J. A. Grimmer on Dust Control at J-M Warehouses and Job Sites, with the NIMA Safety Brochure (1971)

A two-page memo of May 11, 1971, from J. A. Grimmer in J-M's St. Louis office to six branch managers in Kansas City, St. Louis, Tulsa, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, on "Dust Control, Warehouses and Jobsites." Grimmer thought warehouse housekeeping was "very good" but said J-M would have to take up job site dust control "more strongly than we have to date," especially if it set up job site fabrication shops. He found that no one in the company had sent out the National Insulation Manufacturers Association (NIMA) brochures "Recommended Health Safety Practices"; of fourteen people at a meeting, four had seen them, and only because they were handed out at a contractors' association meeting.

What it shows

Grimmer encloses the brochures and asks each manager to go over them with everyone he supervises, including warehouse staff, and then pass them on to construction superintendents. "We are all aware of the problems caused by Asbestos and the many cases which are in process around the Country as well as those which have been finalized," he writes. "We have a responsibility to our employees." The enclosed booklet, from the trade association of insulation makers, tells contractors to keep dust to a minimum, clean up spills, wear Bureau of Mines approved respirators when exposed to excessive dust, and keep other workmen out of areas where old insulation is being stripped. The memo shows that this industry safety guidance had not been given to J-M's own branch and job site people by 1971.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

J.A. Grimmer memorandum to various J-M personnel, dated 5/11/71, regarding dust control in J-M warehouses and job sites. Grimmer feels that the housekeeping at warehouses has been very good "and that everyone has been made aware of the situation and have [sic] been cooperating fully." Advises that J-M will have to get more involved in job site dust control than it has in the past if it is going to set up job site fabrication shops.

Wants two NIMA brochures ("Recommended Health Safety Practices") to be distributed to all persons under addressees' supervision, including warehouse personnel and construction superintendents. Discusses concern that J-M has not yet distributed these brochures to anyone. Some have received it not from J-M, but at Contractors' Association Meetings.