Albert H. Fay of the Asbestos Information Association, Testimony at the Labor Department Asbestos Hearing (1972)

Pages of the transcript of the U.S. Department of Labor's 1972 hearing on a permanent asbestos standard holding the statement of Albert H. Fay, vice president of the Gold Bond Building Products Division of National Gypsum Company, speaking as president of the Asbestos Information Association of North America, a group of twelve of the largest asbestos miners, makers and importers (10 pages, with the Department's 1978 certificate of a true copy). Fay described the size of the industry and its value to the economy, estimating that the insulation trades alone involved 40,000 men who spent at least a quarter of their time with asbestos products. He warned that unless the standards took industry's concerns into account, they "could well spell the demise of at least half of the asbestos industry in the United States and in time, perhaps, all of it."

What it shows

Fay also asked that the standard ban smoking on the job and that the required warning signs "prominently display 'no smoking,'" since it had been said the day before that smoking "substantially increases the risk of disease." His statement opened the industry association's testimony; the last page begins the statement of Matthew M. Swetonic of the same association and Johns-Manville (Motley #314).

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's legal department indexed the Motley 1,000 in 1984. Its index describes this document as follows:

Statement of Albert H. Fay (Vice President, Gold Bond Building Products Division, National Gypsum Company and President, Asbestos Information Association of No. Am.) at Goldberg Hearings on 3/16/72. Fay gives a brief description of the size and scope of the asbestos industry in the United States, the types of products produced by it, and the number of people employed by it. He stresses the economic value of the asbestos industry to the nation. Fay believes that the economic and social contributions of the asbestos industry to the nation is substantial, and, for this reason, "the establishment of reasonable and feasible occupational health standards for asbestos is a matter of great importance, not only to the men whose health we were trying to protect, but also to the industry and to the country as a whole." He discusses the economic downsides of the standard and the unfeasibility of it. He also recommends that standards be proposed prohibiting smoking on the job and requiring the posting of "no smoking" signs, since it has been established that smoking substantially increases the risk of disease.

Related documents

• Matthew M. Swetonic of Johns-Manville and the Asbestos Information Association, Testimony Against the Two-Fiber Standard and Warning Labels (1972)
• Dr. George W. Wright, Testimony at the Labor Department Hearing on the Asbestos Standard (1972)
• Fred L. Pundsack's Testimony Against OSHA's Proposed Asbestos Warning Labels, with His Letter to Arthur Goldberg (1972)

About this copy

This is document 313 of the Motley 1,000, from the set the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust's records facility certified as true copies, pages CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-001560 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-001569.