Philip Drinker to the Navy Bureau of Ships on Amosite Pipe Insulation at New York Shipbuilding (1944)

A two-page letter of January 8, 1944, from Philip Drinker, Chief Health Consultant of the U.S. Maritime Commission, to the Navy's Bureau of Ships. Drinker reports a call from W. G. Hazard, a U.S. Public Health Service officer with New Jersey's Industrial Hygiene Division: union men at New York Shipbuilding Co. in Camden were asking how widely Amosite was used for pipe insulation on Navy ships, whether the Navy would allow anything else, and "what protection, if any, is needed." Dust counts where the men worked ran "up to 25 million," against "a figure of 5 million for asbestos" that was recommended.

What it shows

Drinker calls the union's questions "reasonable" and says they "should be answered." If amosite had to be used, he suggests the men be required to wear Bureau of Mines dust respirators, or that the material be applied wet, or that the job be ventilated. He writes that "the use of dust respirators in both Navy and Maritime yards is sketchy," and asks for an urgent reply, preferably by telephone: "We can easily have a labor disturbance, especially if we ignore the complaint." The dust figures are in millions of particles per cubic foot (mppcf); the 5 million figure is the guideline for asbestos then in use. Drinker went on to lead the 1946 survey of pipe covering work in Navy shipyards (see Fleischer-Drinker Study).

About this copy

The copy carries National Archives file notes (Record Group 19, Entry 1266, Box 400, file S39-2) and a stamp showing it was received by a legal department on August 17, 1981.