The Insurance Industry and Asbestos

Liability Insurance 1896

On January 1, 1896, there were twelve companies writing liability insurance in the United States. Of this number nine companies were American, two English, and one German. The companies included the Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York, the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, and the Employers Liability Assurance Corporation.

A manual of uniform rates was revised and adopted by a group of companies on June 22, 1896. Here's the first page of the Conference Liability Manual which included a table of liability rates for industries and crafts including Asbestos Manufacturers and Benzine Works.

Marsh a.k.a. Marsh & McLennan 3.0

From the 1970's to the early 1990s, Clayton Environmental Consultants was associated with Marsh & McLennan. Clayton Environmental Consultants performed a multitude of industrial hygiene studies in a variety of different industries.

A Clayton vice president, Dr. Jaswant Singh, wrote in the 1990 summer edition of Marsh's journal, Viewpoint, that, "Seven environmental risks pose the greatest liability exposures for business managers. They are hazardous waste, underground storage tanks, asbestos, carcinogens, air quality, indoor air quality and workplace exposures." In addition the article stated that, "When a pollutant is a known or suspected carcinogen, liabilities can be particularly grave." The article added that two of the most common carcinogens produced and used in commerce are asbestos and benzene.

Here is a 1981 report that Clayton did for the Caterpillar Tractor Company for asbestos fibers in certain air samples. And here are some air sampling results for Johns-Manville's Waukegan Illinois plant taken in August 1985 by Clayton Environmental Consultants.

The National Council On Compensation Insurance

The National Council on Compensation Insurance is a group of insurance companies that shares workers' compensation information. The NCCI collects data on workers' compensation claims and policies and uses the information for workers' compensation insurance rate recommendations. The NCCI became operational in 1923 and exists to this day. Here is some Workmen's Compensation Experience data compiled by the NCCI in 1925 as to the classifications asbestos goods manufacturing and asbestos-spinning.

Some members of the NCCI in 1933 included Aetna Life Insurance Company, Continental Casualty Company, Fireman's Fund Indemnity Company, Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Pacific Indemnity Company, and Sun Indemnity Company (now known as Chubb Indemnity Insurance Company). The latter two members are currently part of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. In a 1933 report, the NCCI stated that they had "perfected the Occupational Disease programme, noted in the report of last year as having been begun." Here is the NCCI's 1933 table of occupational disease rates, which includes asbestosis, silicosis, and benzol (benzene).

National Association of Mutual Casualty Companies

The National Association of Mutual Casualty Companies was organized in 1917. This was over twenty years after the creation of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, which was founded in 1895. Attached are excerpts from a 1958 National Association of Mutual Casualty Companies document, which discusses industrial solvents such as benzene. The association acknowledges the assistance of Warren Cook. Mr. Cook was a former director of the division of Industrial Hygiene and Engineering Research for the Zurich-American Insurance Companies.