Document NeRmgKMV3yvovYn7nV3wdrGBb

INDUSTRIAL SAFETY EQUIPMENT ASSOCIATION (' 1901 North Moore Street Arlington, Virginia 22209 Safety Wearing Apparel Group Meeting November l6, 1978 Lakeview Inn and Country Club Morgantown, West Virginia MINUTES Listed below are the minutes of the Safety Wearing Apparel Group, Indus trial Safety Equipment Association meeting which was held on Thursday, November 16, 1978 at the Lakeview Inn, Morgantown, West Virginia. The following people participated: Lou Ott Gentex Corporation Peter Frieder Gentex Corporation D. C. Grossman A-Best Products Company Len Hatch Sawyer-Tower, Division of Norton Company Jack Casey Granet Division, ESB Incorporated (. John Weaver Fyrepel Company G. W. Herzbergex; Jr- Safety First Industries, Incorporated Pnbert Thomas Edmont Wilson Hud Wheeler Wheeler Protective Apparel Lynn Goldstein Durafab Company, Inc. Harry Lewis Rubin Brothers, Inc. Dick Sager Sager Glove Corporation D. E. Houston Safety First Industries, Incorporated R. M. Ladick Mine Safety Appliances Company Helen Nies` . ISEA Counsel F. E. Wilcher, Jr. - ISEA Executive Director Robert Kinkaid Boss Glove Company George Dickson Standard Safety, Incorporated Chairman Houston presided and called the meeting to order at 11:15 a.m. On motion by Mr. Goldstein, seconded by Mr. Dickson and carried, the minutes of the previous meeting, November 10, 1977 were approved as presented. Following the agenda, Mr. Dick Sager reported on the testing as conducted by the joint committee of SWAG and the Aluminum Association Safety Committee. The Aluminum Subcommittee of SWAG in April of 1978 tested an initial 125 fabrics relative to their resistance to molten aluminum splash. In September of 1978, with the cooperation of the Aluminum Industry Safety Committee and Reynolds Metals Company, 62 of the 125 initial fabrics were subjected to. additional calorimeter testing at the Reynolds Metals facility in Richmond, ct' t>rv ic.f-f. DKS 253 i?a Frank E. Wilcher, Jr -2- November 21, 1978 Virginia. The final report on this calorimeter testing was given to the SWAG Group and the Aluminum Association Safety Committee at a meeting held at the Ramada Inn, Washington, D. C. on November 8, 1978. This report was presented by Mr. Phil Jaynes, Consultant to SWAG-Aluminum Association Safety Committee. In this report, blister level was defined and the testing determined those fabrics that would prevent a blister from occurring when a wearer was exposed to molten aluminum splash. The 62 fabrics that performed best will form' the basis for recommendations as primary and-secondary level protection to the aluminum industry. Mr. Sager pointed out that there are two more stages to be reached in this program. The first is field testing of finished garments by member com panies of the Aluminum Association. These finished garments would be tested for worker acceptance and wearability, as well as function. In order to retain anonymity," fabri-c suppliers may expect a-letter from Frank Wilcher requesting swatches of various materials which Will then be distributed by the ISEA executive' office to various aluminum companies. In this manner, only the ISEA will know which particular user received any given supplier's fabric. The second stage would be a film presenta tion produced by the Aluminum Association using lifelike mannequins to demonstrate the hazards of non-protective clothing versus protective clothing, in primary and secondary stages, when exposed to molten aluminum splash. This movie would be designed to illustrate to workers in the aluminum industry the hazards of wearing untreated and non-protective types of clothing. Mr. Sager concluded by saying that this project is moving to completion and much has been achieved relative to the possible achievements within the state of the clothing art, as well as fabric and textile science. A discussion followed on the pros and cons of ISEA participation in the costs of a film of this type. Mr. Frieder suggested that those companies who want to participate on an individual company basis should be free to do so. The subject of participation in this film and the cost thereof, was referred to the aluminum subcommittee of SWAG for further discussion and later recommendation. However, those members present were -almost unanimously negative to sharing the cost of a film to be used primarily by the aluminum industry. Mr. Ron Ladick then gave a report on the organization and work to date of ASTM committee F.23 on chemical protective clothing. This committee has many members