Document YjQyqkaLeDYLw69p9opy726en

FILE NAME Corning OC DATE 1943 Dec 27 DOC OC088 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Memo - Public Relations Angles in Branch and Division War Survey December 27 1943 Mr. C. E. Gregory PUBLIC BRANCH RELATIONS ANGLES IN AND DIVISION POST SURVEY CC Mr. W. P. Zimmerman Mr. T. S. Rogers Mr. M. O. Jonson Mr. J. S. Thomas Mr. Wm H. Page & R Attached is a detailed summary of references in the Post questionnaire to Fiberglas admixture and the itch problem Branch and Division men almost unanimously urge further development of glass and asbestos admixtures to broaden the electrical and fabric markets And they indicate that product improvement to reduce or eliminate the itch is imperative if we are to compete successfully in markets where Fiberglas wool products possess desired engineering characteristics Following are observations on some public relations angles of these comments I am glad to report them to you at your request Admixture we should Fiberglas with keep with Asbestos In formulating our policy on admixtures with asbestos on the alert because otherwise we will run the risk of smearing the hazards of exposure to asbestos Fabrication of asbestos in both textile and textile form is a dusty process and exposure to asbestos ? involves the danger of asbestosis a pathological lung condition somewhat like silicosis This hazard is minimized by use of hoods and exhaust systems and wearing of respirators the asbestos fabricating industry has learned by the hard way how to control it More significant fabrication of textile asbestos involves a skin hazard Workers handling asbestos yarns in carding drafting twisting and plying operations and in warping and weaving-wherever the material may pass through the fingers at high speed acquire skin lesions known as asbestos corns caused by embedding of the snake asbestos fiber into the skin The asbestos manufacturing industry is well acquainted with these hazards and its workers are conditioned to them and are supplied with adequate protective devices It follows that any extensive Fiberglas asbestos cloth manufacturing program might well be subcontracted to establish asbestos fabricators Such a course would avoid our having to set up asbestos fabricating facilities of our own and would prevent exposing our people to such hazards which might adversely affect our compensation ratings and disability experience My suggestion is therefore that the handling of asbestos in combination with Fiberglas be dissociated from our own manufacturing * eR Rk Kk The Itch Problem Although our files are fully documented with medical references and other data to demonstrate that exposure to Fiberglas materials involves no disabling injuries or disease we have long recognized that the handling of Fiberglas wool products does involve some skin discomfort pointed slugs and unfiberized spicules have enough structural strength to penetrate the skin and to cause a distressing itch Medical authorities define this effect as a disabling trauma which is transitory and superficial and it has been demonstrated 1. that workers soon become accustomed to the material and handle it -2- without difficulty if they stick on the job long enough to build an immunity and 2. that when the mental hazard is removed washing before meals and at the end of each shift with plenty of mild soap and warm water of calamine lotion containing one per cent phenol as of a cleansor containing a wetting agent in pruritic and such as Kleen sometimes which is use cornmeal impregnated with lanolin ordinarily suffice Since May 1941 our health program has been built on these premises 1. Find out the facts Our files have been centralized complete related data have been assembled on insurance experience investi- gations have been carried out Siebert Sulsberger Sobmarts Schols etc. 2 Get the facts into medical literature articles have been published in Industrial Medicine American Journal of Surgery Journal of the American Medical Association Industrial Hygiene Digest etc. 3 Take the mystery out of the subject by making the facts available to members of our own organisation and to the general public Health Aspects has been published and reprints of articles in medical journals made available for general distribution 4 Handle inquiries promptly and fully All bona fide inquiries have been answered with custom replies Forms have been avoided 5 Concentrate on professional and technical influence centers medical groups safety engineers industrial hygienists plant physicians and nurses public health authorities These contacts have been made and are being cultivated This has been a slow process of education Frequently Branch men have been under the suspicion of being devil's advocates to get the order and their talk about the absence of the health hazard has been discounted Some Branch men too right and not familiar enough with our health story to tell it in a accurate manner still reflect a defeatist attitude about forththe itch and local competitive conditions sometimes frustrate them * kK * Our efforts to combat the itch may be adequate in a seller's market it is a certainty that they will be inadequate in a Post buyer's market In some cases we have been like the Dutch boy at the dike trying to stem a competitive avalanche that threatens to engulf us We can point with pride however to the consistent effort we have made to treat the subject on its merits We have nothing to hide nothing to conceal