Document ev7vGLzK2nZZQ2Gy7rbrKVgL9

FILE NAME Manville JMA DATE 1971 Oct 1 DOC JMA205 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Report - Helsinki International Labor Office Conference File . HRP 0000021A 0000021A DHQ October 1 1971 F. L. Pundsack Research Finderne CC J. B. Jobe A. C. Smith F. Solon E. M. Fenner Finderne W. P. Raines New York G. Wright Cleveland REPORT OF TRIP A PAPER AT THE TO HELSINKI FINLAND TO INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ATTEND AND PRESENT ON SAFETY AND HEALTH IN SHIP 1971 BUILDING AND SHIP REPAIRING AUGUST 30 to SEPTEMBER 4 The symposium was sponsored jointlbyy the Finnish Government The Institute of Occupational Health and the International Labor Office I.L.O. United Nations Group Participants were from Belgium West and East Germany Bulgaria Canada Czechoslovakia Denmark Finland France Holland Hungary Ireland Italy Japan Luxembourg Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Sweden Switzerland the United Kingdom and the United States Of a total of almost 200 participants most Some were either physicians industrial hygenists or of the better known participants are as follows engineers Professor Leo Noro M.D. Director General National Board of Health Finland Professor M. J. Karvonen M. D. PhD Director Institute of Occupational Health Finland Dr. J. Lepoutre M. D. Medical Director of S. A. Eternit Belgium Mr. Carl Lindell Canada Mr. Ivan Sabourin Canada Dr. A. Grut M.D. Medical Inspector for Department of Labor in Denmark Mr. W. Johnsen Manager Dansk Eternit Denmark Dr. Fritz Blanz Director of Training Institute of Occupational Health Finland Mr. A. Palom^/kiParaisten Kalkki Oy Finland Mr. Bo Sandberg Director Paraisten Kalkki Oy Finland Dr. P. Sumari M. D. Deputy Chief Institute of Occupational Health Finland Mr. A. A. Cross Director of Environmental Control Cape Asbestos ComLp Ta D Ln ondy on England Dr. Steve Holmes Turner Brothers Asbestos Company LTD P.O. Box 40 Rochdale England Mr. Douglas Wright Marketing Manager Scandura LTD BBA Group Yorkshire England Mr. J. Leroy Balzer Utah Mining and Construction Company San Francisco California Page Two October 1,1971 F. Pundsack Commander Sam Barboo U. S. Navy Washington D. .; Mr. Duncan Holaday U. S. Public Health Service Salt Lake City Utah Commander George Lawton M. D. U. S. Navy Washington D.C Dr. W. J. Nicholson Mount Sinai Dr. Irving J. Selikoff Mount Sinai School of Medicine Several interesting papers were Selikoff presented two papers presented Irving J. His first dealt with the same familiar data on the Asbestos workers in the New York and New Jersey unions He added a new twist in that he related some of the Patterson New Jersey data on the Unarco Plant By adding this data dealing with Amosite only he was able to draw the conclusion that Amosite must take its place with Crocidolite and Crystotile as an equally hazardous material Selikoff's tions He second paper started with was the a series of dramatic extrapolaU. S. Department of Labor figures of workers in the United States shipyards during World War II These figures were broken down by job description age sex etc. A projection was made stating the numbers of people that would shortly die of Asbestosis Bronchiogenic Cancer and Mesothelioma Both of Irving's papers were presented in usual dramatic style If the tone of questionning which followed was any indication Irving has not yet convinced all his medical colleagues in Europe that the panic button should be pushed W. J. Nicholson presented a paper on T.L.V.'s This was a rather disjointed reworking of the controversial article which appeared in The Green Sheet Bill took several shots at the British standards Both Steve Holmes and Alex Cross were rather quick with rebuttle My own presentation went rather well Some were rather surprised to hear that control methods for of Asbestos products are readily available tion trades the safe handling to the construc- Two speakers Dr. O. Haglind Medical Director of A.B. G^taverken Shipyards G^teborg Sweden and Mr. M. Sundstedt Page Three October 1 1971 F. L. Pundsack Safety Engineer of the same firm both strongly advocated the complete substitution for containing materials Mr. Sundstedt listed and displayed a number of possible substitute products Most of the material was rock wool in some form Both stated their yard will not be using any Asbestos after January 1 1972 Commander G. M. Laughton M.D. USN