Title: Boeing: Corporate Rap Sheet | Corporate Research Project
Headings: Boeing: Corporate Rap Sheet
Boeing: Corporate Rap Sheet
Boeing

Content: Environment and Product Safety
For decades, Boeing generated hazardous wastes at its production facilities in Washington State. In 1990 a federal jury found that the company did not knowingly dump toxic material in dump sites in the 1950s and 1960s but concluded that the company had done so in the following decade. Boeing thus was found partially responsible for the clean-up of two heavily contaminated sites in Washington. In 1990 the company settled a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of 700 people who had allegedly been hired by Boeing for jobs that involved exposure to electromagnetic pulse radiation and were monitored for health effects without their knowledge. The lead plaintiffs' counsel charged that the 700 persons were used as human research subjects without their consent. The settlement, in which Boeing admitted no wrongdoing, involved payment of $500,000 in cash and an annuity to the family of one employee who claimed that he developed leukemia as a result of the exposure. The company also agreed to pay for regular medical examinations over ten years for the other class members, who reserved the right to bring claims for compensation if they develop adverse health effects. In 1991 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined the company $620,475 for improper storage of hazardous wastes and deficiencies in its training practices regarding toxics. That same year the company was sued by a group of employees who charged that Boeing had concealed the dangers of a substance (Ferro CPH2284P) they were exposed to on the job. In December 2010 Boeing was one of the parties that agreed to provide $3.25 million in funding to help clean up TCE contamination at the Moses Lake Wellfield Superfund site in Washington State.