Gabriel Ferrucci to All RMIPCO Employees on the HEW Asbestos Warning (1978)

A one-page letter of July 13, 1978, from Gabriel Ferrucci to all employees of R-M Industrial Products Company of North Charleston, South Carolina, a division of Raybestos-Manhattan. Ferrucci referred to the April 27 statement by Joseph Califano, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, on shipyard workers' asbestos exposure in World War II, and to a coming public awareness campaign and television documentary. He told employees that "the uncontrolled exposure in shipyards and construction was totally unlike exposure in our manufacturing operations where you are protected by dust control systems, respiratory equipment and medical surveillance programs."

What it shows

The letter shows how one asbestos manufacturer answered the federal government's 1978 warning to people exposed to asbestos in the past. It drew a line between shipyard and construction work and its own plant, and sent worried employees to their supervisor, the Environmental Services Department or the Medical Department. The copy is marked "Exhibit 1."

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Gabriel Ferrucci (R-M Industrial Products Co.) letter to All RMIPCO Employees, 7/13/78. Ferrucci refers to Secretary Califano's (Dept. of HEW) statement made on April 27 concerning shipyard workers' exposure to asbestos during World War II. Ferrucci assures R-M employees that "the uncontrolled exposure in shipyards and construction was totally unlike exposure in our manufacturing operations where you are protected by dust control systems, respiratory equipment and medical surveillance programs." Ferrucci recommends employees to contact their Supervisor from the Environmental Services or Medical Departments if they have any concerns about asbestos exposure or medical surveillance.

About this copy

This is document 304 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-001432 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-001432.