Document YmmNO2XJm55Gzovyg1n3M2MD

FILE NAME: National Safety Council (NSC) DATE: 1931 DOC#: NSC130 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: NSC Article - Compounding Materials Used in the Rubber Industry Ma r k e d APR 1931 FILE COPY Compounding Materials Used in the Rubber Industry ( Classification an d Health Hazards) Part 1--Accelerators, Anti-Oxidents, and Dry Organic Compounds Industrial Safety Series N o. Ru. 1 Published by National Safety Council Civic Opera Building, 20 North Wacker Drive, Chicago This pamphlet is a compilation of experience in accident prevention. It must not he confused with Federal, State or insurance requirements, or with National Safety Cades. PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT 1. The more obscure any hazard, the more insidious and dangerous it is, especially if it be of a type to slowly affect one's health. This slow burrow ing from within is to be feared--its presence is often unknown until irrep arable damage has been done or even death occurs. There are many haz ards of the latter type still present to day in industrial processes. (See note 1.) 2. Many substances are in use which neither the manufacturer nor the consumer recognizes as hazardous. This is especially true in smaller in dustries where technical advice or med ical service is lacking. These sub stances are to be feared and rightly so inasmuch as contact with, or im proper handling of them may cause a slow breaking down of the body struc ture which cannot be corrected if al lowed to continue for too long a period. 3. These are the problems to which we must turn our attention. Much good work has been done but there is still more to do. It is a process of in vestigation and education. We must first ferret out these insidious sub stances and educate both employer and employee how to handle them with safety. 4. The rubber industry is one in which many and varied types of com pounds are used. An inventory would probably reveal several hundred different^ compounds in use for com pounding rubber, many of them in quite general use. Among this large number we know that some are very dangerous to the health of those han dling them unless precautionary meas ures are taken. There are others about which comparatively little is generally known. Some manufacturers are ap parently ignorant of the properties, toxic or otherwise, of many of the sub stances they are using. With the in creasing use of organic substances for vulcanizing rubber there is an ever present danger of health hazard unless the toxic and irritating properties of these substances are known. 5. There is a tendency for some manufacturers of chemicals to place rubber accelerators and compounding ingredients upon the market under fancy trade names. It is a practice to be discouraged and the producer should state the exact chemical nature of the compound. If he is unwilling to do this, he should at least stand back of his product and guarantee it to be free from toxic and all other properties injurious to one's health. 6. The manufacture of rubber while requiring heavy machinery and the use of many and varied chemicals, REFERENCE PAMPHLETS Additional information of value will be found in other Safe and Health Practices Pamphlets issued by the National Safety Council, complete sets of which may be se cured as desired. Special reference is advised to the following: No. 16. Protective Clothing. No. 22. Industrial Shop Lighting. No. 27. Drinking Water, Wash and Locker Rooms. No. 26. Electrical Equipment in In dustrial Plants. No. 32. Exhaust Systems. No. 37. Industrial Ventilation. No. 46. Industrial Housekeeping. No, 62. Static Electricity. No. 60. Chemical Laboratories. No. 64, Respirators, Gas Masks and Breathing Apparatus. Chem. 1. Pipe Lines and Tanks as Causes of Accidents. Chem. 3. Chemical Burns, Their Na ture and Treatment. H. P. 10. Skin Affections. H. P. 14. Benzol. should be no more hazardous than any other line of manufacturing where heavy machinery is involved. In fact, it should be and can be made less haz ardous than many lines of manufactur ing if proper precautions are taken. The machinery used is mostly slow moving compared to many, industries and is adaptable to being, well protect ed to safeguard the operatives. 7. The chemicals used can all be handled in a safe manner provided their toxic and chemical properties are understood and efficient methods of handling are employed. Many poison ous chemicals used in the past are fast being replaced with non-poisonous compounds and there is no reason why the manufacture of rubber goods can not be carried out under the safest and most healthful conditions. 8. It is with the hope of stimulat ing more interest along these lines that this pamphlet has been prepared. Un til recently there has been a lack of definite data concerning many of the compounds used in the rubber indus try. At best, information pertaining to their nature is widely scattered and in many cases very meager. In a few outstanding instances the ground has been very well covered especially in the handling of certain lead compounds and benzol. The splendid work done jointly by the Rubber and Chemical Sections of the National Safety Coun cil on Benzol is an excellent example of what can be done to educate the manufacturer in the proper handling of these chemicals so as to prevent in jury to those using them. 9. This and the subsequent pam phlets of the same series is a classifica tion and description of the nature of the various compounds used in rubber manufacture. The rubber compounds have been divided into four groups and (Copyright, 1931, National Safety Council, All Rights Reserved.) 16 INDUSTRIAL SAFETY SERIES NO. RU. 1 ert clay base. It is a fine gray to yel lowish white powder having a slight not unpleasant organic odor. It has a specific gravity of approximately 2.00. It is decomposable upon heating. 227. Uses--The material was de veloped for use as a rubber accelerator. It is very active at low vulcanizing temperature and is very difficult to handle on mixing mills without scorch ing of the rubber. Due to this difficul ty it has not found extensive use in the rubber industry. Its use is confined largely to specialties and vulcanizing cements. 228. Health H azards--This accel erator is non-poisonous and causes no disagreeable or harmful fumes during mixing. No ill effects from its use have been reported. (Sub-group 4.) Zinc Salt of Dithiofuroic Acid 229 For information on this com pound see data given under Furac No. 3. (Sub-group 4.) ACKNOWLEDGMENT This pamphlet was revised by L. I. D. Healy, technical superintendent of The Fisk Rubber Company, Cudahy, Wisconsin. The substance of the orig inal pamphlet was prepared from a paper given by Mr. Healy before the Rubber Section during the Sixteenth Annual Safety Congress (1927). This revision includes additional material from papers presented by Mr. Healy before the Rubber Section during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Annual Safety Congresses (1928 arid 1929). The National Safety Council is in debted to Mr. Healy and the Executive Committee of the Rubber Section, un der whose direction the pamphlet was prepared. NOTES 1. Rubber Section Transactions of the 1927 National Safety Congress. 2. Hamilton, "Industrial Poisons in the United States," 1925, p. 432. 3. Hamilton, "Industrial Poisons in the United States," 1925, p. 510. 4. U. S. Bureau' of Labor Statistics-- Bulletin 179 -- "Industrial Poisons Used in the Rubber Industry." 5. Hamilton, "Industrial Poisons in the United States," 1925. 6. K.ober and H ayhurst--"Industrial Health," 1924. 7. Shepard and Kraile, "Journal of In dustrial Hygiene," 1920-21, Vol. 2, p. 33. 8. Kratz, I. R., "W orld," 1917, Vol. 57, p. 146. 9. Hamilton, "Industrial Poisons in the United States," 1925, pp. 432, 434, 524 and 528. 10. Hamilton, "Industrial Poisons in the United States," 1925, p. 506. 11. "Journal of Industrial and Engineer ing Chemistry," 1918, p. 865. 12. Hamilton, "Industrial Poisons in the United States, 1925, p. 502-524. 13; Curt Gerdon, Zentralbl. f. Gewerbehyg. 1920, V III, p. 183. 14. Olsen, J. A. M. A., 1916, p. 66, 864. 15. Hamilton, "Industrial Poisons in the United States, 1925, p. 528. 16. Hamilton, "Industrial Poisons in the United States, 1925, pp. 491, 497, 506. 17. Hamilton, "Industrial Poisons in the United States, 1925, p. 525. Rev.-3/l-lM