Document 3eJx8NbRrbbVx2mnMwvyE9076

Oo upatsona! Health & Safety Letter, February 8, 1982 ' II OSH.A (.oiK'lodcs that an employee cnniplcoii alleges :> violation of an OS''A st; A'igncd l: ptuicet against physical hat til. mi inspection will be conducted. III rc-ponsc to ii'informal complaints (oilier Ilia;, written complaints by employee smtntivc), OSH/S will inspect only in Hie case of "irmnnumt danger." Previously, OSHA of bolii "immineiH,dangcr" and "extremely serious" conditions. However, the distinctii lenns led to confusion among OSHA field staff, since experience shows thnl the two terms are closely related in regard to woV^place health and safety conditions. Therefore, in its revised policy, OSHA will delete the term "extremely serious" from its criteria for inspecting'nonformal complaints. * In response to field Staff requests for more time to properly prqeess employee complaints, OSHA will slightly lengthen the time'it has set to respond to certain coinplaimNYrom three to five days for alleged serious violations and from 20 tix30 days for alleged other-than-serious violations. OSHA said it will continue to^pot-check by inspection every tenth company which responds satisfac torily to the agenev's written request for abatement of an alleged violation. Further, anonymity will con tinue to be guaranteed to complainants'\yho request it. Complaints of alleged violations of OSHA standards likely to result in physical harm to employees ntav be reported by telephone or in \jiting to the nearest OSHA area office. REP. OBEY WANTS N10 SI I DIRECTOR TO BE ORDERED TRANSFERRED TO ROCKVILLE: Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), an influential member of the House Labor-HEW appropriations subcommit tee. wants the new Surgeon General to order Dr. J. Donald Millar, Director of NJOSH. transferred from At Intuit to Rockville. Md. "to assume his property duty position." Millar continues to remain in the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control, parent organization of NIOSH. while the Administration apparently continues its effort to transfer the Rockville hcadquartersoKTSonncl ro Atlanta. The appropriafions committees in Congress blocked that transfer last year by specifying that no money could be spent for such a move. . A letter froiikpbey to newly confirmed Surgeon General C. Everett Koop urged him to transfer Dr. Millar, an officer of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. Such officers hold simu lated military ranks and can be transferred anywhere in the manner of military personnel. "Like other Public Health Service officers, he receives significant additional pay and benefits to com pensate for the possibility of frequent moves and hardship assignments," Obdywrote. "Dr. Millar's total vearly salary, in fact, is SI2,000 more than the salary of the Secretary of the Department of Health 3nd Human Services. If Dr. Millar is going to accept the benefits of the Commissioned^Officer Corps, he should also accept flic inconveniences that go with the job." \ Obey said that many persons believe tl^c move from Rockville to Atlanta was deSiened to accommo date Dr. Millar, who wanted to remain in Atlanta. CDC officials, including Dr. Millar, fhtve denied this. "1 think (he Commissioned Officer Corps dfjlie Public Health Sendee has a distingui&ljyd history of invaluable sendee to this country and to people around the world," Obey wrote. "More than a thousand \ siiivi doctors and aurtfe-x in the Public Health Sen ice serve on Indian reservations throughout the United States Frequentlv, they work in the midst of some of the worst poverty and disease problems found in this country. Their assignment may require them to live in remote locations and under the most difficult -,r s'Marions. I think if we consider Me sacrifices ike men at armen ere marine, it is not too much to of Dr. Miliar in move :o Rockville." In answer fn>;>, !>,. Koup. h: : iri-ey e.ilt ha e a chance hen the ('"r'erinieni > finesses `a ivfree his subcommittee ior rh .If mo- ev. '-uie: There is :n> queriron t;,ees technical and morale problems ax a rcmii of the split between Ailanta and Rockville. But we're not at all sure that ordering Dr. Millar to move to Rockville by tire Surgeon General is the way to solv e them. I':!;)! NCR OF DEMON ASBESTOS PLEUR vL F.rTTSJO.N IN WORKERS REPORTED: > luce i.icdi;. i:iv(-`.rie; ;<rs Po-ton Universe. School of Wcd'eme and Harvard Mori'.eat School Pave -nrveyed 1,135 workers from six facilities with varyring degrees of exposure to asbestos and found a UCC 008236 Occupational Health A S:i(f;y 1 (.tier. February S, I9h2 5 I mb incidence -,| benign effusion with oik- case <if mesothelioma six years after effusion. I I'.i.' itv. estigatois canlumcd physicians that