Sources in the history of occupational health: the Turner & Newall archive

Our plain-English summary of Sources in the history of occupational health: the Turner & Newall archive, by G. Tweedale (Social History of Medicine, 2000).

The study

• Author: G. Tweedale
• Journal: Social History of Medicine
• Published: 2000;13(3):515-33
• Type of article: Historical article
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Sources in the History of occupational health are scanty-a reflection perhaps of the contentious nature of the documentation. In the UK, asbestos company records have until recently been unavailable and consequently historians and policy-makers have been hindered from exploring a major public health issue. In 1995, however, Chase Manhattan Bank in New York sued the leading British asbestos producer, Turner & Newall, in a property-damage claim. During pre-trial discovery, Chase had copied a large proportion of Turner & Newall's vast archive and under American law was able to put the records in the public domain. This article describes how this collection of records-perhaps the largest anywhere on the history of an occupational health hazard-was generated. It also suggests ways of navigating the documents; discusses the nature of the material; and the archive's uses to medical and industrial historians.

In plain English

This article described a historical archive, not a medical study. The author explained how records of the British asbestos company Turner & Newall (T&N) became public through a New York lawsuit by Chase Manhattan Bank over asbestos fireproofing in its skyscraper. A New York jury dismissed Chase's action in December 1995. Chase estimated that T&N held about eight million pages and copied about a million of them. Manchester Metropolitan University obtained the copies on microfilm and fiche. The author explained how to navigate the records, which include board papers, dust-count data and at least 1,500 compensation claim files from about 1930 to the 1990s. The company analysed suspensions and deaths from asbestosis and cancer from as early as 1930, the author reported. The author raised selection bias, since Chase did not copy everything, but called the copying thorough and said it included contextual material. The author described gaps, such as few papers from the company chairmen and little on asbestos disease at overseas subsidiaries before the 1970s. The author concluded that the collection is a major resource for studying industrial health and safety.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Historical description of a documentary archive (a 'Documents and Sources' article), not an epidemiological or clinical study
• Who was studied: The records of Turner & Newall (T&N), a British asbestos producer, copied by Chase Manhattan Bank during pre-trial discovery. The copy studied is the set held at Manchester Metropolitan University.
• Exposure: Occupational asbestos hazards at T&N, as documented in company records covering asbestos manufacturing from asbestos textiles to asbestos cement, and sprayed ('Limpet') asbestos. No specific fiber types are analysed.
• Main results:
  • Chase's lawsuit concerned removing sprayed asbestos fireproofing from its 60-storey New York skyscraper.
  • Chase's action against T&N was dismissed by a New York jury in December 1995.
  • Chase estimated that T&N held about eight million document pages, about two million of them at the St Mary's Parsonage repository.
  • Chase copied only part of the records, about a million pages.
  • The copied collection includes 225 microfilm reels of about 2,000 frames each, plus microfiche of board papers from 1944 to 1967.
  • The author described Chase's copying as thorough: most documents were copied in their entirety.
  • Chase widened its copying beyond trial evidence to include documents such as commercial reports, conference proceedings and published journal articles that give the economic and social context for asbestos.
  • T&N's dust-count data have often been preserved in the archive.
  • At least 1,500 compensation claim files survive, running from about 1930 up to the 1990s.
  • The author had compiled about a thousand claim index cards, with some 400 or so files still to be read.
  • The company analysed medical suspensions and deaths from asbestosis and cancer from as early as 1930.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the Chase/T&N collection is a major resource for the study of industrial health and safety.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Chase did not copy everything because it was preparing a court case, which raises the question of selection bias.
  • The author judged this hardly a serious limitation for the collection's usefulness on occupational health.
  • Chase's computer listing, the main finding aid, covers only the first 150 or so films.
  • There are almost no personal or company papers relating to the company chairmen.
  • Turner Brothers Asbestos Health Committee minutes are missing for several years in the late 1950s.
  • Little material on asbestos disease at the overseas subsidiaries in Africa and North America exists before the 1970s.
  • Written records can show only part of what was known at the time.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Turner & Newall, Discovery.

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