Document RJEv0RwQ1DGeZkgX3LYdRvYq7

FILE NAME: Kaiser Gypsum (KG) DATE: 1972 DOC#: KG013 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Memo RE Letter from R.W. Grigg, Kaiser Gypsu Cov Carey-Canadian Asbestos CAREY. CAREY-CANADIAN ASBESTOS A DIVISION OF PANACON CORPORATION P. O. B O X 15070. C I N C IN N A T I. TLPH O N : 513-821-3000 9 March 1972 O H IO U.S.A. 45215 CABLE: CARYM INES T E L E X : 21-4184 R. W. G rigg Commodity P u rchasing Manager K a is e r Gypsum Co. I n c . Kaiser. Center 300 L akeside Drive Oakland, C a lifo rn ia 94604 * Dear Ralph: The en c lo se d memo from R. J . M e r r i l l , P r e s id e n t, Carey-Canadian Mines, L td ., i s in answer to your in q u ir y o f December 27 and f u r t h e r to my l e t t e r of January 7 > We t r u s t h is r e p ly w i l l an sw er yo u r q u e s tio n s . We a r e p le a se d to be o f s e r v i c e . S in c e re ly , H aro ld F. X. P la te /jm S a le s Manager E n clo su re . RECEIVED m ar 1 3 1372 KAISER CEMENT * GYPSUM PURCHASING OEPAPTMPNY RANAGON - /IB .\ INTERNAL CORRESPONDENCE * C. ' :' v/ | - - 1-- ' ` -- - TO: H. F . X. P l a t e V' ' . . . .-ROM: R. J. M errill : ~' -.:-t y L -- ^ ... _ t, - ' DATE: REPLY BY: CC: A. H. B a g e n s t o s e s u b j e c t -. L E T T E R FROM R. W. GRIGG, KAISER GYPSUM CO. D e c e m b e r 27, 1971 I know of no b etter way to evaluate the health h a za rd of using our a sb esto s than to te ll the story of our mining operations. I s h o u l d f i r s t p o in t out t h a t o u r m i n e i s l o c a t e d a p p r o x i m a t e l y 15 m i l e s away fro m any of the.m ines com prising the Thetford Mines group and that the m ajo rity of our employees live in the town of E ast Broughton, which can;be called a "com pany town" as our mining operation is its only industry. We .employ 300 h o u r ly r a te d and 50 s a l a r i e d e m p lo y e e s . E a s t B roughton developed in the shadow of and down-wind fr o m our fo r m e r mine, The Q uebec A s b e s to s C o rp o ra tio n , w hich o p e ra te d f r o m 1918 to 1958. During t h a t - p e r i o d w e-em ployed up to 150 m en . Our o re bodies of c h ry so tile a s b e s t o s fibre contain the h ig h e st p e rc e n ta g e of a s b e s to s of any m ine in Quebec and require much m ore crushing and grinding to release the asbestos t h a n the o r e s of t h e 'T h e t f o r d g ro u p o r th a t of J o h n s - M a n v i l l e . We r e c o v e r the a sb e sto s by dry milling, creating a lot of dust in the p rocess. M odern m ills collect this dust with a bag filter. The product of the bag filters is partly p ro c e ssed and graded to be sold as 7RF and 7TF. As there is in su f ficient m a rk e t for all of the dust collected, the balance is discarded with the tailings product from the mill and is stacked in mountainous heaps adjacent to the mill. The Quebec Asbestos Corporation mill was not equipped with a bag filter. The extrem ely dusty air in the m ill interior was passed through cyclone collectors and exhausted from them to the atm osphere. This pall of dust settled continually over the town. The tailings heaps were also up-wind f r o m the town so dust fr o m that so u rc e also c o v ered the town. It was only in 1958 a fte r we built our new operation, C arey -C a n a d ian Mines, th re e m ile s northeast, and down-wind from the town, that the townspeople could breathe a dust-free atmosphere. Our new operation maintains worker environment below 10 f i b r e s p e r c. c. and the d u s t f r o m o u r ta ilin g s h e a p s is d i s s i p a t e d over an unpopulated area. Fom 5339-2 4/29 7 0 s 'age i wo Thi3 som ew hat detailed description of our fo rm e r operations and the unfortunate fo rm e r plight of our em ployees was necessary to show that our old em ployees, perhaps m ore than any from the other mines, should be experiencing serious problems of pneumoconiosis and bronchogenic can c e r. This, however, is not the case. T here are no compensable c a s e s of a s b e s t o s i s among our e m p lo y e es n o r do we have any knowledge that any of our em ployees m ay be expected to develop compensable asb esto sis. All have been annually examined at the Thetford Mines Industrial C l i n i c f o r th e p a s t 25 o r 30 y e a r s . We h a v e p e n s i o n e r s with o v e r 50 y e a r s of s e rv ic e . When we closed Quebec A sbestos Corporation, we tra n s fe rre d all of our 150 em ployees to the new operation, thus many of our w o rk e rs have o v e r 25 y e a r s of s e rv ic e . No u n u s u a l incidence of bronchogenic cancer has been noted among our employees as compared with other mines. Dr. M acDonald's study included our present and form er employees in the group of 11, 000 on which he re p o rte d . Q uestion No. 2 can be answ ered as follows: .: a. Charging and blending operations should be adequately ventilated to maintain the w o rk er environm ent below 12 f i b r e s p e r c. c. f o r s h o r t p e r i o d s a n d a v e r a g i n g below 5 f i b r e s p e r c. c. b. E m p tied bags should be baled, w rapped and sold as waste p a p e r. Spills should be clean ed up with a vacuum cleaner, not by push broom. c . T h e r e c o m m e n d e d r e s p i r a t o r i s 3M 3710__________ . d. The recom m ended dust m onitoring technique is the M embrane F ilte r Method, a copy of which is enclosed. e. Since accidental, short te r m and o v e r-e x p o su re will not re s u lt in pneumoconiosis or lung can cer, no em ergency ' procedures are necessary. 3. U s e a n d a p p l i c a t i o n p r o c e d u r e s : Joint Compounds - Avoid creation of visible dust when mixing d r y m a te r ia ls with w ater. An approved m a s k should be worn by all people working in the a re a of hand sandpapering but it would be better if an orbital sander equipped with vacuum dust collector could be used in place of handsanding. Wall Texture - Avoid creation of visible dust when mixing. Avoid overspray. Page Three or Ceiling Texture - Avoid creation of dust when mixing. : - Lam inating Compound - Avoid creation of dust when mixing. 4. (a) Copies of p roposed E P A and OSHA regulations a re available ` to you. (b) T his question is c o v e re d in the above regulations. l o r n o y !>V