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DISTRICT HOSPITAL ...... JSAIflOORLTft-^fMz***~*
Date.
13th Januaryy I960,
MEMORANDUM:
Dr* A* King, The Director,
.. ..-Tuberculosis Control Branch, 17 Murray Street, PERTH-
.
Periodical cheat x-ray examination of workers at the AoBtrallgn Bine Asbestos in 1959 disclosed no new cases of Asbeetoeis, although there ere several asn whose x-rays most be considered suspect* Those whose x-rays era considered suspicious of ASb*steels will be examined again* in I960.
The length of exposure of workers contractingAfiboetosie or Silicosis Is much shorter than comparably employed men in the gold-mining industry and the extent of disease is
Sater. The small number of workera and the extremely Mg* our turnover make this less obvious.
There are a lumber of puzzling and disquieting features. In several instances Asbestools has been diagnosed in underground workers although the disease had been considered peculiar to the Mill. One meaber of the train crew underground, not usually at great dust risk, has what appears to be a mixture of Silicosis, Aebeetosia and possibly Tuberculosis. An ex underground shift boss, now an underground supervisor, has an abnormal chest x--ray and asbestos bodies in his sputum*
The Mines-Department has permitted me to inspectthe results of their periodical dust counts. It is obvious that the new Mill is a great Improvement on the old Mill and that conditions underground have also improved. It is too early to tell whether the new Mill will be responsible for fresh-cases of industrial chest diseases or not*
The disquieting features about the dust counts are two folfls-
1) The rock mined is apparently highly siliciouo and therefort particularly-dangerous* The dust counts are on a par with the figures for the gold ndnes. Should they not have a mu higher standard to aim at ir. view of the dangerously high 3illca content and the additional asbestos risk?
PLAINTIFFS EXHIBIT
WV-004070
Memorandum: Dr* King,
2-
13th January, I960.
2) The dust counts are f particles only, the same Instrument is used for detecting silica particles and asbestos fibres. The dangerous particle size in SilicoBis is less than 5 microns, In Asbestosis the dangerous fibre length is between 20 and hO microns. The dust counts are therefore of little value unless they shoe the nuniber of fibres per cc within that range, 1 do not fcoow whether there la an
- --accepted national mtnlnnwa fibre count*'for*^ehestee^hiat, either in England or America bat it seems wrong that two completely different dust hazards should be estimated in the same way.
Many workers remain at fflttenocm for less than one year and less than 50 of the work force, at any one time, have been continuously employed for more than four years, A very rough estimate of the percentage of workers, with over h years exposure and suffering from industrial chest disease, is 12* (estimated by expressing the xnzEtoe? of workers, detailed below, as a percentage of the-msber of workers examined in 1959 whose initial mining certificate was Issued prior to 1955*
f In recent years It would be unusual to diagnose Silicosis in a gold miner with leas than 10 years exposure. K.G. in 1956, there were no new oases of Silicosis in the 0-10 year group, 20 eases in the 10-20 year group and 29 oases In the 20-30 year group. Expressed as a percentage of the total ntarfber of mine workers this gives an annual Incidence of Sllicosie of approximately 1*. These percentage incidences are not very accurate and are not really comparable, but they do illustrate the grave hazard which existed at Wittenooa compared with the general mining industry.
The following are the particulars of cases of industrial disease detected at Wittenoom since 1956, The list is complete as far as our records go, but there may be a few cases diagnosed elsewhere who were not examined under either of the relevant Mining Acts and therefore not brought to our notice.
Some newly diagnosed oases of Silicosis are not included because of previous lengthy gold-mining history which could reasonably be held responsible.
There have also been a few cases of workers developing oulraonary tuberculosis without Silicosis or Asbestosis but their number does not suggest any particular hazard at tflttenoom, other than that associated with mining in general.
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Dr. A. King
6
13th January, I960
The percentages quoted above (i.e* 12# of asbestos workers suffering from Industrial cheat disease with over 4 years exposure compared with i% of gold miners wlth.oygr 10 years, exposure) are erode ,,nd prphl&3y paint too black a picture of the conditions which existed* With a shift ing warring population it Is almost Impossible to work out accurate incidences* However, the very high labour turnover at Wlttenocm la necessarily associated with e short average exposure per worker and many workers at risk were protected simply because their exposure time was too short* At least one of these short-term workers has been diagnosed as suffering from Ashestools many years after he left the Industry*
The problem Is essentially one of ventilation conducted with s proper appreciation of the -relative Importance and medical significance of the asbestos fibre as distinct from the silica particle. Despite the many marked improvements which have been effected at the ie and Hill, X am not satisfied that the risk of Industrial cheat disease has been eradicated or even brought to par with the rlak of silicosis In the gold mining industry* The prevention of Industrial chest disease Is a medico-engineer ing problem and requires close lieaon between the Mines Department, who are responsible for ventilation and duet counts, and the medical officers, who are responsible for the periodical clinical and chest x-ray examinations*
u<L^
-
CgKSa HQTSICIAXt and MDra MEDICAL OFFICER
