Document 3JpKobNzweKkprqZ02JGrBwva

FILE NAME: Sprayed Asbestos (SPRA) DATE: 1949 DOC#: SPRA009 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Letters RE Canadian Sprayer's Death nld/w l 6th July, 1949 H.A. Williamson s q ., Th A tlas Asbestos C o .,L t d ., 110. K cO ill S tr s s t, KONmAL, filM ftL- Dear .Mr. Williamson, Asbmosls - Canada Thank you fo r advising ma In yours o f the 29th June that we may bo haarlng from the P rovlnolal Health Departmant o f tha Province o f Quebec on the subject o f risk to health Incurred by asbestos apray operators, and when th is comes along we sh a ll know what to do. Tou w ill remember I wrote you on the 29th March emphasising the need to employ our la te s t type d u stless spraying machine, and I taka i t that the In tern ation al Health Conference referred t o , that was to be held la s t month, has now taken p lace. I might add here th at th is Inform ation came to me from Dr. & .R.A. Mercwether, Ch ief Medical O ffio e r , M inistry o f Labour k National 3 ervlce, London. The fa c t that Injury to health has been used as a lever in the recent trouble in the Canadian asbestos mines is probably purely in cid e n ta l. I think you should know th at we have never had a single oase o f asb esto sis amongst our spray workers, and that every one o f our o rig in a l spray operators s t i l l with us is in good health a fte r some 20 years regular work in the process. W hilst Z attrib u te th is la rg e ly to the care that these men have taken, in addition to the presenee o f considerable q u a n titie s o f water vapour when the ap p licatio n is carried out in the proper manner, th is is not to say th at the old system is e n tir e ly s a fe , as a careless operator ean cause a great deal of rea l d u st, and w hilst the a u th o ritie s are o f opinion th at the operator him self ean be protected, they are much more oonoemed with the health o f other workers in the v ic in it y , so th at unless you do take prompt measures to advise the a u th o ritie s o f tho stops th at are being taken to overcome the o b jectio n , they may think f i t to lesuo reg u latio n s, which oaos established may oauee you very serious and q u its unneetssary lnoonvsnisnss. Continuation o.l H.a . illiom aon aq. J VN I H I N M l * l 1 l > A I I M i I V U I O S ' f N( " 6th Ju ly , 1949 Should you be in; tha au th o rities on these lin e s i t nay be of use to you to know that th is Company has been in close touch with tha measures taken in th is country since the risk was f ir s t suspected, and that we wars a l l o f us instrumental in the drafting of what eventually became the 1931 Asbestosis Medical Scheme, which scheduled certain operations in the manufacture of asbestos Roods, so that the workers concerned are subject to i n i t i a l and periodical medical examination, as a result o f which they may be suspended from further work in any o f these scheduled occupations, and the employer was u n til recently lia b le to pay compensation. As the date o f the scheme in d ica te s, the preparatory work was carried out prior to the development of Spray, which also started to be used in 1931, so that spraying is not a scheduled operation. I-.ore reoently the 1931 scheme was embodied in the National Insurance (In d u strial In ju ries) Act 1946, where a l l dust d lssasss, such as s il i c o s i s , a sb ssto sis, s t c ., ars covered under the general heading o f "pneumoconiosis." Possibly because pray was not a scheduled occupation ths au th o ritie s in London, and p a rticu la rly Dr. S.ft.A . Merewether, have always kspt in touch with ms, and we recen tly gave the Doctor a demonstration of dustless spraying methods with which he appeared to be quite s a t is fie d , eo that we do not expect any further com plication, provided these new methods are