E. M. Fenner, Report of the Environmental Control Subcommittee Meeting of March 18, 1969 (1969)

A three-page report dated April 8, 1969, by E. M. Fenner, J-M's director of environmental control and secretary of its Environmental Control Subcommittee, on the subcommittee's meeting of March 18, 1969, sent to president C. B. Burnett and other senior managers. Fenner explained the company's three newly adopted methods for measuring dust, including membrane filter sampling with a personal air sampler for asbestos fiber, and early air samples taken on Manville plant property downwind of the asbestos textile plant (0.10 to 0.14 fibers per cc so far). Proper disposal of empty fiber bags, he said, "still presents a sizable environmental health problem to the worker involved." Reviewing Environmental Control Report No. 8, the members expressed "great concern" because "our sample stations out of control were increasing rather than decreasing."

What it shows

The report shows J-M changing how it measured asbestos dust in 1969 while its own engineers recorded that the number of dust stations out of control was rising. Because the new personal sampler was "radically different" from the old station impinger, the department said, the two methods could hardly be compared. Work on mechanical bag opening (a second, redesigned glove box for the textile plant and an automatic opener at Waukegan) was under way, and the members urged faster work on removing empty bags. They also listed air and water pollution problems at several plants. Two months later the first fiber counts at the Manville textile plant showed most stations above J-M's limit (subcommittee report of May 19, 1969).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Report, prepared by E.M. Fenner, of J-M Environmental Control Subcommittee meeting held on 4/8/69. Progress in the development of an effective asbestos fiber bag opening device was briefly reviewed; preliminary tests were promising. The problem of empty fiber bag disposal was briefly discussed. Great concern was expressed because J-M Environmental Control Report No. 8 indicated that J-M sample stations out of control were increasing rather than decreasing.

Editor's note: J-M's description says the meeting was held on April 8, 1969. That is the date of Fenner's report; the meeting it reports was held on March 18, 1969.