W. B. Reitze, OSHA Letter No. 23, Sending "What Every Employee Should Know About Asbestos" to the Plants (1973)

A one-page Johns-Manville memo of November 7, 1973, "OSHA Letter No. 23," from W. B. Reitze to the OSHA letter distribution list, on "Distribution of Employee Health Booklet." The booklet "What Every Employee Should Know About Asbestos," prepared under J-M's Environmental Affairs Department, was being sent in quantity to all U.S. plants using asbestos, and every employee who worked with asbestos or could be exposed "should receive a copy." Reitze wrote: "We have a legal obligation under OSHA to fully inform employees regarding possible health problems they may encounter when handling various substances in the work place. This booklet is aimed at partially fulfilling our obligation."

What it shows

The memo came two weeks after Reitze told managers that J-M would not hand out NIOSH's own asbestos booklet (OSHA Letter No. 22). J-M's booklet is attached to McKinney's 1974 memo on foreign customers, which reports no adverse union or employee reaction to it. Plant managers were to choose how to hand it out, ideally at a plant safety meeting with a foreman's review of its contents.