Document YDx0XaNnjDjRYXKQpZVk9qJm8

FILE NAME: Engineering (ENG) DATE: 1934 Aug DOC#: ENG024 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Trade Journal Article - Asbestos Dusts S afety E ngineering THE MAGAZINE E SAFETY (with which has been combined Protection Engineering, Conservation and Fire Prevention.) Arthur C. C arruthers, Ediu Harry JeG. Armand, Busm* Manner IN THIS ISSUE : EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS : SPECIA L FEA TU R ES Strikes and S a fe ty ...................................... 53 A p p a llin g B u s T r a g e d y d e ta ils on New Safeguards Needed ....................... 54 page 59. Standards for the Safety Industry. . . 54 S ta tistic s o f A ccid en ts in E n g la n d , Casualty Insurance Companies and shown on page 64. Occupational Disease Control . . . 54 National Safety Congress........................ 54 S tu d ie s o f silic o sis a n d o th e r o ccu pational diseases on pages 69, 75, ACCIDENT: 77, 84 FIRE : Protect Your Child Against Fire -- by A. W ILBU R NELSON 65 Safeguarding the School Buildings -- by A. C. HUTSON 67 Explosion of Malt Dust Hazard in B re w in g ............................................'. . . . 68 HEALTH : The Responsibility of the State in Motor Vehicle Safety --by J. BORTEN W EEKS 55 Robert J. Sullivan 1879-1934 ............................................................. 57 Winners of the National Safety C o m p etitio n.......................... 58 Bus W reck Causes Many Deaths and Injuries.......................... 59 How Manufacturers Aid the Coal Mining In d u s try ............... 59 Relation of Season to Fatal A c c id e n ts............................................ 60 Protective Devices Pay ............................................................................ 60 Standards for Safety and Health for the Industrial Safety Equipment Industry and Trade ............................................ 61 Tabulation of Accident Experience in England.......................... 64 Workers in Dust-- by ALTON S. POPE, M.D............................... 69 Petrography in the Study of Occupational Diseases by CORNELIUS S. HURLBUT, JR. 73 Asbestos Dusts ............................................................................................. 74 Industrial Hygiene Service in Pennsylvania -- by DR. W . B. FULTON 7 5 The Traumatic Neuroses-- by jOSEPH SM ITH, M.D. (Continued from the July issue) 75 Silicosis Among Granite Quarriers -- by J. J. BLOOMFIELD & W ALDEM AR C. DRESSEN 77 Mouth B re ath e rs.......................................................................................... gp Occupational Diseases (Continued from the July issue) . . . 81 Industrial Nursing: Health Education in Branch Offices................................ 83 W hat Do Young Men Want to Know?....................... 83 An Unusual F a cto ry................................................................... gg Occupational Disease Legislation ...................................... 83 Some Figures Relating to Tuberculosis.......................... 84 VOLUME LXVIII AUGUST, 1934 THIRT1J-FOURTH IjEAR NUMBER 9 THE PlOTlEER PUBLICATIOU IN ITS FIELD P u b lish e d m o n th ly b y Sa fe ty Magazine Publishing Corporation; Arthur C. Carruthers, President; Austin F. Hancock, Vice-President; Harry deG. Armand, Secretary. Editorial and General Offices-- 45 John Street, New York, N. Y .; Publication offices-- 34 North Crystal Street, East Stroudsburg, Pa. Previous issues of SAFETY ENGINEERING can be found in the Industrial Arts Index in your library Entered as second class matter January 7 , 1930, at the East Stroudsburg, Pa., Post Office, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Subscriptions: $3.00 a year; Canada, $4.00; foreign, $4.50. Single Copies, 25c. 74 SAFETY ENGINEERING August, 1934 mineral and in many cases could be avoided. One phase of the dust problem that has received little or no attention in the past and may prove to be an im portant one in the future is the selective action induced as finely divided material settles in air. This action has already been mentioned in the case of sericite and quartz. Because of different physical properties quartz will settle more rapidly than sericite. Rarely will it happen that two substances possess similar physical properties, and thus in any industrial dust various constituents settle faster than others. in endeavoring to estimate the exposure to free sil ica in the granite industry in the past, it was determined that free silica or quartz made up a certain per cent by weight of the rock as quarried. This figure was then taken to represent the free silica in the air floated dust. Such