Document 2JOVQ45pGVEexZDqVznNNBBnp

December 21, 196$ Cot-V 2. . 2x ocrnyj TCi Hr. L. 0. Griffith, Plant Manager Pittsburgh Coming Corporation Port Allegany, Pennsylvania FROM! Lee B. Grant, If.?)., Medical Director Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania SV'JJECTi Initial Medical riant Visit, October 25-2G, lfJo$ PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT 3 W&- OQ^ UU'7 1. Purpoee This visit was made at the request of Mr. Dyrl Stout, Vice President of Manufacturing, Pittsburgh Corning Corporation. The principal purpose of this initial visit was to become acquainted with personnel, operations and facilities of the Port Allegany Plant and to consult with and advise plant management on occupational and medical problem areas. t 2. Scope The entry interview was held with Mr. Larry Griffith, Plant Manager, following which each of the plant areas was visited with the superintendent of that area. Plant Ho. 1, Glass Block, was visited with Mr. Glen Tumor; Plant Ho. 2, Foam Glass, with Mr. H. L. Weaver; Plant l*o. 5, Fabricating of Foam Glass and Plant Ho. 6, Foamthane, with Mr. Fred DeVries; Plant Ho. 6, Hnibestos, with Mr. C. U. Tolaway. Following the plant visits, discussions were held with Mr. if. J. 3afcor, personnel Manager, cn the Medical and Safety Programs. Mr. Paker accompanied Dr. Grant on a visit to the Port Allegany Community Hospital. The exit interview was held with Mr. Larry Griffith, and the following comments and/or recommendations were made. 3* Comments and/or .ecomenuations A. Alleged Lead Intoxication"*^ Glass wlock ;`l*nt. Mr. '.icy Thompson had been employed in the ,.lass aecoratiou opention within this plant for about three years. Mirim; the past year, he has been under treatment by his personal physician, r. Herman 'io-ch, from Coudersport, a town of about 10 miles from Port Allegany. His principal complaints were related to a dermatitis of hi3 hands und fingernails," a cramping and soreness of his abdomen, intermittent chest pain, weakness, dizziness and loss of balance, '..hen his physician found he worked in an area in which he was potentially exposed to lead paint, he suspected a relationship between the symptoms and a potential lead exposure. He called ,Mr. baker. ,* PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT I *4400-0 .amm Mr. L. 0. Griffith Initial Medical' Plant Visit -t* the Personnel Director, who is a friend of his and advised him cf his sus picions. This call was about three weeks before the undersigned's visit. .*lr. Thompson was removed from his exposure at that time and placed at the foam glass finishing area. His doctor had placed him on SDTA, a chelating a*:cnt. The enployeo has noted an improvement in some cf his symptoms since the beginning of this treatment. The glass decorating operation consists of spraying a base enamel on the glass block, allowing this to air dry and then firing the enamel into the glass block. The spraying is done in a makeshift, but enclosed, ventilated box which is coiqpletely enclosed at the time the spraying is done. The spraying is activated by a foot lever outside this box. The vet sprayed block is then removed and placed on a pallet where it is allowed to air dry. The spraying operator wears rubber gloves during this phase of the operation. \ fairly large number of blocks are allowed to accumulate in this manner bofere they are taken into the next room and placed on a conveyer line which carries them through a firing furnace. The firing furnace is exhaust ventilated. Trier to firing, the aried enamel is powdery and can easily bo wiped off the glass bricks. The Technical Erector of Pittsburgh Jorning, Mr. George Uregory, advised that the base enamel contained between hS and 51 percent of lead oxide. Mr. Thompson has a history of hypertensive cardiovascular disease. He also has a fungus infection of the fingernails. !io special study has been made of his gastrointestinal cocplaints. Kocommendation While there is a potential lead hazard, my initial observations of the opera tion as it was being dons at the time of my visit, lead me to believe that it is probable no lead hazard actually exists. However, in view of the question that has been raised in regard to potential lead intoxication, I would strongly suggest obtaining lead urine studios not only on Mr. Thompson but on all of the employees who have recently worked at this operation for significant periods of time. Since these lead urine studies cannot be done in the usual hospital laboratory, upon request, I will make the necessary arrangements to have these studies be accomplished. The studies consist of each omployee collecting a 21-hour urine sample in a specially