Canadian Johns-Manville, Facts and Figures about Canadian Johns-Manville (1949)

An illustrated booklet from Canadian Johns-Manville about its mine, mill and factory at Asbestos, Quebec, covering wages, jobs, benefits, collective bargaining and the company's role in the town. A section headed "Safeguarding Our Employees' Health" says more than $1,000,000 had been spent at Asbestos to improve working conditions, including a Cottrell electrical precipitation system, fans and air filters, with a dust control engineer on staff. It reports that J. William Fehnel of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company had surveyed the properties in 1930, 1935, 1944, 1945 and 1947, and that in his opinion nuisance dust in the town had been cut by more than 75 percent.

What it shows

The booklet compares dust counts in the town of Asbestos with surveys of Rochester, New York City and 14 American cities, concluding that the Asbestos count "does not exceed" those cities' and in some cases was only a fraction of them. It describes free X-rays and physical examinations for new employees and periodic check-ups for older ones, but it does not mention asbestosis or any other disease, and the dust figures given are for the town's air, not the mill. It ends by saying the last union agreement "remained in effect until January 31, 1949," which places it at the time of the Asbestos Strike of 1949. For what the company's own officers were saying about dust and disease in Canada, see the January 1947 headquarters meeting and Dr. Smith's note on a mill worker.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

J-M publication explains CJM's efforts over the years toward safeguarding its employees' health. More than $1 million has been spent at Asbestos to improve working conditions which have been recognized by health authorities as outstanding in the industry. CJM has installed an expensive Cottrell dust collection system. CJM employs a dust control engineer and assistants. J. William Fehnel (Metropolitan) has conducted surveys at CJM in 1930, 1935, 1944, 1945, and 1947. In his opinion, the "nuisance dust" in Asbestos has been reduced more than 75% as a result of CJM installing new dust control equipment. The publication goes on to describe the medical services CJM provides and J-M's excellent safety program.