Document 82dBR1VYrL12nBB8vZZ7VXG9k

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH HEARINGS BEFORE THE SELECT SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR OF THE COMMITTEE OR EDUCATION AND LABOR HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIYES NINETIETH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON H.R. 14816 A BILL TO AUTHORIZE THE SECRETARY OF LABOR TO SET STANDARDS TO ASSURE SAFE AND HEALTHFUL WORKING CONDITIONS FOR WORKING MEN AND WOMEN; TO ASSIST THE STATES TO PARTICIPATE IN EFFORTS TO ASSURE SUCH WORKING CONDITIONS; TO PROVIDE FOR RESEARCH, INFOR MATION. EDUCATION, AND TRAINING IN THE FIELD OF OCCU PATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES HEARINGS HELD IN WASHINGTON, D.C.. FEBRUARY 1, 20, 28. 29; . MARCH 5. 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, AND 14, 1968 Printed for the nse of the Committee on Education and Labor 92-T34 0 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON ; 1SSS c "*OU New York .lo rala rk "jrlda llaolt _>* esos :aa 'eDDjylTaoU . th Corolla* Jaeoasln C Yldi iota , J\ York "*a vueootia CONTENTS Hearings held in Washington, D.C.: P*r February 1, 1968___. _____ __________ _______ ______ ______________ \ February 20, 1968.............. 105 February 2S, 1968.......... 125 February 29, 1968............... ................... ...................................................... 185 March 5, 1968................................................................................................ 223 March 6, 196S............................ 263 March 7, 1968................................................................................................ 349 March 8, 1968______________________________________________ ______ 423 March 11, 1968.............................................................................................. 469 March 12, 1968.............................................................................................. 527 March 14, 1968............................................................................................... 703 Text of H.R. 14816................................................................................................ 1 Statement of-- Berry, Clyde M., Ph. D., American Industrial Hygiene Association.. 161 Burch, Alan, International Union of Operating Engineers.......____ 276 Burke, Frank, safety and health director, united Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO-CLC______________________ 527 Christenson, Otto P., consultant to the Conference of American Small Business Organisations.......__ ....................... 248 Dinman, Dr. Burton D., M.D., secretary, American Academv of Occupational Medicine, accompanied by Gilbert H. Collings, M.D., immediate past director..........__ ........___ .............. 476 Eichhorn, J. George, grand lodge representative of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers_____ ........... 2S7 Ford, Hon. William D., a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan____ ___ ............................... 755 Glides, Arthur P., secretary-treasurer, director of safety. International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink Distillery Workers of America...... ......... ................................................................. 140 Gintz, Ralph E., president, International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions 543 Hanlon, John J., M.D., M.P.R., department of health, Detroit, Mich., president, American Public Health Association....______ __ 471 Kalmykow, Andrew, American Insurance Association.............. 42S Krise, M. Holland, chairman, Industrial Commission of Ohio....... 442 Logan, John O., Universal Oil Products Co., chairman, board of directors, Manufacturing Chemists Association, Inc., accompanied by C. U. Dernehl, G. L. Gobbeli, and Lloyd Symington.......... 369 Lvons, Raymond M., National Association of Manufacturers....... 232 Mazzocchi, Tooy, citizenship-legislative director of the Oil, Chemical <fc Atomic Workers International UnionJ......... ................ 3S1 McCahan, J. F., M.D., president. Industrial Medical Association, accompanied by David E. Goldstein, M.D., president elect; and Howard N; Schulz, executive director.......__ ................ 513 'McCan, John A., operations director, Government Employes' Coun cil of the AFL-CIO.................................................................................. 516 Meany, George, president, American Federation of Labor k Congress of Industrial Organizations.703 Montoya, Ricardo M., New Mexico State labor commissioner............. 