Canadian Johns-Manville, Working Together in Johns-Manville, Employee Handbook for Asbestos, Quebec (1952)

A 40-page employee handbook, "Working Together in Johns-Manville," printed in February 1952 for the staff of Canadian Johns-Manville at Asbestos, Quebec, with a letter from L. M. Cassidy, chairman of the board. It tells the history of J-M and of the Jeffrey Mine, and explains pay, holidays, benefits, rules and services. The medical section describes the dispensaries at the factory and underground mine, Quebec workmen's compensation and a free medical examination before hiring, "repeated at regular intervals"; the safety section says respirators "are supplied at no cost to you where needed on operations" and are to be used "when specified." It does not say that asbestos dust is a health hazard.

What it shows

In 1982 Johns-Manville's lawyers reviewed a later edition of this booklet, printed in 1965, for its bearing on the asbestos suits; see D. H. Markusson to A. Christen on the Working Together Booklet and Interrogatory Answers (1982). For an earlier J-M handbook for factory workers, see Johns-Manville, Things You Need to Know About Your Job, a Handbook for Factory Employees (c. 1946).