Document NGgKYz5QwZNB1qvVQE8Ne64E8

ETHYL CORPORATION Ma n u f a c t u r in g a n d Tr a f f ic De p a r t me n t pl ease addr ess r epl y t o :- BOX. 34.1 BATON ROUGE l.LA. September 26, 19^6. Dr. Robert A. Kehoe Kettering Laboratory College of Medicine University of Cincinnati Eden and Bethesda Avenues Cincinnati 19, Ohio Dear Dr. Kehoe: Your letter of September 23rd crystallizes the feeling I have had that as our contact with the Smelter draws to a close, in spite of some little confusion and overlapping, the Smelter situation has been essentially 'well handled. As you well recall-, we faced the venture with some misgivings but I feel that working together as we have, we have so far come through quite well. The assumption you have made as to the possibility of our having felt the necessity of classifying the Group C men without delay was true. While we were in agreement with you that our information was inadequate, we felt obligated for reasons to present to Management groups distinctly classified as best we could. None the less, the explanation of your reasoning which you set forth in your letter has been quite helpful to us and well received. On the basis of our phone conversation the other day, we have presented to Management a group of men whom we feel should be offered employment here. In selecting this group, we felt that we were faced with a somewhat different problem than we were on September 16, so that it may interest you to know that the list that we have presented under the new arrangement comprises your Group A of September 16, minus two who have ter minated in the interim, plus six more instead of the fourteen additional Group A's that we had included on September 16. Reasons for including the other six embraced factors other than analytical data per se and physical findings; i.e., we evaluated the belligerent attitude of Dominick Guercio, the previous work record of Jerry Bllloups whom we understood was a most faithful worker and outstanding in his performance under adverse con ditions in the early part of the Smelter operation. Then too, we were advised by Management that once a single individual from the Smelter had to be transferred necessitating restoral of other Ethyl employees previously laid off and having greater seniority, that the* majority portion of the loss would have been suffered. #, Calling a few more over and particularly if they can be gainfully employed would add only that amount to the cost repre sented by the actual wages of the additional men. With these considerations, we felt it wise to include a few borderline cases, especially if other considerations also pointed to the advisability. The additional men over your Group A which we have requested Management to bring over are: Jerry Billoups James J. York Henry Murray Dominick Guercio Fred Eanford West Coley Pertaining to your contemplated visit here, I am sorry to say that I had planned to be away the week of October 13, having made plans to attend the Du Pont Medical Meeting at Wilmington, Delaware, to which I had been invited by Dr. Oehrmann. While I would have much liked to have seen you and it will have been essentially my misfortune that I do not, I would not have you change your plans on my account. I have advised Mr. Hollingsworth and Mr. Bond of your arrival somewhat later in the week of October 13 than your original plans called for. Sincerely yours, C.W. Bond, Resident Manager. RCAS:D Roy C. A. Bock, M.D. Chief Plant Physician.' KE" 00G i O 0 O A. September 2J, 194-6 Dr. Hoy C. A. Bock Ethyl Corporation P.0. Box 3'nl Bacon House, Louisiana Dear Doctor Bock: I have gone over the contents of your letter of Septer.bor l6th, to Mr. Bond. X am quite prepared to approve hat you have cone, end with the exception of two non in whose case my decision would have been different, I have no criticism to offer. I think however I should acquaint you with the criteria which led to my classification of tho non, since otherwise both you and your associates might come to the conclusion that I was being unduly lax in relation to the safety of those men. Our chief point of difference ha3 to g o with the men wnoxn I classified in tho group requiring further study. I realize that you.may have been put to the necessity of classifying these men without delay, on the basis of available information whether adequate or inadequate. If this was the caso, you are fully justified in your way of handling tne decisions. In any case, I repeat, the responsibility was yours and no one ha3 any right to be critical. In my opinion, however, so long as a .man is apparently quite well, it is necessary to exercise the utmost caution in taking any action that interferes with his performance of his duty and thereby ernts off his earning power. On this basis, without taking undue chances, I like to have the evidence that satisfies mo that it is unsafe for the r&qn to work longer. Now in this connection, I do not accept the analytical evidence obtained from^ spot sample of urine as being at all adequate. There are too many factors which influence the reliability of the result. The one is tho possibility of the contamination of the sample, which wc can never ignore. Another is the size of the sample. Any sample under ml. in volume is of dubious value, and the results should always be discounted.until it is checked. Another is tho concentration of the sample, since in hot weather*, or under other circumstances which tend to concentrate the urine, the lead concentration will not be representative of the true picture. These factors can bo offset, to some degree, by valid analytical results on the blood. Moreover they can bo offset by repeated s aj/jpling and analysis. In my opinion, in the case of men who have been employed only for a short time, and who therefore have not accumulated large quantities of lead, one can afford to K 00G3ii4 N9572.0X Dp* Roy C. A. Bock - 2 - September 2^, 1yl+6 / wait to make a decision anti1, analytical results sufficient to answer tne problem, have been accumulated. It i3 on the basis of till3 point of view that I made my classification of the men. I was in the position where the application of this viev/point was possible, since I was under no pressure to arrive at a conclusion at once. Your situation may have well