ACUTE SILICOSIS: LESSONS LEARNED FROM EXCAVATION OF THE HAWKS NEST TUNNEL, WEST VIRGINIA, 1930-31

Helen M. Lang, Department of Geology & Geography, West Virginia University

The tunnel (aqueduct) was built in 1930-31 to divert water of the New River for 3 miles (~5 km) through Gauley Mountain over a drop of 162 ft (~50 m). The tunnel is 31-46 feet in diameter. The power plant at the end of tunnel provided hydroelectric power for a Union Carbide plant nearby. The tunnel was drilled through nearly pure quartz arenite of the Lower Pennsylvanian Nuttall sandstone.

WORKING CONDITIONS• The Hawk’s Nest tunnel (aqueduct) was excavated in 1930-31 at the height of “the Great Depression”• The New Kanawha Power Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Union Carbide, designed and contracted the building of the Tunnel• The contractor, Rinehart & Dennis, out of Charlottesville, VA, hired the workers and supervised the construction• Most of the excavation was completed in just 18 months, although the contract allowed 2 years. • Most tunnel workers were black migrants from the South; local blacks were not hired because they would not tolerate the horrible

treatment by the contractor. Some local whites were hired as foremen and drillers.• Segregated camps were overcrowded. Company bullies rousted workers out of camp at beginning of shifts; beatings were common.• Turnover among workers was high. More than 60% of the workers worked less than 2 months.

CONSEQUENCES

HOW MANY DIED? from The Hawk’s Nest Incident: America’s Worst Industrial Disaster, 1986,

by Martin Cherniack, Yale University Press

• We will never know. Social security numbers were not yet implemented, many workers were black migrants from the South who wandered off toward home.

• Cherniack estimated the number of deaths by attributing all excess deaths among white males in Fayette County between 1931 and 1937 to work in the Hawk’s Nest tunnel.

• He determined the risk factor by dividing that number by the number of local white males who worked more than 2 months inside the tunnel (the threshold for disease).

• From this analysis he determined a shocking risk factor of 63%!• Applying that rate to the 1213 men who worked in the tunnel for more than 2

months, Cherniack arrived at his “consistently conservative” estimate that at least 764 men died of acute silicosis or another lung disease within 6 years after having worked in the Hawk’s Nest tunnel!

CONSEQUENCES• Recognition of a new, aggressive form of silicosis, acute silicosis.• There were numerous lawsuits and a few public trials.• Lawsuits were settled out of court for small amounts of money. Records all had to

be turned over to Union Carbide.• Plaintiffs received from $400 to $1000 depending on marital status and race.• Brief national recognition resulted from a Congressional Hearing before the House

Sub-Committee on Labor, in New York City in 1936. Congressional action was recommended, but none was taken.

• WV and other states finally made silicosis compensable under Workmen’s Compensation, but Hawk’s Nest workers were specifically excluded.

• The Hawk’s Nest Incident left no enduring imprint on popular culture, perhaps because the victims did not all die at once.

LOCATION AND EXCAVATION

New River upstream of Hawk’s Nest Dam New River downstream of Hawk’s Nest Dam

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The Hawk’s Nest Power Plant is still operating

PRECAUTIONS TAKEN(?) TO PROTECT THE WORKERS• Dust levels in the tunnel – were never measured• Respirators were used only by Union Carbide employees – respirators were not available to drillers. • Evacuation of tunnel during and 2 hours after blasting – was supposed to be routine, but was not always done. • Wet drilling and water spray to reduce dust – wet drilling was used only for horizontal holes and during inspections.• Ventilation system – 20” canvas pipe with fan was in place, but inadequate and often broken-down.• Gasoline engines gave off noxious fumes and CO – caused many complaints, their use was eventually discontinued.• Medical exams and health care – incompetent and uninformed local doctor diagnosed “tunnelitis,” gave poor health

care and didn’t recognize the developing silicosis crisis.

HOW WOULD THINGS BE DIFFERENT TODAY?

Old historic sign ignores death toll.

New historic sign repeats erroneous number of deaths.

Photographs courtesy of the West Virginia State Archives, Department of Culture and History, The Cultural Center, Charleston, West Virginia.

Blueprint of Hawk’s Nest Tunnel, 12 Feb. 1935, 10X vertical exaggeration

DID THE COMPANIES (UNION CARBIDE AND RINEHART & DENNIS) KNOW THE DANGERS OF SILICOSIS?

• Chronic silicosis was well known by 1930; acute silicosis (the type that affected Hawk’s Nest workers) was not yet well known.

• 1897 – wet drilling was introduced in England• 1911 – dry drilling was strictly forbidden in South Africa• 1914 – U.S. Bureau of Mines recommended annual exam for

those exposed to silica dusts• 1917 – U.S. Public Health Service Bulletin about silicosis was

distributed widely among employers• Companies claimed that they took massive precautions against

dust in tunnel; suggests they knew there was a potential problem.• Union Carbide (NKPC) employees wore respirators in tunnel• Rinehart & Dennis employees did not wear respirators• Companies claimed ignorance of the dangers of silicosis• BUT THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!

from The Hawk’s Nest Incident: America’s Worst Industrial Disaster, 1986, by Martin Cherniack

Ferrosilicon alloy still made at plant in Alloy, WV

Big Tunnels like the Channel Tunnel are now drilled by enormous machines – workers are less likely to be exposed to high dust levels.

• Strict workplace safety regulations are in place in all developed countries.• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and similar agencies

have oversight and responsibility to enforce regulations that protect workers in the U.S. and other developed nations.• Regulations may not be uniformly and routinely enforced.• Worker’s Compensation now covers silicosis and should provide affected workers with at least some compensation for

occupational diseases• Lawsuit settlements are likely to be high and to favor workers, but legal action is expensive and takes years to come to a

settlement.• Undervalued populations (Mexican and other legal and illegal immigrants) are still likely to be taken advantage of in the U.S.

and elsewhere. • Workers in “Third-World” and underdeveloped countries lack legal and other protection from occupational diseases like

silicosis.

COULD SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN AGAIN?

SILICOSIS IN YUCCA MOUNTAIN TUNNEL WORKERS, 2004from “Living on Earth” radio broadcast – April 2, 2004

“Health Hazards at Yucca Mountain”http://www.loe.org/archives/archives.htm

• At Yucca Mountain, a 25 foot diameter tunnel was drilled about 5 miles into volcanic tuff containing silica and erionite, a carcinogenic, fibrous zeolite, in the early to mid-1990s.

• The tunnel was drilled by a massive tunnel-boring machine, nicknamed “the Yucca mucker.” Crews were under pressure to keep it running.

• “The workers say they were exposed to hazardous silica dust during years of tunnel digging.” Lawsuits are pending.

• Through most of the 1990s MSHA recommended changes in safety measures, but DOE did not implement them.

• Martin Cherniack, who chronicled the Hawk’s Nest Incident said: “The fact that some of these reported exposures occurred [at Yucca Mountain] is actually alarming. And in this sense it really does suggest that on the corporate and the governmental level there was a real neglect on part of executives and officials.”

• In January 2004, DOE implemented the Yucca Mountain Silicosis Screening Program for former tunnel workers.