Document M0wnXEx4yeB3mXaa9BnO6GdL

FILE NAME Manville JMA DATE 1978 DOC JMA016 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Asbestos Cement Pipe Hazards Customer List and Related Correspondence UMJM BULLETIN 505-12-2-5 505-12-2-5 505-12-2-5 78-41 Division Headquarters October 12 1978 To ALL PIPE PERSONNEL FIELD CUTTING PROCEDURES FOR TRANSITE PIPE The AWWA and the Association of Asbestos Cement Pipe Producers have recently published booklets entitled Recommended Work Practices for Asbestos Cement Pipe The work practices recommended in this booklet were arrived at after careful research in California to determine the dust levels generated from the use of certain field machining tools The objective was to identify those practices which produce dust levels exceeding the recommendations of the Occupational Safety and Health Agency of the United States The use of the abrasive disc for cutting asbestos cement pipe is specifically and emphatically not recommended in these booklets This poses a problem for people who work with our pipe because the abrasive disc makes a fast clean cut However continuous heavy exposure to the dust levels produced by this method could be injurious to health It simply makes good sense for us to recommend forcefully to the people who use our pipe that the safest means of handling it be employed One thing we can do is promote the use of the chain cutter sometimes referred to as a snap cutter or the squeeze and pop cutter We have always had reservations about the use of this tool for cutting pressure pipe because it was suspected that the method could cause hairline cracks or other damage to the pipe But recent tests performed at Long Beach Plant has established that this damage is not done Hydrostatic tests were performed on pressure pipe after being cut by the chain cutter and machining There was no loss of strength due to this cutting method The tools used for these tests were the Wheeler models shown in the attached literature as suitable for pressure pipe in sizes through 24 models 5590 and 5591 These models have been redesigned with deeper cutting wheels so that the pipe is cut before the chains are allowed to exert a crushing action on the pipe This applies even to the thickest pipe You will be receiving enquiries about this when the AWWA booklet receives wider distribution The Wheeler chain cutter can be recommended A list of Canadian outlets is attached H. R. FRASER REPLY TO Wheeler INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIOIN NTERANATILONAL ASHTABULOAHIO 44004 TORRANCE CALIF 90510 PO Box 488 6 Phone 216 998-2788 ' Cable Address Wheeler Ashtabula Telax 98-0432 Answer Back WHEELALS- CASOT PO Box 3129 ...Phone 213 371-1238 "Cable Address PiloTools Tala 45-3486 Answer Back PIILOTOOLS TRNC CANADIAN DISTRIBUTORS WHO HAVE PURCHASED WHEELER PRODUCTS Intercity Industries 669 Squier Street Thunder Bay Ontario Supply Ltd. Don Benson Limited Post Office Box 8335 Station A St. Johns Newfoundland Cessco 8660 - 61st Avenue Edmonton Alberta Crowle Fittings Limited Malton Postal Station Post Office Box 254 Mississauga Ontario L4T 386 W. H. Cunningham & Hill 2760 old Leslie Street Willowdale Ontario Ltd. W. H. Cunningham & Hill Ltd. ALL Branches throughout Canada Daigle Aqua Incorporated 1369 Boul Ste Foy Longueuil Quebec Empire Water Works 791 Erin Street Winnipeg Manitoba Supply Co. R3G 2W2 Spencer Brothers & Turner Truro Nova Scotia Ltd. Fred Surridge Limited 1574 West Second Street Vancouver 9 B.C. Westburne Ind Ent 4590 Henri Bourassa Montreal Ltd. West Westburne Ind Ent Ltd. ALL Branches throughout Canada Western Water & Sewer Supplies 6167 Sixth Street S.E. Calgary Alberta T2H 1L9 Western Water & Sewer 6153 - 80th Street Edmonton Alberta Supplies O. BOX 688 ASHTABULA OHIO 44004 Phone Code 998-2788 Cable Address Wheeler Ashtabula Telex 980432 Answer Back WHEELALSCO May 22 1979 Mr. Hugh Frazer Manville Canada 295 The West Mall Etobicoke M9C 4Z7 ONTARIO Inc. Dear Mr. Frazer Thank you for making the arrangements to have your people there to watch our cutting demon- stration with the Wheeler Dustless Cutters Your time and courtesy was greatly appreciated If there for your is anything else we at Wheeler people please do not hesitate can do to ask Very truly yours R. L. Mazzola Mazzola Richard L. Mazzola Sales Manager RLM cs s. om ~~ A 2 Se ~ a Fa =a NRE . fi Y _ meee . eee XN - ; WHEELER SQUEEZE AND POP PIPE CUTTERS AND LABOR SAVING TOOLS of . _-* . oo rege ross -~ _ W HEELER PIPE TOOLS JJM M BULLETIN 78-40 Division Headquarters October 6 1978 TO ALL PIPE PERSONNEL WHAT PIPE IS SAFE I am attaching a Health Facts bulletin put out by Hal Olson of the U.S. Pipe Division Recently there have been television articles regarding the hazards of using asbestos based products and no doubt many of you are having questions put to you by your customers Hal has brought up several good points in this bulletin which should permit you to discuss the topic more knowledgeably One interesting point he makes toward the end of the paper is that more work has been done on the use of asbestos cement pipe and it could be argued that it is now determined to be the least likely to represent a health hazard This is a new approach and one worth putting forward JFF J. F. SMALL JJMM Manville Manville eu = Pipe Products Marketing Division September 21 1978 WHAT PIPE IS SAFE The concern that is being generated about water supply is increasing daily A year asbestos in ago it was rarely reported in the newspapers that utilities were questioning the but use of A there were Pipe because of a suspected health hazard literally thousands of articles about the health hazards of airborne asbestos Today there are many articles reporting that water utilities are expressing concern about the use of A Pipe Emotional outbursts of uninformed citizens are reported and once in print such irresponsible statements often take on a quality of authenticity When such emotion is generated it fre- quently becomes politically expedient to of A Pipe It is for this reason that abandon the use it is so import- ant to inform responsible facts before an emotional public officials about the situation