Document KRnLx95nB36X6MLN2Rabk4z4K

affidavit City of Washington ) . ) District of Columbia ) * ss: I, Jerome H. Heckman, of Washington, D.C., attorney for The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI), being first duly sworn, do depose and say as follows: 1. I am an attorney at law, a^partner ih'the Wash- \ ington, D.C. law firm of Keller and Heckman and am General Counsel to The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. In that capacity, I have and continue to represent the Society and its members in matters with regard to the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard setting proceedings in the matter of occupational exposure to vinyl chloride. 2. I have reviewed the recently promulgated occupa tional exposure standard for vinyl chloride, 29 C.F.R. $1910.93q, published in the Federal Register on Friday, October 4, 1974 at page 35890 et see. Based on knowledge, information, and belief acquired by receiving information from companies in the industry, Izfurther state that, with regard to the aforementioned standard for occupational ex posure to vinyl chloride, it will be impossible for the affected industry to comply with the Standard, especially GENC 009375 the section entitled "(g) Respiratory protection" thereof (29 C.F.R. 1910.93q(g)) and that, therefore, unless appro priate relief is granted, a substantial number of vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride manufacturers in the United States will have to cease manufacturing and production operations after December 31, 1974. Likewise, many proces sors, fabricators and others covered by the Standard and requiring respiratory protective equipment will have to cease operations after December 31, 1974. 3. The specific nature of the requirements in the ' Standard, that is, the fact that every employee in every segment of the industry exposed to concentrations of vinyl chloride in excess of the permissible levels of 1 part per million (ppm); averaged over any eight hour period and 5 ppm averaged over any period not exceeding 15 minutes must be supplied with an appropriate respiratory protective device as set out in the Standard, suggested that insufficient quantities of the prescribed respiratory protective equip ment would be available in sufficient time to enable the industry to comply with the requirements of the Standard. 4. Following up on this, by telephone, we contacted individual VCM and PVC industry members covered by the Stan dard to determine the types and quantities of respiratory protective devices they would have to obtain in order to GENC 009376 comply with the Standard's requirements. The specific figures requested and obtained covered equipment required, whether on order or not, which equipment would have to be obtained and installed or otherwise on hand in order to continue manufacturing operations on and after the effective date of the Standard, January 1, 1975. 5. Similaxlv^hi*--^e't^iJlTTJ/re^w^- inquired directly all known suppliers of the respiratory equipment listed in this Standard to ascertain whether these suppliers could, disregarding outstanding and unfilled orders, supply the necessary respiratory protective equipment to the industry % by January 1, 1975. 6. Comparing gross available supply with gross demand, we have determined that, even under the best of circumstances1 and assuming the timely approval of eligible equipment specifically permitted under the Standard, the gross demand is considerably in excess of the supply for the equipment required. # 7. - The specifics of the supply and demand situations, as very conservatively projected from the data gathered, are 1as follows: / X7 The inrormation in this survey was gathered by Counsel on a company confidential reporting basis so as to avoid any pos sibility of adverse antitrust considerations. Therefore, the detailed background data, affidavits and the like are not being made available herewith, it being assumed that the data and information reported herein can be easily verified by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. GENC 009377 J -4 - (a) For atmospheric concentrations of vinyl chloride that are unknown or above 3/6^0 ppm, the demand of the vinyl chloride monomer and polyvinyl chloride resin manu' facturers is for 429 of the prescribed units with 1,072 air bottles.- Current available supply is 3,325 units and 6,000 refills. The '* lag time for supply of additional units is in the range of 30 to 60 months. (b) For vinyl chloride concentrations not in excess of 3,600 ppm, there is a total demand of 3,186 complete units. The suppliers indicate that neither of the devices specified is available. As to the combination type C supplied air respiratory, pressure demand type, only a prototype model exists as of this time but it has not been approved by NIOSH and, even if it were, no estimates could be obtained as to when this device would be commercially available. As to the type C, supplied air respirator continuous flow type, the suppliers / of this equipment have informed us that NIOSH has refused to authorize the currently available equipment for use by this industry because the continuous air flow rate is insufficient. GENC 00?373  - 5 -. (c) For vinyl chloride concentrations not in excess of 100 ppm, the demand is for 614 devices of any permitted type. The