Document JgKR3agwLb81X2E3L9GZ6jLr

AM ERICAN OCCUPATIONAL M EDICAL ASSOCIATION * 150 NORTH WACKER DRIVE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60606 A O M A ISSUES STATEM EN T TO CLARIFY PO SITION O N EM PLOYEE REFUSAL O F M ED ICAL EXAM S The Occupational Safety and Health Administration can not require an employer to employ a person who is not m edically- qualified to perform the duties of the }ob in question, according to the American O ccu pational M edical Association. The statement released by the Association on August 28 was issued to dis pel uncertainty among occupational health professionals regarding their obligations both in complying with the regulations and in protecting workers from occupational hazards in those instances when employee refuse medical examinations offered by employers. W hile OSH A can require an employer to make special medical surveillance programs and procedures avail able to employees whose fobs may create conditions of potential exposure to a regulated chemical or phys cal hazard, states A O M A , OSH A can not require an individual to take the tests or m edical examinations, and when an employee or applicant for employment refuses or waives the exam inations, it becomes impos sible for the employer to determine whether an individual is m edically- qualified for the position. The statement which was developed by the AOM A' s Council on.Scient if ic Affairs anefsubsequently ap proved by the Association's Board of Directors w ill be published in full in the October issue of the Journo of Occupational M edicine. /- CURREN T I N TELLIGEN CE BULLETIN W ARN S O F ARSIN E A N D STIBIN E HAZARDS IN TH E W ORKPLACE Several reports of worker exposure to arsine resulting in severe t oxic effects or death have prompted the N ational Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to issue a Current Intelligence Bulletin (^32) recommending work practices that should be implemented by those industries in which there is risk of worker exposure to arsine (AsH3) gas, or stibine (SbHg). There is high potential for fhe generation of arsine gas when inorganic arsenic is exposed to nascent hydrogen, according to N I O SH , and, in most situations where arsine can be formed, stibine can also be formed if antimony is present. Most of the reported cases occurred when arsine was accident ly generated during an industrial process such as the smelting and refining of m etals. However, lethal concentration of the gas can occur during galvanizing, soldering, etching and lead plating operations. Because of the accident al generation of ar sine gas, most reported cases of arsine poisoning have been acute or subacute in nature. Arsine is the most acut ely t oxic form of arsenic, and stibine equals or surpasses arsine in t o xicit y. Arsine is one of the major industrial causes of sudden extensive hemolysis. It has the ab ilit y to combine with hemoglobin within the red blood cell causing destruction or severe swelling of the ce ll, rendering it non- functional. Inhalation of 250 ppm of arsine gas is instantly lethal and exposures of 25 to 50 ppm for one- half hour are let hal. The current OSH A standard for occupational exposure to arsine is 0 .0 5 ppm as a time-weighted average in any 8-hour work shift of a 40- hour work w eek. The charact erist ic f ea tures of acute arsine poisoning are abdominal pain, bloody urine, and jaundice. Init ial symptoms are headache, m alaise, weakness, dizziness, diff icult breathing, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, M onday through Friday. A public meeting to discuss the draft guidelines w ill be held at 9:00 a .m . on Oct ober 30, 1979, in the main floor auditorium of the Hubert H . Humphrey Bld g ., 200 Independence A v e ., S.W ., W ashington, DC 20201. Tw elve additional health effects guidelines and eight guidelines for environmental effects are at various stages of development by the I RLG. A set of crit eria for documenting epidemiological studies has also been completed and is undergoing agency review . LIA PROGRAM AIM S TO IN V O LV E W ORKERS IN RED U CIN G BLOOD LEAD LEVELS An educational and motivational program aimed at achieving significant reduction in workers' blood lead levels throughout the lead industry has been announced by the Lead Industries Associat ion. The project, w hich is designed to obtain worker cooperation, is believed to be the first effort of its kind to be under taken by a major industry. I n it ially, the LIA project w ill study how deeply communication on lead exposure is built into the fabric of day- t o- day supervision throughout the industry, according to Jerome F. Co le, S c .D ., Director of LIA's Environmental Health Department. In order to be ef f ect ive, hygiene improvement requires super visors who are thoroughly f am iliar with basic occupational health pract ices, and who are sufficient ly skilled in communication to obtain worker participation in problem- solving, he noted, and added that therefore, as much attention w ill be given to the development of supervisory skills as