promptly adopted. These methods are covered by Canadian Patent number 446,398 o f the 24th February 1943 and Canadian Application Number 571,767 o f the 19th February 1943. I f you decide to approach the authoritiee on your side no doubt you w ill le t me know in tho near fu tu re, and at the same time inform us how soon you can arrange to replace your e x istin g machines with the new dustless pattern. .,,J* cqpt . \ 1- ( v t w . R U IIIIT LTO A H M l IV l l i u l l l *NC MINISTRY of health, D iv isio n o f In d u s tr ia l Hygien* 1570. S t . Hubert S tr e e t, MONTREAL. QUE. Ju ly 11, m 9 J.W . Roberts L t d ., Midland Works, Armley, Leeds, 12. A t t e n t i o n ? - Mr. N .L . DolbeY Dear S ir , t TM f r r d to you by Mr. H .A .W illiam so n o f the A tla s Asbestos Montreal Branch, fo r fu rth er Inform ation about your "Sprayed Limpet Asbestos p ro ce ss. We a c t u a l l y are in te r e s te d very much in th e use o f a sb esto s ?under any working coJ d i t ^0^ ' PCy o ir y Canadianns u b a id ia r y e i s th e f a c t a s b e s t o s i s . What e the workers employed in the a p p lic a tio n S tW b s ^ S - r & r - " " " -- " 1935 only. 1 1 - % s r . s i r , % c u ? r & do idgh5r? s .* ^ o 5 s : a s s * .* , S S .S S S S K f f s t s a - " hd S .tni ? 5 S . b ; In 1 . there Is a p o te n tia l danger for the health o f the workers. Yours very t r u ly , (sgd) Sarto R. Plamondon, P .E n g ., Sanitary Engineer lT*a*h4f*ht.nM*ONO*.t MSptdtl, Ain I. W. ROBERTS LI. TED (Tnnr 4 News U4-J MIDLAND WORKS, ARMLEY, LEEDi il, ENSLANO London v . I] VICTORIA tlKttl. WESTMINSUA S V I I* Vm*ni PH/ l.*th July ' <549 Sarto R* Plamondon, E s q ., Sanitary Engineer, Ministry of Health, 01viaion o f In d u stria l Hygiene, 1570 S t . Hubert S tr e e t, Montreal, Quebeo, Canada* Dear S i r , Thank you very much fo r approaohing ua in youra o f tho 11th < ' on the poaaible injurioua e ffe c t to workera operating our aabeatoa | spraying prooeaa aa uaod by the A tlaa Aabeatoa Co* L t d ., of Montreal* < The spraying of aabeatoa is not a scheduled occupation under the 1931 Aabeatoaia Medical Scheme in thia country ao that the workera them- aolvoa have not been subjeot to periodic examination, b u t, nevertheless, we have fo r many years maintained a very olose watoh on th ia question and, aa a r e s u lt , oan f a ir ly say that we know of no sin g le oaae where workaaen or women whoae only oontaot with aabeatoa haa arisen through th eir operation o f our aabeatoa apraylng prooeaa, have su ffered any ill- e f f o o t * Thia includes not only our experience in Great B r ita in , but th at o f our other European Licensees, aa fa r aa we are aware* This : favourable p osition i s , no doubt, assisted by the fa c t that we in s is t - on a l l operators being adequately trained before they are allowed to operate the machines and process, so th at the creation of duat in minimised and that which is oreated is surrounded by a considerable amount o f "atomised" water* Ve have carried out much research work in the course o f our e ffo rts to aohieve the highest possible elim ination of dust and, in th is connection, we would draw your attention to the fa c t that we have rooently patented a method o f rendering the fib re dustlesa prior to spraying by evenly damping i t with a small amount o f water in a sp e c ia lly constructed smohine) th is i s oovered by Canadian Patent Number 1*46,898* Likew ise, in order to sim p lify the obtaining o f these b e n e fic ia l re s u lts we have reoeatly applied fo r a patent fo r an improved fo ra o f spraying maohine * , whioh damps the fib r e autom atically, and i s covered by Canadian Application*' Nvasbe*r 571#767e . . i .A ll our la t e s t type asbestos spray maohines incorporate,,th is .. la t e s t improvement, and we are proceeding as quiokly as p