suppliers report that this demand cannot be met. The demand type supplied air resoirator i* supply picture is the same as that reported in subparagraph (b) above for the pressure demand type supplied air respirators. The same is'true of the open circuit self-contained breathing apparatus discussed in subparagraph (a) above except that these devices permitted t for less than 100 ppm are demand type rather than pressure demand.type. One supplier in formed us that an unknown quantity of demand type self-contained devices' would become avail able at some unspecified time during the first half of 1975. As to the demand type supplied air respirators, commercially available devices of this nature are not currently NIOSH approved. However, if approval could_be expeditiously obtained, approximately 500 units could be t supplied by the first of the year with a lead time of eight months from the time of NIOSH approval and the filing of purchase orders for additional units. GENC 00937 6 . (d) For vinyl chloride concentrations not in excess of 25 ppm, demand for either unit permitted is 5,478 units with 108,397 refills. The- suppliers report that the ' powered air purifying respirator with hood does not exist. Canister gas masks, not yet approved by NIOSH, are available. Approximately 3,000 units and an, unknown number of replacement canisters are currently available with a potential canister replacement produc tion of 30',0 00 units per month beginning after January 1, 1975. (e) For vinyl .chloride concentrations not in.excess of 10 ppm, the demand for any permitted device is 2,940 units and 556,500 replacement cartridges as appropriate. The supply for the demand type supplied air respirators permitted is the same as reported in subparagraph (c) above. Chemical cartridge type respirators are available but have yet to be NIOSH approved. With NIOSH approval, sup pliers indicate that 3,000 units and an unknown quantity of replacement cartridges are currently available and that potential replacement cartridge GENC 009380 -' 7- - manufacture rates after January 1/ 1975 are in the range of 200/000 units per month. From the foregoing it is obvious that the demand for respira tory protective devices exceeds both current available supply and the supply were all NIOSH approvals granted. The industry requires approximately 12,650 respiratory protective devices on hand and' operable by January 1, 1975 since a major portion of the respiratory protective devices on hand in industry are not of the type permitted in the new Standard and the Standard* very low permissible exposure limits combined with the very broad definition of regulated area has caused an expansion in the number of personnel who must be supplied with respiratory protective equipment. Other regulations and guidelines, both federal and state, will further increase the already high de mand. The available supply of respirators of all types is low because NIOSH approvals for certain types of equipment are lacking or have been withdrawn. Additionally, since the specific requirements of th.e Standard were not known until October 4, 1974, suppliers have not yet had an opportunity to plan and begin production of the appropriate equipment. In any case, total available supply at this time is 3,325 units. With NIOSH approval of all permitted systems listed SENC 009381 -8I jin the Standard available supply would still only be 9,825 units. In ^hort, the current available supply is only 26% of current demand with optimum supply (expeditious NIOSK approvals) being only 78% of current demand. Without appro priate NIOSH approvals the industry is a minimum of 22% and a maximum of 74% short of the respiratory protective devices mandated by the Standard. These figures have been developed solely from the demand existing in-the vinyl chloride monomer and polyvinyl chloride resin segments of the industry. The potential of additional demand being created by processors, fabricators and other elements of the industry could not be calculated and factored in to this survey. Nonetheless, it is patently obvious that any increase in demand from other segments of the industry will enlarge the gap between supply and demand. In-light of the foregoing facts we have concluded that, because the supply for respiratory protective devices is so short, there is no likelihood that, even given NIOSH approvals and the most equitable^apportionment of the avail able supply, all the closely interrelated and interdependent / segments of this industry could legally continue manufacturing operations after December 31, 1974. An interruption in the GENC 009382 -9- manufacturing abilities of raw materials suppliers, or the semi-finished products consumers and suppliers would have such a significant impact on the other elements of the in- /. dustry that no portion of the industry, even if it were itself able to meet all requirements of the Standard, could continue in operation because either the raw materials supply or the markets would cease to function. Jerome H. Heckman General Counsel The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. Keller and Heckman 1150 17th Street, N.W. Suite 1000 Washington, D. C. 20036 Telephone: (202) 296-2700 Subscribed and sworn to before me this 5th day of November, 1974 V^Notaxy Public Hi pi--'m'**"T Seal: n. l',7" 6ENC 009383