General Electric - Asbestos Product Manufacturers

In 1879, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company was formed by Elihu Thomson and Edwin J. Houston. This company merged with others until it was led by Charles A. Coffin. About the same time, in 1890, Thomas Edison had organized his businesses under one name, the Edison General Electric company. Eventually, the two companies became the dominant features in the electrical business. However, as business continued to grow, the two were unable to function separately, and the two combined in 1892 under the name General Electric Company (GE).

In 1896, the company became one of the original dozen companies listed on the stock exchange, where they remain more than 100 years later. In fact, GE is the only original company that has survived on the exchange.

General Electric took over the National Electric Lamp Association and then built the first industrial park in the world at Nela Park in East Cleveland Ohio. Nela Park is still the headquarters for General Electric's lighting business.

During the 1960s, GE was one of the eight major computer companies, IBM being the largest of the group. The company had an extensive line of computers, but GE sold the computer division to Honeywell in 1970.

In 2004, General Electric become the third largest international media conglomerate through the purchase of Vivendi's television and movie assets, and the new company was called NBC Universal. The same year, the company also created Genworth Financial using its mortgage and life insurance divisions.

Asbestos-Containing Products

Many of the asbestos-containing products utilized by GE involved energy production and distribution. Like many power plants, GE used asbestos-contaminated insulation. Unfortunately, the use of asbestos products allows the fibers to break off into the air, where they can be inhaled and cause health problems such as mesothelioma, a rare type of cancer that develops in the mesothelial cells that lines many organs and body cavities. Some of the asbestos-containing products that GE has used include:

• Cable
• Furnaces
• Turbines
• Wire

Asbestos-Related Occupations

Because asbestos was used throughout the power plant, any worker in the plant could have been exposed to asbestos. Asbestos that was used as insulation was likely to break off into the air and be inhaled, even through normal wear and tear of the equipment.

Another asbestos concern was found in the wiring used throughout plants. Not only did this put plant workers at risk, but it could also be a hazard for those that installed the material. In addition, as this wiring decays and needs to be replaced it can still present a hazard for those in the construction and demolition industries.

Current Events

Today, GE is a multinational technology and services conglomerate. It is the sixth largest corporation in the world, and the most successful conglomerate organization. However, this has not prevented the company from dealing with asbestos-related cases.

The company has been fighting for insurers to pay for a portion of the asbestos lawsuits for more than a decade. The company has already paid out $500 million in settlements and estimates that it will have to pay out another $115 million for the remaining suits. This comes after a ruling by the New York State Court of Appeals that withheld a ruling stopping GE from having a secondary insurance pay off the claims.

During the lawsuit, GE was trying to prove that all asbestos claims should be treated as one incident, which would allow the company to take advantage of insurance companies for claims after $5 million dollars. Once the $5 million was reached, GE would have been able to use another $2 billion in insurance coverage. Since most asbestos-related cases go over the $5 million on their own, GE could not access that coverage. However, due to the vastness of the case (more than 400,000 cases arising from incidents at thousands of sites over several decades), the court decided that each case was its own occurrence, leaving GE to pay out without insurance assistance.