J. B. Skinner of American Mutual, Dust Survey of Union Asbestos & Rubber's Marshville Plant (1957)

A 21-page report, dated October 11, 1957, by J. B. Skinner, an engineer with the insurer American Mutual, on dust counts he took on September 23 to 25, 1957, at the Union Asbestos & Rubber Company (UNARCO) asbestos textile plant in Marshville, North Carolina. Its stated purposes were "to evaluate control of the asbestosis hazard" and "to estimate probable further incidence of asbestosis." Skinner found no dust control in the spooling department, "with resultant hazardous conditions," and borderline conditions in twisting, where dry twisting exceeded the limit of 5 million particles per cubic foot.

What it shows

Using the U.S. Public Health Service's 1938 asbestos textile study, Skinner estimated that in spooling 19 percent of workers would develop first-stage asbestosis within five to ten years, 53 percent within 10 to 15 years, and "67 per cent of those exposed would develop it in an exposure over 15 years." He recommended local exhaust ventilation for spooling and wet twisting, and noted that switching to wet twisting would mean telling customers the reason, "namely improving health conditions in the plant." He also found the plant's own dust counter gave results with "no correlation what so ever" with standard impinger counts, and urged proper equipment partly because good records would help in "combatting any ill-founded claim of asbestosis" and in showing that conditions were under control. The survey followed an earlier one in March 1955.

About this copy

This is an insurer's report on another company's plant, and the file does not show how J-M came to have it. J-M corresponded with many asbestos companies and insurers, which is probably how a copy reached its files, but that is a guess.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

9/57, Engineering Dept., American Mutual, John Skinner, hygienist reported UNARCO's Marshville, North Carolina plant. Based on dust counts he found, predicted 67% of spooling workers would develop first stage asbestosis if exposed for period of fifteen years. J-M later acquired this plant.