Johns-Manville Executive Bulletin on Caution Labels for Combustible and Flammable Products (1956)

A one-page J-M Executive Bulletin of June 6, 1956, headed "Caution Labels" and signed by Herbert Morton Ball, effective immediately. It warns that makers of combustible or flammable products faced "increasing legal pressures" to put notices on containers warning the public of the hazard. Besides state and local laws, it says, recent court decisions showed "the trend to hold manufacturers liable for the public's losses if such warnings have been omitted from the labels." S. Collier, director of quality control, was to issue procedures for products needing such labels.

What it shows

By 1956 J-M's management recognized that courts were holding manufacturers liable for failing to warn about product hazards. The bulletin applies this only to fire hazards; it does not mention dust or asbestos. Later J-M memos on caution labels for particular products include the 1958 Marinite memos.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Executive Bulletin 28-4 dated 6/6/56, signed by Herbert Morton Ball, entitled: "Caution Labels." Notes increasing legal pressure on manufacturers of products that are combustible or flammable to place notices on product containers warning the public of the hazardous nature of the contents. Formal statutory and regulatory provisions are buttressed by recent court decisions holding manufacturers liable for losses to the public in the absence of such warnings. S. Collier, director of Quality Control will issue procedures for classification of products requiring caution labels.