Document bdmjnK1n0eDpeJZmE81Raejo

' '- * ' " INTER - OFFICE CORRESPONDENCE E t h y l Ga s o l in e Co r po r a t io n C H R Y SLER BU ILD IN G 405 L e x in g t o n a v e n u e N e w Y o r k July 17, 1940 Dr. A. Kehoe Dear Dr. Kehoe: Our Hr. Berg in Kansas City, has passed along to us a copy of a letter which is sent out by Vickers Pe troleum Company to all its distributors. . I an going to inquire into the possibilities of our legal responsibility in any of these cases. I should also like to have your comments on the wording of such a letter. If it is satisfactory, it may be that others among our licensees will desire to send out similar letters to their customers. m/h cc - Hr. Lewis K 0022286 R EFIN ER V AT- POTWIN . KAN SA OF DEL A W A R E PRODUCERS R E F IN E R S DISTRIBUTORS OF P E T R O L E U M A N D I T S P R O D U C T S Wi c h i t a , TO ALL VICKERS DISTRIBUTORS: The Ethyl Gasoline Corporation has informed us that not enough consideration is being given by the oil industry to the matter of health hazards involved in the entering of tanks which have contained leaded gasoline. Every tank which has ever been used for the storage of leaded gasoline must he considered as potentially hazardous. The Ethyl Gasoline Corporation will, at no cost to you, provide a man to he present whenever it is necessary to enter a tank that has stored gasoline treated with tetra ethyl lead. Their only requirement is that they he given sufficient notice before entering the tank so they can plan to have their man present. In the case of an emergency, you may wire the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation collect hut in most cases sufficient notice can he given in advance by correspondence. The address of the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation is 1917 Buchanan Street, Korth Kansas City, Missouri; telephone number Horclay 4550. It is not the policy of the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation or our to accept the responsibility for the safety of employees of gaso line distributing companies, The distributing companies themselves must accept this responsibility. The Ethyl Gasoline Corporation, through its medical and safety department, however, does undertake to present the facts concerning the potential lead exposure, provide specific instructions for the avoidance of such exposure, and assist in the organized efforts of the distributing companies to apply the proper precautions in the work. The handling of gasoline treated with tetra ethyl lead can b9 ex tremely dangerous and we urge you to redouble your precautions in this 'respect. There is nothing about the nature of leaded gasoline, however, that necessitates more frequent cleaning of storage tanks than any other gasoline and this letter is not intended to indicate to you that you should clean your tanks. It is only intended to tell you that if it does become necessary to enter a tank that has teen used for leaded gasoline storage, that you should have a representative of the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation present. If there is. more information that we can give you, or if anything about this letter-is not entirely clear, please write to us for additional information. THE VICKERS PETROLEUM CO.