a conclusion is entirely erroneous, for the amount of the material in the air depends on the physical nature of the constituent minerals. A striking example of the selective nature of air floated mineral particles was shown in the recent ex amination of dust from an asbestos fabrication plant. Inhaled fibres of asbestos are said to give rise to the disease asbestosis. One would, consequently, expect to find large quantities of asbestos in the air during dust) processing operations. Petrographic examination of dust revealed the startling fact that little or no asbestos is present in the air floated dust; and that the dust is made up of impurities present in the raw material. The fibrous nature of the asbestos apparently causes it to mat, while the smaller particles of extraneous material are contributed to the dust. Although the application of petrography to the study of silicosis is still in the embryonic state, it has never theless already proved its worth. The interest of the petrographer in this subject may be much further ex tended, for his geologic knowledge would permit him to predict what minerals to expect and the hazards to be encountered in the development and exploitation of a given raw material. ASBESTOS DUSTS A POTENTIAL, asbestosis hazard is to be looked for wherever asbestos dust is created. Possible sources are the mining and milling of asbestos and the weaving, machining and milling of asbestos and the compounds. Industries included in the latter group are the manufacture of asbestos textiles and clothing, brake linings, cements and roofing materials. Asbestosis is less understood than silicosis. It has received attention in the United States only during the last three or four years. Fewer workers are exposed to asbestosis than silicosis, but it is a definitely impor tant occupational disease hazard. It is established that asbestosis may cause disability and death. Any well defined case of asbestosis is more likely than not to progress to a fatal conclusion. As in silicosis, length of exposure is not by itself a determin ing factor. The pathology of asbestosis differs markedly from that of silicosis. The dust particles being larger, the damage is to the bronchioles, rather than to the alveoli, the latter being too small to admit any large proportion of the particles. The fibrosis of asbestosis is charac terized by the formation of so-called "asbestos bodies," a phenomenon quite different from any found in sili cosis. The symptoms of asbestosis are generally similar to those of silicosis, particularly as regards a gradually in creasing dyspnea (shortness of breath). The cyanosis (bluish discoloration of the skin) characteristic of sili cosis is also met with in asbestosis, particularly around the mouth and finger nails. Clubbing of the fingers has also been noted. The shadows seen in asbestosis lung pictures are finer and less dense than those of sili cosis. Heart enlargement is more common than in sili cosis. X-ray diagnosis is essential. As far as is now known, the control of asbestosis should be along lines similar to those recommended for silicosis. Dust control is of prime importance. Physi cal examinations, both on entry to the industry and pe riodically thereafter, should be part of the program, with removal of the infected as a minimum require ment. Tuberculosis .is probably less common among as bestosis workers than in the silica trades but more se rious when it does occur. Our present knowledge of asbestosis leaves much to be explained. We do not yet know why it is far more common in the fabrication of asbestos than in its min ing and milling. Reports indicate that there is far more trouble in some relatively clean plants than in others which are extremely dusty. An explanation of this may lie in the marked difference between various kinds of asbestos. For example, the asbestos mined in Canada varies widely in chemical composition from that coming from South Africa. Studies of the chemical, physical and petrographic characteristics of various kinds of asbestos are now going on. The results of these should be of prime importance. MASSACHUSETTS CREATES OCCUPA TIONAL HYGIENE DIVISION O N J U N E 26lh last, Governor Ely of Massachusetts signed a bill establishing a Division of Occupa tional Hygiene in the Department of Labor and In dustry in that Slate. The Commissioner of the Department appointed Manfred Bowditch, formerly Executive Secretary of the Special Industrial Disease Commission to act as Director of the New Division. The creation of the new Division was recommended by a special legislative commission which made an ex tensive study of industrial diseases in Massachusetts.