Document xY310X5p48NQyOzOLM3YB0vm

FILE NAME: JC DATE: 2006 JC021 DOC#: JC021 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Telephone Interview Transcript with Fred Dawson RE: JOHN CRANK RRH TELEPHONE INTERVIEW WITH FRED DAWSON 3/14/06 26 Gwendale Maidenhead, Berkshire, England SL6 6SH Q H ow long did they continue to use asbestos? A 1950s to 1990s 0 W hen did they stop m aking asbestos gaskets in E ngland? A W e never m ade gaskets. U sed asbestos as an additive to soft packing. We braided soft rope. A sbestos w as part o f that. Q U.S. had SuperSeal packings. Is that one o f them ? A Probably was. Yes. Q U .S. had d ifferen t num bers, e.g. 187-1. D id you b eco m e fam iliar w ith various style num bers? A No. Q T hey stopped using asbestos in U .S. in 1985. D id they continue to use asbestos in England beyond that? A Yes. They sold the com pany o ff in 1990s to another com pany. They were still using it then. W orked for TI G roup (Tube Investm ents). TI ow ned several com panies. M ainly three large com panies. John C rane w as the largest o f the three. Early 1990 still using asbestos for packing in England. U ntil sold it off. In England and A m erica another com pany m ade soft packings. W e sold that com pany to them . W e relocated our soft packings to N orthern E ngland w hich is w here they are. A few people can give m ore inform ation Q D id you know that John Crane had been m aking asbestos-containing packing since 1930? A C orrect A utom obiles used asbestos in gaskets from parts w e m ade. R adiators, ships, pum ps, steam . Soft packings w ould be used for ?? and valves. Q Do you know "chrysotile" and "crocidolite?" A N o . T h e y 're stra n g e nam es. Q D id you m ake packing used for acids? W ere you ever told that som e of those packings w ere for acid resistant pum ps? A Yes. W ithout a doubt. Q Is there a difference in the appearance o f acids vs. steam ? A Yes. W e used m ainly vent packings for steam and for the w et packings we braided m ostly. Q Is there any inform ation or brochures or books about the products, photos, etc., that you have access to? A No. Lots when worked there. Q Do you have any catalogs? A R e m e m b e r c a ta lo g s, b u t d o e s n 't h a v e an y . G o n e fro m th e re so m e y ears. 10- 12 years since dealt w ith any o f this. Q K now anyone w ho m ight have a catalog? A No. Q W hat was your job? A M aintenance technician. W orked on loom s, etc. N egotiated on behalf o f w o rk ers. G o d p e o p le ch ec k ed m ed ically . "Understood dangers of blue and white asbestos." Q D id they have dust controls and regular exam inations o f w orkers in place w hen you got there? A Yes. E xtraction used in 1970s w as basic, but did understand dangers because w e disciplined people for not using equipm ent provided. Q D o you know anyone w orking there in the 1960s w ho is still alive? A I know nam es, but not addresses: G ordon Ranee, Supervisor for several years. Lives in M aidenhead, B erkshire, England. G ordon dealt w ith this on a daily basis. Q Do you know the num ber o f em ployees? A R egarding the packing division, there w ere three shifts, night, evening, day. A t its heyday there w ere 140 people. W hen ended, 50-60 people. A w are o f people w ho got sick. H ad tw o people contact him regarding cases against John Crane. H ad a relative approach him regarding his father. W as convinced his father died o f asbestosis but death certificate said heart failure. 0 If claim s w ere filed before 1970, how w ould I find that out? A N o t sure. R ay D illon at the U nion m ay be able to trace it. I f taken up by the U nion, he w ould kn o w about it. (If privately p ursued, w ould not.) A m icus records should show up. A m icus w as the union. Q K now anyone w ho developed m esotheliom a? A N o . O n ly b y w o rd o f m o u th . M e so th e lio m a o r a sb e sto sis. C o u ld n 't g ive nam es or addresses. Q A re you fam iliar w ith the w ord "m esotheliom a?" A Yes. D efinitely. Q D id any em ployees develop m esotheliom a? A N o t th a t I 'm a w a re of. K n e w p e o p le w ith sh o rtn e ss o f b re a th . N o lu n g cancer cases. O nly tw o cases w ere the ones he w as contacted about by those w orking vs. John Crane. Q W ere there regular inspections o f the plant by the health and safety people in E n g lan d ? A No. W e had factory inspectors. Yes. They cam e around periodically, but they w ould not have dealt specifically w ith the asbestos part o f it. They only c h e c k e d th e p la n t to see i f it w as o p e ra tin g in a safe c o n d itio n . D id n 't c h e c k to see if asbestos. Insurance agents cam e around, too. They w ould have been doing a planned audit. N ot specific for asbestos. Q D id they require respirators w hen w orking there? " A R equired to w ear respirators in room /areas w here they w ould find certain levels o f dust. W e developed certain techniques for cleaning equipm ent. In general did not w alk around w ith respirators or m asks. W as supposed extracted sufficiently enough not to require personal protection. Extractors w ere like hotels and had ventilation dusting. M ost extraction fans pulled through ventilators that w ould be poor by today's standards. D ust w as collected in buildings, in w alls, on sides o f w alls. In place in 1970. Old stuff. U sed W atson extractors. Ended up w ith extractors far better. Q ^ D id you have a doctor at the plant? A No. Q Industrial hygienist? A Y es. S pough Industrial H ealth Center. (It's been sold.) W as for general problem s. Things in the eye, etc. People did health checks at the local U pton H ospital in Slough. People w ould go get chest x-rays there. N ot done in 1970s. Started later in the 1970s. Q D o you have any literature about risk o f breathing asbestos and things you should do to protect against it? A Y es. H ad w ritten rules and regulations. H ad health and safety policy. G en eral ru les, b u t d o esn 't th in k they w ere in p lace in the 1970s. T hinks it w as in the 1980s. U sed to have som e health and safety docum ents. W ill look. Q D o you have any photographs o f the plant? A I have a couple o f old photographs som ew here-inside o f the building show ing the m aintenance team doing som e special thing. W as U nion C onvener for years.