Three managers for the Grede company were recently indicted on charges of violating asbestos laws.

The seven-count indictment published on March 9, 2017 accuses the managers of lying to inspectors in 2012 as they searched for signs of asbestos exposure at the company’s plant in Berlin, Wis.

Michigan-based Grede manufacturers cast, machined and assembled parts for automotive and industrial uses. The Berlin plant where the alleged asbestos exposure and subsequent allegations of violating asbestos laws took place was used to make molds for cast parts. Grede has since closed the Berlin plant but maintains other facilities throughout Wisconsin.

Management, Company Accused of Violating Asbestos Laws

According to the indictment, the inspectors were responding to reports by Grede employees that they had been exposed to asbestos while refurbishing an old heat-treat oven that had gone unused for around twenty years.

Under direction from the plant manager, Grede employees allegedly used jackhammers and chisels to remove insulation and dust from the top of the oven. These employees were supposedly offered no protective gear that would have shielded them from asbestos exposure.

A supervisor raised concerns about asbestos exposure to the plant manager and safety coordinator. The supervisor was allegedly told the workers were fine and that they should simply vacuum up the debris.

An employee filed a complaint with the state Department of Natural Resources, who responded by sending an inspector to the site a few days later. Plant officials allegedly provided the DNR inspector with a report showing negative test results for asbestos content. OSHA inspectors who visited the plant later allegedly saw a similar report.

However, the indictment says these plant officials failed to tell the inspectors that the tested sample came from inside the oven – not from the top of the oven where the workers had been chiseling away insulation.

The next month, another DNR inspection took samples from the top of the oven. Those samples tested positive for asbestos.

According to the indictment, evidence suggests officials for Grede knew they had an asbestos problem. Company emails show its safety officials discussed the possibility of a $70,000 fine for violating asbestos laws. One email ends with a command to plant staff to keep quiet while the company deliberated as to how the issue should be addressed.

Meanwhile, as part of a new “asbestos training program,” Grede told its employees that their work on the oven did not disturb any asbestos.

A draft letter addressed to workers who directly handled the insulation said those workers faced only a low risk of exposure. The letter offered those workers a free medical exam. It’s unknown whether any workers actually received this letter.

The indictment names as defendants the plant’s former operations manager and safety coordinator, as well as Grede’s corporate safety and environmental director. If convicted of violating asbestos laws, the three individual defendants could face thousands of dollars in fines and maximum sentences that range from 11 to 41 years.

The company itself is also a named defendant and faces millions of dollars in penalties.