Document zzqxd6XeLzvn8pM7BBa5xg6Lz

Cnc!. i i PACIFIC REGION GRACE 1513 646 1 ~**k 'jr'-v ' ' 'CONSTRUCTION PROOUCTS DIVISION * ** ''*' V* VW _rhir> >i.-IV. Y s* rfWpeopIe presenf|[from the var ious state agencies involved. The meeting concerning this portion of the agenda lasted /out 2 hours. At this point it appears that there are two things 'which will have to be accomplished before there is anything more done by the Coordinating Council. First is to seek a legal opinion on who will be responsible for the enforcement of this legislation, will O.A.C. or the Department of Public Health or some other agency be doing it. The next step will be development of some kind of standard and test procedure to evaluate asbestos containing materials and any proposed sealants. This part of it has been assigned to the Department of Public Health and the Division of Industrial Safety. We will try to work with these people and keep it from getting out of hand. nc&Aa*..- PACIFIC REGION 15136A62 It appears that the performance procedure made sense and at this time it Is moving in that direction. We bought some time and if we can keep the test procedure from being impossible we may come out of it. There is only one thing that came out of this of which I am certain. It is not going to go away. TWP :am Attachment **** ' !' miwwjjjpppnM* Y5136463 " i igMj.rH11.1? At the offset it she ild be understood that I represent only one segment of the fireproofing industry. Two completely different materials are available for the purpose. Sprayed fibers and cementitious. My remarks will be confined to the 'attcr except to explain the differences in the two materials. One must assume that A.B. 31** is the result of growing concern on the part of responsible people for the health hazard that may result from exposure to asbestos fibers. j 15136*6* I 'VX':, i *9 Hi'/ ' The areas of our concern are five fold. The people in our plants* the workmen directly ir./olved in application on jobs, the hazard to other workmen at the job sites, the hazard to the general public during application and finally the possible hazard to people working in buildings which have been fireproofed with Mono-Kote. The people in our plants have always worn protective gear but this gear has been upgraded and failure to wear it is cause for immediate discharge. Two years ago we retained the services of Drs. Tabershaw Cooper who are highly respected in this field to determine the hazards present in field operations. The results of their findings were conclusive. The hazards were well below the present threshold limits established by the Federal Government. The results of this work was turned over to the Department of Industrial Safety, State of California. r 1513665 .1. f wish to quote two paragraphs from their report and to make the full report avaMable to this committee. Purpose "The purpose of this report is to determine if asbestos particles were present in the return and supply air ducts of an occupied office building. The building had the return air plenun sprayed with asbestos containing insulation for fireproofing the structural steel members which are part of the returning air plenum. The asbestos containing fireproofing by brand name was "Monokote"."i *5136466 f'i.: i i - with fresh air to adequately cleanse the con struction phase environment." Despite the favorable indications of all this testing we in Grace continue to devote enormous amounts of both money and human resources to the elimination of Asbestos from our product. To date we have not been entirely successful. 'Ve do have an Asbestos free fireproofing product but it does not have the full equivalency of the asbestos containing material. We are not alone in this endeavor. Other producers have developed asbestos free products too but there is nothing available as of this moment that has full equivalency. So the industry is caught, so far, in somewhat of a pinchers movement. The Fire Prevention People demand, and rightfully so, the best that's available. The health authorities look askance at a mineral that makes it so. 15136467 i ijppjg^g1* ..tatter^. i cation. It is a plaster with a dry in place density of 20#cu.ft. It is basically the same material that replaced concrete as a fireproofing material some 20 years ago. Originally it was a cocri Inat Ion of Gypsun and vermiculite and was applied on metal lath with a trowei. We found that with the addition of 10% to 12% of Asbestos by weight plus some other unrelated materials we could spray the materia] directly to steel and that it would adhere during full fire exposure. It is premixed wet in a slurry and pumped through a hose to the point of application. There it is sprayed in a tight pattern, by use of air, from a nozzle with a 3/8" to 1/2" opening. The v;et material sets and becomes a hard plaster. This is a sample of the finished product. W. R. Grace is presently the only company supplying material of the cementitious type in Ca1 i fornia. 