Tebbens, Balzer, Cooper and Tabershaw, Dust-Producing Potential of Construction Materials (1970)

A 33-page research report dated September 9, 1970, from the Division of Environmental Health Sciences of the University of California's School of Public Health at Berkeley, by Bernard D. Tebbens, J. LeRoy Balzer, Dr. W. Clark Cooper and Dr. Irving R. Tabershaw. An insulation mechanic ("journeyman asbestos worker") applied, tore out, sawed and pounded four commercial asbestos insulation products in a sealed test room while the researchers measured the asbestos fibers and total dust in the air. The product with the most asbestos (an amosite and sodium silicate block about 60% asbestos) gave off the most fibers.

What it shows

The authors concluded that cutting any of these products in a confined space "may result in airborne asbestos fiber concentrations orders of magnitude greater than the proposed ceiling value" of the Threshold Limit Value, and that "none of these products should be used without industrial hygiene control." They added that where dust could not be controlled at the source, a respirator was "a poor (but necessary) second choice." The report measured what insulators breathed when they worked with asbestos pipe covering and block.

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's legal department indexed the Motley 1,000 in 1984. Its index describes this document as follows:

Article entitled "Dust-Producing Potential of Construction Materials," authored by B.D. Tebbens, J. L. Balzer, W. C. Cooper, and I. R. Tabershaw, submitted by the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Univ. of California, Berkeley, 9/9/70. The purpose of the study was to develop methods for assessing hazard potential of asbestos-containing construction materials.

About this copy

This is document 333 of the Motley 1,000, from the set the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust's records facility certified as true copies, pages CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-001651 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-001683.