Document MGvk1BNJE29JBzZzpG8kMnx6L

law o rnces IV W;> . Ruckelshaus, Beveridge, Fairbanks & Diamond William O. RUCkCLShauS Albert j. eevcRioce. nr richaro m. rairbanas, m HENRY L. OUmOnO GARY H. BAISE KEVIN M. POLCY A.JAMCS BARNCS HAROlO HIMMCIUAN JONATHAN 2. Cannon ANDREW c. MISHKIN CHRISTOPHER H. BUCKLEY, JR. One Farragut Square South Washington, D. C. 20006 TELCPMONC 1202) 636-7600 May 26, 1976 CARL CAROLEY LEONARD Garment or COUNSEL CABLE ADDRESS "INDLAW" Jerome H. Heckman, Esquire Keller & Heckman 1150 17th Street, N.W. Washington,*DC 20036 Dear Jerry: This letter will advise you regarding EPA's schedule for promulgation of the Vinyl Chloride Standard and review for the members some of the comments received by EPA on this pro posed Standard. Schedule We continue to be advised that a Standard will not be promulgated in June. The date for promulgation is still un certain and the best estimate is sometime in the early .Fall. Comments Since my last letter to you we have reviewed all comments EPA has received relative to the proposed Vinyl Chloride Stan dard. To date, 49 comments have been received from industry, public interest groups, and federal, state, and local agencies. The last was sent in on March 23. A copy of the EPA index to these comments is enclosed. Most of the comments relate to technical aspects of the proposed Standard. Among the comments received which may be of special interest to the industry are the following. The Center for Disease Control of the Public Health Service, HEW, Atlanta, wrote EPA on January 26, 1976. It enclosed a study by Dr. Infante conducted while he was at the Ohio Health Department and a report on a subsequent investigation performed by the Division of Cancer and Birth Defects of the Bureau of Epidemiology in Atlanta-. CDC addressed only problems associated with VCM and not with Polyvinyl Chloride. The Center concluded that the carcinogenicity of VCM has been proven but that there is no conclusive data on teratogenicity or mutagenicity. There is enough data to cause concern as to both, however, CDC concluded. see 1-0052 Ruckelshaus, Beverioce. Fairbanks S Diamond Jerome H. Heckman, Esquire May 26, 1976 _____2 Dr. Infante wrote EPA on January 29 and forwarded several studies relating to carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, and teratogenesis. The West Virginia Citizens Action Group wrote EPA that the proposed Standard was not stringent enough. It recommended no variances on deadlines for installation of best available controls; zero emission for "substitutable uses" of PVC after one year; and zero emission for all sources of VCM after three years. In written comments supplementing its testimony, the Environmental Defense Fund submitted two documents. The first was dated February 23 and urged EPA to rely not only on best available technology but also to encourage continued advance ments in controls by requiring "process'* changes and "add on" devices. EDF reiterated its preference for a phase-out of "substitutable" VCM products. It asked that EPA require ap plication of best available technology to existing sources but "better" technology to new sources; and it wants EPA to require companies to issue notices of intent to build new VCM plants or to undertake major expansions of existing plants so that there can be time for public comment. EDF further urged EPA to consider requiring recycling of in-process wastewater and sludge and requiring scrubbers on afterburners. It also asked the Agency to pledge that it will review the entire standard again after one year. In a separate document filed on March 8, EDF cautioned EPA that the evidence developed on*the causal relation between exposure to asbestos and mesothelioma was the best precedent for estimating the direction new information developed