M. D. Webb on the Fibre Handling Task Force Meetings at Waukegan and the Jeffrey Mine (1976)

A two-page memo of March 3, 1976, from M. D. Webb of J-M's Asbestos Fibre Division to J. R. M. Hutcheson, N. W. Hendry, D. Poutiatine and others, reporting on the first meetings of a "Fibre Handling Task Force." After touring the Waukegan, Illinois, asbestos paper plant on February 17 and Mill 5 at the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Quebec, on February 26, 1976, the task force set its first goal: to supply fiber to Waukegan so that dust counts would not exceed 0.5 fibers per cc in the plant's receiving and using areas, or 2.0 fibers per cc in Jeffrey's packaging and handling areas.

What it shows

The task force planned to monitor six railcars of each of two types and some J-M trucks, and to send special shipments in thoroughly cleaned cars with "absolutely no damaged bags," to learn whether the two-ply paper bags could meet the low counts or a sturdier package was needed. Webb notes that wooden pallets damaged bags and that "asbestos fibre becomes lodged in the cracks between the boards in the walls and floors of railcars." A handwritten note on the first page routes the memo to Paul Kotin and Bob Hutcheson and says "we are bound to get positive results."

About this copy

A dark photocopy; the first few lines of the address block are partly struck through by hand.