ossib le to oon- . . wart a l l ex istin g maohines, so that vs believe the risk when'spraying . our sp e c ia lly prepared asbestos fib r e mixings w ill be la r g e ly discounted in future* ` ., . ***' ' O11 . .M'tMvinmrtaN fr.; 'flv , moo m ar feeo Sarto R. Plamondon, Esq. i.w. noacNTtltV . anmlevVlccmif.wo. 19th Ju ly, 19W The Atlas Asbestos Co. Ltd. n*.v been kej* informed of a ll developments, and henoeforth only n<sw type maohlnes i l l bo supplied to them. ( Yours fa ith fu lly , HirSV'.W. F. Shepherd AIR KAIL J. W . RODENTS L T O ,, A R M L E Y , LEEDS \2, CNO. NISAL H.A Williamson E s q ., Tha Atlas Asbsstos C o .,L td ., 110, Mo0111 Street, MONTREAL, SAM&.* 10th Augutt, 1909 ifLU r Daar Mr. Williamson, Asbectotls I now have yours o f tha Lth Instant with further reference to the case o f alleged asbestosls developed by a spray operator employed by Messrs* Fleck Brothers, Vancouver. Whilst there appears to be no need for any further direct action with the Department of. Industrial Hygienp, I hope that the following comments w ill be c f help la investigating the matter further from a more or less p ractical angle, because unleashes do pay attention to these things they are apt to develop into serious snags. ; . As we at these Works have been-in touch with asbestosis since i t was f ir s t put forward as an ind ustrial risk - so that we havs not only had longer experience, but more time in whleh to find sim ilar bases ' I find i t d iffic u lt to grasp why the fir s t ease amongst spray operators should havs bean reported from so fa r away as Vancouver, M rs p articu larly in the caae of a man who did not do any spraying but merely fille d the machine during work on board chip where, because o f the d iffic u lty o f handling the old heavy machines, these are normally kept on the exposed dtok. Quite away from the man who is doing the Spraying below) i f the lid o f the machine i t kept oloeed the amount o f dust is absolutely n e glig ib le , so that ht could not possibly tocuoulatt su fficie n t to give rise to fib ro sis o f the lung in so short a tim e. The feat that i t haa Occurred so soon a fte r the date you give a . suggests to me that there .mar be tome previous history involved, and i t mlght.be worth determining whether the man haa previously been engaged in some other dusty occupation, such as mining, flou r m illin g , or loading grain in ships. The figure of 93 D ollars.per month suggest to ta l incapacity, and In passing Z wonder whether th is is paid by you or by you* Government) from the Interest they are taking i t would seem that the la tte r is the e *s t. Continuation K o.l H.A. Williamson Ssq. rnm m m + V w J . W . ROBERTS L T D ., A R M LC Y. LEEDS ( * , ENO . 10th August, 194$ 1 1 , ** rjgarda dust count, the are apt to be m ialsadin*. * P * f i* ^ ?* ther# ia mingly no atandardiaed aatfhod in* operation, but quoted yenIntseondIedcatnonoitndqiuciatte*follSoowmewchoautntthswir,frcasheicthowf` ere in. t--he or-r-d--e-r. --o f --1,15th ^fo r othf,eouprret-wd0amnp*wingspmraetyhinodg, manetdho9d/slOatrhea *^^od, so thPraotc#th* ifs *w*otuhld* bnerwingmaycohuirneo,wans K 8J1Ur.1iS S ^ ia U t 1" t h * 300 0<c- * th" RVSbS ,ni 50Bim" &r*"< f t x.ti1S4 SdiiVT.?or5,S.thS ^ t S t e S & a . o f Ooyenaental Industrial H ygienists, was 5 m illion p articles"* away for abI osuht afollubre1 mmeloenatvhi*ni ginhSeoreuthatAtmheeriecnad, of to the month, and be w ill you please keep in touch with Mwr. uQ.A . Wilson in respeat o f the supply orf 2werecSouil5d7aiSrrSa.ni!gle!1^to* Sdteiailaiwisit5hhi?ti1t?^o^gaentyhtherinognfrmeyshreaturrisne, peospfheacpisally i f I am able to c a ll and see you next year. peea*j.7 our le tte r 1! * ?! ^ a i5 nS? which ^ attach ?** Rrgiens'have acknowledged miiht care to have a copy, Tour* sin ce re ly Zn clt y ' : ....... v-...