Document 1QojgxNy9w8VQ1JDVm71MrqGK

FILE NAME: Cassiar Asbestos Corp (CASS) DATE: 1980 Dec DOC#: CASS004 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Legal - Testimony of John D. Christian PHONE NO. : +545 5843 >y iI* Nov. 28 1994 06:59PM P2 C7/ & 5 J ; sfot*- Testimony of John D, Christian From Barlieb v. 8ell et al E.D.Pa C.A.ilo. 78-1027 December 29-30, 1900 11/28/94 21:00 TX/RX NO.0753 P.002 PHONE NO. : +545 5843 Nov. 28 1994 06:59PM P3 i i i i . 5 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ..... . .... Christian-direct 2044 xceXlant idea bacaus. it develop.d a good degree of cooperation between the industry and the government. 6 Let me shift to another subject, Mr. Christian When did Cassiar first put warning labels on its bags of fiber? A. 1 believe it was June f 1972, or early *72. ft Do you remember what the label said, or where you got the language for the label? * The language for the label was taken from the OSHA regulations. ft And why didn't Cassiar put warning labels on its bags prior to 1972? A- Well, we didn't put warnings on our* bags prior to '72 because it never crossed our minds that we had to put them on. i We weren't selling to the public. It was quite unlike Drano or Iodine, dangerous medicine B or aerosol cans, in which the public could inadvertent:, y innocently hurt themselves. We were selling to a company who had their employees in their own building,j who had complete control of the flow of materials, I and complete control of their people, as we did, and ' we expected that this was all that was necessary for 1 the protection, there would be no advertent or unknown problems arising. 11/28/94 21:00 TX/RX NO.0753 P.003 PHONE NO. : +545 5843 Nov. 28 1994 07:00PM P4 Christian-direct 2045 1 fr Then I take it what you are saying, you 2 relied upon the employer to -- , 3 MR. RUBIN; Objection. i 4 i THE COURTi I will sustain the objection 5 BY MR. B E E R S : 6 0 Whyd idn't Cassiar take steps to advise Keasbey- 7 Mattison, or its employees, directly about the health * 8 hazards, potential health hazards from asbestos 9 exposure? 10 A. Well, Keasbey-Mattison, and Certain-Teed, 11 were, in my opinion, as knowledgeable - 12 MR. CHEYNEY; Objection, your Honor. ' 13 This is not responsive to the question. 14 THE COURT; I think that's correct. I ! 15 will sustain the objection. 16 BY MR. BEERS: 17 Q, Let me rephrase it. IS Why didn't you take -- why didn't 19 Cassiar take steps to inform Keasbey-Mattison and 20 Certain-Teed and their employees directly about the 21 potential health hazards of asbestos exposure? 22 A. Because it was our opinion that they were as 23 knowledgeable about- these matters as we were, if 24 not more so, and that it would be very much like takin< 25 coals to Newcastle. 11/28/94 21:00 TX/RX NO.0753 P.004 PHONE NO. : +545 5843 Nov. 28 1984 07:00PM P5 ____ _____ Christian-direct 2046 10 Maybe you could explain to me more fully 2 why you relied upon Keasbey-Mattison and C e r t nin-Teed? j \ 3 A- Well, as far as their employees are concerned, ( 4 X can't see any possible way how we, as Canadians, / f l 5 could talk to all of their employees, unless they v' 6 requested us to do' so, which never happened. \J 7 TI can't, for example, visualize myself 1 8 going down into Certain-Teed, or K&M, and walking .in ! 9 and saying, look, gather all of your employees together, t i 10 X want to give them a warning, andcome in aweek ! 11 i later and say now fellows, advise me of everybody that 1 12 joined the company. This was impossible. X had to , 13 rely on them to run their own affairs safely, I 14 Q. Were there any other reasons whyCassiar ; l 15 relied on Keasbey-Mattison and Certain-Teed, that you 1 16 can think of? 17 ft. Nonethat I can think of. 18 MR. CHEYNEYs Objection. 19 THE COURTt Overruled. 20 21 22 23 24 25 11/28/94 21:00 TX/RX NO.0753 P.005 PHONE NO. : +545 5043 Nov. 29 1994 00:38AM PI Christi andi rect 1956 1 into a room and I'm looking to see whether a man is 2 wearing it. One assumes when you are in the business, 3 if you get into a dusty area, or dusty job, you pull 4 it up over your nose, otherwise you're talking to some- 5 i body and you pull it down and it hangs around your j -1 6 neck, so I have been asked, in the past, whether I ; j 7 remember seeing somebody wearing a respirator. j 1 8 I hate to say yes, and I hate to say ; 9 no, because 1 am not too conscious of whether they are 10 or are not wearing respirators. n 0- You said you assumed if someone was working ; 12 in this business, and it was dusty, that they would have 13 a respirator at hand? I j i 14 ft. Right. ! 15 & anyone ever take dust counts in the mine or 16 mill areas of Cassiar? j ^ fty Yes, They started the inpinger method at ll 18 Cassiar in 1953. 19 ft Who started that method? 20 ft. 21 ft M.C, Workmen's Compensation Board, How often did they take dust counts? 22 . Usually twice a year, sometimes three times a 23 24 Has anyone else taken dust counts at the mill? 25 Yes. We started in 1970 taking our dust counts 11/29/94 10:39 TX/RX NO.0757 P.001 FROM : RMS PHONE NO. : +545 5843 Nov. 29 1994 08:38AM P2 Christian-direct 1957 with a midget impinger and sent to our own environmental ; engineers over to the U.K., United Kingdom, to visit Turner & Newall, to learn how to use the new membrane ! I filter, 5 Q. Why did Cassiar install its own dust counting 6 program, in addition to that of the Government? 7 A. Well, the Government was coming twice or three 8 times a year, as they say, twice or three times, but 9 we found that if we were going to improve things, if 10 we made changes ourselves, we could n't wait that LL. long-to find out whether the change was a success, 12 so we put in our own, and did our own counting as well 1 i 13 0- What was Cassiar's attit*ude toward the I i 14 Government dust control program? i . I 15 A. We had nothing against it. We got along fine. 16 Every time they would come in they would find some i 17 area that was not satisfactory, and would instruct us 18 to have this fixed, or do that, or do something else, 19 which we did. ii 20 Having our own machines, it gave us 21 an opportunity to foresee the problems, somewhat. 22 Ql VJe will change the subject again. 23 Wteem did Cassiar ever discuss vith its 24 customers the particular or peculiar characteristics 25 of the Cassiar fiber? I t i n 3., * y o n * e . 11/29/94 10:39 TX/RX NO.0757 P.002 PHONE NO. : +545 5843 Nov. 29 1994 08:38PM P3 _____________________ Chri stiain-di rect 1958 1 A. Well# yes# in trying to encourage people to 2 buy our fiber, when I was out on the road, mind you, 3 Bell were our sales agents, but I would visit each ^ 4 fall, the major customers, from Austrialia to India, i 5 Switzerland, Germany, France, and then usually ended 1 ' i 6 up the trip with a visit to Turner & Newall, and I j i 7 would stress that our fibers were, I believe, comparati 8 low in dust content, which spinners liked, because it ^ 9 gave them additional strength of their fiber. 10 Asbestos cement people liked it because 11 it gave them better filtering rates and stronger pipe. 12 I pointed out that ourfiber was low ' i - i 13 in iron for the spinners. The# electrical properties 14 that you got from our fiber would meet the U.S, ! 15 Strategic stockpile standards. i , I 16 Is that what you areafter? 1 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 i i j 24 i 25 ili 11/29/94 10:39 TX/RX NO.0757 P.003