731 Naumann, William ., chairman, legislative committee, Associated General Contractors of America.......................... 677 O'Hara, Donald C., executive vice president. National Petroleum Refiners Association.................................................................................. 263 Patten, Hon. Edward J., a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey.......______ ______________________________ 754 Queener, J. Sharp, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and party....__ ... 1S6 ' <SX) - : ' Vl'i;.' ____ occupational environment o{ :e an equal element of safety toward standardization dialogue with those who are it lbe vast body of knowing? *s and competent professional laws, employees were left to -gllgence of the various states, doctrines such as assumption . would be compensable, the iade tbe employer liable with. { of HR 1-1816 would impose the liability under tbe Worky employees who are injured although it migbt be shown by tbe Department of Labor. employer without regard to violation of standards that -TaccrcRta in order to make available - ianlzatlon of sufficient size -tablisbments covered by the - Federal government in an Federal expenditures could spending ol this magnitude - for austerity and budgetary .patlonai safety and health, n in identifying their needs . collect facts, improve their strative and enforcement :.g system for occupational etence that we seek. The . each state could then be . rce. S-~-3rd training contemplated ' ited and resolved. on HR 14S16 that ap- uan error. . f Federal safety stand . elective effort and sub. i. standards have not in nao error. . ' .animations have to date ed by the emotional em.y procedures or the vue ms. tbe time, talents and "ill continue to be avail fety improvement. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The facts cited within this statement can only partially bear witness to the long, determined and succesfui campaign waged in the rubber industry against occupational accidents and disease. We have for many years pursued the same goal as HR 14SHJ. namely improved occupational safety, and with such a pur- ix>se we indeed take no issue. With our long history of serious interest and sound accomplishment In occu pational safety, we have learned, however, that to be successful in this work demands also that we be objective. This well-learned lesson motivates our view point presented to the .subcommitee concerning this bill. Our industry believes it cannot rest on past accomplishments in safety. In the state of our civilization and social development today, occupational injuries and disease cannot be accepted as a necessary by-product of any industrial or commer cial endeavor. We consider it the responsibility of all concerned to seriously and methodically strive for perfection in accident prevention. Accordingly, the resources of the Federal government can most effectively be brought to bear on this effort through the role of a participating and vitally interested partner, rather than the sole administrator and enforcer of such a far-reaching regulatory structure as contemplated in HR 14816. It is our sincere belief that little evidence has been presented before the sub committee to demonstrate a valid need for the establishment of Federal safety standards and an enforcement program. If such a standards program is not needed, theu the whole thrust of effort should be redirected toward a means that can best achieve tbe desired goal of this bill. To this end, we find value in and support the concept advanced by other wit nesses of a broad cooperative effort sponsored by the Federal government that would bring about continuing research in regard to causes and prevention of oc cupational injuries and disease. Such a cooperative effort could perhaps be realized through the establishment of an organization--natioual in scope--made up of the most experienced and skilled leaders available from business and labor and from the Federal, State and Local government, whose purpose would be to study the problem at hand and recommend solutions. Such an effort, exercised without delay, could do much to assure the orderly attainment of an obviously commendable goal---the prevention of accidents. Statement on Behalf and fob Mb. Ivan Sabocrin. Queen's Counsel. 