F. J. Solon Jr. to John H. Stender on OSHA's Plan for Reopening the Asbestos Standard (1973)

A two-page letter of November 16, 1973, from F. J. Solon Jr., Johns-Manville's vice president for environmental affairs, to John H. Stender, the U.S. Labor Department's Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health. Solon had asked in October for a 15-member Asbestos Standard Advisory Committee; instead, he reports, OSHA official Gerard F. Scannell told him the agency would draft a new standard, have it reviewed by outside consultants from labor, industry and science, visit representative plants, and then publish it for comment. Solon writes that J-M "fully support[s]" this procedure as "an intelligent and sophisticated approach," pledges the company's cooperation, notes that the Asbestos Information Association was forming a technical committee to help, and asks to meet Stender in person.

What it shows

The same day, Solon sent copies of this letter to dozens of J-M managers with a covering memo explaining why: "it is important that we support Scannell's thinking when we believe it to be good for the industry." Read together, the two papers show J-M working to keep close ties with the officials revising the OSHA Asbestos Standard while the 2-fiber limit was still due to take effect in 1976.