Recommended Safety Practices for Handling Asbestos Fiber

Our plain-English summary of Recommended Safety Practices for Handling Asbestos Fiber, by Johns-Manville.

The study

• Author: Johns-Manville
• Published: Johns-Manville Corporation
• Type of article: Company document
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library.

In plain English

This is not a research study. It is a short, undated safety brochure issued by the Johns-Manville Corporation. It reports no data, study group or health findings and names no specific fiber type. It uses only the general term "asbestos fiber", whether in bags or loose. The brochure recommended careful handling at every stage, from packing to in-plant moving, to avoid damaging bags and creating dust. It said hooks and other sharp tools should not be used. Damaged bags were to be repaired, resealed or put into closed containers right away, and spills vacuumed, or wetted and swept, into closed containers. It called for maximum enclosure and dust control wherever in-plant handling creates dust, such as bag opening, fiber dumping and bag disposal. It called for approved respirators wherever dust cannot be kept within the Threshold Limit Value by dust control equipment or other methods. Loose fiber moved in open carts was to be covered, and waste dust and empty bags were to go into closed containers. Readers were told to follow OSHA and EPA rules and local codes.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Industry safety brochure (recommended handling practices); not a research study
• Who was studied: No study population. The brochure gives guidance for handling asbestos fiber.
• Exposure: Asbestos fiber (no fiber type specified), in bags and as loose fiber, plus collected dust and empty bags as waste, during packing, transporting, unloading, storing and in-plant moving
• Main results:
  • Recommendation (not a study finding): hooks or other sharp instruments should not be used when unloading bags
  • Recommendation: damaged bags should be immediately repaired, resealed or put into closed receptacles
  • Recommendation: spillage should be cleaned up immediately, by vacuum or by sweeping after thorough wetting, and deposited in suitable closed receptacles
  • Recommendation: stored bags should follow first-in, first-out to prevent deterioration
  • Recommendation: maximum possible enclosure and dust control systems at all stages of in-plant handling where dust is created, such as bag opening, fiber dumping and bag disposal
  • Recommendation: approved respiratory equipment should be required at all stages of handling where dust is generated that cannot be kept within the Threshold Limit Value by dust control equipment or other methods
  • Recommendation: covers should be used when loose fiber is moved in open carts or buggies
  • Recommendation: waste such as collected dust and empty fiber bags should go into special closed receptacles and be disposed of so as to prevent dust release
  • Recommendation: consult and observe OSHA workplace regulations, EPA rules on discharge to ambient air, and local codes

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Johns-Manville, Dust Control, Respirator, Threshold Limit Value (TLV), OSHA.

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