E. M. Fenner to E. R. Bettinardi on Warning Labels for Superex and Thermobestos (1969)

A one-page memo of October 3, 1969, from E. M. Fenner of Johns-Manville's Environmental Control Department to E. R. Bettinardi, answering his question about warning labels on industrial insulation products. Fenner writes that warning labels had been used on Superex and Thermobestos "for a number of years," since before his department was formed, and gives two reasons: "A corporation has a moral responsibility to warn its customers of any potential hazard associated with the use of its products," and many state and federal codes required the labeling of potentially hazardous products. The best protection, he adds, is dust control equipment that keeps dust below the Threshold Limit Value; where that cannot be done, exposed workers should wear a respirator approved by the U.S. Bureau of Mines.

What it shows

In 1969 J-M's own environmental control director put the company's duty to warn in moral as well as legal terms. The same year, other J-M managers were still sorting products into those that would carry a label and those that would not (Fenner's August 1969 labeling guidelines), and the company was keeping caution labels off fiber shipped to overseas customers (the Eternit correspondence).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

E.M. Fenner's 10/3/69 memorandum to E.R. Bettinardi discusses the use of warning label on Superex and Thermobestos which, although Fenner does not know the exact date, occured for a number of years. Warning labels were used for two reasons:

(1) A corporation has a moral responsibility to warn its customers of any potential hazard associated with the use of its products.

(2) Corporations have a legal responsibility for the use of warning labels, since many State and Federal codes require the labeling of potentially hazardous products.

Related documents

• W. E. Hodgson to S. Lane and C. H. Jensen to E. C. Lindstrom on Leaving Caution Labels Off Shipments to Canada (1965)
• E. M. Fenner to D. B. Wingerter on Which Insulation Products to Label (1969)
• J. B. Jobe to D. L. Hinmon on Labeling Asbestos Products to Lessen Claims (1964)