on angiosarcoma was likely to take. The result, concluded EDF, is that EPA should be very careful in attempting to place upper limits on the risk of exposure to vinyl chloride. Dr. Sidley Wolfe of Ralph Nader's Public Citizen group restricted his comments to the forwarding of the Infante pregnancy study, and the warning that EPA was being "reckless" in basing its emission standard on a reduction of only 90 percent. Finally, the Council on Wage and Price Stability, on March 19, called for greater cost-benefit balancing by EPA in drawing the standard, particularly in the areas of using a see 1-005 Ruckelshaus, Beveridge, Fairbanks Diamond Jerome H. Heckman, Esquire May 26, 1976 _____3 spare reactor as a gasholder and requiring zero emissions from EDVC relief valve discharges. Anyone who wishes to review all 49 comments may do so by going to Room 2922, Waterside Mall, EPA, 4th and M Streets, S.W. If anyone wishes to receive a copy of a particular comment, please advise us and we will make appropriate arrange ments for obtaining and forwarding it. GHB/ap see 1-0054 v < . G NO.' DATE .1/21/76 1/20/76 . 12/17/75 1/27/76 1/25/76 1/26/76 1/31/76 2/5/76 1/29/76 J 1/22/76 L 2/9/76 > 2/17/76 1 2/16/76 i_ 2/20/76 j 2/20/76 J 2/20/76 2/14/7 6 2/16/76 i 2/19/76 t 2/18/76 2/16/76 2/20/76 COMPAV u- *-> tj * c?-. k WRITER l j"* Hooker Ruco Division Citizen Citizen Robert A. Fine Constance Panchuck Mr&Mrs F.B. Minnock i Citizen Citizen Marilyn E. Sadowski Dr. Martin Wershba i Dept, of Health, Education & Wei. Dr. John F. Finklea Citizen Susan Howard Citizen Gayle & Herb Weaver Dept, of Health, Edu. & Welfare Peter F. Infante Citizen June Armstrong ek/* i i 1I i i_. Ksv Georgia, Dept, of Natural Resource Robert H. Collom, Jr. NY State Dept, of Environmental Conservation The General. Tire & Rubber Co. Harry H. Hovey, Jr. * R. W. Laundrie 1 PPG Industries, Inc. Robert E. Widing Covington & Burling Allan J. Topol W.Va. Citizen Action Group Ed Light Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. F. V. Prus Conoco Chemicals Div. David A. Kuhn CONOCO Continent^Oil Co. Flynt Kennedy. Mich. Dept, of Natural Resources Firestone Plastics Co. B-F. Goodrich Cheimcal Co. Lee E. Jager i W. W. Madden ii W. C. Holbrook : |; I f ir, 11 i - - * K.*' .. iT *' r; i;vV I. 1- j \ Y *<,** ` / i 1 see 1-0055 23 ' 23A 2/23/763/0/76 f >5 . !7 :8 .9 2/23/76 2/23/76 2/23/76 2/23/76 2/20/76 2/23/76 0 2/20/76 i 2/23/76 2 2/23/76 3 2/23/76 *2/23/76 3 2/23/76 6 2/23/76 7; 2/24/76 7A 2/25/76 3 2/2/76 3 2/23/76 } 2/26/76 3/1/76 ui'ii'nw x 1 "- I Environmental Defense Fund Environmental Defense Fund (Barry Castleman) Borden, Inc. Union Carbide Corp. Allied Chemical WRITER ei Barry Castleman, Jacqueline Warren, Joseph Highland & Harvey A.' Rosenzweig R. N. Wheeler, Jr. t J. M. DeVoe t Shell Chemical Co. Stauffer Chemical Co. R. E. Vanlngen Gary L. Ford JL ;-S The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. Ralph L. Harding, Jr t Dow Chemical U.S.A. Earl R. Smith Diamond Shamrock Corp. Robert V7. Hill Air Products ana Chemicals Inc. Hooker Chemicals & Plastics Corp Richard Fleming R. A, Abramowitz & R. A. Fine I Ethyl Corp. EPA,. Region VI The Pantasote Co.( Inc.(N.Y.) West Virginia University Mitchell R. Zavon John C. White Jack Jaglom Benjamin Linsky j 1 h r West Virginia University '* Benjamin Linsky Public Citizen Georgia-Pacific Corp. Sidney M. Wolfe Kip Howlett Keysor-Century Corp. Virginia, Commonwealth of State 7\ir Pollution Control Board John M. Daniel, Jr F-. \ j ' -*v . b- scc 1-0056 I, V ;c'ko;. !-2 13 15 16 17 IS ;9 DATE 2/23/76 3/2/76 3/4/76 COMPANY . * Texas Air Control Board Vulcan Materials Co. Maryland, State of Dept, of Health and Mental Hygiene ^ th-? WRITER Charles R. Barden Thomas A. Robinson George P. Ferreri <V ' V'-.