Minutes of a J-M and Raybestos-Manhattan Meeting on the Asbestos Dust Hazard (1933)

Minutes of a meeting on the asbestos dust hazard in manufacturing, held December 29, 1933, in W. R. Seigle's office and attended by Sumner Simpson and M. F. Judd of Raybestos-Manhattan and E. M. Voorhees, W. R. Seigle, S. A. Williams and Vandiver Brown of Johns-Manville. The two companies agreed to have the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company bring up to date its survey of dust conditions in their factories, and formed a coordinating committee, with Brown as secretary, that would obtain Dr. Lanza's recommendation "with respect to locating or developing an expert whose services might best be utilized from the standpoint of court work in connection with dust elimination." On publicity, they decided that "our past policy of keeping this matter confidential is to be pursued" until the second Metropolitan report was available for their analysis.

What it shows

Voorhees described J-M's plans: Metropolitan Life would check dust conditions in its departments, J-M would train its own men to make dust counts with Lanza's help, and an able engineer would check its dust collecting systems. Lanza, he said, was willing to do the work "on a very, very favorable arrangement," with the companies paying only out-of-pocket expenses, and the industry side should be handled through personal contacts with individual manufacturers rather than as "a Code matter or an Industry matter." The file also holds the minutes of the follow-up meeting with Lanza on January 4, 1934 (see Brown's letter of January 5, 1934). The minutes record the two companies agreeing to keep Metropolitan Life's findings confidential while looking for an expert to use in court.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Minutes of a meeting between J-M and R-M on the Asbestos Dust Hazard in Manufacturing Operations, 12/29/33, held in Seigle's office. J-M and R-M agree to engage Metropolitan Life to undertake dust surveys of their plants. Dr. Lanza has been very helpful in arranging this. It is decided that while it might be desirable to publish the results of Metropolitan's surveys "because of changing conditions ..., our past policy of keeping this matter confidential is to be pursued." It is also decided that Dr. Lanza will be contacted for his recommendation on "locating or developing an expert whose services might best be utilized from the standpoint of court work in connection with dust elimination."