507 Place d'Abmes, Montreal, Canada, on Behalf of tbe asbestos Mines Industrt in Canada To the Honorable J/r, Holland, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on Labour, and to J[embers of said Committee: It Is respectfully submitted: Nearly two hundred years ago, in 1776, came Benjamin Franklin to my present home in Iberville, Quebec. His aim was to win Canada to tbe cause of Independ ence. His mission accomplished, he left the shores of our Richelieu River (close to Luke Champlain, near the border, where I live) and reported to Congress. In those days industry hardly bad started on this continent this ascension which was to make America the most industrialized nation. Since those days the ties between oar two countries have become closer and closer whilst we have for generations showed the world an example of enjoying friendly relationship, with some fonr thousand mile border-frontier devoid altogether of any display of force, military or otherwise. ' But there are ties that seem to have contributed largely to bring about such cordial understanding bases on common interests: they are the ties of industry at large, of management and labour forces working together. On the one hand the vastness of your capital investments in Canada make you play and uecvssarily so a legitimate miebty role in our very economy. In the same vein, similarity in labour and industry conditions has brought about a degree of international penetration promoting more and more tbe development of a large family of workers with a more and more common ideology, this north aud south of the border, face to face with like problems. . Tbe industry, here in point, the asbestos mining and milling industry I have had the honour to represent for more than thirty years, representing as advisor I 944 AW nearly all of the mining and. production of asbestos fibres in my country. The case of the Canadian Asbestos Mines known as the Quebec Asbestos Alining Axsocia. tion offers a good illustration of the extent to which your participation through the field in investments and "know how" reaches into that number one group of commercial industries at home, that of "mine". For example, in the industry of mining and milling chrysotile asbestos (which is the asbestos mined and milled in Canada) your Nation owns and controls some two-thirds of that field. This is an important proportion indeed of our production which started roughly a century ago in Canada (Quebec) in ttiat region surrounding Thetford Alines and the town of Asbestos--a region being in diameter of some fifty-miles. The production in Canada has been about 85% (U.S.S.R. excepted) of the world's total chrysotile asbestos (chrysotile is the most sought of the various categories of asbestos on the world's markets). Since the Bill presently under consideration by your Senate and House of Representatives embraces basic principles which are of much importance to our Canadian Asbestos Alining Production (tbe greatest proportion of which you own and control--aa already said above) it follows, naturally so. that our iadus. try should be desirous to place respectfully before you some of the data aud experience it has gathered over the years, our interest in so doing being pyrtieu- lariy prompted by the fact that one of the main objectives of the Bill will be to achieve such standards as will better ensure the safety and health of the worker such standards likely to integrate themselves eventually into our own. modes oi production and this due to the fact that we, of course, share the objectives which your Bill is seeking. This incidence of safety and health set out in the preamble of this Bill as a primary objective has been brought forward into tbe limelight in tbe last few years and particularly so before yourselves, sitting in committee, some two weeks ago by the important studies carried out by Dr. Selikoff and his associates at Alount Sinai Hospital Environmental Sciences Laboratory tin conjunction with renowned Head Statistician of the American C'aucer Society Dr. Hammond i The bulk of the work of Professor Selikoff has been centered on the so called Heat and Frost Insulation Asbestos Workers Trade. Although such sector of workers reflects but one of the many "end-uses" of tbe Asbestos fibre, the findings of Dr. Selikoff nevertheless are of considerable interest to the balance of the i j ' 1 i | I j milling engi: Limited iy l\.r rite re ditkm as inti uiittutit fact< industry and uccmuplisduu cost, trouble auce of safer, through udv<! For we as: more partivo trade or corns be for those. as the urgeu miiHuial cris venturing iut eutificaUy tin foresee rhe hi science, progr which * rest ami cannot fo Just as *Jie the worker or M*luee or rep! preventing wl u few days a hitn>e!f vicoii. when lie wm **cemiens:itiO!i What is rel. tli-w vws-.used rjtorare turn croiipimr toyct. industry (some 15000 workers are involved in Dr. Selikoff's Insulation Study). Asltotfo- c'orp It is with these considerations in mind. Mr. Chairman, that our industry J'.eil Asl*-st*ts ) expresses their gratitude to the Honourable Air. Holland. President of this Select ('aliadi.m .