Document qmewe27YJ44Ygvw4O0mE3zkB5

R. VANDERBILT COMPANY 30 WINFIELD STREET INC NORWALK CONNECTICUT 06855 May 13 1977 MR Harvey II CABLE ADDRESS BILTVAN NORWALK CONNECTICUT TWX 710-468-2940 . 203 853-1400 _ Mr. John M. Dement National Institute ~~ and Health for Occupational Robert A. Taft Laboratories 4676 Columbia Parkway Cincinnati Ohio 45226 Safety Dear Mr. Dement Thank you for the opportunity to review the final draft of the NIOSH industrial hygiene study of the Gouverneur Talc Company number 1 mine and mill We have the following comments c Page 1 page 61 References to the Brennan vs. Borg Warner OSHRC case as substantiation of significant contamination levels of both fibrous tremolite and fibrous anthophyllite is misleading and inaccurate the conclusion drawn is improper in that it is based upon one decision by one Administrative Law Judge which is not final and the case is currently on appeal We take vigorous issue with your proposed statement on page 61 Users of talcs from this mill have also been shown to have excessive fiber exposures on the basis that it is not supported by the weight of the evidence as it exists today In two contested OSHA citations in- volving R. T. Vanderbilt talcs Ray Marshall vs. Flamingo Tile Corporation OSHRC Docket No. 76-1847 and the Secretary of Labor vs. Wenczel Tile Company of Florida OSHRC Docket No. 76-1847 all alle- gations of asbestos in Vanderbilt talcs were withdrawn for lack of evidence to is that our support the charges talcs do not contain Thus the asbestos weight of authority copies attached today Page 2 It would be more accurate and lead to a better understanding of the situation at Gouverneur if you would make it clear that the Gouverneur Talc Company also produces industrial talcs which Vanderbilt admits to containing asbestos and are so labelled Your inclusion of Material IT Fiber Safety No. 1 Data Sheets for the labelled fibrous talc products IT Fiber No. 2 without reference to the fact that these products contain the required OSHA asbestos label is misleading Page 3 In line 2 the date 1973 for the acquisition of the International Talc Company should be 1974 Page 3 Union at The correct number for Gouverneur is 4979 the Local of the United Steel Workers JNJ 000263700 R. VANDERBILT VANDERBILT COMPANY INC Mr. John M. Dement 2 May 13 1977 ee a at os Se n Per is nd a Page 5 On line 6 the depth of the main shaft is 1250 feet not 1100 On line 8 the number of active stopes is 26 not 6 day only 6 or 7 of the 26 stopes are being used On any given Page 9 In the second paragraph the number of reported accidents is incorrect The numbers you have used are frequency numbers i.e. number of accidents per million man hours The actual number of lost time accidents in 1974 were 9 in the mine and 2 in the mill Page 10 Under the heading Potential Health Hazards the indication of tremolite anthophyllite and serpentine as potential health hazards without qualifying the form of these minerals deemed to be hazardous is unwarranted If tremolite asbestos anthophyllite asbestos and chrysotile are meant to be indicated as health hazards then the proper qualification should be used Page 17 28 and 37 Tables 3 10 and 13 should indicate whether total fibers or only those greater than 5 micrometers were counted In Table 3 what does the note Percent 90 of all fibers analyzed signify Page 26 The sentence in lines 5-6 is very misleading It should be eliminated or another sentence should be added to indicate that counts of identified asbestos fibers greater than 5 micrometers vary from about 0.3 fibers to about 3.2 fibers This would be a much better indication of asbestos exposure as defined by existing regulations Page 31 In the last two lines The asbestiform nature of these fibers may be appreciated by observation of their fibril structure - why make such a distinction if your contention that a 1 aspect ratio is a valid criterion of a fiber Page 50 In Table 18 the excessive counts listed under 1976 measure- ments should be eliminated or explained It is obvious from other dust count data in the report that dust control in the mine and mill have steadily improved over the period the company has been in business A sudden increase in counts to abnormal levels up to 8 and 10 times greater needs adequate explanation or the data should be eliminated as being misleading Page 51 What is meant by the Whose reasonable definitions last sentence in the first paragraph of fiber are you referring to Page 60 In the Study Protocol of the proposed industrial hygiene study at Gouverneur it is stated that NIOSH will conduct its investigations in cooperation with the Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration MESA We see no evidence in this report of input from MESA other than use of their data your In particular we see no evidence of mining expertise input in the Conclusions and Recommendations listed on page 60 JNJ 000263701 VANDERBILT VANDERBILT COMPANY INC Mr. John M. Dement 3 May 13 1977 asi ir al wetfe ee Since our mines diction of MESA and and mills its are and always have been under the juris- preceding agencies within the Department of Interior it would seem appropriate that any recommendations for rective actions should come from the proper authority cor- All the dust collection systems and general atmospheric dust conditions within the Gouverneur Talc Company operations up until this time have met with the MESA requirements or have been modified to comply with any appropriate regulation For example our employees have been pro- vided with respiratory protection when exposed to significant quantities of dust and have been encouraged to wear dust masks meeting MESA approval whenever appropriate As long as the Gouverneur operations come under MESA jurisdiction we believe priate that The only MESA recommendations for recommendations on 60 specific actions are appro- page appear to be only those of NIOSH or OSHA We are also concerned with the discrepancies in mineral analyses between the participating laboratories not only in quartz but in the analysis for talc constituent minerals Sincerely AMH Enclosure Allan J. Allan M. Harvey Manager Technical Development Department> CC Dr. Aurel Goodwin - MESA JNJ 000263702