When I see
that video it makes me smile
because I was like what an awesome
dad my daughter had.
A bittersweet moment of a father no
longer around to hold his daughter's hand,
as sometimes I get sad and
say she needs her dad. Nicole
Milan believes her late husband,
Demetrius, unknowingly sacrificed his life
working here at Trimac in Fairburn, GA.
A trucking company which hauls
hazardous chemicals across the country.
His job for 13 years,
removing chemical residue. Left inside.
Tanker trucks like these often crawling.
Decide to do it without
the required protection.
Equipment up to 25 times a day,
but he was kind of scared saying
that he felt like it was dangerous.
Nicole says her husband
started falling ill in 2019.
He had like this little shirt
that he had tied around his neck.
But he ended up, he said I got something
to show you when he removed the shirt.
I said Oh my God,
all of this was square like big knots.
The diagnosis lymphoma.
When I first heard cancer I automatically
thought the job and the chemicals
Trimec told Demetrius his job
was safe before going inside.
The company shows employees work permits
like this when claiming the products.
Hauled last were nonhazardous,
but our investigation.
Shows that wasn't always true.
According to these dozen permits,
part of a pending lawsuit,
it shows some chemicals last hauled were
ethylene, designate and acid all chemicals.
The Environmental Protection
Agency identifies as
potentially lethal if exposed or inhaled.
Trimac listed each of them as
nonhazardous, you have hardworking
individuals that have,
unfortunately no knowledge
of chemistry or of toxicity.
That's where misled
Doctor Pamela Polley is a professor
at Georgia Tech School of Chemistry
and its safety program coordinator.
She reviewed the work permits
as a paid expert witness,
including this one that shows
a tanker which hauled MDI
or methylene diphenoxylate,
a compound the EPA says can be fatal.
Trimac identified it as
non hazardous so put in
perspective if just an ounce is left
in that tanker truck and you're inside.
Is it still dangerous?
Yes. So we calculated you can
calculate that we computed how
much you will need to reach this
idpl this immediate danger to
health and life, and that is very,
very little because those chemicals
are so toxic and so dangerous.
Trimec declined.
11 lives request for an interview instead.
It sent us this letter calling the
former employees claims simply untrue.
Adding the health and safety of our
employees and the community are.
Paramount and it denied
all claims in the lawsuit.
About two years ago,
Trimec paid a $225,000 penalty to
the EPA after the agency cited it
for dozens of violations, including
storing hazardous waste without permits,
failing to inspect tanks
and unlabeled chemical containers.
And earlier this year,
a judge ordered Trimac to allow Professor
Pole and an attorney representing
workers to inspect its facilities
at its Fairburn in Atlanta facility.
Police identified some of the same issues.
Chemicals not labeled unknown
liquids near electrical wires and
multiple wash stations, not working,
used to rinse workers in case of an exposure.
Would you describe
the work site that you went to as dangerous?
Yeah, I would describe it as dangerous,
at least a dozen former Trimec employees
part of pending litigation claim
chemical exposure have made them sick,
including James Grove,
who worked for the company in Kansas.
He suffered from leukemia.
I just want to be one
family, one more day.
That's all I can do.
He died earlier this month
after taking this emergency
deposition from his bed. And
I was like how could I not see signs?
What am I supposed to do?
Dimitrius died in August 2021,
leaving his wife to care for
their four children alone.
I just think about other families.
And there's hope and no one have to
endure with me and my kids have to endure.
Last year, the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration find
Trimec more than $12,000 from
multiple safety issues that includes
not providing personal protection
equipment for its workers tomorrow.
An administrative law judge in Atlanta
will hear workers compensation claim filed
by Demetrius Phillips before he died.
Two other lawsuits involving
multiple TriMet employees are pending
in Fulton County State Court.