W. B. Reitze's OSHA Letter No. 31 Making Respirators Mandatory Above the Limit (1975)

A two-page memo of August 11, 1975, "OSHA Letter No. 31," from W. B. Reitze of Johns-Manville's Health, Safety & Environment Department to all J-M senior officers, division general managers and plant, mine and employee relations managers, on respirators and hearing protection. "Almost daily, instances where employees are not wearing protective devices in those areas where needed are brought to our attention." Respirators were made mandatory for asbestos where measurements showed more than 2 fibers per cubic centimeter in plants and warehouses, or more than 5 in the Canadian mines and mills, and these corporate standards were to be applied "to ALL J-M locations - WORLDWIDE."

What it shows

Reitze admits that "currently our enforcement of the use of protective devices has been rather lax," and that whether or not the law required it, "it is still our duty (and corporate policy) to protect our employees." He quotes a 1972 bulletin by A. B. Marchant that a supervisor who fails to enforce protective equipment "shall be regarded as having failed to meet one of his major job objectives." J-M had tried mandatory respirator programs before, for example at the Manville plant in 1960.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Memorandum of 8/11/75 establishes J-M mandatory respirator use if exposure over 2 f/cc.

Editor's note: J-M's description gives only the 2 f/cc level. The memo set that level for plants and warehouses and a level of 5 fibers per cubic centimeter for the Canadian mines and mills.