Document Gm3n8ep2yQ9wxnOYjKwO2gj0Y

p p p p p p }*p p | Iron eaol coi ..------ Vtetom D. Scott L. BcUoa B. Oobora. Cromo J. Uumr B. Devnoy M. 6. Svlcfcor Bon J. Wilcox -- W. Barrlagcea a. Mltmu .P.KooMjr-A.I..Ht{lU-C.l.nyna Tfai4 afternoon oar plant is releasing the following statement to the news media; "B. F. Goodrich Chemical Company today reported that an employee of its Louisville plant has been diagnosed as having angiosarcoma of the liver. "The diagnosis is based on a surgical biopsy performed this morning. "The employee is the third now living with the disease. Six former employees have died with this rare form of cancer. "The worker, now 43, joined B.F.Goodrich in 1955 and for most of his 19 years with the company, he has worked as a reactor cleaner in PVC production." November 6, 1974 Industrial Relations Department PLEASE POST 20282001 BFGQ2878 B.E Goodrich B. F. GOODRICH CHEMICAL COMPANY a division of The B.F. Goodrich Company ^Jlie f-^edrickh own Communicct tor In order to keen you fully informed of the latest developments in the vinvl chloride PVC situation, the following information is being made available. A letter was received from the National Institute of Safety and Health by the B. F. Goodrich Chemical Company this past week. The letter from NIOSH made various recommendations to the B. F. Goodrich Chemical Comoany for reducing ex posure at the Louisville Plant. They also asked the Manufacturing Chemists As sociation (MCA) to make similar recommendations to all other PVC manufacturers. Although we feel that the levels of vinyl chloride in our working environment at this plant are verv lew, we still want to follow and implement the recommendations made by NIOSH to the Louisville Plant. In conjunction with this communicator, a list of procedures will be issued on Monday to be innlemented as soon as possible. In addition to that, other recommendations made by NIOSH win be implemented as soon as practical. Some of these recommendations are as follows: (l) eonsurmtion of food should be permitted in lunchrooms or designated areas, only; (2) general housekeeping should be maintained at a high level; (3) protective clothing and gloves should be worn as appropriate in PVC operations where exposure justifies. We are implementing as soon as nractical the issuing of work clothing and insis tence on oersonal hygiene. This r.av take the form of mandat.-.? + +V.A of each work period. Some of these things, of course, will take a little time be cause of our limited shower room facilities. Work is underway to implement these facilities. It may he necessary to stagger starting times in order to eliminate shower room congestion. When new facilities are completed, ve would then revert to the regular schedule. We will continue to monitor the environment as we have been doing in the past and ask you to continue with the fine cooneration you have demonstrated in the reduc tion of vinvl chloride leaks and reduction of dust in the drying and bagging areas. We are all interested in working in a clean environment and I know vour full co operation will be forthcoming. These rules will apply to maintenance, as well as direct process, personnel. nj 2/8/7* r A. R. Webber PRIDE VISION COMMUNICATIONS BFG02879 20283001 Management COMMUNICATOR Henry Plant Subject OSHA INSPECTION Date 11/8/74 The Henry Plant was inspected on November 5th. and 6th. by three Federal Compliance Officers. Their main interest was VC1 exposure. They were very complimentary about our Safety Program. Citations are as follows: (a) An alpha methyl styrene drum on the third floor of the Poly Building did not have a ground strap on it. (b) One stack of skids in the PVC Warehouse was leaning excessively. (c) Housekeeping deficiency on the third floor of the Poly Building because hoses were left on the floor in walk ways. (d) When the sample analysis is complete we will know if a citation will be received on excessive VC1 exposure. (a, b and c above have been corrected) Fifteen personal samples were taken with a Model SF-1 Sipin personal sampler pump and charcoal filters. We duplicated all samples exactly and will have our own results before we receive the OSHA report. Three samples each were taken on the following people: (a) two pearl charge operators, (b) one paste charge operator, (c) the FVC tank farm operator, (d) an operator doing housekeeping in the Dryer Building. General discussion topics involving no citation are as follows: (a) Approximately ten PVC operators had private talks with Mr. Knarr. He was impressed favorably and cammonted on their good attitudes toward safety and thought they were well informed on things in general. fO (b) Any bulk PVC should be covered or removed from the area (Poly Building). (c) The PVC build-up which 13 being chipped from the valves BFG-1SI43-A Communication s A 'trr* 2-ir-zcdy ; BFG02880 Page 2. contains quite a lot of 7C1. We will do personal monitoring on these people. (d) The inspectors were favorably impressed with our operating procedures in general but felt we needed to do a better job of implementing them. (e) Noise measurements were taken but no mention was made of this in the wrap-up session. if anyone has any questions involving this inspection, please refer them to me. RE:bkw Bay Ehnle, Safety Engineer ZQ tOQzoz BFG02881 Management COMMUNICATOR Henry Plant November 7, 1974 *** TOWELS *** Following Che decision Co continue the work clothing program, it now seems appropriate that the furnishing of bath towels be resumed effective Friday, November 8th. Please use these towels with discretion and deposit them in containers pro* vided. CBC:vck C. B. Cooper 