Notes of a Discussion with Cliff Sheckler on Dust, Respirators and Disease (1969)

Notes of a two-hour meeting on September 16, 1969, with Cliff Sheckler of Johns-Manville, attended also by Bill Lohuis, Ernest Randolph and a Mrs. Hess; the file holds a two-page typed copy and the four-page handwritten original, whose author is not named. The first item reads: "We have had a dirty house and now we have to pay for it," with a note that this was said "in private discussion" with Sheckler, not in the meeting. The notes go on: "Respirators are not as efficient as we thought they were," new dust measurement by fiber counts "must be under 12/cc," and the company was unsure "whether to spend 1/4 million or close down Rigid Shingle" and could not find enough good engineers "to do it all at once," so was starting at Manville.

What it shows

The notes record Sheckler agreeing that workers with pneumoconiosis could be moved, though not "yet" to regular job rotation, and saying J-M had looked for years for a new medical director to replace Dr. Kenneth Smith without finding one, and would work with a lay director, with Dr. George W. Wright as a consultant to the chairman. Sheckler "tacidly" agreed with the note-taker's recommendation to educate the men about pneumoconiosis. They mention a "new possible relationship" between crocidolite ("Crysidolyte") and lung cancer, and that mesothelioma was "not related to the amount of pneumoconiosis." Sheckler is also recorded as saying that information had not been reaching "the people level," sometimes not even plant managers, and that the men would get a new explanation when given personal dust samplers. Around the same time Jackson was reporting to J-M's president that past dust levels had caused "a substantial frequency of disease" (October 1969).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Dr. Kent Wise's handwritten notes entitled "Discussion with Cliff Sheckler, in private at his request" (dated 2 p.m., 9/16/69) states "we have had a dirty house and now we have to pay for it" and "respirators are not as efficient as we thought they were." Both statements appear to be imputed to Sheckler.

Editor's note: J-M's description attributes the notes to Dr. Kent Wise and titles them a discussion "in private at his request" at 2 p.m. No author is named on the pages. They are headed "Discussion with Cliff Scheckler, 12 Noon - 2 pm," and only the first item is marked as said in private.