Schepers Report

The Schepers Report refers to the findings and warnings issued by Dr. Gerrit W.H. Schepers, a pathologist who studied asbestos-related disease in workers and publicly raised alarms about industry hazards in the 1950s and 1960s. After inspecting U.S. asbestos plants, including UNARCO in Paterson, New Jersey, he documented heavy dust exposures and disease and reported these conditions to industry and government. His written reports and later sworn testimony became important historical evidence that asbestos manufacturers knew of the dangers far earlier than they publicly admitted.

Origin

Dr. Schepers trained at the Pneumoconiosis Research Unit in Johannesburg, where he studied asbestos and silica disease before relocating to the United States in the mid-1950s. His plant inspections, correspondence with industry officials, and published papers from roughly 1954 through the 1960s, together with his later depositions in asbestos litigation beginning in the 1970s, are collectively referred to as the 'Schepers Report' or 'Schepers testimony.'

Significance in Asbestos Context

For patients and families, the Schepers materials are part of the documentary backbone that proves the asbestos industry had knowledge of serious health hazards decades before workers were warned. His descriptions of choking dust at UNARCO and similar plants, and his accounts of industry executives privately acknowledging the danger while publicly downplaying it, support claims that companies acted with negligence or even willful disregard for worker safety. This kind of state-of-the-art evidence is often used by plaintiffs to defeat defense arguments that 'no one knew' asbestos was dangerous at the time of exposure, and it can be relevant to punitive damages.

Example Sentence

The plaintiff's historical expert cited the Schepers Report and his 1970s deposition testimony to show that the defendant manufacturer was aware of fatal asbestos disease in its own plants by the late 1950s.

Related Terms

State of the Art Evidence, Sumner Simpson Papers, UNARCO, Selikoff Studies, Corporate Knowledge, Punitive Damages

Notes

• If your work history includes UNARCO, Johns-Manville, Raybestos-Manhattan, or other mid-century asbestos plants, tell your attorney. Schepers personally inspected several of these facilities and his observations may corroborate your exposure account.
• Ask your legal team whether Schepers' depositions and reports are part of the state-of-the-art evidence package being assembled for your case, especially if defendants are arguing they had no knowledge of asbestos hazards during your exposure period.
• Preserve any old employment records, union materials, or plant newsletters from the 1950s–1970s; these can be cross-referenced with Schepers' site visits and industry correspondence.
• The Schepers materials are most often used in cases involving manufacturing-plant exposures, but they also support general 'industry knowledge' arguments in shipyard, construction, and end-user product cases.