J. R. M. Hutcheson to G. L. Swallow on Respirators in the Old Section of the Asbestos, Quebec, Plant (1970)

A one-page letter of April 27, 1970, from J. R. M. Hutcheson at the Asbestos Fibre Division headquarters in Asbestos, Quebec, to G. L. Swallow of J-M's Research and Engineering Center, answering Swallow's industrial hygiene survey. Approval to replace the Dustfoe 77 respirator with a lighter 3M mask had not come, and Hutcheson writes that since "we cannot markedly improve the environment of the old section of the plant," the company would "have to live with the conditions" until a new complex opened in the last quarter of 1971. Workers would be encouraged to wear the Dustfoe 77 "despite its practical and personal comfort limitations."

What it shows

Hutcheson's third point explains why respirator use would not be enforced: "Disciplinary action to the point of layoff will be avoided otherwise we face a serious union-management confrontation." Such a confrontation, he writes, could leave the company "publicly exposed to discussion of the entire health question." The same tension between enforcing respirators and avoiding open talk of the hazard appears in Vandiver Brown's 1935 letter on respirator rules. Copies went to K. V. Lindell and H. M. Jackson, among others. The next month J-M researchers published tests of respirators against chrysotile dust.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Memorandum from Hutcheson to Swallow, 4/27/70, states that since the environment of the old section of the Asbestos plant cannot markedly be improved, " . . . we will have to live with the conditions until our new complex is in operation (last quarter, 1971). We will encourage use of the Dustfoe 77 mask despite its practical and personal comfort limitations. Disciplinary action to the point of layoff will be avoided otherwise we face a serious union-management confrontation. Should there be a confrontation, we could find ourselves in a very delicate position wherein we are publicly exposed to discussion of the entire health question."

Related documents

• Thomas J. Weeks and Allan F. Burns, "Performance of Dust Respirators Against a Fibrous Dust" (1970)