Document jgrDo5OVON0rLoGqy4oye1gpZ

FILE NAME Manville JMA DATE 1977 Sept 7 DOC JMA238 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Memo RE Protective Clothing and Employee Lockers 7/5/98 M Protective Clothing Policy 1977 Reports Dr. Kotin's survey of major industrial corporate medical directors All Medical directors feel quite strongly in need of protective clothing for workers whose families could otherwise be exposed to carcinogens from the workplace p 4 MEMORANDUM 00124 00124 DRAFT ae Date To From CC Subject September 7 1977 File W. B. Reitze P. Kotin M.D. W. R. Paul M.D. , an VolwileR VolwileR VolwileR VolwileR VolwileR PROTECTIVE CLOTHING AND EMPLOYEE LOCKERS The recent Corporate decision to provide protective clothing to those Manville workers involved with asbestos fiber or asbestos products where fiber is not firmly bound has raised a number of questions from our operating divisions In an effort to perhaps clarify some of these questions Dr. Kotin wrote to the medical directors of ten of the large U.S. corpora- tions including Shell DuPont - Exon Exon General Oil Union Carbide - Electric Electric Bethlehem Celanese Alcoa Steel U.S. Steel and Kaiser Aluminum The question was asked of the medical directors what type of protective clothing program was in force in their corporations to protect employees from both carcinogenic agents as well as other potentially harmful materials All of the companies responded some in more detail than others In summary we may make the following conclusions 1 All the major companies do furnish protective clothing to various employee groups The decision to furnish clothing is based upon the potential hazard of the materials handled The chemical and oil companies are protecting employees against materials that may soak into an employee's clothing and be absorbed through the skin Memo to file September 7 Page 2 1977 Others are concerned with an employee exposure as well as a family exposure to such items as toxic dusts including lead Most large firms also furnish specialized protective clothing which will protect an employee against heat cold flame molten metal water chemical splashes etc. The laundering of protective clothing is handled in a number of ways Usually where large numbers of people are involved the laundering is done house If there is a very small employee population involved an outside laundry service or uniform supply service is utilized It is extremely rare that contaminated clothing from the workplace is sent home to be laundered by the employee's family The frequency of clean clothes issuance varies with the particular substance the employee handles weekly being the longest period daily being the most common period and in a number of cases with chemical carcinogens protective clothing is changed 3 or 4 times per day The issuance of clothing is usually handled by utilizing a system similar to the tool crib method used by most large industrials for issuance of tools and supplies Memo to tile September 7 Page 3 1977 4 Lockers are furnished to employees needed where needed dual lockers are furnished However with the use of the tool crib system dual lockers are not needed since the contaminated clothing is deposited for laundering on a daily basis 5 The reasons for furnishing protective clothing and the methods of administration vary widely within the companies polled Few companies have corporate programs which apply across the board to all their operations The majority because of the vast diversification in operations leave the actual administration of a protective clothing program to the location The mandate for protective cloth- ing of course is issued by the corporate environmental health department Some corporations state their policy rather plainly that it is to protect the employee to protect the employee's family to aid in quality control clean room activities or merely to enhance the corporation's public image gas station uniforms Almost all the major corporations furnish protective clothing of the type dis- cussed free of charge to their employees In some cases protective clothing has been a subject for the bargaining table and is negotiated with the labor contract In few instances DuPont with chloroaniline and tetraethyl lead protective clothing committees within the plant have been set up to determine a fair and equitable method for clothing issuance Memo to file September 7 Page 4 1977 6 All medical directors feel quite strongly that persons handling carcinogenic agents should receive protective clothing not only for their own protection but also for the protection of their families should dusts oils or chemicals be carried out of the plant on the workers clothing