A. C. Pennewell's Pittsburg Plant Memo on Not Informing Former Employees of Hazards (1971)

A one-page note of September 20, 1971, by A. C. Pennewell of J-M's Pittsburg, California, plant, recording a telephone call with Nick Tarara about the new Occupational Safety and Health Act and the reporting of lost-time accidents. Under Tarara's "compliance bulletin #1," the plant was "to disregard informing any former employees of any hazardous conditions they might have been exposed to"; any former employee who asked was to be told the company would look into it, and "no information will be given out regarding conditions that existed prior to 8/23/71, which is the date of the OSHA regulations." Current employees, however, had to be told of exposure to hazards above the new federal limits.

What it shows

The word "former" is written in by hand above the typed line, so the instruction as finally recorded applies to men who had left the plant. The note names Cliff Sheckler as the one person to handle all inquiries, with answers to come from the corporate safety office. For current workers the plant was told to "notify the men verbally whether they ask or not, making a record of the notification." The line is drawn at the date federal rules took effect, so dust exposure before August 1971 would not be discussed with anyone who had already left. Years later a former Pittsburg plant manager testified that, until about 1970 to 1972, J-M's doctors did not tell workers their own examination findings (Wilbur Ruff's deposition).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

File memorandum from A.C. Pennewell (plant manager), Pittsburg plant, 9/20/71 entitled "Telephone Discussion with Nick Tarara Re OSHA Act and LTA Reporting This Date." "We are to disregard informing any former employees of any hazardous conditions they might have been exposed to. Should we get an inquiry from a former employee we should tell him we will look into the matter and our corporate safety officer will give him an answer. Current policy is that Cliff Sheckler will handle all inquiries and that no information will be given out regarding conditions that existed prior to 8/23/71, which is the date of the OSHA Regulations."

Editor's note: J-M's description quotes the memo as saying "our corporate safety officer will give him an answer"; the memo reads "corporate safety office."