Document ZJMDRN8Q88BN1bLdq54E906Qd

ETHYL CORPORATION loo PARK AVENUE BUILDING AX 41s t STREET NEW YORK 17, N. Y. June 19, 11959 j. \ Dr. K. V. Kitzmiller The Kettering Laboratory Eden and Bethesda Avenues Cincinnati 19, Ohio Dear Karl: Subject: U. S. Army Tank Cleaning Incident in Japan As a matter of interest, we are attaching copy of an Ethyletter from Mr. Sweeney dated June 12, 1959 on the ti nk cleaning incident in Japan which happened on U. S. Army property. If, by chance, you can obtain additional information through your Washington contacts, we would certainly appreciate having a copy of the report which Mr. Sweeney was able to read. HKB:vb Attachment CC: Mr. J. J. Frey Mr. A. J. Baldwin K 0017344 ooiFMpOTE; Ethyletter Subject j U. S. Army - OQMG To: A. J, Baldwin From: W. W. Sweeney, Jr. June 12, 1^59 You will recall that some time ago our Mr. Nixon reported a tank; cleaning accident in J^pan on U. S. Army property- At the time I could get no information on it in Washington, D. C. 1 On June 10, 1959 Major J. L. Swanson, QMC, USA, Petro !Div. OQMG, Washington, D. C. showed me a copy of a report: of investigiktion of the accident in question. I read the report and will give pe: ti- nent details below. Distribution of the report is restricted to mili- tary agencies. j The Army General Depot at Yokohama, Japan ;let a contract to a Japanese contractor to clean some number of tanks located at thejir Koshiba Terminal. The contractor was advised that the tanks' all contained leaded gasoline and that the precautions contained in Section B, API Manual must be followed. The precautions and other pertinent sstfety rules >|ere trans lated into Japanese and a school was held for the contractor and his em ployees and each employee was given a copy of the translated material and a supply given the contractor. The Safety Inspector for U. S. Government was an unnamed civilian but he was on the job. j The first tanks cleaned were the usual small ones and although the Safety Inspector had a hard time enforcing the regulations,jespe cially the wearing of the AL hosemask equipment. They had no reported lead poison cases. About the middle of August, 1958 they began work on tank $6. This is one of the largest tanks in the world, built by the Japanese for their Navy about 194-0. It is 203,000 bbl. capacity, 128' diameter by 95' height, steel sides and concrete bottom and constructed underground with one 4' manhead and a smaller vent opening. About August 20, 1958 men who had been engaged in cleaning this tank began tp come down with TEL poisoning which was diagnosed at U. S. and Japanese hospitals. On August 23, 1958 to Sept. 5, approximately 8 men died, 7 in Hospitals and one at home. They put some 30 altogether in the hospital, j The Safety Inspector told the investigating officer that when the men were on the bottom shoveling sludge into 55 gal- drums ito be pulled up through 4' head, every time he started to go in, the Jword got passed, and men he suspected of working with their masks off, put them on when he, was inside. Some of the crew admitted working with masks off in spite of instructions to the contrary, stating that the tank did not smell as bad as some of the others. j It was recommended in the report that in the future all contracts issued in Japan carry a stipulation that the contractor emply a full-time experienced safety engineer'when a leaded gasoline tank was cleaned. Major Swanson stated that he felt sure this recommendation would be Approved. KB 0017345 f 6 1 N21050.01 c 2. The report was signed by the senior investigating officer, a Major Grant. The workmen were all. Japanese and I cannot recall their names but I believe the contractor's name was Iketani. \ The above information is reasonably accurate since I could not copy from the report aiid had to prepare from memory. The report wasmade available to all interested Army and Medical agencies of the U. S. (jJOvermneht. I fed! sure that our Medical Director could obtain complete infdrmition from the Surgeon General, U. S. Army, Washington, D. c. i W. W. Sweeney, Jr. j I HE 0017346