FBI Plant Survey of the Keasbey & Mattison Company Plant at Ambler, Pennsylvania (1940)

A confidential plant survey by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Philadelphia office of the Keasbey & Mattison Company asbestos and magnesia plant at Ambler, Pennsylvania, made in July and August 1940 and dated December 26, 1940. Written to protect a plant making material for the government against sabotage, it covers the company's ownership by Turner & Newall of England, its officers, its products and government contracts, and then the plant building by building: power, water, fences, gates, lighting, guards and fire protection. It reports that the pulverizing of asbestos fiber and the cutting and sanding of asbestos-cement panelling "creates a dust and subjects those employees working in those departments to asbestos silicosis."

What it shows

The report gives a rare outside view of a large asbestos plant on the eve of the Second World War. Keasbey & Mattison was then making asbestos-cement pipe, shingles and electrical panelling, packings, textiles and asbestos-magnesia insulation for the government, including shingles for Army camps and "splinter mattresses" of asbestos and magnesia for Navy battleships. The agent wrote that because of the dust hazard, workers in those departments had to undergo "a thorough physical examination including an X-ray of the lungs," and that "all men who work in industrial dust are required to wear respirators." Near the end he notes "considerable dust" from pulverizing fiber and sawing panelling and millboard, the use of vents and exhaust fans, and an inspection by the plant's liability insurer, American Mutual Liability Insurance Company, in March 1940 that recommended no further vents.

About this copy

The copy has 56 pages and ends in mid-sentence on page 56; the exhibits the report refers to (photographs, charts, employee lists and the applicant's physical review form) are not included.