J. F. Fenning, Report on the New England Health Institute Meetings (1940)

A five-page internal report of April 19, 1940, by J. F. Fenning of Raybestos-Manhattan on the industrial hygiene sessions of the New England Health Institute in Hartford on April 17 and 18, copied to Sumner Simpson, J. F. D. Rohrbach, O. H. Cilley, J. H. Matthews and the General Asbestos & Rubber Company. Fenning summarized four talks: Dr. Leroy U. Gardner on the effect of dusts (free silica "very harmful," while "Fibrous substances, as asbestos, cannot be studied by injection"), Dr. Louis Schwartz of the U.S. Public Health Service on industrial dermatitis, William P. Yant of Mine Safety Appliances on respirators, and B. F. Postman of the Connecticut State Department of Health on engineering control. He noted Postman's point that the largest saving from proper exhaust systems "is the reduction in compensation cases."

What it shows

The report shows what a Raybestos-Manhattan engineer brought back from a public health meeting in 1940: that dust exposure causes disease after years, that concentrations over 5 million particles per cubic foot for silica were considered harmful, and that workers had to be trained and made to wear respirators. Fenning noted that most talks were given from slides, so his notes were not complete. He met Dr. Albert S. Gray and B. F. Postman, the state officials who had just surveyed the Stratford plant (Gray's letter of April 8).

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's attorneys indexed the Sumner Simpson Papers. Their index describes this document as follows:

"Report on New England Health Institute Meetings. Held at Hotel Bond, Hartford. Connecticut. April 17 and 18, 1940." Report gives summary of presentations given at meeting including: "The Effects of Various Dusts on the Human Organism" by Gardner, "The Use of Respiratory Protective Equipment in the Protection of the Worker's Health" by Yant. "Engineering Methods of Occupational Disease Control" by Postman and "Industrial Dermatitis Incidence. Cause and Prevention" by Schwartz.

Related documents

• Sumner Simpson to J. H. Matthews Sending the New England Health Institute Industrial Hygiene Program (1940)
• Leroy U. Gardner to Sumner Simpson on His Hartford Talk on Dusts (1940)
• Dr. Albert S. Gray of the Connecticut Department of Health to Raybestos-Manhattan on the Stratford Plant Survey (1940)
• W. E. Casey to R. B. Davis on Answering Dr. Gray's Dust Survey (1940)

About this copy

This is document 04450-04484 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.