Document rwXG35D57zQ6X7GR8967LM3a

FILE NAME: Sprayed Asbestos (SPRA) DATE: 1949 DOC#: SPRA009 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Letters RE Canadian Sprayer's Death nld/w l H.A. Williamson sq., Th Atlas Asbestos Co.,Ltd., 110. KcOill Strsst, MONTREAL, 6th July, 1949 Dear .Mr. Williamson, Asbmosls - Canada Thank you for advising ma In yours of the 29th June that we may bo haarlng from the Provlnolal Health Departmant of tha Province of Quebec on the subject of risk to health Incurred by asbestos apray operators, and when this comes along we shall know what to do. Tou will remember I wrote you on the 29th March emphasising the need to employ our latest type dustless spraying machine, and I taka it that the International Health Conference referred to, that was to be held last month, has now taken place. I might add here that this Information came to me from Dr. &.R.A. Mercwether, Chief Medical Offioer, Ministry of Labour k National 3ervlce, London. The fact that Injury to health has been used as a lever in the recent trouble in the Canadian asbestos mines is probably purely incidental. I think you should know that we have never had a single oase of asbestosis amongst our spray workers, and that every one of our original spray operators still with us is in good health after some 20 years regular work in the process. Whilst Z attribute this largely to the care that these men have taken, in addition to the presenee of considerable quantities of water vapour when the application is carried out in the proper manner, this is not to say that the old system is entirely safe, as a careless operator ean cause a great deal of real dust, and whilst the authorities are of opinion that the operator himself ean be protected, they are much more oonoemed with the health of other workers in the vicinity, so that unless you do take prompt measures to advise the authorities of tho stops that are being taken to overcome the objection, they may think fit to lesuo regulations, which oaos established may oauee you very serious and quits unneetssary lnoonvsnisnss. Continuation tio.l H.a . rfillio n a o n aq. J VN M U I ' I M l * l 1 l> A I I M i I V U I O S ' ? f N( " 6th July, 1949 Should you be seeing tha authorities on these lines it nay be of use to you to know that this Company has been in close touch with tha measures taken in this country since the risk was first suspected, and that we wars all of us instrumental in the drafting of what eventually became the 1931 Asbestosis Medical Scheme, which scheduled certain operations in the manufacture of asbestos Roods, so that the workers concerned are subject to initial and periodical medical examination, as a result of which they may be suspended from further work in any of these scheduled occupations, and the employer was until recently liable to pay compensation. As the date of the scheme indicates, the preparatory work was carried out prior to the development of Spray, which also started to be used in 1931, so that spraying is not a scheduled operation. More reoently the 1931 scheme was embodied in the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1946, where all dust dlssasss, such as silicosis, asbsstosis, stc., ars covered under the general heading of "pneumoconiosis." Possibly because opray was not a scheduled occupation ths authorities in London, and particularly Dr. S.ft.A. Merewether, have always kspt in touch with ms, and we recently gave the Doctor a demonstration of dustless spraying methods with which he appeared to be quite satisfied, eo that we do not expect any further complication, provided these new methods are promptly adopted. These methods are covered by Canadian Patent number 446,o98 of the 24th February 1943, and Canadian Application Number 571,767 of the 19th February l4d. If you decide to approach the authoritiee on your side no doubt you will let me know in tho near future, and at the same time inform us how soon you can arrange to replace your existing machines with the new dustless pattern. ...I' CQPT . \ I- V v t w K U IIR T M .T O A H M lIV m o t i f NC MINISTRY of health, Division of Industrial Hygien* 1570. St. Hubert Street, MONTREAL. QUE. July 11, m 9 J.W. Roberts Ltd., Midland Works, Armley, Leeds, 12. A t t e n t io n ? - Mr. N.L. Dolbey Dear Sir, T i n f e r r e d to you by Mr. H . A.Williamson of the Atlas Asbestos cLjUSy W * m "ontrLl Branch, for further Information about your "Sprayed Limpet Asbestos process. We actually are interested very much in the use of asbestos Sunder any working coJdit^0^ ' PCyoiryCanadiannsubsidiaryeis the fact asbestosis. What ad eJi?!Lr the workers employed in the application S tW b s f iS S S & r - " " " ,, :s r . r , r . . * i S : . r 1935 only. " t,in yf"? % ^ r . s i r , % c ? u ? r & doidgh,r? s . * ^ o ^ : a ss *.*, S S . 