Asbestos Textile Institute Air Hygiene Committee Minutes on an Asbestosis Incidence Survey and Dust Collectors (1953)

Minutes of the December 9, 1953, meeting of the Air Hygiene Committee of the Asbestos Textile Institute, issued December 15, with five attached reports (19 pages in all). The morning was given to a survey of asbestosis case histories sent in by member companies, which showed "percentage figures varying from five to eleven percent of those employees working in exposed areas affected." The afternoon covered dust collectors, with Johns-Manville and Raybestos-Manhattan reporting that the American Wheelabrator was the best on the market, and the committee recommended a study of whether dry weaving could be eliminated in member plants.

What it shows

The attached "Asbestosis Incidence Study" of December 8, 1953, signed by D. R. Holmes of Asten-Hill as acting chairman, gives the figures for five unnamed companies (Company A to E), including cases after as little as two to six years of exposure. Its summary says that "with proper pre-hire physicals and x-ray examinations these few cases with less than five years exposure could have been avoided." The committee's own recommendation began: "it is our job to eliminate dust in an effort to protect our plant personnel from this hazard." A French factory physician's 1952 report, also attached, found asbestosis in 15 of 80 workers and a rate that rose with years of service, reaching 43.7 percent among those with 20 to 30 years.

In Johns-Manville's index

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

ATI Meeting Minutes -- 12/9/53, Air Hygiene Committee. The morning session was devoted to a study of a survey of asbestosis incidence within the asbestos textile industry based on the data submitted by member companies. The results indicated that from 5 to 11% of employees working in exposed areas are affected. There was also a discussion of the effectiveness of "forced breathing therapy." It was reported that Travelers Insurance Company's engineering laboratory in Hartford had agreed to undertake a study of "particle size and diameter." In addition, the Air Hygiene Committee announced that the U.S. Public Health Service had agreed to address the issue of comparative efficiency of various dust sampling equipment to monitor fibers as opposed to particles. At the afternoon session a report was made by each member on its dust collection equipment experiences. It was agreed that the American Wheeloberatier (sic) was the best dust collector currently on the market. The Committee proposed consideration of the elimination of dry weaving as a production technique because of the uniform inability to control dust generated by this operation. A copy of a summary of the data collected concerning the incidence of asbestosis is attached to the minutes and is entitled "Asbestos Incidence Study," 12/8/53. Also attached is a document entitled "Survey of Dust Collection Equipment - Asten-Hill Manufacturing Company Card Room," prepared by John McCormack (Plant Engineer, Asten-Hill). Also attached is a document entitled "Review of Johns-Manville's Experience in the Use of Dust Collection Equipment in the Asbestos Textile Industry," prepared by B.F. Stanton (Superintendent of Safety, J-M). Also attached is a document entitled "Dust Collecting Experience of General Asbestos Rubber, Division of Raybestos Manhattan, Inc.," prepared by Ralph B. Smith. Also attached is a report by J. Tesniere (S.A. Franciase du Ferodo, Paris, France), dated 2/13/52, of his review of 80 asbestos manufacturing plant workers' X-rays. Tesniere states that among the 80 workers, 15 had "asbestosis to a more or less marked degree." Tesniere does not relate exposure to disease in his study. Tesniere states that "asbestosis is a frequent workmen's disease and concludes that systematic X-ray examination is the only way "to determine the beginning of asbestosis." The first symptom of this disease is "dyspnea showing up under strain and increasing slowly .... The disease takes an insidious beginning, requiring 10 to 15 years to become evident. It can only be diagnosed by means of systematically X-raying workers who have worked 10 years in the asbestos plant. The use of a dust mask or a respirator should reduce the frequency of asbestosis to a considerable extent. Another point that needs stressing; physical condition at the hiring date and close examination of the breathing through the nose."

About this copy

This is document 1009 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-005226 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-005244.