20285001 Communication Is A Part Of Everybody's Job ! BFG02882 Management COMMUNICATOR Henry Plant November 1, 1974 - WORK CLOTHING - Effective Monday, November 11, the policy of providing daily change of work clothing will be changed to allow a minimum of three changes per week for those employees presently being furnished clothing. Those employees whose job assignments may require four, five or six changes per week will be allowed this number of changes. Supervisors should inform Don Laible by Thursday, November 7, of any of their em ployees who do not wish to continue having clothing furnished. A supply of shop coats will be available. CBC:vck C. B. Cooper 20286001 Communication Is A Part Of Everybody's Job ! BFG02883 Management COMMUNICATOR Henry Plant " October 2d, 1974 **** WORK CLOTHING **** The new permanent standard issued by OSHA neither requires nor reconmends daily change of work clothing in industries using Vinyl Chloride. Effective today the policy of requiring that sleeves be rolled down and buttoned will be changed to mean that sleeves must be rolled down and buttoned when working around dangerous moving equipment, uninsulated steam lines or when there would be a change of burns from chemicals. The plant policy of requiring shirt tails "tucked in' remains in effect. The necessity of requiring shop-coats is eliminated. C: f /V -r -W C.B. Cooper CBC :mm 20287001 Communication Is A Part Of Everybody's Job / BpG02884 Management COMMUNICATOR Henry Plant October 3, 1974 Subject: GOODRICH STATEMENT ON OSHA STANDARD AKRON, Oct. 2 -- The B.F.Goodrich Company said today the record of hearings conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) does not support the necessity nor the feasibility of the permanent standard for exposure to vinyl chloride (VC) in the work atmosphere of VC and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plants. Goodrich said its consents are based on a preliminary analysis of the permanent standard which was announced Tuesday afternoon by OSHA. The Company said it intends to continue all plant operations and also seek further reductions in the low levels of VC exposure achieved through intensive efforts over the past several months. Goodrich said it will do whatever is required to sustain its operations, but the company intends to seek legal review of OSHA's final standard. OSHA's standard, effective Oct. 4, has three phases. The current exposure limit of 50 parts-per-million (ppm) will continue until Jan. 1, 1975. Thereafter, the standard will require that VC exposure levels be reduced to one ppm averaged over any eight-hour period aind five ppm averaged over any period no longer than 15 minutes. For higher exposure levels, the standard requires that employers provide certain respiratory devices for employees, but OSHA says the wearing of respirators, until Dec. 31, 1975, 'shall be at the discretion of each em~ ployee for exposures not in excess of 25 ppm." The use of respirators will be mandatory after Jan. 1, 1976, whenever VC exposure exceeds the allowable levels of one and five ppm. Communication Is A Part Of Everybody's Job ! BFG02885 20288001 -2 Goodrich said these levels were stablished arbitrarily and are not supported by the record of OSHA hearings conducted in February and this summer. Technology to attain these levels does not exist today, Goodrich said* Therefore, the full-time use of respirators by all employees would be required in 1976. There was ample evidence submitted by Industry and other expert witnesses at the OSHA hearings this summer, the company pointed out, on the impracticality of using respirators on this basis. Goodrich said it has already lowered the average VC exposure levels in its plants from 35-40 ppm early this year to an average of 12-13 ppm. This is acknowledged in OSHA's review of its permanent standard. The Company said it has reached the point where additional im provements come harder and take longer to achieve. It is not a question of economics, Goodrich said. These efforts have the company's highest priority. The challenge now, the company's statement continued, is to develop and prove out new technology which, of course, cannot be predicted nor scheduled according to an arbitrary timetable. Efforts will continue, the company added, to enable Goodrich to meet the steadily growing demand for the numerous applications of PVC, many of which are vital to the national economy. Goodrich is committed to achieving the lowest practicable exposure levels for vinyl chloride as quickly as this is technologically feasible. BFG02886 Z088z0Z Tt/ J Management COMMUNICATOR Henry Plant May 24, 1974 PROGRESS IN REDUCING VCL EXPOSURE As you can see rom Che attached chart, our efforts to reduce the Vinyl Chloride in the Henry Plant working atmos phere have been successful. The Vinyl Chloride in the air of the Poly Building is now less than one fifth what it was four months ago!I! That is a tremendous improvement and many people contributed to this accomplishment. But, we won't stop here. The present OSHA standard allows a maximum of 50 parts per million of Vinyl Chloride in the working atmosphere. The proposed OSHA standard required "no detectable level". Our Plant immediate goal is 10 ppm with further reduction as fast as we can improve techniques and equipment. Hearings are planned and BFG will participate in providing the facts to establish a reasonable permanent standard. I am attaching for your information a News Release on this subject. CBCjvck Attach - 2 C. B. Cooper 20289001 Communication Is A Part Of Everybody's Job ! BFG02887 foO oo oo N BFG02888 NEWS RELEASE FROM B.F.GOODRICH. DATED 