Document 8R8bE5V2xEDVzvoD5q2bjMvVe

FILE NAME: Owens Illinois (OWILL) DATE: 1935 Feb 27 DOC#: OWILL060 DOCUM ENT DESCRIPTION: Internal Report rrS'*l-'T h 5' D.'.. ASMSTHOMG T.'IT.^D VI-7F. Pr.ZSIDWT {<><% i ' 1' ^"ith refereneo to our recant ecnrerzetirn, X will endeavor to siuenarlae to reseat status of tile dust question in industry and our re lation to It. ,-i ?- ,.'V , 3d~v 71awad hrcadljr, tbs problen of dost In industiy Is tba problea of tuberculosis la Industry. Conversely, It nay be stated that the problea of tuberculosis 1a this country today la an industrial one, it la true that death rate fron tuberculosis in general hoe been steadily railing for a numbar of years. It la also true that the vital statistic# la tMs country and abroad Show definitely en Inordinate amount of tuberculosla 1b shat night be summarised as the dusty trade. jsJ j ^ "* The specific action of silica dost 1# well known * is the fact that those exposed to silica dust.have an extrwnely high tuberculosis-death rato.-r In the lost few years,, there has been an extraordinary number of damage suits' brought b7 employees against employers on tba basis of exposure to silica dust so that at ths" present time It la estimated that these damage suits are ell,* in excess of $100,000,000.' Heir"there le a very marked tendency of employees who'are expfctfed to dust other, than allies dost to bring damage suits egaiaot'J their employes?, alleging pulaoBSsy tajaxy and;this state of affaixs--b*a"pro-''1 greased to a point here stole industries are lit a turmoil, handicapped on'the one band by lack of definite knowledge of the action of these duets on the 'l,Turn"gs sad ob the other by the Inadequacy of the la* to protect then. The Vetrepolitan has had a co-operative agreesrut with tba Public . Health Service (formerly with the Barvau .of.^ines) to cany oo dust studies, is tba budget tas originally cat up for.the pi'char CHnief the sine operators (Croup policyholders) .contributed 916,000 * year, the Covcxnzeat $S,OCO a year; .aad the Xetropolitan $3,000 a year', Later whvi.the Picher Clinic wes turned over to the operators, our'relationship lith the'Public Healthy Service contlnu' Both re and the Public Health Service contribute 6,000 a year for co-operative dust studies. " .... " Ke have clso contributed (5,0C0 a year for oevcrul years to the Sat-esac Laboratory for the Study of Tuberculosis for atulles ca the ^ctinlc^lci offsets of dusts.. Last year, this office was inetruaaatal la getting bath the' Association of Stock Casualty Ccrcjaiea and the Association of Mutual Casualty. Companies eaeh to contribute $5,000 a year. The object of these studies, particularly at Saruoaa, baa been to increase our knowledge of the aetlcn cf silica dust in the body, Its relations)! to tuberculosis, cad the determining of methods of prevention and control of.'- " th elllca dust hazard. Kith respect tq the Public Health Service, we have bool more concerned with formulating eccurcte aad epesdy zotheda of dotcrciining nhej any given dust is harsiful and as a ratter of fact, such a technique has been >--xS>i PASlii |V % ?* 7 i >* Or. A r a - 2 7*v*,l r ?cd Vy D r, Gayoro njuL M g associotss. A ll kinds r f dusi :.uve teen U r t c d t y t ills method, In c lu d in g limestone, k a o lin ite , e t ic i le , t r in e -li, gy.-siis, ced etene, carborundum, anthracite c o ti, bitumincus coni, -r e c ip lt a t c r erh.* u i c , Teunury d ust, ru lla r e ea rth , feld sp a r, asbestos, ani others ico numerous ts moa- tin n , but a l l representing dU str to be found in 'various plants o f our Croup p o lic y h o ld e rs . ' . Our Industrial kyglaae Section is being continually consulted rn tha , technical aspects of wording or proposed lavs, regulations, and cedes dealing ritti the- dust problem. For several years, this Section has teen engaged in field etudlea designed to datewiae the scope, eeTority, and the hazard iron ce dust and other1dusts in industrial plants, boat of those studies have bees restricted to tbo plants of Group policyholders In accordance with our declared policy. Where studies hate been cade on an industry id basis, they bare in-. .