Johns-Manville Manville Plant Health Review Conference Minutes (June 1957)

Fifteen pages of minutes of a Health Review Conference at J-M's Manville, New Jersey, plant in 1957, attended by Dr. Kenneth W. Smith, J-M's medical director, plant doctors D. T. DuBow and D. Merrill, C. L. Sheckler of the plant's safety and health staff, nurse N. Hahn and secretary A. Getter. Worker by worker, the group reviewed chest X-ray readings, work histories and diagnoses, among them asbestosis and "mixed pneumoconiosis," and decided whether to tab the file, notify the plant manager, order a dust survey, or move the worker to a non-dusty area. For one man the decision read "Do not notify plant manager."

What it shows

The minutes record how the medical department handled workers with abnormal chest X-rays, and how it weighed telling them. In one case of "moderately advanced asbestosis," a doctor advised against preparing a claim report because "Psychologically, it might be bad." Near the end, Sheckler said "I trust you do not put anything about the AHS in the medical folders," and Smith noted that "An attorney might say what did you do." Smith also said "Dust counts are not current." Later conferences are July 1957 and March 1958.

In Johns-Manville's index

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

15-page J-M Manville plant Health Review Conference Minutes, dated 7/ or 6/10/57. We have in our files the minutes of 4 Health Review Conferences, which took place at the Manville plant in 1957 and 1958. These minutes are located in the J-10-25 files (Vol. C: Punitive Damages Document #007900). The persons who regularly attended these meetings were Dr. W. Smith (J-M Medical Director), Drs. D. T. DuBow and D. Merrill (Manville plant doctors), C. L. Sheckler (Manville plant Supervisor of Safety and Health), N. Hahn (Manville plant nurse), and A. Getter (secretary). At these meetings, the medical files of those workers who had abnormal chest X-rays were reviewed and discussed. After discussing each worker's exposure, chest X-ray results, and chest diagnosis, recommendations were made. These recommendations related to the following topics: removal of the worker from dusty areas, notification of the plant manager, disclosure to the worker of any abnormal chest condition, performance of dust survey, follow-up examination, and re-review of worker's condition by Health Conference. There are instances noted in the minutes where it was decided not to tell a worker of his/her abnormal chest condition or not to remove him/her from a dusty area even though the worker had an abnormal chest. The minutes also document discussions about potential claims.

Related documents

• Johns-Manville Manville Plant Health Review Conference Minutes (July 1957)
• Johns-Manville Manville Plant Health Review Conference Minutes (March and April 1958)

About this copy

This is document 794 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-004204 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-004218.