W. B. Reitze to R. B. Von Wald on J-M's Early Safety and Health Function (1974)

A one-page memo of June 11, 1974, from W. B. Reitze to R. B. Von Wald, a J-M attorney, for the lawsuit Baycroft v. Burlington Northern v. Johns-Manville. Reitze writes that J-M's corporate safety function began in 1947, when H. M. Jackson moved to the corporate safety post, with "little or no emphasis on health." "At that time the workmen's compensation and health research, such as it was, was handled by our Legal Department on a hush-hush basis."

What it shows

"It was not until 1948 to 1950 when the safety function was augmented to include some health work," Reitze continued. "However, in those early days, as I am sure you realize, the emphasis on health was rather meager, indeed." The memo is an account by J-M's own head of industrial health of how the company handled health research in the 1940s, when it ran through the Legal Department under Vandiver Brown. Earlier entries show that work, for example Brown's 1935 letter on respirator rules.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Privileged memorandum dated 6/11/74 from Reitze to Von Wald "at that time [1947] the workman's compensation and health research, such as it was, was handled by our Legal Department on a hush-hush basis. It was not until 1948-1951 when the safety function was augmented to include some health work. However, in those early days, as I am sure you realize, the emphasis on health was rather meager, indeed."

Editor's note: The chronology's quotation gives the years as 1948-1951. The memo says 1948 to 1950.