(hi: Committee and to Representative Mr. James O'Hara. Chairman of the Proceed t'nr>\v t'nnndiu ings. for having so graciously extended to your bumble servant, a Canadian, the Kliuikotu Mini- privilege of tabling before you the submission of the Asbestos Mining Industry i Luke A-l-'tO'- have the honour to represent. ' National Ashes My first step, in this delicate mission, should be to assure you that this indus try cannot be but fully in accord with the principles set out in tbe preamble *.f your Bill. No one. citizen or country, employee or employer, labour or manage ment could not take but pride in supporting a law the lofty object of which is to insure the safety, health and welfare of the worker. Health and Freedom shall ever be the greatest assets of man and woman-- without which no real welfare can be enjoyed. Your desire through this BUI to foster proper research and training cannot also but provide for those necessary tools without which tbe ways and means to fashion and ensure safety and health of our men and women at work may not be devised. Possibly the word "Standards" reflects at their best those very criteria with which to measure and.gauge tbe decree of advancement in the study and research for those methods and tolerance limits which may be allowed for this or that operation in industry should it involve the safety, health or welfare of the worker. i*asiar AsI. with this AsSO* rimi therefore in t'nmula tr Limited is in t <.'ori>rntioii t As t* ***tr act in the imlustr: scientific mum specialists in :! oc.v. radiology . advis*. and supsearch stud >tn varum* School- \ You would be interested to know that an attempt to conduct a proper study, pmcramminc and planning for achieving such standards is already under way, it beinz proposed to hold in May next sessions of joint study at the New York Academy of Sciences under the tutelage of the inenmhent Dr. Selikoff. at which sessions would jjnrticipate representatives of management and labour as well as of Governmental and Scientific Groups, tbe likely field of asbestos exposure for such joint-sessions to be that of tbe soealled Insulation Trade Group represented by the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos workers; also would attend Dr. Karl Lindell (a world foremost mining and reached rhe ric of haviiic head fitness arid lie:l New York t'njN I*r. Lanza zuiii the town of a> the crear i 'omit nil the families Pulmonary FU-. J 946 Byers, Rldell, Cunningham, Brink, Vidal, Jarry--and the specialized personnel him in the fore at our hospitals and sanatoria in the Laurentian Mountaius. Later, in the workers (for s thirties, we repaired to the Saranac Laboratory and Trudeau Foundation i his current stui the Adirondacks. the latter constituting without a doubt the most advanJ!) I Pneumoconiosi? research center on the continent in the Pulmonary Field and that of the al|j,J respiratory tracts, plus cardiopathy. *u There, at Saranac, began our relationship with the Head of the Saram : i i osis Institute o son, heading thi allied problems Trudeau Laboratory Dr. Leroy U. Gardner, a most eminent pathologist acknowledged leader iu the field of industrial mediciue. Recipieut o many uiv! i Dr. Daniel Braur J Institute) Pitt' tinguishcd awards be was for many years a U.S. Public Health top consults*, j survey (Thetfc and to bis Laboratory flocked daily from all parts of our continent industrial doctors, facing health problems iu that phase of very fast expansion in tk ` industrial economy of America. Under Dr. Gardner and his staff was thl>n founded in the forties at Thetford Mines an Industrial Clinic destined to sett* the-six mines situated in the neighbourhood. The Trudeau Latoratory comprise such fatuous names as Cummings, Samson, Pratt, Vorwstld (distinguished pjlty ogist attd author Professor at Fort Wayne University amt now Head of the vas. Laboratory of Research at Detroit) plus Professor George Wright, founder of the Laboratory and School of Physiology at Trudeau a pioneer in the