Document jbLXJKjjr4GOkMB38drekxr9

March 28, 19^7 Mr. H- R. Harlan, Plant Manager, Magnus Metal Division, National Lead Company, lu29 Vest Seventh Street, Cincinnati Ohio. Dear Mr. Harlan: I am sending you herewith two copies of a memorandum prepared hy my associate, Dr. Henry Ryder, in which are summarized our observations, certain rather obvious conclusions and certain other items of information which we think are pertinent in relation to the local plant of Magnus Metal Division of National Lead Company. I have undertaken to suggest previously to you and certain of your associates, the desirability of your having this information as the background on which to consider the urgency of the hygienic situation in the plant. For some reason or combination of reasons, which I make no effort to state oc interpret, my efforts have not been very satisfactory, and therefore I take this means of bringing these matters to your attention in the hope that they will be useful in bringing this entire matter to a satisfactory conclusion. Unfortunately we have had the rather thankless ark> worrisome job of taking care of a number of your employees, and although they have cooperated with us very splendidly, we are still in the unsatisfactory position of being unable to assist them properly in getting back to work. This might he regarded as none of our affair, but yet it is not pleasant or in any way satisfactory to deal with the kind of economic situation presented by these men. Some of our difficulties will be appreciated, I believe, on the basis of the facts stated in the memorandum. I should like to say, with reference to the rather serious criti cism which we have made of your company, that neither Dr. Ryder nor I presume to put the blame for this situation upon local management of this plant. There is something, we believe, which has interfered with the normal process of the Ohio Industrial Commission for providing compensation for occupational illness, in at least a few of the earlier instances. There seems no proper justification for the withholding of compensation in the case of a man whose validated claim has been in the hands of the Industrial Commission since December. It Is for this reason primarily, that ve consider it necessary to bring these facts before the State Health Department and the Industrial Commission. Our responsi bility for doing what we can for these men seems quite clear. Therefore, if we have gone beyond what might be regarded as the usual procedures, in dealing with this situation, It is primarily Mr. H- K- Harlan - (2) - March 28, 19^7 for this reason. Moreover we cannot escape the responsibility for the recognition of the fact that your plant, as it has been operated, presents a serious hazard to other employees. Accordingly we are directing copies of this memorandum to D r . R. M. Andre of the Ohio Industrial Commission, to Dr. Roger Heering of the State Department of Health, and to Dr. Thomas F. Mancuso of the Industrial Hygiene Division of the State department of Health. I should like very much to be able to send.this information to the Medical Director of the National Lead Company, but I have not been able to establish the name of any of their major medical representatives, with the exception of Dr. Wllleitz of the PerthAmboy plant, who would seem to have no responsibility for this matter. However, I am sending a copy to Mr. Alexander Stewart, Research Director of the National Lead Company, with whom I have an indirect acquaintance. I trust atjhat this Is not a breach of what might be considered convention-/&meni ties , but I have had reason to feel that your problem was not being considered with sufficient seriousness by your parent company, and that I might give you some assistance by bringing these facts to Mr. Stewart's attention. I should not be prepared to make a move of this kind, if our efforts to assist in dealing with the root of this condition had met with somewhat greater success . Very truly yours, RAK ef Enc. Robert A. Kehoe, M- D.