^a eluded plants sot covered .by Group insurance. I night station, for Instance, ' <5 tha study of tb foundries In iriscoasln end the preliminary asbestos study. The Industrial Hygiene Section la no engaged in completing tbs final study cn e*-~ __ JS bentos end *111 then take up tbo eeranie Industry la We fork state. This lattojvp study *111 include sene of..our.inportsnt Group policyholders each aa the Ceneral Eelectrlc' Coapany, the Carborusdca Conpany, the Corning Claes Conpaay, and others] w ;:- ' T '" ' . ' >. - 'So iaportant ban this.subject become end so great Is the Interest take In It that in January of this year, a conference as held at the Mellon Institute] la Pittsburgh, to Which were invited representatives of edgblywfive industries $. and ssuufactuxlng plants, for .the purpose of eenaiderixg bat night be dene in .tbej ay of concerted action dealing with research into tbs radical aspects of tfca *. ^ dust problea, engineering methods for the control of .dust hazards, and legs! pro-'T-'^y duetries: , ill Aebeatce, Ceric and ncn-ectallic; (2) Chemical, Abrasive, Alley sad noa-fetroua metals; (5) Foundries; (0 Glass Sad, Ground Sand and Glass L'anufacturers; (s) Iron, Steel end Iron Cre (6) .Limestone, Cement aid Gypsua (7) Refractories, Cerwaics and Cleys The Chairman of this Committee is Mr. Roger a. Hitchinc, President of.tihaj Amorici-a Refractories Institute, and the organisation orb as largely done by Ur. A, W. Sherwood, Vice President nC the Owens-Illinois Class Coupon/, and boo^; lag up the glese eand, and ground g&nd and glass nanufaoturer*. Lest week, Mr. Shartrocd and Mr. Kitebins spent an afternoon with ne, Lining their piano end endeavoring to formulate thair procedure fe o tly ?r. i.rsstions - 3 ro?r*Saat i.re looking to tho Katropelitta Cor adviee ar.d leaders!:': in '.Ms fc.'.dcrvor Vo act up a co-oixilaatln^ agency to deal rith duat probicaro.. Mr. Hi:;:r,, Ioli so that ho had received c letter Tree Mr. Gsniholts, consci f=r the hetubi Steel Company, etating that his Coapauy would not be interested in -h.Is "ittsiurj j.lsn unlesn I wore associated with it; also thet he hed rsceived ^ lezi'r. to sin: lur effect from Ur. . 0. Jones cn behalf cf the {,'aticr.al fcucilcru Asec-cictir-r.. I tel Mr. Eitchlns ad ur. Sherv:ecd that I would be glad tr ba of tr.y -ce.s'.-i* help la the way of edvico and consultation but that I cculd nr.-. .r.ternstmyseif in this Undertaking la ay Wore active ttsjt. Haturally, It la our largo Group policyholders who have the rest vital interest la this Thole dust problem, such as the General Electric Cecjwoy, the Westingheuss Electric Company, Jones end "Lacchila, Flckans-Wathor, General Maters Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company, Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation! the gypsun / and caacnt eoapanies. Sines tiiip BtVting, Z hnvo been consulted by rep.-sseutativ of both the Republic Steel.Company sad the American Car and Foundry Company, both incidentally, very activ prospoeta for Croup insurance. Appended to thig*B(Beraaus'is a Hat of tho various persona who partic: mated in the Mellon XsSHtUto.BMtiOg I acation all this to shew how vide-sp-et and native is`the interest of these large saoufacturlng caojwiaies, cany of * ca a: numbered among our Group policyholders. In a paper presented before the Rational Tuberculosis Association t~s years ago, .Lanca end Vans aetioated on a conservative bawls that there were ever half a.million Industrial workers exposed to silica dust and that U>e prcblee or__ family iufectioo due to incident tahorealoaia In ji*Bf instances la a serious one."; '* . I do not know whether thin effort to set up a co-ordinating agency to*tr deal with dst probiesc la industry adii be successful or not. 2 aa Inclined to." ? think that there ere possibly too many divergent interests represented in tho i group that.wee brought together at Pittsburgh to get concerted action from chtje.'j But there is no .question la ay mind that Deny of tbs'largest Industries In the ` country iiro:looking to the Metropolitan.as the one placa where they can get accur ate sad impersonal guidance in dealing with the problem that at preseat is A serici menace to them frora on economic standpoint. This le true also of the casualty in surance companies with whoso representatives both Or. IlcCocnell and X have had sex; cer.fer-nces in tbs past two years* As you rail Imo, we bave been extresely careful to keep cm/ iron all llUgstlva and legislative matters and there is a pretty general realization now " In industry that we cannot be approached on those two phaseo of the subject. The effect of this has been, I think, to strengthen our position; there is a general feeling that we have no ax to grind end that our aotivse are In accord with cur general polio/ of being willing tohelp ae far a practicable, in any ualcrinWiag'* that has to do with the conservation of human life. .?