5/23/74. Akron. --The mosc intensive research and development program in its history, a multimillion dollar program in which more than 100 scientists, engineers and technicians are working to develop new technology, was announced today by B.F.Goodrich. Aim o the program is to reduce to the lowest possible level losses of vinyl chloride and thus, reduce ex posure in manufacturing operations. "Time is required to break technological barriers, to engineer, build and install new equipment", Anton Vlttone, President of the Company's Chemical Division, said, "but Incremental improvements can be expected on a continuing basis as our research and development efforts identify improvements that can be made in our plant operations". "We are working on several programs on a six day and even seven day per week basis with our most capable, dedicated and highly skilled people". "These programs include moving toward a more automated 'closed' system, which we believe will substantially reduce vinyl chloride losses and exposure". A careful, in-depth analysis of the proposed permanent Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard relating to worker exposure to vinyl chloride is being made by the company. According to Vlttone, 'The proposed standard of no detectable level of exposure does not ap pear to be possible with the current state of technology and, if im posed, could displace not only the 6,500 vinyl chloride monomer and poly vinyl chloride (PVC) production workers, but also hundreds of thousands of other employees in the companies which use PVC. "Industry, labor, government and the scientific conmunlty must con tinue to cooperate to make the most of our time and resources. All of us have a stake in the outcome of these efforts to assure the safety and well-being anc continued employment of hundreds of thousands of workers". "Given time we are confident we can develop the technology to assure safe limits without an undue disruption of jobs", Vlttone concluded. BFG02889 20289003 Cts' Jt 6cAc^/ B.F.Goodrich Chemical Company A DIVISION OF THE B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY GENERAL CHEMICALS RIANT *. . 1, Box 1S Homy, Illinois 61537 February 24, 1974 Tot All Henry Plane Employees - Many of you and your families are already aware of recently insti tuted and continuing testing of plant facilities and people with regard to exposure of our employees to chemicalso I feel that it is proper to more thoroughly explain the various considerations that have been taken in recent weeks. Only a few weeks ago the B.F.Goodrich Company voluntarily advised Governmental Agencies of their concern over an unusual number of cases of antlosarcoma. This is a rare type of liver cancer, presently involving only long time employees of the Louisville Plant. In an effort to check upon the general health of employees at all BFG plants involved in similar operations, our Company decided to Institute voluntary blood tests of all employees. This test is known as an Admitting Chemistry Profile (testing 14 constituents of one sample of blood). This is sisiilar to that given prior to hospital admittance. Results of these tests will be made known to each individual tested. Other recommendations of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are in process of being instituted in our other BFG Chemical Plants. As a part of this activity, on a trial basis we will soon begin to provide work uniforms to all of our plant operational people and their direct supervisors. Each employee involved will be issued several sets of trousers and shirts, and it will be required that these be worn in plant operating facilities. This will Involve daily changing to this clothing, and require the taking of showers at the conclusion of the work day for most of our people. Let me emphasize that this is on a trial basis at the present time, but it Is being done to enable us to better provide clean and safe working conditions for all employees. We will continue to keep you informed. C&Crvpt. C. B. Cooper CBC:vck . . in futrteiit eoccdlence BFG02890 20290001 Management COMMUNICATOR Henry Plant February 20, 1974 I received the following Information this morning from our Cleveland head* quarters: "The Company has temporarily reassigned IS Louisville plant employees to jobs without exposure to Vinyl Chloride or other chemicals associated with the poly merization of Vinyl Chloride. This was done upon the recommendation of medical authorities after blood re testing continued to show abnormal liver function re sults, and is precautionary in the Interest of health protection". The blood tests run so far have not indicated any serious problems at this plant. I will give you information when they are all completed. CBC:vck Charlie Cooper 20291001 Communication Is A Part Of Everybody's Job ! BFG02891 Management COMMUNICATOR Henry Plant February 19, 1974 We wish to Inform our people that as soon as arrangements can be completed we will Institute a 'Trial Period" of furnishing work uniforms and requiring mandatory showers for all of our wage employees and all of their Immediate supervisors. This Is being provided In an effort to comply with recommendations of The national Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) made recently to other PVC Plants. Work uniforms will consist of trousers without cuffs and long* sleeve shirts and enough sets shall be provided to allow the use of a newly-laundered, uniform daily. Locked compartments for the storage of clean and dirty uniforms in the plant shower facilities will allow the Issuance of individualized uniforms with different color combinations to most departments. These uniforms will remain the property of the Henry Plant and shall not be removed from the premises. Exceptions to this requirement are employees leaving tha plant for direct plant business or in event of in jury or emergency. Plant policies will soon be finalized to set forth the various considerations of these conditions of plant employment. An explanatory letter shall be mailed to employees homes to ex plain these and other recent developments concerning our efforts to safe guard our employees health. Representatives from the Chas. Todd Company will be in the plant Wednesday morning and Thursday to measure employees. 