Document wrxEXbGxvRpwrkDrdExqZw786

FILE NAME: Kaiser Gypsum (KG) DATE: 1972 DOC#: KG013 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Memo RE Letter from R.W. Grigg, Kaiser Gypsum Cov Carey-Canadian Asbestos -- CAREY. _____________ j CAREY-CANADIAN ASBESTOS A DIVISION OF PANACON CORPORATION P. O. BOX 1 5 0 7 0 . C I N C I N N A T I . TLPHON: 513-821-3000 9 March 1972 OHIO U.S.A. 45215 CABLE: CARYMINES TELEX: 21-4184 R. W. Grigg Commodity Purchasing Manager Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. Kaiser. Center 300 Lakeside Drive Oakland, California 94604 Dear Ralph: The enclosed memo from R. J. Merrill, President, Carey-Canadian Mines, Ltd., is in answer to your inquiry of December 27 and further to my letter of January 7* We trust his reply will answer your questions. We are pleased to be of service. Sincerely, Harold F. X. Plate/jm Sales Manager Enclosure RECEIVED MAR 1 3 1972 KAISER CEMENT S GYPSUM Purchasing d ep ar t m e nt .-ROM: INTERNAL CORRESPONDENCE H. F. X. Plate R. J. M errill ' ' t y t - ' . <*.' .. - 1 . . " DATE: REPLY BY: . 3-7-72 CC: A. H. B a g e n s to s e SUBJECT: L E T T E R FROM R. W. GRIGG, KAISER GYPSUM CO. D e c e m b e r 27, 1971 I know of no b e tter way to evaluate the health h azard of using our asb esto s than to te ll the sto ry of our m ining operations. I sh o u ld f i r s t po in t out t h a t o u r m in e i s l o c a t e d a p p r o x i m a t e l y 15 m i l e s away fro m any of the.m ines 'com prising the Thetford Mines group and that the m a jo rity of our em ployees live in the town of E ast Broughton, w hich can;be called a "com pany town" as our mining operation is its only industry. We .em ploy 300 h o u r ly r a te d and 50 s a l a r i e d e m p lo y e e s . E a s t B roughton developed in the shadow of and down-wind fro m our fo rm er mine, The Q uebec A sb e sto s C o rp o ra tio n , w hich o p e ra te d fr o m 1918 to 1958. D uring th a t- p e r io d w e-em ployed up to 150 m en. Our o re bodies of c h ry so tile a s b e s to s fib re contain the h ig h est p e rc e n ta g e of a sb e sto s of any m ine in Quebec and require much m ore crushing and grinding to release the asb esto s th a n the o r e s of the' T hetford group o r that of Jo h n s-M an v ille. We re c o v e r the a sb e sto s by d ry m illing, cre a tin g a lot of dust in the p ro cess. M odern m ills collect this dust with a bag filter. The product of the bag filters is partly p ro cessed and graded to be sold as 7RF and 7TF. As there is in su f ficient m arket for all of the dust collected, the balance is discarded with the tailings product from the m ill and is stacked in mountainous heaps adjacent to the m ill. The Quebec Asbestos Corporation m ill was not equipped with a bag filter. The extrem ely dusty a ir in the m ill in terio r was passed through cyclone collectors and exhausted from them to the atm osphere. This pall of dust settled continually over the town. The tailings heaps w ere also up-wind fro m the town so dust fro m that so u rce also cov ered the town. It was only in 1958 a fte r we built our new op eration, C arey-C anadian M ines, th re e m ile s northeast, and down-wind from the town, that the townspeople could breathe a d u st-free atm osphere. Our new operation m aintains worker environm ent below 10 f ib r e s p e r c. c. and the d u s t f r o m o u r ta ilin g s h eap s is d is s ip a te d over an unpopulated area. Form 5339-2 4/29-70 -age two This somewhat detailed description of our form er operations and the unfortunate fo rm er plight of our em ployees was necessary to show that our old em ployees, perhaps m ore than any from the other mines, should be experiencing serious problems of pneumoconiosis and bronchogenic can cer. T his, however, is not the case. T here are no compensable c a s e s of a s b e s t o s i s among our em p lo y e e s n o r do we have any knowledge that any of our employees may be expected to develop compensable asb e sto sis. All have been annually examined at the Thetford Mines Industrial C linic fo r the p a s t 25 or 30 y e a r s . We have p e n s io n e r s with over 50 y e a r s of s e r v ic e . When we closed Quebec A sbestos Corporation, we tr a n s f e r r e d a ll of our 150 employees to the new operation, thus many of our w o rk ers have o v e r 25 y e a r s of s e rv ic e . No u n u su a l incidence of bronchogenic cancer has been noted among our employees as compared with other m ines. Dr. MacDonald's study included our present and form er employees in the group of 11, 000 on which he re p o rte d . Q uestion No. 2 can be answ ered as follows: a. Charging and blending operations should be adequately ventilated to maintain the w orker environment below 12 f ib r e s p e r c. c. fo r s h o r t p e r io d s and a v e ra g in g below 5 f ib re s p e r c. c. b. E m ptied bags should be baled, w rapped and sold as waste p a p e r. Spills should be clean ed up with a vacuum cleaner, not by push broom. c. The re c o m m e n d e d r e s p i r a t o r i s 3M3710_____________ . d. The recommended dust monitoring technique is the Membrane F ilte r Method, a copy of which is enclosed. e. Since accidental, short te r m and o v er-exposure will not re s u lt in pneumoconiosis or lung can cer, no em ergency ' procedures are necessary. 3. U se and a p p lic a tio n p ro c e d u re s : Joint Compounds - Avoid creation of visible dust when mixing d ry m a te ria ls with w ater. An approved m ask should be worn by all people working in the area of hand sandpapering but it would be better if an orbital sander equipped with vacuum dust collector could be used in place of handsanding. Wall Texture - Avoid creation of visible dust when mixing. Avoid overspray. page Three ar Ceiling Texture - Avoid creation of dust when mixing. Laminating Compound - Avoid creation of dust when mixing. 4. (a) Copies of p ro p o se d E P A and OSHA regulations a r e available to you. (b) T his question is co v ered in the above regulations. C/uesuo;-