The Rubber Worker Project seeks to:
- Investigate potential connections between hazards in the rubber industry and specific illnesses/injuries that Ontario rubber workers have reported to OHCOW.
- Support workers and their families who are filing WSIB claims by providing independent, objective medical and scientific assessments.
- Build on the knowledge gathered to create resources for rubber workers to prevent exposure to workplace hazards.
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We want to hear from you!
Have you and/or your family members worked in the rubber industry?
Do you have concerns about the impact of your work on your health?
Do you have anything you’d like to share with us (work stories, photos, information about potential hazards, etc.)
Contact OHCOW
Phone: 613-725-6999
Email: rw@ohcow.on.ca
Who is involved, and who can best support you?
RUBBER WORKER COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Steelworkers Organization
of Active Retirees (SOAR)
Gord Assman (President Chapter 80)
2024 Update
OHCOW’s project staff have continued to collect information about the layout of the plants, the chemicals used in specific areas and jobs, working conditions, Ministry of Labour inspection reports, product information (data) sheets, studies about the hazards and health effects of rubber work and other relevant information. We’ve talked to former union leaders and health and safety activists and connected with the members of the “BF Goodrich employees” Facebook page. We are working with the Office of the Worker Advisor (OWA) and the Steelworkers to get information they may have. We have been to several libraries, looking for photographs and documents to assist with cases and to update the website. In March of 2024 a letter addressed to Rubber Workers and their families is being presented by OHCOW to update all concerned.
The Project database now has 282 workers, many with multiple WSIB claims. It includes information about the worker’s health condition(s), job history and claim status. We are creating another database to connect individual claims to relevant studies and other information that can help new and existing claims. OHCOW staff have reviewed the files we have for WSIB claims involving rubber workers. This chart summarizes what we know about them.
This review is improving our understanding and, in some cases, could lead to finding additional or new evidence to support individual claims.
For more information, read the letter from Valerie Wolfe, OHCOW Executive Director, South Central Region.
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CORRESPONDENCE
A Guide to Rubber Industry Hazards
March 2025
Letter to Rubber Industry Workers And Family
March 2024
An update about the Rubber Workers Project.
OHCOW RESOURCE
WEBINAR
Cluster Projects
October 2019
David Wilken presented an update to workers and their families on progress in research investigating exposures and health effects, covering four of the cluster projects.
History of the Project
The Rubber Worker Project was created in 2002 to investigate the cause of cancer clusters occurring in workers employed in the rubber industry in Kitchener, Waterloo, and the surrounding area. More than 6,000 workers were employed in tire fabrication plants owned by BF Goodrich, Epton Industries, Uniroyal, Michelin before the last plant closed in 2010.
OHCOW Hamilton, United Steelworkers (USW) Local 677, the Office of the Worker Adviser (OWA) and the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) have worked together providing information, objective hygiene and medical assessments to affected workers.
In 2018, WSIB committed to review approximately 300 previously denied occupational disease claims using updated scientific information, including 2012 industry findings by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). This was a direct result of renewed activism by members of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) Chapter 80.
OHCOW Involvement To-Date
In partnership with USW and the OWA, OHCOW then organized a two-day information session in Kitchener in the spring of 2019, with the WSIB in attendance, to allow workers and families to file claims or obtain updates on established claims. This event and subsequent communication generated 185 files, including more than 120 cancer cases.
What have we learned?
Key Hazards
Workers in the rubber-manufacturing industry are exposed to dusts and fumes from the rubber-making and vulcanization processes. Potential exposures include: N-nitrosamines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, solvents, phthalates.
The work continues, with areas of focus including investigations into Prostate and Bladder Cancer, Leukemia, Malignant Lymphoma (including multiple myeloma and other lymphopoietic cancers), Stomach and Oesophagus Cancers, Larynx and Lung Cancers.
United Steelworkers Rubber Workers Project 2019 Update
Hello everyone:
Thank you for attending the USW Rubber Workers Information session held March 28, 29th 2019 at the Holiday Inn Kitchener-Cambridge Conference Centre. We are writing to give you an update and provide information on how to get further help. If you registered with the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) during the info session, we are doing administrative work on your file and laying the groundwork for occupational hygiene and medical assessments. We can use your help in that process.
Although WSIB has not provided us specific information about the number of new claims filed or the number of previous claims that have been reviewed, it is our understanding that they are working on over 400 rubber worker claims. We have been contacted by a number of workers and family members who have received letters denying a claim. Many of these letters have indicated that the claims will be reviewed again after Dr. Paul Demers of the Occupational Cancer Research Centre completes his report on the proper use of scientific evidence in deciding occupational cancer claims. Dr. Demers is scheduled to deliver his report to the Ministry of Labour in December 2019.
In the meantime, we would very much appreciate your help in identifying what is happening with your WSIB claim so that we can better plan our work in providing occupational hygiene and medical assessments. Please let us know if the WSIB has contacted you or sent you a decision letter regarding your claim. It is also very helpful to us to have a copy of any WSIB decisions, positive or negative.
Please take a few moments to contact OHCOW on our Rubber Workers Hotline at 1 888 596 3800 or by email at rw@ohcow.on.ca. Please let us know the following:
- WSIB claim number
- Name of the person the WSIB claim is about
- Have you been contacted by the WSIB?
- Have you received a decision letter? (please provide us a copy if possible)
- Was your claim accepted or denied?
- Did the WSIB say they will review your claim again in the future?
- Do you have a legal representative and, if so, their name, organization and phone number
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REPORT
Occupational Exposures in the Rubber-Manufacturing Industry
June 2018
Occupational exposures in the rubber-manufacturing industry were considered from 1981 to 2018. An international report of key hazards prepared by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
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NEWS ARTICLE
Help Coming for Rubber Workers
January 11, 2019
An article from The Record by Greg Mercer describing OHCOW's collaborative efforts to support Ontario rubber workers.
Media Coverage
The following videos/articles are relevant to this study:
The Waterloo Region Record
Occupational disease expert calls for royal commission on worker safety (James Jackson)
WSIB accepts 31 previously denied claims from former Kitchener rubber workers (uncredited)
Greg Mercer
Former Kitchener rubber worker’s claim rejected by WSIB — again
New rubber claims put pressure on system
Rubber widow waits on review as eviction looms
WSIB confirms tribunal decisions on rubber claims will be reopened
Review of rubber workers’ compensation claims officially launches
OHCOW RESOURCE
WEBINAR
Cluster Projects
October 2019
Description
