J-M General Engineering Report on the Waukegan Transite Pipe Dust System (1949)

A two-page report of September 30, 1949, from J-M's General Engineering Department on project WAU 873, a new dust collection system for the Transite pipe plant at Waukegan, Illinois. It found the dust condition "very unsatisfactory," with counts showing concentrations "over ten times the allowable for this type of hazard," and proposed a unit system to collect dust as it was made and retire the outmoded one, at a cost of $45,099 including contingencies. The report called the counts "definitely a health hazard" and warned that continuing the condition "can eventually be the cause of claims which will cost many times the expenditure required for correction."

What it shows

The report calls the project "primarily one for the improvement of working conditions," and adds that the dust was "bound to become a vulnerable point for agitation by union representatives." The "allowable" it measures against is the dust limit of the time (see Threshold Limit Value (TLV)). The same reasoning about claims ran through J-M's Quebec dust spending that summer (Woodard to Hart).

About this copy

The name of the person who prepared the report is blurred on this copy. It may be R. A. Hedlund, but that is a guess.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

A project (WAU 873) to improve the Waukegan Transite Pipe Dust System is approved on 9/30/49. The dust conditions in the Transite Pipe Plant were very unsatisfactory with dust counts over 10 times the standard. "Continuation of this hazardous working condition can eventually be the cause of claims which will cost many times the expenditure required for correction. Sooner or later it is bound to become a vulnerable point for agitation by union representatives". The cost of the project is $45,099.00.

Editor's note: J-M's description says the project was approved on 9/30/49. The document is the General Engineering Department's report of that date proposing the project; it does not show that the appropriation was approved.

Related documents

• Annual Report of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service on Dust Standards (1930)
• American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists Adopts Its 1947 Limits, Including Asbestos (1947)