A. K. Barnes to Vandiver Brown on Lung X-Ray Procedure and Dust Fears at Lompoc (1944)

A one-page letter of February 14, 1944, from A. K. Barnes at Johns-Manville's Los Angeles factory to Vandiver Brown, headed "Procedure on Lung X-Rays." Barnes agreed with Brown that X-rays in dust cases should be interpreted by Dr. Leroy Gardner, complained that in one case another specialist had been consulted first, and urged a set routine so that complete medical evidence could go promptly to the Industrial Accident Commission. He reported that a Mr. Westmont "is considerably worried about the dust situation at Lompoc" and suggested a program "educating the workers themselves" to "eliminate the fear psycosis of those who work under these conditions."

What it shows

Barnes wrote that the company "must take every precaution in providing all the medical evidence possible to avoid any bad precedent." The letter shows that by 1944 J-M's West Coast managers were sending workers' X-rays to Gardner in cases headed for the state compensation board, and that the answer Barnes proposed to the Lompoc workers' fear of dust was a program of education. Copies went to J. P. Woodard at headquarters and to W. E. Pringle of the law firm Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro. For an earlier X-ray referral from the same region, see R. B. McClellan's 1942 memo.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

A. K. Barnes writes to Vandiver Brown on 2/14/44, re Procedure on Lung X-rays. Barnes mentions a Mr. Westmont who "is considerably worried about the dust situation at Lompoc." Barnes recommends a program to educate the workers at the Lompoc plant to "eliminate the fear psycosis (sic) of those who work under these conditions" at the plant.