Workers Claim Exposure To Tuberculosis On The Job Official Says Disease Didn’t Come From Inside Medical-Waste Disposal Plant

Three medical-waste disposal workers are seeking compensation from the state for job conditions they say caused them to contract tuberculosis.

A separate complaint, also filed with the state Department of Labor and Industries, says workers are not protected from waste sent to Stericycle Inc. in this town east of Chehalis.

Bins of used gloves, needles and other medical wastes are sent to Stericycle from five states and Canada for decontamination so they can be recycled or taken to a landfill.

To kill germs and viruses, the waste is heated to a temperature near boiling in a machine similar to a massive microwave oven.

State officials said the workers’ claims were under investigation.

Several Stericycle employees have tested positive for antibodies that indicate exposure to tuberculosis, an airborne bacteria, and two have contracted the lung disease, Lewis County health officer Tom Bell said.

“Anytime you have more than one person with an active case of tuberculosis, it’s an epidemic,” Bell said.

He said a sample may be subjected to DNA tests that could show the origin and possibly the means of transmission.

Bell and Linda Lee, a Stericycle spokeswoman, said they believe the outbreak began when an employee contracted TB outside the plant and spread it by coughing near co-workers in the small lunchroom.

“This is a disease that is almost solely spread by coughing and sneezing,” Bell said.

In the past five years, Stericycle has had 79 claims for on-the-job injuries, mostly cuts or sprains.

The three claims now being investigated are the only ones linked to pathogens, according to state records.

Plant manager Jim Pakar said he hopes rumors about the problem don’t sour relations with local residents.

“I worked at (a lumber mill) before I came here,” Pakar said. “I don’t want to see what happened to the timber industry happen here.”