field of respiratory physiology and an authority at the top of today's echelons across tfi# continent and the present Director of the Scientific Committee of the Institute of Occupational and Environment Health, an Institute promoted by our Asbestos Miniug Association. Since the setting into action of these two Industrial Clinic (at Thetford Mines and at Asbestos) it was my duty and that of our Medical Advisors to keep track yearly (that went on from 11)40 to date) of the .Vsbestus health problems as they appeared over the world. There was no significant L;d>. oratory or source of information which was not consulted: contacts were made continuously so as to assure ourselves of the treods in both the Industrial Endneering Preventive Field and the Medical Fields proper. It can therefore be said that no stone was left unturned, our trips taking us to the other Comment, into Asia and Orient as well, iu South America, from rime to time, with Dr. Cartier our Director at Thetford Mines (Industrial Clinic) and Professor Vidal. Pr. lessor Gregoire. Dr. Kenneth Smith (Professor of New York University and Medical Director of Johns-Manville Corporation). We visited all the main centres where the aebestos-health-problems existed in the last few years in the company of Dr. Karl Liudell and Professor Vidal on exploratory and observation trips. We travelled to the British Isles--Europe--Scandiuavia, and on two casions in U.S.S.R. (1060 and lbbS) including Asia (Siberia--Kazecstau--Svyrdslovsk and Asbest where some twenty-five thousand workers operate astw.-tos mines and mills and produce today more chrysotile asbestos than is produced io the Occident (Canada and U.S. included). : Quebec asbesto: views and the higher with sat ; where no asbest : Dr. P. Pelnar: in Lukes Hospital lecturer; his pu of note and an i: Our books, our ` are at your dlspc l consider them. Mi piled. Of late on t* some forty scient- the globe. The ofc present health pre ray Brown kindly scientific <, Wricbt and the me From 1040 to 19various extensive > i MEETINGS 1: C< ; Pathologists ant : (Gardner et al) i our association a ! 11)51 and 1953: Twr 1 1957: Queen Elizal tists from both , McGill--Toronto | and schools of stt | Epidemiologies! Su. in conclusion might we recite here the composition of the staff manning the 1945: Metropo. Scientific Committee of the Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health, not more pre the executive committee of which is composed of: erence: The 1 Dr. K. V. Lindell: chairman 1955: The Bra; W. X. Oughtred (President Asbestos Corporation Limited and present President Mellon Instit of Quebec Asbestos Mining Association) asbestos wor: F. Parker Smith (President Bell Asbestos Mlues Limited) N.B.--a three ye: A Michael Messel (President Lake Asbestos Mines Limited, ex-officio member as immediate past President of the above Association) ond year) by Proft aegis of Dr. Wrig Ivan Sabourio Q. C.: secretary and counsel groups bere and in i The Scientific Committee is composed as follows*. - Dr. George Wricbt: Director of the Committee. Head of Research at St. Luke's Hospital (Cleveland.Ohio) Dr. Punl-Kotiu: Director of U.S. Center of Environmental Sciences and of Centre lu all of this we , you may wish to c- I We remain at yot | having allowed this of Etiology of Cancer at Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Marrin Cushner: Professor. Head of "Tumors Field in Pathology" (an au thority in CaneeT Research) at New York University and Bellevue Hospital: participant and professor at the Anthony J. Lanza School of Occupational Health, Sterling Forest. New Jersey. Dr. Fernand Gregoire: head of Lavoisier Clinic. Mootreal Physiologist--Ex pert of our Quebec Workmen's Compensation Board Professor and Author of papers which have already attracted the -scientific attention of the wnrid of both continents. . Dr. John Beattfe: Professor at Queeo's College (Cambridge, England) whose considerable experience since the eariy thirties and bis writings have placed Howard A. G.cbmat Federal Office Build< Baltimore. Md. Df.YR CONCSCSSilA the Baltimore Safer was made of Senat of 100S." . 92-734 O OS - ciatized personnel as- Later, in the t.u Foundation in e most advnn<^i\ that of the allied t of the Saranac pathologist and ent of many dis- ..;h top consultant xtlneut industrial sponsion in the ~ staff was then lestineri to serve .01 tory comprised inguished p.itholiiead of the vast `icbt. founder of v in the held of idons across the ( the Institute of by our Asbestos ' lUustrial CUntc* of our Medical . of the Asbestos significant Lab. Tacts were made 'ndustrial Engl, terefore be said i- Coutlnent. Into .vith Dr. Cartier -sor Vidal. Pro University and nil the main ...