20292001 C. B. Cooper Communication Is A Part Of Everybody's Job ! BFGO2892 Management COMMUNICATOR Henry Plant &v J!. February 18, 1974 VINYL CHLORIDE EXPOSURE Saturday afternoon I learned of another case of liver cancer at the Louisville Plant. This makes five known cases. The new case was a man who died of other causes in 1964 and an autopsy showed some liver cancer. -There are other Investigations underway which may lead to further infor mation which I will pas8 on to you as it develops. All of the cases have been people working at the Louisville Plant and people who have worked in "cold rooms" where Vinyl Chloride levels are normally a thousand or more times greater than the normal exposure in our Plant. CBC:vek Charlie Cooper 20293001 Communication Is A Part Of Everybody's Job ! BFG02893 Management COMMUNICATOR Henry Plant The Following was Released to the Press Today; February 15, 1974 Washington, Feb 15--B.F.Goodrich recommended coday that new safety standards and work practices for the greater protection of employees in Polyvinyl Chloride production operations should be developed through regular rule-making under Section 6/B / of the Occupational Health and safety Act. Anton Vittone, Jr., President of B.F.Goodrich Chemical, a Division of The B.F.Goodrlch Company, detailed the firm's views In a statement prepared for a fact-finding hearing conducted here today by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the U. S. Department of Labor. The hearing waa called following the Company's reports last month that It had discovered and was Investi gating the possible occupational relationship of the death of four former Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pro duction employees from a rare type of liver cancer, angiosarcoma. "Our discovery of four deaths from a rare type of liver cancer among employees at our Louisville plant was, 'to our knowledge, the first evidence Indicating a possible relationship between human angiosarcoma and hydrocarbons used In the production of Polyvinyl Chloride resins" Vittone added. The four man were employed at the Company's Louisville, Ky., PVC operations. They were long-service employees with an average exposure of 19 years to Vinyl Chloride and other secondary chemicals In PVC production. Vittone emphasized that the Company's efforts to maintain a safe working environment over the years have "resulted in decreasing levels of exposure with time". He said the Company independently and through the Manufacturing Chemists Association had stepped up Its pre cautionary safety activities and research after European studies Indicated that tumors could be produced in rats ae exposure levels far above those prescribed for PVC plant working conditions. Through these and ocher safety efforts Vittone added the Company has reduced exposure levels In all its PVC operations below 50 psrts-permilllon, equivalent to five one-thousandths of one percent weight In Che air, on a time-weighted average. He said this Improvement was nade through the use of new equipment, safety education for employees and the Company's development of advanced monitoring systems. Upon discovery of the four deaths of angiosarcoma of the liver, Vittone said he and other top Corporate Officers "Inspected Che Louisville plant to observe current work practices and exposure levels". As a result of these inspections and consultation with medical advisors he added the Company concluded that "the existing situation warranted continued operation of the Polyvinyl Chloride facility The current situation was also discussed with plant employees. Union representatives and Government officials he added. The veteran chemical manufacturing executive said Goodrich "will do all It can to protect the health and safety of its employees". He said the Company has reliable monitoring procedures which are being improved and that most interim work practices recommended recently by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health are being imple mented at the firm's five PVC plants and one Vinyl Chloride production facility. Vittone also said the Company's medical representatives are working closely with Government and other medical authorities to specify the best possible medical screening and testing procedures for PVC production workers. He also reported that the Company and Its medical consultants are analyzing the results of an extensive liver function testing program among all its PVC workers. Vittone said It would be premature to report specific results or to provide any statistical analysis of the correlation with chemical exposures until a medical review Is completed. Vittone said the Company has found no other cases of angiosarcoma In its preliminary review of available medical records of deceased employees and retirees from Che Louisville pleat and the cootpany's other Polyvinyl Chloride and Vinyl Chloride monomer production facilities. This review Is continuing. Communication Is A Part Of Everybody's Job ! 20294001 BFG02894