Document 7RNwm5yLj7Qwb55yYp4vg7Lba

FILE NAME: ICI (ICI) DATE: 1969 Aug 1 DOC#: ICI049 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Memo incirit. -i$j:1?s c ' T iii TURNER BROTHERS ASBESTOS COMPANY LTD. Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd., Severn side Wonts. Hallen. Bristol. The writer visited these Works during the week and during an interview with Mr. A.F. Garlick, an Assistant Purchasing Officer, the matter of asbestos and health was raised. Mr. Garlick said that while concern had been shown for 12 months or more regarding the connection between Crocidolite asbestos fibre and Mesothelioma, no precise control had been exercised over the use of asbestos materials until about eight weeks ago when various rules regarding the use of asbestos were Introduced at their Works, i.e. asbestos materials like packing and yarn were placed in polythene bags and removed from the General Stores area, in what can only be described as a "panic o measure". The bags containing the asbestos materials were, however, later returned to the General Stores area, but are still kept in the polythene containers. If a length of lagging has to be removed from a pipe at Severnside Works there is a procedure for a Technical Officer to be present while the job is done and a dust count is taken; no doubt the information they gather from these exercises is being carefully noted and recorded. Our contact there said there were active moves to discover alternative materials to use in place of blue asbestos, but he did not think that the same apprehension was evident insofar as Chrysotile asbestos fibre is concerned, and in his opinion, the entire asbestos "scare" was inflated out of proportion to the actual risk.