gave a review of the old Navy records George did say he and the Bureau of Medicine were doing some epidemological studies with Navy shipyard personnel Commander S. H. Barboo USN gave an excellent paper on conditions and methods of control in the U. S. Naval shipyards Sam repeatedly stated that the Navy favored proper control methods for products of known hazards rather than uncontrolled use of substitute products whose health effects are unknown In private discussions with Sam he stated the Navy design engineers were not going to risk poor performance by the use of ill conceived substitutes In both public seemed to feel and private discussions most participants that substitutions of Asbestos material should be considered only when the material represents a significant improvement in health conditions and the material meets recognized performance standards Mr. A. A. Asbestos Cross Director of Environmental Control presented an interesting paper on control Cape devices in the construction industry Alex had before and after fiber counts for a number of devices and products Sooner or laterI believM e must start accumulating this data to demonstrate conclusively that our products can be used safely Mr. Leroy Balzer Utah on a laboratory method Mining and of testing Construction reported construction materials for health hazards The test setup is very similar to the one I had proposed initially for the I.I.H.R.P. A totally enclosed room where construction tools and methods can be tested Before and when this method is used after Leroy counts are more reliable gave dust figures on P.P.G.'s Page Four October 1 1971 F. L. Pundsack new Asbestos Calcium Silicate block and pipe covering The fiber count is low but the dust count is very high Early on the morning of September 1 Dr. P. Sumari Chief of Medicine and Deputy Chief of the Institute of Occupational Health and Mr. Eero Siltanen Director of the Department of Industrial Hygiene gave me a tour of the Industrial Hygiene Test and Analysis Laboratory For the most part they used the latest methods for industrial hygiene evaluation The institute uses several methods which we may be able to use in our Industrial Hygiene Engineering Service The Institute of Occupational Health is a profit making organization but has the backing of the Finnish Government for 20 of its operating costs It appears to be a very large and rather well run operation Later on September 1 Messrs B. Sandberg and A. Palomaki hosted a tour through the Muijala Asbestos Cement Board Plant wet method of Paraisten Kalkki Oy I was able to view their entire operation and reviewed in some detail the report of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health on environmental conditions in their plant The fiber used is 80 Russian Crystotile 20 Canadian Crystotile most from Flintkote The Russian fiber is packed in jute bags-- unlined This is a relatively new plant and the environ- mental control is good On September 2 1971 these same men arranged for a meeting with Mr. Rolf S^derstr^mTechnical Manager and a tour of the Anthophyllite mines Joensun and Kuopio and at Paakkila The nearest towns are are both about 350 miles from Helsinki Paakkila is an open pit operation and the fiber is removed from so called geological potatoes The nearby mill leaves much to be desired from an environmental control view September 3 and 4 were spent touring the shipyards at Rauma Turku and Helsinki The Valmet Oy in Helsinki the Rauma Repola Oy and the W^/rtsil^/Oy yards in Turku were all visited The work practices and environmental problems are rather Page Five October 1 1971 F. L. Pundsack similar to those used in the United States A rather startling fact is that the Finnish yards use chipboard and plywood for bulkheads in crews quarters and top side control rooms A burned out ship was in for repair and the gutted portion was again being outfitted with chipboard and plywood The Finnish yards build few ships for American or British registry Most of the ships are built for China or Russia or home use On September 5 1971 I where later in the week left Helsinki for Copenhagen I met with Superfos representatives to discuss their new Pryolytic process for the destruction of solid wastes subject of a separate report This meeting will be If the reader wishes more detail on the content of this report please contact the writer Ruze wis W. B. Reitze Environmental Control Division kb