\v years in the and observation ami on two oc- rCstau--Sverdecate asbestos .is produced in -Cf manning the jeutnl Health. esent President ' du member as at St. Luke's and ot Centre -'027" tan au : *u Uo^pitni: Occupational Mologist--Ex -id Author of 'he world of : aland) whose a have pieced . 947 him in the forefront of the field of pulmonary studies as to mine and factory workers (for some years Professor Beattie also taught at McGill University) _hi* current studies have aiso brought him in close and current contact with the Pneumoconiosis Institute of Great Britain at Cardiff, the foremost Pneumoconi osis Institute of the British Isles now presided by Physiologist, Dr. John Gib son. heading the "Union Internationale du Cancer" Committee on asbestosis and allied problems. '' Dr. Daniel Braun: Elx-Dlrector of the Industrial Hygiene Foundation (Mellon lustitnte) Pittsburgh--wbo conducted and published the 1055 epidemiological survey (Tbetford Mines and Asbestos) on the incidence of cancer with the Quebec asbestos workers (a study of which has been published in scientific re* views and the conclusion is to the effect that the cancer incidence is not any higher with such workers than with other population groups of the province where no asbestos industry is present. Dr. P. Pelnar*. in charge of experimental work in Medical Research Division, St. Dukes Hospital (Cleveland) professor nt Prague. Tcbecoslovakie, author and lecturer; his publications in many languages have stamped him as a pathologist of note and an industrial health expert of exceptional science. Our books, our data, our observations and findings, in short all of our records, are at yonr disposal. Mr. Chairman, should it be found desirable for you to consider them. Much experience has been gathered, much experimentation com* piled. Of late on two occasions we hare convened at Antieua at 1065 and in 1067 some forty scientists and research experts gathered from the four corners of the globe. The object ot these conferences was to advise the industry ns the present health problems It is facing. Tour U.S. Public Health Director Dr. Mur* ray Brown kindly attended our last meeting at Antigua which convened as a special scientific Conference by the Director of the Institute. Professor George Wright and the members of hi.x Scientific Committee. From 1940 to 1964 the Association bad held Uke study meetings and conducted various extensive surveys: MEETINGS 1: Conference at Cariervllle Hospital Group of Radiologists and Pathologists and Clinicians from Carolina (Lynch et al) and from Saranac (Gardner et al) and from Toronto (Riddell et al) and Quebec and Montreal our association and governmental medical representatives. 1951 and 1953: Two like meetings at Moatebello. 1957: Qaeen Elizabeth Hotel--Montreal--three days symposium gathering scien tists from both continents 150 representatives from Saranac--Harvard-- McGill--Toronto--Montreal University--Belgium--France. Various hospital and schools of study and governmental agencies. Epidemiological Surveys: 1945: Metropolitan Life Insurance et al Health: turberculosis found to be not more prevalent with asbestos workers than general population (ref erence: The Wheatley Report) 1955: The Braun and Truan Cancer Study (Industrial Hygiene Foundation. Mellon Institute. Pittsburgh). Cancer found not to be more prevalent with asbestos workers than in general population. N.B.--A three year epidemiological survey is being conducted (now in its sec ond year) by Professor Macdonald. McGill University and his staff under the aegis of Dr. Wright's scientific committee which is sponsoring other study groups here and in Europe. ' Iu ail of this we trust you may have learned of some sources of information yon may wish to contact or confer with through your various agencies. We remain at your disposal ever and again beg to thank you most deeply for having allowed'this presentation. Edward A. Garmatz, M.C., Federal Office Building, Baltimore, Md. BALTtiioaE Safety Coo-ctu Ixc.. Baltimore, lfL, March. Q, 1368. Dear Co.voaxasuA.v Gaamatz: At a meeting of the.Executive Committee of the Baltimore Safety Council held on Friday, March 15. 1963, a careful study was made of Senate Bill ?2S64 entitled "Occupational Safety & Health Act of 196S." 92-734 O- -41 \ryzxsjsm 22lS*.?6