Document 0JzZyzGQLdmJkbQ7JxR5ENDpx

**V 1*" * A**s. " j \J / neJpb fji 20210 USDL -- 74-138 Occupational Safety and Health Administration Barr (202) 961-3914 (Home) (703) 354-0199 (Lcftsji-* 'tT2_ C 7FC~> C A/n/ FOK RELEASE: IMMEDIATE Friday, March 22. 1974 OSHA ANNOUNCES EMERGENCY MEASURES TO PROTECT WORKERS FROM VINYL CHLORIDE The Department of Labor announced today it will issue an emergency temporary health standard to protect workers exposed to vinyl chloride while it proceeds with normal rulemaking procedures for a permanent standard. Assistant Secretary of Labor John H. Stender, head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), said rhe emergency standard will reduce permissible exposure levels of workers in industry from 500 parts per million (ppa) in air to a 50 ppa ceiling, and at the sane time require workplace monitoring and, where exposure is .greater than the 50 level, personal protective measures and equipment. Themove followed disclosure by officials of the S.F. Goodrich Chernies) plant - in Louisville, Ky., of s possible connection between vinyl chloride he ~ deaths of four employees of angiosarcoma---a rare form of '' ml death subsequently has been reported from Louisville. South Charleston plant and Goodyear'a Niagara plant. -1 A) et the Louisville facility have been diagnosed to have an Onder the law, Che emergency temporary standard, serve: standard. Stender said s proposed permanent* standard also v ^rrmanent 'V tft based on racosmenda- tions which have been published by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (N10SK). -: ................ - MORE - - DTH 000016643 JT- . iT c r2 t:: . This proposed permanent standJrd~VouI<fe8 for vinyl chloride, set work practices to be followed. Institute a medical surveillance program for employees, end require specific personal protective equipment. It also would prohibit any exposure to vinyl chloride, a substance that is used widely in the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride (I'VC), a type of plastic. (Monitoring devices currently available can measure exposures as low as one part per mil1loo in air.) . The emergency standard, to be published in the Federal Register soon, can remain In *` effect up to six months. It will be superseded, however, as soon ss the permanent standard proposal la adopted. Stender said that "theoretically, the permanent standard can be on the books as early as June." "Meanwhile," he continued, "the emergency standard will serve to protect workers from the grave danger we know exists." Following the report from B.F. Goodrich, OSHA held an emergency fact-finding hear ing Feb. IS. later, stender and other high OSHA officials visited several chemical plants for on-the-spot investigations to determine possible means of limiting worker exposure to vinyl chloride. Stender said scientific evidence presented at the Feb. 15 hearing by Professor Ceesra Kaltoui, an Italian scientist, led to the emergency ceiling reduction. Maltoni'e studies demonstrated that reduction from 500 to 50 ppm provides s considerable degree of protection from the 250 ppm concentration observed by Meltoni to be cancer-causing in animals, while those exposed only to 50 ppm showed no apparent ill effects. Stender'a visits and meetings followed a feld study by a team-of OSHA industrial ." ... S ... hygienists and chemical .engineers at e number of chemical plants in Louisiona-to develop technical recoaoendacions- - ... Although Cha emergency standard will become effective shortly after publication'in the FedecaL Register, the permanent standard will not be adopted until the public.lias been given an opportunity to comment and, if requested, a public hearing is Held. # ## DTH 000016642