provided lead free flask and analyzing the urine for its lead content. If these lead urine studies show evidence of increased absorption of lead in the employees, an industrial hygiene engineering evaluation cf the operation should b* accom plished in order to detect and control significant lead srurces. ;.erc again, upon request, I will also make arrangements for this survey. B. Foam Ginas Plant Stripnim: faeration. The problem dis cussed in my Goualxa report, oi.wnich you have a -opy, are similar to the problems noted at Port Allegany, namely, eye hazards from foreign bodies, heat, particularly during the summer months, and noiso. lly recommendations ore basically tho sane. A phase of the oporation which n part seemed significantly different was the eye hazards from foreign bouies. :?r. uriffith, who hod been the plant manager at Seaalia, felt that there were significantly fewer eye injuries at Port Allegany than at Jedalia* There were some differ ences in the stripping operation at the two plants. \t Port Allegany, Hr. L. 0. Griffith Initial Medical Plant Visit _ *_ Furnaces U, 5 and 6 had lehrs which allowed only a horizontal loading of the glass foam loaf Into the lehr. Furnaces lf 2 and 3 were high enough to allow vertical loading into the lehr. All lehr loading at Sedalia was of the horizontal type, toother difference between the two operations was that Port Allegany did not use the edge leveling operation that was used at ledalia. Apparently, this was not required at Port Allegany to allow the foam glass loaves to remain level within the lehr. This scrubber appeared to be a significant contributor to the foam glass dust at oedalia. The air turbulence pattern at Furnaces 5 and 6 were similar to that seen at Jodalla, in that the fcan glass dust blew up past the face of the operator; however* Furnaces 1 through it had air turbulence patterns which soeaed to blow the dust away from ,the face of the operator. The only differences noted which could account for this difference in air pattern between these furnaces was the relative loca tion of the man cooler. At Furnaces 5 and 6 it seemed to blow from above and slightly from the back of the operator which nay have caused a relative vacuum in front of the operator which would suck the dust up past his face. At Furnaces 1 through k, the man air cooler air current was coming directly down on top of and alightly from in front of the operator, and the dust was blown away from the face of the operator. . -- necommendatlon .The air current effect should be studied further to see if, in fact, there are fewer eye cases among the strippers working on Furnaces 1 through- k as compared with Furnaces 5 and 6 Also, an Industrial hygiene survey should be siade of the potentially hazardous noise to which the stripping operators end the mold filling operators are subject. The purpose of this survey would be to determine whether a noise hazardous exposure existed and, if it did, the principal sources of noise contributing to this hazard along with recommenda tions, if feasible, for the control of this noise. If the noise hazard exists and could not be controlled, a hearing conservation for the employees subject to this noise should be initiated. Upon request, the undersigned will make arrangements for this survey. G Foamthane Plant. Potential toluene diisocyanate (TDI) oxnosure. Shortly after tne initiation of this plant in iyol, the Industrial iygiene Foundation performed an industrial hygiene survey and found that the control of TDI vapors was adequate at that time. However, since then, several employees have apparently become sensitized to 7PI and have nad to be taken out of the area to control their symptoms. 7PI is a strong sensitizer and concen trations above the threshold limit value of one-tenth part per million (.1 ppm} will cause allergic sensitization in a significant percentage of the exposed population. Basically, the operation has not changed significantly since the Industrial Hygiene Foundation Jurvcy in 1961 with the exception that within the past few weeks, additional local exhaust ventilation has been installed within the hot wire cutting operation so that the fumes are being drawn off closer to their source in addition to being captured by the plastic ventilated hood covering the operation. This should significantly reduce the potential for TDI exposure. nr. L. 0. CriiTith Initial radical Plant 7ioit moment and Recommendation Pre-employment evaluation of employees who will work with ?DI should Include a careful history of allergic disease. These persons should be excluded from work with TUI. Furthermore, porlodic physical examinations should be nade of all employees potentially exposed to TfiZ to detect earliest evidence of allergic manifestations. 