F. J. Angelos to J. Scott on the 1980 Waukegan Safety and Housekeeping Inspection (1981)

A five-page report of February 2, 1981, from F. J. Angelos, supervisor of the industrial hygiene laboratory at J-M's Waukegan, Illinois, plant, to J. Scott of the Waukegan building materials division, on a safety and housekeeping inspection made with the annual industrial hygiene survey of November 4 to December 16, 1980. Overall housekeeping was rated "very good," but Angelos listed electrical, guarding and fire hazards and asbestos work practices needing "immediate correction." Beater operators in the paper mill used "push brooms and shovels to clean up spilled asbestos fibre," cut open bags of asbestos before carrying them, and, when not wearing their respirators, "left them laying on top of open bags of asbestos"; another operator, his vacuum locked up, used an unregulated air hose to blow asbestos fiber off his clothing.

What it shows

J-M had banned dry sweeping of asbestos with brooms years earlier (Reitze's OSHA Letter No. 26 on keeping the ban on brooms, 1974), yet the practice was still seen at Waukegan in late 1980. The inspection also found broken pipe insulation "which could possibly contain asbestos" and operators steam-cleaning a saturator with no ventilation and no respirators.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Angelos reports to Scott, 2/2/81, concerning a housekeeping inspection at Waukegan. Angelos notes that they are still using push brooms and shovels to clean up spilled asbestos fibers. The beater operators also cut open bags of asbestos and then carry them to the beater. When the workers are not using respirators, they leave them laying on top of open bags of asbestos.