1 5 1 3 6 Afc8 dry fibrous aateria) is blown through the water spray using the material to be wetted and propelled to the surface to be coated. The in place density is generally in the 10 to 11 lb. per cubic foot range. The final density is largely a function of the amount of water used. This is a sample of sprayed fiber taken directly from a job. As you can see the two materials have nothing in common either in final form or method of application. One is a plaster coat, the other a fibrous mat. A sealant which could be completely effective or even unnecessary for one product might be of little or no value on the other. 15136*69 f SHALL BE OVER-COATED. WITH A SEALANT ADEQUATE TO PRECLUDE or sbestos fibers." The key words are -< Overcoated, sealant, preclude and erosion. We believe the intent of this bill to be obvious. The author didn't want people in offices, hospitals, hotels or institutions to be exposed to airborne asbestos fibers coming through the air supply system. This is a laudable desire and we fully concur. We further believe that our product, Mono-Kote, falls within the meaning and intent of this legislation. 15136470 / : ...... - ' v. Without measurable amounts of material being eroded. We can't :' . ... ^testify to the fact that there were no asbestos fibers removed during that test because we weren't looking for them at that stage of the game. We do know that two modern buildings have been checked by two separate organizations and that in neither case was asbestos found which exceeded that found in ambient outside air. No piece of legislation can be legally imposed on the citizenry if it goes beyond the point of being reasonable. We don't think this legislation is or was intended to be unreasonable. It was simply intended to keep asbestos out of the air stream under normal operational conditions. 15136*71  XShrY<*X. V- rOur in r discussions Is matte ': -ore thanfonei 8|S'tifiIcFfeshouIc be considered, ...; area tc make .reoairslffi^'h'" a'"r"twje,alut*hc-e0r%1;n^ t"en ntenticnally the asIning mater,la knocked*off'and asbestos :*stM air st - ' ^K-TmTMr-T-f..... submit gentlemen, there^^nothing that can beput7up there In those plenums that a workman isn't going to get ; through if his problem is an the other side. If it*s sheet rock he'll use a k-.ira. jf it's lath and plaster he'll use a hammer ar.d a pair- of tin snips. If it's steel plate he'll use a cutting wc r -",. Once r e's through and it's then our material in his '-a-/ out will come a shinglers hatchet. We I ive v, it", i Someth i nc i ; ' - t day during the construction period. Remove it. Vyu! all of t a bui 1 c ' concre t- Ty is this:: There is no way to preclude .at can happen during the life of iven been known to cut out half the '-ocn for a display case. *1* protection of .IJves and property. This somehow has to weighed against the possibility that because it contains some asbestos someone,may at some point in time,have a lung disease because of it. We believe that possibility to be very remote in view of the test results. , However we will continue to try and get out all the asbestos so there will be no such possibility. In the meantime we suggest that all materials falling within the meaning of this bill be put on a performance basis. Let each producer have his product tested under actual field conditions by an independent qualified testing organization. If excessive asbestos fiber counts are found then let it be that producer's responsibility to submit his own choice of sealant and his product for controlled tests on a small scale. iinswjgMi.pr f' 15136*73 -n- -. CT7S , i * vv,. IN^en the responsible people have been iSfefcS&aaka?.- ,,, i vr- -?&$- tits performlh ly the pr forvusej as tested. Isfied that .... Id then be clea -- . .. . . suggested approach would I'm sure ^ ,- ' . if 4 " pleidbn' t I Ike to spemLmoney i f they! set. with E?of us in the fireproofing business artelisedito spendlhg l^ -= ' ' :' ' r- ' " Ci$;:onside-r' a bly larger sums of money for Fire Tests which are an accepted prerequisite for use of our materials. I don't think that what we are suggesting Is anything more than that. I won't presume to offer any details for test procedures. We feel that part of it should be worked out by people who have the expertise and t'-nowledge. We do offer our cooperation and assistance. Thank you again Gentlemen for the opportunity you have given us to make our views known. It is very much appreciated. 15l3647