Document ba4doMngYZ0ep4bj1722mM380

FILE NAME Keene KNE DATE 1932 Mar 21 DOC KNE067 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Report of Dust Investigation of the Eagle Picher Rock Wool Plant at Joplin Missouri ee eee e e March 21 1952. BJD Er Erbon Habon Safety Engineer Eagle Picher Company Picker Okla i Dear Mr. Habons | - reck =e wool plant of the Eagle Picher Mining and Smelting Company Joplin . Mo. Dr. made by F. V. Meriwether of the U. S. Bureau of Kines 1 ~~ This report is submitted for your confidential information I shall appreciate any suggestions or comments you may have and shall be glad to have my attention called to any errors or misstatement of fact Yours faithfully Inclosure Bo 4583 ee o Dp, Harizether TURNER SCOTT TURNER SCOTT TURNER Director - oat i HUS OF HT UST INVESTIGAT OFITOHNI ZAQLE PICHER ROCK WOOL PLANT In September 1932 at the request of the Safety Engineer of the Eagle Picher Mining and Smelting Company an inspection was made of the company's roak wool plant at Joplin Missouri This plant is operated in products connection with a of land smelting lead melter ap Inasmuch and the the product is made from rock wool plant is only operated when there is a demand for the product considerable delay was encountered in asembling and collecting all data on the process It mas desired to obtain information on the dust its chemical analysis and to emmine the older men employed at the plant in order to draw conclusions as to possible harmfulness of the dust Rock Wool Rock Wool is made from slag which is beated to a molten liquid and is blown out of a small orifice at considerable pressure into the stream breaking the molten liquid into very fine hairlike particles This is blown into a large roms and after dollecting in quantities it is shoveled into containers for transferring to another building for fabricating The material is made into sheets bricks and is combined with asbestos and used for the purpose of iamlating buildings furnaces etc. In both the buildings in which the furnace and the fabricating rooms were located large amounts of dust were detected in the air cer e e e nein we Dust Count Atmospheric samples were taken in the mixing room fabricating department gremlater and furnace rooms The sample in the furnace room shows 25.000.000 particles under 10 microns in the mizing room To 2 samples shows 23,000,000 partielen No. 1 sample - 10,000.000 particles the fabricating room shows 1,000,000 particles and the granulator 4,000,000,000 particles all under 10 microns Two of these samples were forwarded to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania for analysis furnace room and mixing room No. 2 and the figures given above are the figures figuren obtained at Pittsburgh Our own show a much higher count It is possible that some of the particles have gone into solution Chemical Analysis Samples of the rock wool were sent to Pittsburgh to Mr. are as follows W. A. ; Selvig for achamical analysis and ; | | the 1 PARTIAL ANALYSIS \ Per cont ---- 2 ----- 1.6 -- Lead Fb510-- tt 510-- " 6.3 Bilica Aluminum oxide c= eee 6.3 70203- 6.3 Al 0 Ferric Oxide Calcium oxide 70203- -<|--- 13.3 analyses 2 Silica 3102- - - A1203- Aluminum oxide A1203- -i - --= Ferric oxide F0203- - -; ---- Calcium oxide oe = enete 40.8 5.9 31.6 13.3 . 3 silica ar Aluminum oxide Al e- 0 Ferrio oride --e-- - =~ =< Calcium oxide C^o- - o-=--~- 6.0 29.2 12.0 | -2- The concluding statement of Mr. Selvig's report is as follows As mineral wool is a slag and has been thoroughly fused it may be quite irritating if breathed into the throat and lungs in the form of dust % Physical examinations On January 6 1932 four of the employees working at the plant were examined at the clinic to determine whether or not they show evidence of lung involvement Three four men emained show a decidedly sore fibrosis than normal out and of the on of the three shows an old tuberculosis The other man was negative The historics of the men show that they have in this plant but they have been engaged in not been employed steadily this work for periods ranging from 9 months to 14 years probably at about half time | The wan hat shows no thickening in the bronchial tubes is the foreman who is probably exposed to the miniume amount of dust Conclusions dram Based on the chemical analysis quantity of dust and evidence of such peribronchial peribronchial thickening in the men who have been exposed according to the histories only a relatively short period of time to the dust it is very likely that the dust is harmful if breathed over a relatively long period of time This is particularly true in the mixing room where it is stated by the employees that rook wool is mixed with asbestos in various mistures ranging from 10 to , 75 per cent This is a particularly dusty place and it is now known definitely that asbestos dust is one of the most dangerous dusta to which aan fe exposed With the combination of asbestos and a funed silica dust known to be irritating to the lungs it is reasonable to conclude that the man will get extensive fibrotic changes in a relatively short period of time This is particularly true where the reak wool is mixed with asbestos A the ray pictures of . study of time these men fails to reveal any silicosis at the present but to preduce a decidedly more fibrosis than normal condition in the mines in the Picher field the group shows an average working time of six years in other words apparently these men have contracted the same amount of fibrosis in 12 months or less that occurs in the wines of the Picher field in approrimately six years ^ sonningthis to be correct the evidence while not complete would lead to the conclusion that the dust ensountered by these men is more dangerous and will produce lung involvement in a very much shorter period of time than the dust which is encountered in the Picher mines Pest Control Machines should be introduced to control the amount of dust produced at this plant In the furnace room where the weel is blown into the room a method of sucking the dust out of the reas er as upward system of ventilation should be installed In the fabricating room it should be as open as possible and a definite dust- controlling system installed In a machine be installed to do this the wizing room mixing sacking it in etc wmggested that similar to that used by cement industries and it will not be necessary are twe mee to be in the roop These mchines are in common use for and the could be used here with economical results