asbestos exposure should he carefully ".'arched for in p sla nt' with "idiopathic" pleural effusion. Ttiey fomul a prevalence of .1.1 benign effusions in (lie 1.1.15 v.o!hers. which should be measured against estimate's of between 2 million and 6 million persons with significant asbestos exposure in tire United States. Their findings were reported in the Journal of (he American Medical Association (Feb. 5) by Drs. Cory If. hpler ami Fdvvard A. Gaensler of boston University School of Medicine, and Dr. Theresa C. McLoud of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. The study was supported in part by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. NIH. The 1.135 workers came from the following facilities: Shipyard A for new ship construction (93 directly exposed pipecovercrs and 74 indirectly exposed shipfitters first seen in 1965, where asbestos lt3d Ik-cii used regularly since 1930): Shipyard B for new submarine construction and refilling (315 employees including directly exposed pipecovercrs and sweepers and indirectly exposed welders, lead bonders seen annually since 1976, with asbestos in use from 1952 to 1975): fireproofing product manufacturing plant t 144 employees, some heavily exposed since the early 1930s. seen annually for the last 10 years): specialty paper mill (90 employees heavily exposer! to crocidolite in manufacturing filler paper between 1952 and 1956. and 126 employees with slight exposure, seen since 1971J; specialty paper mill (211 employees manufacturing filler paper ami gaskets with slight bur strictly monitored exposme since 1968: specialty paper mill (SO employees exposed to "bonded asbestos" used for electrical insulation since 1930 and seen lor liic last three years). The control group consisted of fa: oily and employees of a large university , where serial films dating hack to t940 were av ailable because of a school rule requiring x-rays of new employees. AH persons who had been exposed to asbestos or bery llium at the university were excluded from the study, leaving 717 controls. The w orkers being studied had answered a respiratory questionnaire, had a physical examination, screening pulmonary function studies consisting of forced vital capacity and its time derivatives, includ ing a forced expired volume in 1 s, and also a single-breath diffusing capacity. Occupational histories included a listing of all past jobs and exposures, present job description, year first exposed, and total years exposed. Dust exposure had been monitored with variable consistency' and duration. Thus, for the study, employees were assigned to one of three exposure levels that were based in part on job description, in part on dust or fiber counts, and in part on personal observation. Benign asbestos effusion was defined by (1 > exposure to asbestos, (2) confirmation by roentgeno grams or thoracenteses, (3) no other disease related to pleural effusion, and (4) no malignant tumor within three years. There were 340 benign effusions among the 1,135 exposed workers compared with no otherwise unexplained effusions among the 717 control subjects. Prevalence was dose-related, with 7G, 3.7/7. and 0 2'.' effusions correlated will* severe, indirect and peripheral exposure, respectively . The latency period was shorter than for other asbestos-related disorders, the investieators said. Benign effusion v, as the most common asbestos-related abnormality during the first 20 vears after exposure. Most cflusions were small. 28.6 percent recurred and 66 percent were asymptomatic, the inves tigators reported. In addition, one mesothelioma was found six years after effusion. 'T'ur study suggests that in the genera! population, effusions without inmwdi tic!. apparent cause have c. :o. nr.-'y raw. while in the asbestos exposed. they are >eia;ively frequent." the nuthois vviote. "In 1 ' : 1 y co,:' :I:ii,i practice. .I'hest s exposure has h.-. t me the most e mum a cause of pi-, ur.d it ' '!'. i '.!: ::: prc'cuix the principal difft renti.d diagnostic problem in i,. nig1, asbestos effusion, o' s v...: ox., c-. .ini i'n. .e of Iters suggest that benign effusion often occurs r.dntiv ely soon after initial c '.posit re. sometimes v. ithin ten \ cars and in two thirds within 20 years, w bile mesothelioma usually is 'i cn more than 20 and olicn 30 to 40 vears later. Tleiniiic pain is the most frequent symptom in both conditions though benign effusion goes entirely :;,n once.1 h'- rime Osin i>ne-h.:'t' of patients. Roentgenograph;.' 'Igm of other a-! .. - !< -related discus-' se,h '* . c. ' . > :<: . . I i:: * . i;: -! t O' is ^ n: a ; M . i ; 1 1 f : o ;. a.1 . ' -. c. `' * m a r,:. : u '.::: .! .-o.: .j . of plaques or a .besti sis is not lo. i i.i -.1. Ici.: ia 1 :ig c..: . ; '.s : o." UCC 008237