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During his period as an industrial journalist for the 'Socialist Worker', 1972-1978, Flynn worked closely with activists from the Glasgow branch of the Transport and General Workers Union and with Tom Woolf and John Pickering, both of them W H Thomson solicitors covering lawsuits against Central Asbestos in Bermondsey, London, and Acre Mill in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire (the latter not much documented here).

Flynn's investigations of occupational & environmental health issues brought him in close contact with American researchers, among them environmental consultants and, in particular, litigators. An extensive exchange of information and documentation ensued. This turned up unusually rich seams of corporate information on asbestos, made available under rules of discovery and specifically through depositions of key witnesses.

A key focus of Flynn’s asbestos-related investigations were the activities of Cape Industries Ltd, registered in December 1893 as Cape Asbestos Company Ltd (name changed in 1974). The series listed here includes early registration documents, Cape Industries annual reports from 1974, as well as a run of the companies' house journal ‘CAC Magazine’, 1951-1963. For further business papers of Cape Industries, see also FLYNN 2/2.

Flynn's twin interest in the South African mining industry and in international corporations' conduct in Southern Africa dates back to his period with Granada Television's current affairs programme World in Action, 1979-1990. Over the ensuing decade he expanded his network of contacts with South African researchers and with lawyers representing South African plaintiffs. This series reflects the broad range of Flynn's network including its legal dimension.