A statutory authority charged with protecting worker safety cannot discharge its duty of care merely by participating in an advisory committee that fails to take prompt or effective action; the authority is obliged itself to investigate and act upon conditions affecting health and safety. Constructive knowledge of risk is sufficient where the information was readily discoverable by an authority with safety responsibilities. The risk of mesothelioma from asbestos exposure was foreseeable by the early 1960s given the state of medical and industrial safety knowledge.
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