'g S S S s M & t s b s - - Jh?dS.tni?5S.5fbi; in'i. there Is . pot.ntlsl dsng.r for th. h.slth of the workers. Yours very truly, (sgd) Sarto R. Plamondon, P.Eng., Sanitary Engineer Tthfhtm N*. Lm 4.MOOt MSptdtl, ^4l4kM Ain I. W. R O B E R T S LI. i l E D (Turner 4 NeweM IU -J MIDLAND WORKS, ARMLEY, LEEDf il, ENSLANO London v . I] VICTORIA W f t t t l . WESTMINSUA S V I f. Vm*ni PH/ l.'th July '<549 Sarto R Plamondon, Esq., Sanitary Engineer, Ministry of Health, Division of Industrial Hygiene, 1570 St. Hubert Street, Montreal, Quebeo, Canada. Dear Sir, Thank you very much for approaohlng us in yours of tho 11th / ' on the possible injurious effect to workers operating our asbestos j spraying process as used by the Atlas Asbestos Co. Ltd., of Montreal. < The spraying of asbestos is not a scheduled occupation under the 1931 Asbestosls Medical Scheme in this country so that the workers them selves have not been subjeot to perlodla examination, but, nevertheless, we have for many years maintained a very olose watoh on this question and, as a result, oan fairly say that we know of no single oase where workaaen or women whose only oontaot with asbestos has arisen through their operation of our asbestos spraying process, have suffered any ill-effoot. This includes not only our experience in Great Britain, but that of our other European Licensees, as far as we are aware. This : favourable position is, no doubt, assisted by the fact that we insist - on all operators being adequately trained before they are allowed to operate the machines and process, so that the creation of dust in minimised and that which is oreated is surrounded by a considerable amount of "atomised" water. Ve have carried out much research work in the course of our efforts to aohieve the highest possible elimination of duat and, in this connection, we would draw your attention to the fact that we have rooently patented a method of rendering the fibre dustless prior to spraying by evenly damping it with a small amount of water in a specially constructed smohine) this is oovered by Canadian Patent Number 1*46,896. Likewise, in order to simplify the obtaining of these beneficial results we have reoeatly applied for a patent for an improved form of spraying maohine * , whioh damps the fibrs automatically, and is covered by Canadian Application*' Niasber 571#767e * . . i .All our latest type asbestos spray maohines incorporate,,this .. latest improvement, and we are prooeeding- as quickly as possible to oon- . . wart all existing maohines, so that vs believe the risk when'spraying . our specially prepared asbestos fibre minings will be largely discounted in future. ` ., . ***' "O11..M'tMvinmrtaN it..*.... :3' ' moo ooor -fc ? o Sarto R. Plamondon, Esq. i . w . noacNTt ltV . anmlcv. lkco* if. *a. 19th July, l%-9 The Atlas Asbestos Co. Ltd. nsv been kej*informed of all developments, and henoeforth only n<sw type maohlnes will bo supplied to them. ( Yours faithfully, tllrSW'.W.F. Shepherd AIR KAIL J. W . RODENTS L T O ,, A R M L E Y , LEEDS \2, CNO. HLO/VL H.A Williamson Esq., Tha Atlas Asbsstos Co.,Ltd., 1M1O0N,TRMEoA0L1,11 Street, SAM&* 10th JUlgutt, 1919 U ifL r Daar Mr. Williamson, Aabectotls I now have yours of tha Lth Instant with further reference to the case of alleged asbestosls developed by a spray operator employed by Messrs* Fleck Brothers, Vancouver. Whilst there appears to be no need for any further direct action with the Department of. Industrial Hygienp, I hope that the following comments will be cf help la investigating the matter further from a more or less practical angle, because unleashes do pay attention to these things they are apt to develop into serious snags. ; . As we at these Works have been-in touch with asbestosis since it was first put forward as an industrial risk - so that we havs not only had longer experience, but more time in whleh to find similar bases I find it difficult to grasp why the first ease amongst spray operators should havs bean reported from so far away as Vancouver, Mrs particularly in the caae of a man who did not do any spraying but merely filled the machine during work on board chip where, because of the difficulty of handling the old heavy machines, these are normally kept on the exposed dtok. Quite away from the man who is doing the Spraying below) if the lid of the machine it kept oloeed the amount of dust is absolutely negligible, so that ht could not possibly tocuoulatt sufficient to give rise to fibrosis of the lung in so short a time. The feat that it haa Occurred so soon after the dates you give a . suggests to me that there .mar be tome previous history involved, and it mlght.be worth determining whether the man haa previously been engaged in isoae other dusty occupation, such as mining, flour milling, or loading grain in ships. The figure of 93 Dollars.per month suggest total incapacity, and In passing Z wonder whether this is paid by you or by you* Government) from the Interest they are taking it would seem that the latter is the e*tt. Continuation Ko.l H.A. Williamson Ssq. rnmmm+ V w J . W . ROBERTS L T D ., A R M LC Y. LEEDS ( * , ENO . 10th August, 194$ 1 1 , ** regards dust count*, the** are apt to be mialsadin*., * P * f J * ^ ?* ther# ia sssn in gly no etandardiaed method in* operation, but even so I cannot quit* follow what thir. aset o f` quoted 11 Intended to indicate* Sosa countswfrchich were in. t--he or-rd-er.--o f --1,15th*^forotfh,eouprret-wd0amnpiwngspmreatyhiondg. Maentdho9d/*10atrhe* J^SId*^tv!#<.S2niiHU^*^^odd5,apl*0n*tPhartoct#h*ifa*w*outlhd* bnreiwnmgacyhoiunre,owans t/Xki^ziAL. K 8J1U ?.1iS S ^ ia u t 1" th* 300 0<c- `u" Mt,d * th" % x .t^ ^ iV T X S 's .is of Ooyanaental Industrial Hygienists, was 5 Million particles"0 e jR V S b S ,ni 50Bim" &r *" I shall be1 leavvliing here at the end of th* month, and be away for about four mmonths in South America, so will you please keep in touch with Mwr.. uQ.A. Wilson in respeat of the supply orf 2werecSouil5d7aiSrSr.a!nSglei1^to*Sdetailia2w?ist5hhi?itf1?t^o^agneytthheirnognfmryesrhetaurrins,e peesfpheacpisally if I aa able to call and see you next year. peeaaxxy our letter1!* which ^attach?* Xnd!J,trlli Rrgi*na~hav* acknowledged 111,1 T0* iiht care to have a copy, Tour* sincerely Znclt . : ..