Document 5D2pa3YrDvx3L0n58GqV9rJzJ

FILE NAME: Avondale (AVD) DATE: 1978 Nov 11 DOC#: AVD111 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Memo - Study for Shipbuilders Council MEMORANDUM November 30, 1978 TO: FROM: SUBJECT: M. Markels, Jr., President John Teske Study for Shipbuilders Council * V Sane preliminary conclusions resulting from the study for the Shipbuilders Council include: 1. It appears that ship specifications from the U. S. Navy and the Maritime Commission during the ivWII. years did not con tain precautionary information on asbestos use. Specifications did require the use of ftmosite asbestos. Documentation is being obtained from the Maritime Commission. 2. Regulatory activities relating to asbestos use in ship yards were marginal to non-existing during WWII. The U. S. Department of Labor apparently had only one industrial hygienist and there is no evidence that he conducted any shipyard inspections under the WalshHealefAct. Even though the Public Health Service recommended an . asbestos standard in 1938, a recognized U. S. standard did net exist until the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists adopted it in 1946. In 1951, this standard was incorporated under the Walsh-HeaJey Act. The U. S. Navy was just getting started in industrial hygiene during WWII, setting up a new section of industrial health under the Division of Preventative Medicine in 1941, It dees not appear that the Public Health Service ever had the mission or desire to inspect shipyards for health hazards even though they did conduct asbestos studies in other manufacturing plants. The states could possibly have conducted shipyard inspections but their industrial hygiene capability was minimal in the 1940-50 period. The states and Federal Walsh-Heaby inspection records for shipyards will be more fully examined to determine if inspections for asbestos exposure were ever conducted. PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT | SBCA 5088 | ........................-- MU-- X