Document jmd1zyOeYwjnJ3BpZeMx1Gj25

E T H Y L CO RPO RATIO N lo o PARK A V EN U E B U IL D IN G AX 4 1 s t S T R E E T NEW YORK 17, N. Y. June 19,11959 1. i D r . K . V . Kitzmiller Tlie Kettering Laboratory Eden and Bethesda Avenues Cincinnati 19, Ohio Dear Karl: Subject: U. S. Army Tank Cleaning Incident in Japan As a matter of interest, we are attaching copy :of an Ethyletter from Mr. Sweeney dated June 12, 1959 on the' tank clean- xng incident in Japan which happened on U. S. krmy prope: .. v If;' by chanceo yu can obtain additional infornLfcion through your Washington contacts, we would certainly appiiebiate having a copy of the report which Mr. Sweeney ^as able to head. HKB:vb Attachment CC: Mr. J. J. Frey M r . A . J . Baldwin KE 0017344 Ethyletter Subject U . S . Army - OQMG To: A. J. Baldwin From: W. W. Sweeney, Jr. June 12, 1959 You will recall that some time ago our Mr. Nixon reported a tank, cleaning accident in Jnpan on U. S . Army property At the time Icould getno information on it in Washington, D. C. j On June 10, 1959 Major J. L. Swanson, QMC, USA, Petro D i v . OQMG, Washington, D . C. showed me a copy of a report: of investigation of the accident in question. I read the report and will give perti nent details below. Distribution of the report is restricted toj mili taryagencies. i i ;i The Army General Depot at Yokohama, Japan -let a contract to a Japanese contractor to clean some number of tanks located at theiir Koshiba Terminal. The contractor was advised that the tanks all contained leaded gasoline and that the precautions contained in Section B, API Manual must be followed. The precautions and other pertinent sdfety rules yjere trans lated into Japanese and a school was held for the contractor ancj. his em ployees and each employee was given a copy of the translated material and a supply given the contractor. The Safety Inspector for U. S. Government was an unnamed civilian but he was on the job. j The first tanks cleaned were the usual snail ones andalthough the Safety Inspector had a hard time enforcing the regulations, espe cially the wearing of the AL hosemask equipment. They had no reported lead poison cases. About the middle of August, 1958 they beganj work on tank #6. This is one of the largest tanks in the world, built by the Japanese for their Navy about 19^-0. It is 203,000 bbl. capacity, 128' diameter by 95' height, steel sides and concrete bottom and constructed underground witb one ^ ' manhead and a smaller vent opening. About August 20, 1958 men who had been engaged in cleaning this tank began tp come down with TEL poisoning which was diagnosed at U . S . and Japanese hospitals. On August 23, 1958 to Sept. 5.? approximately 8 men died, 7 in Hospitals and one at home. They put some 30 altogether in the hospital. j The Safety Inspector told the investigating officer ijhat when the men were on the bottom shoveling sludge into 55 gal. drumsjto be pulled up through ^ ' head, every time he started to go in, the word got passed, and men he suspected of working with their masks off, put them on when he;was inside. Some of the crew admitted working with masks off in spite of instructions to the contrary, stating that the tank did not smell as bad as some of the others. | It was recommended in the report that in the future all contracts issued in Japan carry a stipulation that the contractor emply a full-time experienced safety engineer'when a leaded gasoline tank was cleaned. Major Swanson stated that he felt sure this recommendation would be approved. HE 0017345 c 2. The report was signed by the senior investigating officer, a Major Grant. The workmen were all. Japanese and I cannot recall their names but I believe the contractor's name was Iketani. ' . \. The above information is reasonably accurate since I could not copy from the report aiid had to prepare from memory. The report w a s m a d e available to all interested Army and Medical agencies of the U. S . (jpvermneht. I feel sure that our Medical Director could obtain complete infdrap.tion from the Surgeon General, U. 9, Army, Washington, D. C. . .j W. W. Sweeney, Jr. KE 0017346 i >