boon quito'different, and it was partly for this reason that I was unwilling to make any other than tentative decision for your review. postpone this general expression of my point of view until that time, since I do not want you or your associates to have the slightest feeling that I am willing to bo lax, or to condone laxity in matters of this type, I arn expecting to be in Baton Rouge during the week of October llpth. I should like to be there sooner but tile pressure of other work and responsibility have made this very nearly impossible, I shall spend the entire week if necessary and at that tine we should be able to review all of the problems that confront us. Sincerely yours. !AK:rms Robert A. Kehoe, 11.D. KE ETHYL CORPORATION INTER-OFFICE CORRESPONDENCE TO 0. W. Bond, Resident Manager B. B. Turner f r o m ^3T C. A. Boole, M.D. subj ec t Recommendations on employees currently working In Smelter with particular regard to lead exposure. a d d r e s s Baton Rouge, La. Baton Rouge, La. a d d r e s s Baton Rouge, La. d a t e September 16, 1946. The following supersedes all previous communications on this subject. Employees are listed in three groups: Group A - Employees to be kept out of exposure to lead. Group B -- Employees who may continue work if lead exposure is definitely reduced or has been reduced as a result of previous recommendations. Group D - Employees who may continue to work unrestricted or who may resume such work if previously restricted. These recommendations were arrived at as a result of joint consultation of Drs. Corbett, Smith and myself. Dr. Kehoe who was in possession of all of the excretory data on these men and most of the other information gave me over the phone this morning four groupings including a Group 0 which we have omitted and which comprised men on whom additional analytical data and other study woudl be retired before a really Intelligent medical decision could be reached. We.feel, however, that we could present no such group to Management at this time, but would have to take the responsibility of assigning men In this group to one of the other three groups for practical purposes at this time. in general. Dr. Kehoe felt we had been a bit too severe in recommending removal or reduction to exposure of workmen to Management but did indicate that we would have to consider our clinical impression of men and also since we are primarily responsible would have to interpret the data as we saw it. Our present recommendations then are generally somewhat less rigid than hereto fore, but not as generous as Dr. Kehoe's. Of the eighty-nine individuals Involved, Dr. Kehoe had placed seventeen, in Group A, twenty-five in Group B, twenty-four in Group C and twenty-three in Group D. We have placed thirty-three in Group A, thirty in Group B and twenty-six in Group D, having eliminated Group C. KE 0007356 N9572.02 c. W. Bond, Resident Manager B. B. Turner -2- September l6, 19^6 We have attempted to weigh all of the prominent factors In connection with this entire problem and by way of perspective may say this. Pur Safety Department, with Management*s approval, preaches ultraeautiousness in avoiding traumatic injury and points out that when i comes to safety, time and money are secondary. In comparison with this, our judgment is thsfc our recommendations are not at all too strenuous and indeed probably represent in a comparable way laxity that would not be endorsed in the field of accident prevention. Group A - Employees to be kept out of exposure to lead. 3cott, W. X.. Wendt, Robert Jackson, A. Freeman, Fred Carter, Frank Billoups, Jerry Green, Sam France, William Franklin, DeWitt Thompson, Shed Jones, Raymond Freeman, Jack York, James J. Murray, Henry Williamston. Kora White, Abe Jackson, Eddie Washington, Hosea Kent, Willie Guerolo, Dominick Laey, Merrell G. Slaatovlch,: Hioholas Hall, Marshall Hill, Jerry Forbes, Charles, Jr. Berryhill, Eddie Wright, Joe Jackson, William Banford, Fred Red, Alex Coley, West Moore, Lee Triplett, Honey Kf 000735 7 C. W. Bond, Resident Manager B* B. Turner September 16, 19^6. Group B - Employees who may continue work if lead exposure is definitely reduced or has been reduced as a result of previous recommendations. Odom, A. A. Bradfleld, Charles Tucker, Emmett Haydell, Charles Mackey, Edward Mronshlnskie, Francis Johnson Feltus Arbour, Roy Wendt, David Barrett, Lloyd, Jr. Babin, Percy L. Brown, Edward Pail, Richard Davis, Arthur J. Moody, Edwin Nolan, James Smith, Wellman Griffin, Charlie Parsons, W. R. Jones, Cleveland Barnes* Chancy Jones, Stevedore Williams, James No. 2652 Ricks, Herbert Taylor, James Williams, Henry Anthony, Wayne Gross, H. Williams, James B. No. 265b Davis, Kressy No. 2678 Group B - Employees who may continue to work un restricted or who may resume such work if previously restricted. Palmer, Robert Bassett, Cecil Buckley, Milton Gibson, Atwood Ewell, G. D. Henderson, Emmett Wilson, William G. W* Bead, Resident Manager B. B, Turner September l6, 19*4-$ Group B continued. Lewis, Dan Morris, Alee Virdue, Charlie Young, Eugene Wilson, Wilbert Hardy, Roosevelt Hash, Louis Doty, Joe Gray, Percy Behrens, Leroy Gardner, Edwin L. Martin, Charles D. McGowan, Adam Redden, Emmett Doty, David Babin, Newton Gilder, Herman Roe, Eugene Johnson, Arthur No. 2571 Ho. 266*4Ho. 267*4- It lsimportant at this time that the future of the Smelter and our relationship to it be made clear. Drs. Corbett, Smith and myself have had several recent meetings with one of you (B. B. Turner) wherein it appeared that our - medical relationship with Smelter men would soon cease* Drs. Corbett and Smith indicated then their reluctance to continue to aot as guardians of the health of the employees at the Smelter indefinitely unless their recommendations were enforced. Then too, in addition to clarification on this point, if we are to continue medical supervision and observation of these employees, we will need to promptly make plans to do so* In the past several weeks pointing to aft early termination of our medical contact and necessity for digesting and preparing reports for purposes of the moment, we have had to necessarily restrict our routine medical program that we had followed up to that time. RCABiD cos Dr. Robert A. Kehoe Roy/G. A. Bock, M.D. Chief Plant Physician