from ISEA and will have its next meeting January 30 and 31 in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Hud Wheeler reported on safety clothing standards, particularly those which were funded documents. The Bendix-Syntex report on safety clothing, the NFPA report on Turnout Coats, the A. D. Little report on Fireman's Gloves and the Department of Commerce-National Fire Prevention and Control Administration document on "Protective Clothing and Equipment for Fire Fighters". In addition, the CAL/OSHA standard for fire fighters and four DKS 254 Mr. Frank E. Wilcher, Jr. -3- November 21, 1978 intemational standards on protective clothing were alsofinanced by various organizations. Mr. Wheeler pointed out that ANSI has asked for a technical advisory group (TAG) on'standards as they apply to protective equipment under the International Standards Organization (ISO). In the discussion that followed on the above mentioned reports, it was pointed out by Mr. Sager that the public relations committee of ISEA should make the public aware of the ISEA technical input, financial and material support and executive time which has been devoted to helping the Aluminum Association come up with a higher degree of worker protection. Chairman Houston, being a member of the Public Relations Subcommittee^ wi 11 bring this .to their attention. In order to gain further input for the ASTM F.23 Committee, Mr. Goldstein explained an offer by Mr. Ivan Weinstock, Publisher of Occupational Hazards, and various other Industry journals, to use Occupational Hazards' mailing list and facility to gain greater response to a protective clothing questionaire. Mr. Goldstein offered to look into this further and come up with concrete details, Mr. Dick Sager reported on the present status of regulations and standards as they pertain to asbestos. Mr. Sager commented that much of .the input is more emotional than scientific and emotion ig.winning. At the present time, while the standard is at 2 micrograms per/centrmeter, it does appear that ' this will be lowered to .5 micrograms, at which level, the domestic manu facturing of protective clothing out of asbestos would be completely im possible. In the short run, it looks like there will be no standard for one or two years. However, one will eventually come at this .5 level. Mr. Jack Casey gave a report on the impact of foreign competition. Notably, in 1977, 597. of the cattle hides that were domestically, raised were exported; so far in 1978, this figure has reached 657. being exported. The economic impact of this is that many of these 657. exported cattle hides are coming back into this country as imported leather and leather palm work gloves. As of September, 1978 the United States has imported 5.5 million dozen pairs of cotton gloves (increase of 267. over 1977), 1.5 million dozen pairs of leather and leather palm gloves (a figure which represents 607. of the total business in this type of hand protection), and 3 million dozen pairs of unsupported gloves (a 217. increase over 1977). These figures total up to 10 million dozen pairs of imported work gloves coming into this country.. Discussions are now undeway at cabinet level in the government which indi cate that further tariff reductions are going to be given to importers, giving them a further edge on this type of business. While no input is available relative to the numbers or dollar value of rainwear and chemical clothing being imported into this country, logic seems to dictate that it is not far behind the high imported figures for work gloves. DKS 255 * Hr. Frank E. Wilcher, Jr, -4- November 21,' 1978 A review of thenembership prospect list, which was distributed by Chairman Houston, indicated that there are. several prospective new mem bers for the SWAG group. The chairman and the vice chairman will review this membership list and take steps to get personal contact with the "hottest" prospects. Chairman Houston reported on the request of the American Industrial Hygiene Association to have ISEA present a paper at the 1979 AIHA meeting', ISEA will put forth_ a panel of speakers for discussion on all types of protec tive equipment, excluding respiratory protection, at this 1979 meeting. Chairman Houston presented his abstract on "Protective Clothing" vis-a-vis "The Need for Better Standards for Personal Protective Equipment", There being no other old business or new business, Mr, Casey moved for adjourn ment and Mr. Goldstein seconded the motion, and the motion to adjourn was adopted. Very truly yours. /jw DKS 256