C. B. Burnett, President of Johns-Manville, on Industrial Hygiene (1960)

The text of a talk on industrial hygiene that C. B. Burnett, president of Johns-Manville, gave to J-M managers at the company's Research Center on July 19, 1960, circulated with four charts. Burnett reports that in five years J-M's out-of-pocket costs for workmen's compensation and medical care had risen 78%, from $446,000 to $782,000, while disabling injuries fell 9%. Dust control, he says, was a key part of "loss prevention": some plants and mines had excellent control, "many have not," as shown "by the increasing number of claims in plants where it was believed no hazard existed." J-M's 1959 hygiene records showed adequate control at only 77% of survey stations, down from 89% in 1957 and 1958, and "it is obvious that our control efforts are not satisfactory."

What it shows

The talk puts the head of the company on record that dust control at J-M's plants was slipping and that this was costing money. It holds up the Lompoc diatomaceous earth plant as a model: acceptable stations rose from 46% in 1953 to all of them in 1959, with no new cases of lung disease, which let J-M cancel a $150,000 yearly reserve for future claims. Burnett warns that to ignore possible hazards because "No one has been hurt" is "to ignore a basic management responsibility," adding: "The old adage - 'Ignorance is bliss' - has been expensively disproved." Within weeks of this talk, managers at the Manville plant were deciding not to require respirators (the 1960 respirator memos).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

C.B. Burnett (J-M President) speaks at a meeting of J-M management personnel at the Research Center on 7/19/60. He speaks of the importance of effective hygiene control as a means of bringing about substantial dollar savings each year and improving the moral and attitude of employees as well as the status and influence of J-M. Burnett states that in the last five years J-M's out-of-pocket direct costs for workmen's compensation benefits and medical care have increased 78%. This cost increase took place while "disabling injuries" were reduced by 9%. The expansion of J-M's operations and the increase in benefit rates and types of injuries and illnesses covered explain these cost increases.

Burnett emphasizes that the control of dust is an important part of J-M's loss prevention problem. Some plants and mines have obtained excellent control; many have not. "This is evidenced not only by the appearance, but even more importantly, by the increasing number of claims in plants where it was believed no hazard existed." Burnett states that a review of J-M's hygiene records for 1959 indicates that adequate control of dust, gasses, vapors, noise and the like "has been effected to the extent of only 77%." Burnett explains that this figure does not give a complete picture, since at some locations relatively few of the potential exposure sources have been evaluated.

Comparing this with the 1957-1958 status of 89% "acceptable," it is obvious, according to Burnett, that J-M's control efforts are not satisfactory. Burnett states that several years ago Lompoc accelerated its dust control efforts and had excellent results. In 1953, the surveys of 101 operating stations at Lompoc showed only 46% as acceptable. In 1959, G11 stations were acceptable. There have been no new cases of pulmonary disease at Lompoc and no progression of pulmonary disease from one degree to the next. Burnett indicates that similar steps toward improved control can be found in the experience of several other locations.

Burnett states that to ignore evaluations of potential hazards because "'no one has been hurt' is to ignore a basic management responsibility of getting the facts upon which to make a decision. The old adage 'ignorance is bliss' has been expensively disproved. . . . It is our responsibility to operate without exposing our people --our most valuable asset to working conditions which are detrimental to their well-being." (Charts attached to Burnett's speech document J-M's control efforts.)