Asbestos exposure and control (1970)

This March 1970 report from the Industrial Hygiene Division at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, compared chest X-ray records across trades, measured asbestos dust in insulators' breathing zones, and described dust controls. In a two and one-half year X-ray comparison begun in July 1965, about 21% of pipe coverers and insulators had positive X-ray findings. This compared with 3.5% of boilermakers, who had some asbestos and silica exposure, and about 1% or less of other occupations with no known asbestos exposure. Positive findings counted all reported abnormalities, and most were classified as pulmonary fibrosis. Among the 22 men with positive findings whose work histories were reviewed, one was the only diagnosed case of asbestosis. Allowing for time weighting and the asbestos content of materials, insulators' exposures were below the Threshold Limit Value of 5 million particles per cubic foot. Peaks during the work day often exceeded it up to ten times. The authors concluded the shipyard had a problem with asbestos and that the limits had perhaps been too high. They noted that smoking status was unknown and that the X-ray comparison did not consider specific diagnosis or degree of lung damage.

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From J-M's medical library

This copy comes from the Johns-Manville medical library. J-M listed it in its medical library index as no. 004268. Barry Castleman cites it in chapter 10, "Historical Research on Toxic Substances", of Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects (5th ed., 2005); see Reading Castleman.