Bendix Corp.
Previously known as Bendix Aviation Corporation, this firm later merged into Allied Corporation to form Allied Signal in 1985, which was subsequently subsumed by Honeywell. The company made automotive purchasing materials in Troy, New York starting in 1939 and Cleveland, Tennessee, starting 1964. It was still making asbestos-containing brick parts in 1997.
In 1932, Bendix personnel director K. Selby wrote to Dr. A. J. Lanza at Metropolitan Life insurance company requesting to send chest x-rays and medical records of four workers for review to see if the men had silicosis. Dr. Selby had previously discussed X-ray interpretation with Lanza.
The company was among the US break manufacturers who belong to the brake lining Manufacturers Association which was prosecuted along with member companies and management officials for price fixing by the US government. It paid $6,000 in fines for conspiracy in restraint of trade and commerce in frictionless materials in 1948. The companies prosecution along with five others constituted virtually the entire industry of brake and clutch manufacturers. The trade association was dissolved and reformed late 1948 as clutch of facing and brake linings of stance or industry.
The federal regulation of asbestos as a cancer and asbestosis hazard could lead to market opportunities for plastics this was passed on by Bendix director of purchases Ernie Martin to Knoll Hendry asbestos fibers sales manager at John Mandeville's huge Canadian asbestos mine.
The almost endless supply of documents showng the callous attitude of American industry toward asbestos hazards and its conscious disregard for the safety of the American worker is stunning. The asbestos industry’s unconscionable attitude toward the safety of the American worker and the public is perhaps most appropriately described in a September 12, 1966 document by E. A. Martin, Director of Purchases for Bendix Corporation:
“My answer to the problem is: if you have enjoyed a good life while working with asbestos products why not die from it. There’s got to be some cause.”
Hendry replied, "I suppose we have to bear with people who have nothing better to do than create alarm but we are not alarmed and we live and sleep with the stuff."
As the controversies over asbestos increased, the Johnson Manville asbestos fiber division provided its position paper on asbestos and human health to the general manager of the Bendix purchasing serials division.
Johns Mansville officials would continue to send such material to Bendix officials and hold seminars on asbestos health. The Bendix plant in Windsor, Ontario, just across the Canadian border from Detroit, was inspected in 1966 by the Ontario Department of health. While the exhaust ventilation system was considered adequate, the inspector criticized a hand shakeout of filter bags collecting dust from grinding drilling and sending your brake linings. Settled dust in the area was also a problem, with no attempt to keep dust collectors and machines free of settled dust. The maintenance worker doing bag shaking was not provided with a respirator. In addition to measures to deal with these problems it was recommended that the workers but periodically x-rayed by the government occupational chest unit.
Three years later the same occupational health service engineer returned and found that things were about the same as before. Cleaning of collector bags is considered to be primitive and exposes a man unnecessarily too high dust levels. In addition, there can be considerable area contamination that should be stopped. One worker was wearing a respirator that was unsuitable for asbestos dust. Clouds of dust drifted around the yard and some of it reentering the plant.
Housekeeping measures at the plant remained unsatisfactory in 1977; eight company industrial hygienist urged that dry sweeping be discontinued and that Binn shoots machinery and floors be cleaned every shift using a vacuum cleaner with a filter suitable for asbestos.
The employee newsletter Bendix today carried an article "Dust on their hands" picturing two women seated and smiling. One held a brake lining and the other a feather duster according to the caption flicking imaginary dust. The article said that the company's friction plant in Detroit and New York generated 15 tons a day of waste dust with a high asbestos content, and asked if anyone could suggest a market use for this mountain of dust that was becoming more and more costly to dispose of as waste.
It was not mentioned that asbestos had any health dangers. In 1970 Bendix officials were well informed of the development of regulations by the US government agencies and industry efforts to mitigate the cost of such a standard. Bendix was a member of the asbestos information Association of North America and the friction materials and standards Institute. Among the JM document is a letter from FMS I chief Ed Driscoll Lane to JH kelly at bendix on warning labeling which says in part:
"When customers of yours July things champ for linings cut linings or grind linings they may very well raised the asbestos concentrations in the atmosphere to above occupational safety health Association standards therefore if a customer of yours started drilling or grinding without having proper dust collectors he would probably be in violation of the safety health Association standard it. It therefore becomes your responsibility as the supplier of the brake lining to warn the customer of the potential possibility."
Bendix is another company responsible for thousands of cases of mesothelioma. If you worked for Bendix or with Bendix brake products please contact Paul & Hanley at 800 933-2244.
