Document QkXX4ezGNEzxoyd79KvYJ27bo

MINUTES SEMIANNUAL MEETING THE HOMESTEAD HOT SPRINGS, VIRGINIA October 10-12, 1973 The meeting was called to order by President T. E. Armstrong, Sr., at 9:00 a.m. on October 10 , 1973. Those in attendance were: W. 0. Herbert The Celotex Corporation E. R. Kiehl The Celotex Corporation J 0. W. Miller The Celotex Corporation C. E. Abbey The Flintkote Company M. C. Carpenter The Flintkote Company E. R. Stainback The Flintkote Company J. D. Friedlein Georgia-Pacific Corporation G. E. WiIson Georgia-Pacific Corporation G. 1. Fischer : Grand Rapids Gypsum Company J. Maddox ; Grand Rapids Gypsum Company J. H. Walton . Kaiser Cement & Gypsum Corporation E. J. Killian National Gypsum Company J. D. Shull National Gypsum Company T. E. Armstrong, Sr. Temple Gypsum Company T. E. Armstrong, Jr. Texas Gypsum Company . W. VI. Holloway United States Gypsum Company A. J. Watt United States Gypsum Company R. Baker Legal Counsel ; R. B. Cartwright Legal Counsel 0. R. Macdonald Legal Counsel A. V. Abnee, Jr. Gypsum Association D. E. Brackett Gypsum Association J. L. Houser Gypsum Association F. J. Rogers Gypsum Association OPENING REMARKS President Armstrong'opened the meeting with brief welcoming remarks and invited all present to introduce themselves and their company affiliation to the membership. Upon motion duly made, seconded and carried, the minutes of the last meeting of the membership were approved as distributed by the Secretary. . REPORT OF THE SECRETARY Mr. A. V. Abnee, Jr., Secretary of the Association, welcomed the membership on behalf of the staff. He briefly reviewed some of the more recent staff activities and some of the more important duties for the near future. He reported in detail the assigned duties of members of legal counsel. Baker McKenzie, and the major areas of responsibilities for their legal work of the Association. He then called the membership's attention to the agenda and stressed that each committee's report would - -- < J; J ri;'/)''. i ? "' cr ?. cv kc-. ^7 ( M '<C.cT~ / -j~i f? - contain items which hopefully could be thoroughly discussed in the membership meeting so that the Directors would have as much informa tion as possible in order to take appropriate action at their meeting later in the week. The Secretary previewed the various committee chairmen's reports and highlighted those areas which were felt to need explicit action on the part of the membership and the Board of Directors, as follows: Safety Committee - Uniformity in accident reporting, asbestos dust in plants, and need for additional assistance in legislative activ ities. Manufacturing and Mining- Committee - Paper shortage and air emission study. Building Code Committee - Continued analysis of third party inspection, label service and Association representation on the East Coast and in Washington, D.C. in particular. Technical Committee - Industry conversion to the metric system, effect of smaller lumber : sizes, more industry asbestos testing programs, continuation of the Research Associate program at the National Bureau of Standards. Pr.o- motional Committee - Support in the use of Gypsum Association code numbers from the Fire Resistance manual by member company salesmen, building officials and architects. Materials Handling Committee - Request for a reorganization and name change to better fit the activ ities. Traffic Committee - New AAR test program. , - Mr. Abnee then reviewed the agenda scheduled for the ensuing two-day meeting. . . ` . .. TREASURER'S REPORT . : ' : -: Mr. G. E. Wilson, Treasurer, presented the financial posi tion of the-Association. Income during the first five months of the present budget year was approximately $213,300 from assessments, $5,600 from literature sales, $3,300 from interest on savings and $1*80 print ing royalty. Expenditures during this period were approximately $142,200 against an approved budget of $134,600. Our cash position as of September 30, 1973 was approximately $74,000. Mr. Wilson reported that, in his opinion, the Association was in a sound financial position. The Treasurer's report was accepted with thanks. REPORT OF LEGAL COUNSEL Mr. Russell Baker, senior partner of Baker & McKenzie, gave the legal counsel report. He briefly reviewed his concept of the re sponsibilities and activities of such a firm being retained by a na tional trade association. He traced the history of anti-trust laws since the enactment of the Sherman Anti-trust Act and the various changes that American business has endured during the ensuing 83 years. J". ) j X) /V i< ___ * *' r- ft,;19 ^^.35 p/7ii !UU YYV /c - 1 ' /*> Based on Mr. Benjamin's report, Mr. Houser's findings and the Technical Committee's general evaluation of the merits of our research activities within the Bureau of Standards, Mr. Shull requested that the Board consider approval of the continua tion of the Research program for at least two more years. In addition to the above request, the Technical Committee : also stands in support of an Association staff man being headquartered " In Washington, as recommended by the Building Code Committee. , Mr. Shull then reported on the asbestos dust test program relating to joint compounds. Mr. Shull read a written report from Mr. J. Volk, Chairman of the special committee to conduct this pro gram (attached) and expanded on the request for an additional $2000 ' .