And where the itch has been a sales obstacle apparently ruling our materials out of a job the real reason has lain deeper in a complex of local and national manufacturing distribution and application methods Behind such situations lies the fact that long and perhaps unholy alliance with the the Asbestos Workers Union has had a magnesia manufacturers Evidence in -3- our files demonstrate that the Asbestos Workers have been stimulated by some magnesia manufacturers to insist on wage premiums in the handling of Fiberglas Since the asbestos workers profess to consider each local autonomous the Union's international officers have passed the word along that each local must decide for itself whether handling Fiberglas involves a health hazard and whether as a result the local member will ask a premium wage for handling Fiberglas only to the International's prohibition against a premium wage on a defense job The restriction imposed by the International of course convicts this policy as inconsistent on its face since Fiberglas cannot be safe to handle on defense or war jobs where Uncle Sam might be interested and unsafe on private jobs Be that as it may a chaotic wage rate situation has developed Premiums ranging from 25 cents to 1.00 per hour are demanded by some locals none by others Even though premium labor costs might still make it possible for a contractor to bid on applied job at a price under competitive materials such a practice is impractical for at least three reasons 1. War Labor Board will not approve 2 It implies that a hazard does exist 3 The precedent established would be difficult if not impossible to upset Back of this situation lie our distributing arrangements in the industrial insulation field Creation of industrial marketers was a step fully justified at the time it was undertaken to break into the market But since that time it has become apparent that next to the magnesia manufacturers themselves the strongest factor in the market is the contract applicator who gets the best price from the manufacturer and who bids and applies the job Contract applicators handling Fiberglas must buy at 50 off list through the Fiberglas industrial marketer who gets 60 off list Undoubtedly many of these applied Fiberglas constructors are satisfied with this arrangement But their own competitors contract applicators getting the best price direct from the magnesia manufacturers in our use of marketers in the distribution setup a threat to their own situation and whether on their own behalf or at the behalf of the magnesia manufactuers the stimulating the asbestos worke with whom they live and work in very close relationship to use an imagined health hazard to embarrass the Fiberglas contract applicator Thus to clean this situation we will be obliged to 1. reexamine the raison d'etre of an industrial marketer i 2. to decide whether his present discount is equitable in view of the economic functions he performs as compared with the discount given the contract applicator and 3. to determine whether we can set up sufficient contract applicators to cover the market Another factor is the longstanding grievance of the Asbestos Workers Union that no settlement ever has been made by Corning Glass Works on the dispute over the job done at Corning by Manville Smith Murray Company of Rochester Corning's recent A.F.L. affiliation may have some bearing on this Both Mr. Hosier and Mr. Coomble assured me in Corning recently that a settlement can be made at any time that payment can be made to a bona fide charity Summary Manufacture fabrication application of Fiberglas materials involve no hazard attributable to Fiberglas as differentiated from other materials That point is well established Handling of the wool materials sometimes involves skin discomfort commonly called the itch This is a disabling condition that ordinarily is overcome by good body hygiene But competitive conditions have brought about a situation wherein the itch has become a major drawback and we are often unable to discuss the itch characteristics objectively in a competitive sales situation Especially in the industrial insulation market competitors have used it to embarrass us by stirring up the Asbestos Workers to demand premium wages for applying Fiberglas Introduction of Fiberglas industrial marketers is unorthodox distribution in this market and has disturbed the contract applicators who see in it a threat to their position The lack of a Corning settlement too still disgruntles the Union which refuses to believe we are not closely related to Corning Recommendations 1. Continue our basic health program as outlined above This is fundamental educational work 2 Intensify product and process improvement activities to reduce slug content of wool products 3 Reexamine industrial marketer functions and discounts and relationship of contract applicators and determine ways and means to establish more applied contractors to cover the market 4 Bring about a settlement by Corning with the Asbestos Workers at the earliest opportunity 5. Improve relationships with the Asbestos Workers Union by closer contacts through contract applicators These recommendations are based on the belief that the itch is not an isolated problem to be solved alone by product improvement rather it provides a convenient though spurious starting point for fiberglas conspiracy by the Asbestos Union Workers who are the instruments of the manufacturers and contract applicators ECA Edward C. Ames