Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Recheck Dust Survey of Raybestos-Manhattan's North Charleston Plant, with the 1934 Survey (1936)

A 61-page set titled "Surveys of General Asbestos and Rubber Division, Charleston, S.C., of Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc., 1934 & 1936," holding the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company's July 1934 survey of the North Charleston, South Carolina, plant and its recheck survey of April 20 to 22, 1936, made "to determine the extent of dust removal accomplished by the installation of new exhaust equipment." Average counts fell between the two surveys in the preparation room (3.6 to 2.7 million particles per cubic foot of air), the card rooms (3.5 to 1.2) and the weave room (3.5 to 2.3), but rose in the spinning department (2.68 to 4.4), which the report put down to higher production "with more twisters in operation." The report concluded that general dust in the preparation room had decreased, "but it is questionable if the exposure of the individual workmen at the floor mixing operations has been decreased."

What it shows

The recheck measured what the exhaust work at North Charleston had achieved two years on. Single samples in 1936 still ran high: 9.9 million particles per cubic foot at a twister, 6.6 at the floor mixing of cotton and asbestos (where two men had been given respirators) and 6.6 at a loom weaving brake bands dry. The 1934 part, also on its own page as the supplementary survey of 1934, had held back "a detailed discussion of the disease asbestosis and a correlation of the X-ray findings" for a general report. McConnell sent the set to Simpson with his letter of June 29, 1936.

In Johns-Manville's index

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

"Survey of General Asbestos and Rubber Division, Charleston, S.C. of Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc. 1934 and 1936." The average dust counts in the preparation room, card room and weave room decreased between 1934 and 1936. The dust counts in the spinning department went up. Notes a detailed discussion of asbestosis and x-ray findings will be included in the final report. Until efficiency of equipment now being installed is tested, no recommendations made.

Related documents

• W. J. McConnell of Metropolitan Life to Sumner Simpson Enclosing the North Charleston Recheck Survey (1936)
• Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Supplementary Dust Survey of Raybestos-Manhattan's North Charleston Plant (1934)
• Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Report of a Dust Study of Raybestos-Manhattan's Charleston Plant (1930)

About this copy

This is document 02856-02944 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.