Document nY3ZrJdj6kbdXJJ7G839Z2VX

ASBESTOS INFORMATION ASSOCIATION SCrME*CA 'coO -. si'eet N .v .vasp""?!:'" 2C 2CC36 232. 223-S385 MINUTES Special Board Of Directors Meeting Williams Club, New York City February 21, 1974 A special meeting of the Board of Directors was convened at the Williams Club in New York City, February 21. The following Directors were present: James Armstrong George Barge E. C. Bratt C. Nelson Codding A. H. Fay W. E. Gatewood Thomas A. Dougherty A. R. Hooker J. H. Marsh C. G. Morgan C. A. Neumann J. L. Rainey William Thurber Kurt Schwarz F. J. Solon, Jr. J. R. Stetson (represented by M. Sendecki) S. D. Weaver (represented by W. H. Beasley) Joseph Hall G. Parry Weiss J. K. Whittaker George P. Vogel Bendix Corporation Atlas Asbestos Company H. K. Porter Company, Inc. Jim Walter Corporation National Gypsum Company Certain-teed Products Corp. The Flintkote Company Raybestos-Manhattan North American Asbestos Corp. Kentile Floors Incorporated Amatex Corporation Union Carbide Corporation Supradur Manufacturing Corp. Johns-Manville Corporation Congoleum Industries, Inc. Cement Asbestos Products Compan GAF Corporation Garlock, Inc. Nicolet Industries, Inc. Ertel Engineering (National Association of Filt Manufacturers, Inc. ALV 0002036 3 principal officers and executive directors of the Asbestos Informa tion Committee and the Asbestosis Research Council of the U.K., and the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association of Canada. He stated that AIA/NA enjoys a close working relationship with these groups. He also stated U. S. asbestos trade associations had been formally invited to a reciprocal affiliated status with AIA/NA. He noted that the Association is preparing a booklet concerning the industry and that a questionnaire is being prepared to provide an economic profile of the industry. He said requests for the Association's information kit and booklets continue to be received from all parts of the world. Mr. Mereness mentioned the booklet "What Every Employee Should Know about ... Asbestos", prepared by J-M. He said the booklet was available from the Association office or could be purchased from J-M with a Company name imprint. Mr. Mereness said he had attended a customer's briefing by J-M on the asbestos safety and health issue and he praised the purpose and response of this kind of information and education effort. Report of Chairman Standards and Technical Committee Edmund Fenner of J-M, Chairman of the AIA/NA Standards and Technical Committee, advised that a task group from the newly constituted twelve-member committee met with John O'Neill, Chief of the Division of Health Standards, and other OSKA representatives on January 10 to discuss industry assistance in the proposed revision of the asbestos standard. He stated that in all likelihood, the revision to the standard will place emphasis on work practices. Monitoring will continue as a means to check on the effectiveness of work practices, on variance procedure, and the need for medical surveillance. Mr. Fenner stated there was confusion as to when an employee exposed to asbestos should have a medical examination. It would appear that OSHA will adopt the NIOSH original recommen dation which basically says that if an employee's exposure is 1/2 the TLV or less, medical examinations are not required. OSHA does not feel the employer should know what the employee's medical examination has shown. Attitude is that industry need only know whether an employee is fit to work in the job assigned. No change in labeling asbestos products is expected, but could change. The fiber standard will probably remain the same, but will be subject to pressures from unions and other groups. Mr. O'Neill wants * work practices written for processes rather than products, and defines a process as any operation that has a potential exposure to an employee. The need for a medical committee within AIA/NA was discussed. Following the task group meeting, a full Committee meeting, plus Messrs. Marsh and Mereness, was held in Newark, N. J. February 6. The purpose of the meeting was to assign tasks to each of the Committee members in four general areas of work practices: house keeping, dust collector maintenance, dust and scrap removal, and dust control engineering design. Mr. Fenner noted that work ALV 0003033 Mining alleged exposure of the general public to air and water asbestos contaminants and does not involve sale of asbestos products which was the case in Borel. Medical Affairs Raymond L. H. Murphy, M.D., pulmonary disease specialist of Harvard University School of Public Health and the Faulkner Hospital, Boston, reviewed his research work on chest auscultation in the diagnosis of pulmonary asbestosis. Dr. Murphy utilized slides to illustrate his studies with shipyard pipe coverers. His work, partially supported by the Association, which involves breath sound recordings and sophisticated computer analyses, continues. Dr. Murphy believes that this kind of scientific approach to chest auscultation can lead to early diagnosis of diffuse lung disease in general and pneumoconioses in particular. Luncheon- Guest Speaker Irving J. Selikoff, M.D., Director of Environmental Medicine, Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City, was the guest speaker following luncheon. Dr. Selikoff was accompanied by his staff associate, William J. Nicholson, Ph.D.. Dr. Selikoff stated that the purpose of his remarks was to improve communications between the scientific community and industry. He voiced his appreciation of the opportunity to speak to the group and said that he knew that the industry was not trying to hide the asbestos disease problem, that there were great diffi culties in obtaining data and explaining the problem. He offered and asked for cooperation in addressing the asbestos-health issue. In a series of slides, he noted: ... long-term exposure or a long latent period of 20 years or more is usually necessary before signs of asbestos-related disease occur. f ... first known case of asbestosis was diagnosed in 1924. ... a worker at "the worst plant I visited" died from asbestosis after only 8 years of exposure. ... the combination of smoking and working with asbestos is "explosive". ... the important factors in occurrance of asbestos-related disease are: duration from onset of exposure, intensity of exposure, total exposure, con-commitant cigarette smoking. ALV 0002040 New Business The next regular meeting of the Board of Directors was set for Wednesday, March 2d in Washington, D. C., place and time to be announced. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:35 P.M.. R. H. Mereness Executive Director - Secretary f ALV 0002041