Title: Relief of former employees of Fairfax Street Wood Treaters by the State of Florida

Summary: Providing for the relief of former employees of Fairfax Street Wood Treaters; directing the Department of Health to collaborate with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to develop specified data for certain purposes; providing an appropriation to compensate the former employees for injuries and damages sustained as a result of the negligence of the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Financial Services, and the Department of Health, etc.

Full Text:
WHEREAS, the operations of Wood Treaters, LLC, were inherently dangerous to employees because the company used a wood treating preservative called chromated copper arsenate, which includes a concentrated inorganic form of arsenic, to pressure treat utility poles, pilings, heavy timber items, and plywood lumber products, and WHEREAS, there is an extensive body of scientific evidence documenting the toxicity of arsenic exposure when arsenic is used to treat wood, and WHEREAS, employees at the Fairfax Street Wood Treaters site were injured by excessive, persistent, and prolonged exposure to toxic levels of arsenic while performing their work duties, and WHEREAS, a catastrophic failure of the State of Florida to enforce measures designed to protect employees from toxic substances in the workplace resulted in the employees  exposure to arsenic, and WHEREAS, over the course of its operating life, Wood Treaters, LLC, treated thousands of wood products, employed hundreds of individuals at the Fairfax Street Wood Treaters location, and was known to government regulators due to its reckless and grossly negligent use and mismanagement of arsenic, and WHEREAS, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Financial Services, and the Department of Health ignored the hazardous conditions that employees at the Fairfax Street Wood Treaters site were working in, which were exacerbated by employees who received no training, protective gear, or warnings and no guidance alerting them to the risks posed to their health and safety by exposure to arsenic, and WHEREAS, the State of Florida recognizes an equitable obligation to redress the injuries and damages employees sustained from exposure to arsenic as a result of the catastrophic failure of the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Financial Services, and the Department of Health to exercise their duties, NOW, THEREFORE, Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1.  Th efacts stated in the preamble to this act are found and declared to be true. Section 2.  The Department of Health is directed to collaborate with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to develop accurate and reliable data on the exposure levels and the duration and frequency of exposure to arsenic for all former employees of Wood Treaters, LLC, who worked at the Fairfax Street Wood Treaters site,so as to ascertain the risks to their health posed by such exposure. Section 3.  The sum of $10 million is appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the Office of the Attorney General for the relief of former employees of Wood Treaters, LLC, who demonstrate personal injuries and damages resulting from excessive, persistent, and prolonged exp osure to arsenic as a result of the work environment at the Fairfax Street Wood Treaters site, and who demonstrate that such injuries and damages were sustained as a result of the failure of the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Financial Services, and the Department of Health to exercise their statutory duties to control the unlawful release of arsenic. The Attorney General shall compensate each eligible former employee in the amount of $100,000. Section 4.  The amount awarded under this act is intended to provide the sole compensation for all present and future claims arising out of the factual situation described in this act which resulted in injuries and damages to former employees of Wood Treaters, LLC. The total amount paid for attorney fees relating to this claim may not exceed percent of the amount awarded under this act. Section 5. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.