develops that gets the press and the citizens clamoring to ban A Pipe One would have to deaf and blind not to be aware that asbestos has been designated as a carcinogen The National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Dept. of HEW have recently been running spot T.V. commercials warning people who have worked with asbestos to consult their doctors A recent T ydocumentary by Jules associated with asbestos Bergman was devoted Articles are still to the hazards appearing in newspapers about asbestos sprayed ceilings in schools and other public buildings What is be said not so well publicized is the fact that what can about / Pipe as a possible health hazard can be said with equal force about the other commonly used water main materials 1. All commonly used pipes can contribute minor amounts of carcinogenic materials to water supply a Galvanized iron pipe can contribute cadmium lead and zinc to water b C. "/ PVC Pipe can release vinyl chloride monomer C Pipe when carrying very aggressive water can impart asbestos to water "/Asphalt or coal tar lined iron or steel pipe can release polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons PAH's . All of these are recognized carcinogens reo HEALTH FACTS BULLETIN Sept. 21 1978 Page 2 2 The amount of toxic material entering water supply from flowing through pipe is extremely minute and there has been no data developed that would show any of these piping materials represents a health hazard 3 The EPA has studies underway at the present time investigating all of the above listed materials to measure the amount of carcinogens that can enter the water supply and as a health hazard to to evaluate their potential the public who drinks the water At the 5th Annual Water Quality Technology Conference sponsored by AWWA last December two papers were presented by representatives of EPA In their paper Water Quality Deterioration in the Distribution System it states To prevent corrosion of cast iron or steel pipes and to aid in the curing of cement lined pipes the inside of such pipes may be lined with asphalt or coal coatings De- pending upon conditions temperature thickness and age during the production of these coatings polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons PAH's may be released The solubility of most PAH's in water is relatively low however a number of representatives of the PAH's are known carcinogens In a second paper High Pressure Liquid Chromatography for the Measurement of Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Water it states The level of these PAH's in drinking water becomes quite important when related to the health effect of the compounds as some of the PAH's produce cancer in laboratory animals In Drinking Water and Health a report by the Safe Drinking Water Committee of the National Academy of Sciences it recommends that strict limits of some PAH's be applied in drinking water standards In Human Health and the Environment Research Needs U.S. Dept. H.E.W. 1977 it states Methods capable of both quantitative and qualitative anaylsis should be develped to detect important classes of water borne organic toxicants such as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons From the above it can be seen that A Pipe is not alone in piping materials that can contribute a recognized carcinogen to water supply and that the EPA recognizes this fact and is evaluating all pipes as potential health hazards a we fi HEALTH FACTS BULLETIN Sept. 21 1978 Page 3 A Pipe is however unique in that more work has been done to try and evaluate asbestos in water supply as a health hazard than has been done to evaluate the dangers associ- ated with PAH's Vinyl Chloride Monomer and Cadmium as found in potable water as a health hazard All studies involving asbestos in water as a health hazard have proven ; negative Three such studies have been reported in the prestigious American Journal of Epidemiology 1. An Investigation of the Use of A for Public Water Use and the Incidence of Gastrointestinal Cancer in Connecticut Vo 107 No. . By J. Malcolm Harrington and Associates No association risk scores and was noted between intestinal these tumor asbestos incidence 2 Investigating Possible Effects of Asbestos in City Water Surveillance of Gastrointestinal Cancer Incidence in Duluth Minnesota Vol.103 No.4 By B.S. Levy and Associates Although some differences in G.I. Cancer incidence occurred among the three cities in 1969-1971 there Was no consistent pattern of statistically significant differences observed 3 Cancer Mortality and Asbestos Deposits Vol 104 No.5 By T.R. Fears The study of cancer mortality rates in these matched counties provides no evidence that natoccurring asbestos is a great hazard to the general population of counties with asbestos deposits For several years FDA has been conducting an extensive study on rats being fed % of their total diet as asbestos Pre- liminary reports of this study also have not shown that ingested asbestos even in those massive amounts compared to that in- gested with water has 230,000,000 times the asbestos resulted in an increased death rate found in in the rats attributable to asbestos ingestion HEALTH FACTS BULLETIN Sept. 21 1978 Page 4 I would presume that epidemiology studies would also in- dicate that PAH's as found in water supplies that flow through asphalt lined iron pipes are in such minute amounts that they too do not increase the risk of cancer to those who drink the water but date I know of no such study that would confirm this As a consequence it could be argued that at this time A pipe is the one piping material that has been determined to be the least likely to represent a health hazard Copies of the two papers by EPA reported in the Proceedings of the AWWA 5th Annual Water Quality Conference and re- ferenced in this bulletin have been sent to District Managers Referenced American Journal of Epidemiology articles have been previously to sent previously t : Olson oo tv 7 Olson Manager District Managers Environmental & Engineering Developments PIPE DIVISION codes cc D. L. W. HLO sw 12 153 162 163 182 4422 5213 532 535 Markusson 2-18 Sorrentino 1-06 McCallie 2-17