-".Vi* to move into Phase II of the program. Mr. Shull felt that this work was extremely important and that a complete and comprehensive, report to the membership could be made by the end of January 197** with the approval of the additional expenditure requested above. He further cautioned that following the completed analysis of Phase I and Phase II of this program, it might be found that additional testing would be required, and additional funds requested. -V. . r . - ^ A third area of major concern is the inevitable transition y from English measure to the metric system. Mr. Shull pointed out / ;that this is an extremely complex problem and that the Technical ' .Committee has established a basic task group to explore the ramifi cations which might be found in converting to metric numbers. This , . problem is so large that other association committees will have to be involved in any final determinations relating to converting to the metric system. He explained that converting from 5/3" thick i* gypsum board would leave a measurement of 15.875 mm; an extremely Y: ; difficult number to work with. When the Technical Committee task force on metric conversion completes its work, Mr. Shull will rec- . .. . cmmend that an over-all task group made up of members from the '' . Technical Committee, Building Code Committee, Promotional Committee > and Manufacturing and Mining Committee, be established to work out ;j * the final recommendations. - - Mr. Shull then described the recent fire test program. Two of the original tests slated to be conducted under the original program were donated to the Association by Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation, thus relieving the Association of the expense of these tests. A successful sound test was run on the "lot line" assembly which is constructed of two separate walls spaced 1" apart with 1/2" type X gypsum wallboard on each side of both walls and an additional face layer on the expected fire side. The fire test on this con struction resulted in a two hour rating and the sound test resulted in a 57 STC without mineral fiber and a 59 STC with mineral fiber in the stud cavity. . ' tL___ car. ^> /iuicU M-kj 1 (Cci- /c / 2 REPORT OF SPECIAL TASK FORCE ON JOINT TREATMENT COMPOUND This is the first report on the proceedings and status of the work being done by the Special Committee on Asbestos in Joint Compound. As you will recall, a recommendation was made to the Gypsum Association that it involve itself in the assessment of release of asbestos fibers during the use of the joint treat ment products by the customer. This recommendation was based on the stringent regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. At the annual meeting, all committees and the Board supported a basic program and funds were appropriated to conduct a field . ,, test program to determine what level of asbestos fibers are re leased in mixing and sanding operations when using joint compound . - products. It was further stipulated that an independent laboratory : -. would serve to monitor this type of program in order to minimize vJ V. cost due to duplicate individual efforts by the membership. - ... iv ln May-of this year, representatives from the Gypsum Association . met with OSHA representatives in Washington to discuss regulations .'^^B^pertaining to asbestos. The two purposes for this meeting were ` ' (1) a hope to obtain an interpretation of the law which would . preclude the need for placing labels on containers of joint : . 1 .compound if the asbestos fiber environment generated during its . 3 normal use would not exceed the OS HA limits, and (2) a variance ' *'- ViVfrom the regulations which would eliminate the need for the con . ' '' ^tractor to provide monitoring at each job site.' Although OSHA . ^J ;r,^ ,tiwas impressed with our interest in our consumers use of the pro duct, they verbally denied any general relief from either the . ' > labeling or the monitoring requirement. ' . .. . f Subsequent to the meeting with OSHA, a special Association committee - was formed from member designates who were skilled in air sampling V; , techniques and evaluations. This committee formulated a test pro . " gram and selected George 0. Clayton and Associates as the independ- , ent laboratory to do the monitoring for the test. The actual test work was conducted by Gardineer Drywall Company, Aurora, Colorado, ; and they provided excellent cooperation In order that the monitoring . of dust and asbestos fibers could be evaluated. Ten dry powder and ready mix topping grade joint compounds from five manufacturers were delivered to the site by the Association members. Containers were unmarked except for a code number assigned by the Association's confidential depository. Ten test houses, in close proximity to each other and of relatively comparable size were designated for the test program. One product was assigned for each * house for the mixing and sanding procedures. The mixing tests required about 15 minutes per product and the sanding required an average of one hour per house; sanding was accomplished in a manner typical of flat work. WL,j), _ l _____ c. 11., ex. np. -2- A1though a final report has not been submitted by Clayton, there was a special committee meeting held October 3 and a discussion of preliminary results indicated that there might be some area of inconsistency or incompletion of data obtained from this test program. The Committee recommends that certain portions of this program be redone to assure the Association that results which are to be published in the final report are accurate, complete and consistent. The Phase II program has already been established and the Committee is ready to proceed. It is estimated that this phase will cost no more than $2,000 and it is requested that the Board of Directors approve such expenditures. If funds are appropriated. Phase II can complete their work and submit a comprehensive report of findings and recommendations by the end of January 197^* It is not possible as of now to predict if additional testing ivill be required after Phase 11. Respectfully submitted. November 1973 Ooseph Volk, Chairman Special Committee on Joint Compounds