Document 1gNEdEExMx0obxaYG67ov9vz5

Emergency Rule> IsUnderSej osure to Asbestos eration by OSHA By Joann S. Llbu: ManviUe Corp.. a Denver-based maker of Sm/ZHi'P""""/ TmWuJ. Sm: building materials and'other products. Most WASHl.VGTON -The Labor Depaaifient other big makers of asbestos also already is senously considering whether to immedi meet the lower level, he added. But there ately place tougher limits on occupational may be some grumbling by smaller con exposure to asbestos, which has been linked cerns. he suggested, over whether OSHA is to fatal diseases. "doing it for safety reasons and not political If action is taken, the department's Occu reasons." pational Safety and Health Administration (ManviUe itself announced recently that would issue an emergency temporary stan it was getting out of the asbestos business. dard. a radical and rarely used step. The And in August 1982. it filed for protection un temporary rule, sought by 14 unions, would der Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Laws be-remain in effect for six months while the cause of damages already awarded under! job-safety agency decides whether to make numerous asbestos-related lawsuits.) (he tougher standard permanent An emergency temporary standard would Being considered is a maximum work reflect both safety and political considers place exposure limit for asbestos of 500,000 tions. New scientific evidence links exposui fibers per cubic meter of air. The current at low levels to asbestosis. a lung dise level, set in 1972. is two million fibers per and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining cubic meter. / the lungs. An OSHA analysis, published ea Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan lier this month, estimated that three of 1.1 could approve the move as soon as Monday, workers exposed at the current asbestos when he confers with OSHA chief Thorne limit for only a year subsequently would die; Auchter. A briefing paper Mr. Auchter will from that exposure. present "has a tone to it that we should do `Grave Danger1 ' -{ an emergency temporary standard." one OSHA official aid. "It looks to me" like Mr. Auchter will urge Mr. Donovan to approve the emergency standard, the official added. "We didn't take up the task on this. We were told to do it" by senior agency officials. A spokesman for Mr. Auchter insisted that a decision hasn't been made on whether to issue an emergency standard. But the spokesman evaded repeated questions on whether Mr. Auchter believes there is a need for such a ruling. Rule-Making Procedures "The risks even at the existing standard; are pretty high," observed the OSHA offl-i cial. "When you talk about grave danger"-! the scientific criterion for an emergency' standard-"you look at whether the risk we now have is very grave." he said. | Politically, the Reagan administration, could gain some mileage with unions by is-i suing an emergency asbestos ruling. Labor: leaders have been sharply critical of admin istration officials' past efforts to weaken ex isting OSHA standards and to reduce the, scope of enforcement in recent months, In June. OSHA scientists said they in however, the agency and the AFL-CIO have tended to hasten rule-making procedures to joined on several occasions to fight White: impose a permanent stricter asbestos stan House Budget Office efforts to Mock OSHA dard. The agency altered plans to revise the regulatory moves. ! standard by September 1985 and hinted that "It's 1983 and (election year) ain't too; a new rule might take effect as soon as late far away." said an occupational-health spe-, fall. cialist for one major union. OSHA officials. An emergency temporary standard would `are trying to look like they have a better be a significant departure from Reagan ad position on worker protection." An emer ministration policy. Mr. Auchter has strenu gency temporary standard "strategically ously opposed altering standards without a isn't a bad move." formal rule-making procedure, although un But the action wouldn't mollify all ions and health groups have asked him to OSHA's past labor critics. Led by the Ma impose emergency standards on four other chinists, the M unions that petitioned for the harmful substances. emergency ruling proposed reducing the as Part of the OSHA chiefs reluctance bestos limit to 100.000 fibers per cubic meter stems from the agency's poor track record of air. "We want something better than they with emergency rulings. Industry groups already are achieving." said Sheldon Sam have sued OSHA over five of the eight emer uels. health, safety and environment direc gency standards issued since the agency's tor for the AFL-CIO's industrial union de inception in 1971. Only one of those five rul partment Mr. Samuels also expressed ings has been fully upheld by the courts, a doubts that OSHA would conduct more standard limiting exposure to aciylonitrile. workplace inspections under a toughened as a chemical that is widely used in the manu bestos rule. facture of synthetic rubber, plastics and OSHA has estimated that 1.4 million other products and that is linked to can workers have been exposed to asbestos, cer. once used widely in producing ships, floor Asbestos makers aren't likely to chal tiles, brake linings and roof coatings. In , lenge an emergency standard that cuts ex 1975, OSHA suggested lowering the asbestos posure levels to 500.000 fibers per cubic me standard to 500.000 fibers per cuMc meter of ter of air. "In virtually all of our operations air, but it never held hearings or took any we meet" that level now. said an official of other action on the proposal. i 0 6^0^90. I