufactures respirators for intensive care and anesthesia, as well as medical air generators. The company has 100 employees and 22 technical and sales agencies, and its products are present in 1,500 Indian public and private hospitals.

Sakzenian Promoted at Weldship (Bethlehem, PA) • Arthur Sakzenian was promoted to sales manager of the South American market at Weldship Corporation. Sakzenian was previously sales manager, Brazil. He has been with the company for 3 years.

R3 Safety Relocates Warehouse (Wilmington, OH) • R3 Safety is relocating its Sparks, NV, warehouse to Fresno, CA. The Fresno location will be a more modern and larger facility, and will be operational December 15. Until that time, all orders previously shipped from Sparks will be temporarily shipped from one of the company's other facilities.

Lincoln Electric Hires 2 (Cleveland, OH) • Steven Hedlund was named to the newly created position of vice president of strategy and business development at Lincoln Electric. He is responsible for strategic planning, strategic analysis and long-term project management. Lincoln also hired Earl Ward to the newly created position of vice president of mergers, acquisitions and investor relations. He is responsible for overseeing the risk management and corporate relations departments, the mergers and acquisitions program, and investor relations.

Air Products Conducts CO2 Study (Allentown, PA) • Air Products & Chemicals is collaborating with the Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI) to study advanced carbon dioxide capture technology for use with gasification and reduce the cost of CO2 capture by up to 25%. The project will assess Air Products' development of an alternative CO2 capture option, which is based on separating hydrogen sulfide and CO2 from hydrogen, and is expected to be completed by October 2010.

Accu-Air and TexAir Sell Companies (Radnor, PA) • Accu-Air Gases & Equipment, headquartered in Ventura, CA, and TexAir Welding Supply of Henderson, TX, sold their business to Airgas on December 1. Accu-Air was formed in 1999 by Gordon Woods and Ron Johnson. Johnson will have a leadership role within Airgas West. TexAir was founded in 1998 and has been operated by Kevin Curbo. Curbo and approximately 20 employees will be integrated into Airgas Mid South.

Grab Your Future By the Horns • The 2009 Annual Convention Planning Committee invites you to pull on your boots, slap on your hat and plan on attending next year’s Annual Convention in San Antonio, TX. Speakers will include Rick Pitino, head basketball coach at the University of Louisville, and Neal Boortz, libertarian and radio talk show host. The President's Gala will be held at a ranch and will include a real rodeo, Texas barbeque and plenty of long-necks. Mark your calendar now for September 19-22, 2009.

2008-2009 Dues Reminder • Renew your GAWDA membership by paying your dues online. The 2008-2009 GAWDA dues renewal invoices were mailed to all member company key contacts. In order to pay your dues online, you will need your company's login information to access the online dues page. Please pay your annual dues promptly so that we can continue to provide you with membership benefits.

Don't forget that GAWDA has changed its fiscal and membership year to a calendar year. Therefore, this year’s dues will cover November 1, 2008, through December 31, 2009. For questions about membership dues, please contact GAWDA Director of Membership Kate Cole at 215-565-3484 ext. 2209 or kcole@fernley.com.

Membership Listings • Members can download the updated listings of GAWDA distributor and supplier members for easy reference under the “Members Only” tab on GAWDA's Web site.

GAWDA Industry Meeting Calendar • View upcoming events for 2010 and beyond on the GAWDA Industry Meeting Calendar here. Don’t forget to mark your calendar!

HR Report Available • The December 2008 HR Manager's Legal Reporter is now available for download at GAWDA's Web site.

GAWDA Clearinghouse • The GAWDA Clearinghouse has been updated for the month.

Help Redesign GAWDA’s Web Site • Have you visited GAWDA’s Web site? Now is your chance to help redesign it!

Volunteers are needed for the Web Site Task Force, which will last 6-9 months. The Task Force will:

The Web Site Task Force will meet once in Philadelphia, PA, in January 2009 and again at the Spring Management Conference in Asheville, NC. The majority of the work will happen during conference calls and through e-mails. To volunteer, contact Kent Van Amburg at kvanamburg@fernley.com.

GAWDA U is an easy-to-use and inexpensive online training tool for your employees. The educational content of GAWDA U was developed to support GAWDA's primary mission of providing information to assist you in improving your company's safety and compliance.

GAWDA U Online is an ever-changing and growing program. The initial course offerings concentrate on training for new employees during their first 90 days. The second generation of content will focus on more advanced training that will build upon the earlier basic/elementary courses. We are seeking training material from our members that can be adapted to the GAWDA U platform and will expand the program to include supplier-based training on company-specific products and services.

We are conducting weekly webinars to introduce members to the functions and content of GAWDA U and to answer any questions. Please contact GAWDA Membership Director Kate Cole (kcole@fernley.com) to sign up for the introductory webinars or to find out more about this exciting opportunity!