to hygiene education. A second innovation in LIA's approach is that several techniques w ill be tested in the workplace under controlled conditions at three representative manufacturing locations over a period of six- t o- nine months. Change w ill be measured in terms of actual Jjlood lead level reduction, as well as basic attitudes toward hygiene. The project w ill be carried out by the firm of W . P. Dolan Associates of Kansas Cit y . OSH A, N IOSH STRIKE COO PERATIV E AGREEM EN T WITH CO M M ISSIO N O F EUROPEAN COM M U N ITIES The Occupat ional Safety and H ealth Administration and the N ational Institute for Occupat ional Safety and Health have agreed with the Commission of European Communities to pool t heir resources to help provide equitable protection from job hazards for workers in the U .S. and Europe, it has been announ ced by OSH A and N IO SH . The Commission of European Communities initiates and administers joint social and economic policies for its nine mepiber states: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germ any, Ireland, I t aly, Luxembourg, the N etherlands and the United Kingdom. Sp ecif ically, the U .S. agencies and the Commission w ill exchange information on toxic substances found in the w orkplace, health hazard sampling techniques, proposed regulations, occupational safety and health statistics and education, and training and research programs in job safety and healt h. Data and testing methodologies also w ill be shared. The agreement, set forth in letters exchanged between the European Communities and Deane R. H inton, U .S. Ambassador to the Communities, calls for possible meetings of of f icials to p lan, coordinate and review cooperation in job safety and health areas. Also under consider ation is an international workshop on occupational safety and healt h. OSHA T O EXPAN D JO B SAFETY A N D HEALTH GRAN T PROGRAM Up to $ 1 3 .3 million in new and continuing grants w ill be awarded to nonprofit employer, w orker, and educational organizations to support their development as centers of information and expertise in job safety and healt h, it was announced by the Occupat ional Safety and H ealth Administration on August 10. Eula Bingham, Director of OSH A said t hat , subject to the level of the agency's appropriation for fiscal , year 1980, $ 2 .3 million In new grants w ill be awarded to selected groups following open competition, and that $11 m illion w ill be used to strengthen the programs of organizations awarded grants in 1978, following reapplication by the grantees and a review by OSH A of their needs and progress. OSH A w ill fund both planning and developmental grants. Planning grants, funded for one year, w ill be awarded to groups that demonstrate the potential to provide important workplace information, but need to focus goals and assess needs before their programs can serve the intended audiences f u lly. Develop mental grants, awarded for periods of up to five years, w ill support programs that have demonstrated effectiveness in providing safety and health services but require further development to become more comprehensive, self- sufficient resource centers. GEN ERAL IN DUSTRY STAN DARDS IN PAPERBACK VOLU M E AVAILABLE FROM GPO A paperback volume of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's general industry standards, contained in Part 1910, Tit le 29, Code of Federal Regulations, has been published by the Government Printing O f f ice. The standards, which apply to most businesses, cover such topics as fire protection, materials handling and storage, machinery and machine guarding and toxic and hazardous substances. The book includes all current OSH A regulations except the lead standard. Agricult ure, construction, and maritime rules are not included. This printing of the standards represents the first in book form since 1976 and the first reprinting of the standards since nearly 1,000 picayune provisions were deleted by OSH A in October, 1978. The book ( GPO #029- 015- 00054- 6) is available for $6.50 from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing O f f ice, W ashington, DC 20402. RESULTS O F A 3 5- YEAR STUDY O F LEAD EXPOSURE IN H UM AN S PUBLISHED An extensive investigation of the physiology of lead in humans, spanning a 35- year period, is the subject of a 71- page report published by the Lead Industries Association. The book, "Oral and Inhalation Lead Exposures in Human Subjects" was written by Stanley B. Gross, Ph . D . , when he was associated with the Department of Environmental Health at the University of Cincinnat i. Dr. Gross, who is now with the Environmental Protection Agency, began measuring the human body burden of lead in 1969 as part of an ongoing project initiated in 1932 by Robert A . Kehoe, M . D . Copies of the report are availab le from LI A, 292 M adison A v e . , N ew Yo rk, N Y 10017. ) AOM A REPORT 150 North W acker Drive Chicago, Illinois 6060S First Class Mail SEPTEM BER, 1979 R J E i l T A K t h j t l*iJ N i V Ot- C I 'i.'j Cl i LLt U t cDt iU AVE u I r.C I h .Va f I Jh UP M cJ