B. F. Stanton to S. Lower on Dust at the No. 4 Roofing Machine in the Manville Plant (1956)

A one-page memo of February 14, 1956, from B. F. Stanton to S. Lower at J-M's Manville, New Jersey, plant, headed "Dust Conditions in F Building at No. 4 Roofing Machine." Following an earlier memo on controlling dust at the machine, Stanton stresses that the high dust counts reported in H. M. Jackson's January letter were taken while the dust collection system was working at full capacity. He writes that "the several Union complaints and the suggestion by certain operators that they should walk off the job 'rather than inhale that dust' are not without justification," and urges every effort to finish the project, since "a serious health hazard exists and continued exposure could result in future liabilities."

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

B.F. Stanton (Manville) writes to S. Lower (Manville) on 2/14/56, regarding his concern about the extremely poor dust conditions near Roofing Machine No. 4 which he asked Lower to correct. Stanton states that "[t]he several union complaints and the suggestion by certain operators that they should walk off the job 'rather than inhale that dust' are not without justification." Stanton urges correction of the problem because "a serious health hazard exists and continued exposure could result in future liabilities."