1 mevaluation of the potential environmental exposures should be mads. This could be done during tho iuuuatrial hygiene cngineerlng survoy of other operations as discussed in this report. . Unibestos Plant, Aobcstos lust Ilxposure. In June of 196b, shortly after the beginning of"operation of tne unibestos plant, the Department cf Health of the State of Pennsylvania performed an industrial hygiene survey. They reported that a hazardous asbestos dust condition existed at several loca tions throughout the plant. They made a number of recosnenciations as to hew this dust exposure could be controlled. Following this survey, a number of stops were taken to improve dust control. During the present visit, tho cutside toeperatures wore low so that all cf the windows and doors wore closed. ;o provision, apparently, hod been made to provide the rather largo amount of aake-up air required by the dust collection systems throughout the plant, As a result, the effectiveness of these systems was materially reduced. This resulted in some dustiness of the air in tho general area of the loading and building operations. Less general air contamination was noted at the sawing operation. Thorc are b6 en^loyees who come directly uncer the unibestos operation supervisor. In addition, there are six maintenance employees who spend most of their time in the unibestos area. All of theso onploycos were provided a pre-employment x-ray examination, flcne of them, however, as yet have b*4 a periodic chest X-ray. While all of the employees in the area were provided with dust respirators, tho only person observed to be wearing the dust respirator was the employee working in the loading area. 3ecowsandatlon Prolonged exposure ovor a number of years to hazardous amounts cf asbestos dust will produce the pulmonary disease - asbestosis. Jlnse the Pennsylvania State studies in 196b indicated certain areas cf tho plant where a hazardous dust condition existed, it is imperative to determine the effectiveness of corrective action taken since that tine and to show, if po.iaiblr, that a hazardous dust condition does not exist. This industrial hygiene eniiinoerixic survey should be done ther than by the State of Pennsylvania, rbrther, it snould be done by a t.roup universally recognized as competent to perform ouch a survey. Upon request, I will arrange to have such a survey accomplished. Pre-employment medical examinations of asbestes workers should include a thorou^u history of previous chest disouse os well as a cncst x-ray examination. Any history of chest disease, however benign, or x-ray evidence of suen tiisease snould exclude that individual working in un asbestos exposure, t'oriouic cneut a-rays should be taken at loaot every two years on all asbestos workers. These X-rays should bo read by a Hoard certified roentgenologist. These recommendations are important to prevent tho development of asbuotosis among your orployeeo at some future time. r. L. 0. Griffith Initial Medical Plant Visit K. rye Gafoty Program. Jeveral sawing and grinding operations were observed In the loan glass fabricating plant in which the operators were not utilising aafoty glasses. Commcntt A continuing effort is required to educate employees of the impor tance of protecting their eyes and the necessity of wearing appro priate eye protection when performing oyo hazardous tasks. ?. In-Plant "edlcal Pro-am. The in-plant medical program consists of foremen or supervisors treating illness or injury from a number of first-aid kits scattered throughout the plant. This is not adequate for a plant of this size particularly with the number of potential hazards that exist within the plant. Recommendation An in-plant medical program should be established. An adequately equipped dispensary, staffed with a nurse and/or trained first-aid attendants under the professional direction of a licensed physician is needed. The physician rust visit the plant on a regular basis and maintain a thorough knowledge of plant and dispensary operations so that he can provide professional guidance to the dispensary staff and professional consultations to plant management cn industrial medical problems. The purposes of this in-plant aeoical program would be to provide proper treatment of work related illness and injury, and . to provide a preventive medical program which, in view of the many potential hazards in the plant, can significantly contribute to the maintenance of a . healthy and effective work force. Assistance will be provided as requirec to establish an in-plant medical program. Ins cc: Mr. B. H. Stout Mr. H. 0. Underwood Lee B. Grant, M.J*