-v--- 1 Jj ^ 3/8/76 3/4/76 3/X9/76 3/22/76 3/23/76 - Louisiana Air Control Commission US Dept, of Commerce Council on Wage and Price Stability' US Dept, of Labor US Dept, of Interior James F- Coerver Sidney R. Galler James C. Miller III Stephen C. Urman Stanley D. Doremus I rr- t: 1 I r\ 7 tv't ' ' l Y:rtv-ul r ;T- 'r J see 1-0057 <C A story Is making the rounds about in dential economic adviser Paul W. spectors from the Occupational Safety MacAvoy says that "osha has gone too & Health Administration who closed far while accomplishing loo little," ml down a tiny "mom and pop" grocery suggests that the agency be replaced store in Iowa. Presidential contender by a new insurance plan that would Ronald Reagan uses it in a campaign juggle industrial rales on the basis of speech: "The owner of a small business safety records. Labor, meanwhile, says in one Western state," he said, "was the opposite--that the agency lias not told to install scparaLc men's and gone far enough, and must move faster women's rest rooms for his employees. and issue stronger standards. He had only one employee--at homc~in Against this backdrop stands Morion the same bed. It was his wife." Corn, the 42-year-old industrial hy The story may Ik*, apocryphal, hut it giene professor who has become GSHAs docs strike to the heart of the com third administrator in five years. Since plaints that have been heaped on osha he took office in December, he has made, by businessmen and legislators since a number of sweeping proposals that the agency's inception in 1070. On Dec. he believes will put the agency back on 31 of that year, Congress passed OSHA's the right track, lie wants to: enabling legislation, with the stated Move vigorously into the area of purpose of assuring "so far as possible health, without deemphasizing safely, every working man and woman in the n Institute extensive training pro nation safe and healthful working con grams for his staff. ditions." The law set forth a compli a Eliminato nitpicking standards and cated 22-step process for osiia to follow make those remaining more compre in setting standards. And it authorized hensible. the agency to inspect companies for c Change OSHA's enabling legislation violations of those standards and fine so that the agency can move away them if violations are found. from being an adversary to business Now OSHA faces charges from all and act as a consultant to industry. sides that it has abused and misused its Corn is certain that if he can do mandate, and that it has trivialized the these things he will get to the root of whole concept of the standards. The all the criticisms leveled against his U, S. Chamber of Commerce has heard from employers who were cited for "al lowing ice to come into direct contact with water"--a standard that origi nally referred to water coolers but that has bc6n abused. And Bert M. Conck- lin, osha's deputy administrator for operations, himself talks of the mm abbot agency's "split toilet seat syndrome"-- a reference to a past inspector who chose to enforce vehemently a stan s1 dard calling for a U-shaped toilet seat in work-site washroom facilities. That standard has long Uvn stripped- from nc* r u;cX3i^J &>ii the books, hut the negative image that its enforcement created still Ungers in many minds. ESortea Gern Anti-OSHA grumblings are reaching a fever pitch in this eh-clion year. The Hanagement While House has gone on record as saying that the agency should become effective within live years or he legis bab lated out of esistenee. 1 hiring a pri mary swing throne.h New Hampshire, President Ford delighted his audience 'nexans by saying. "I'm sure you'd all like -Ur see OSHA dumped in the ocean.'' Ptvsi- see 04 BUSINESS WEEK: Juno \A. 197G i-OO^S agency. But he is finding that gettin funding or new legislation from Co: gross, let alone overcoming th "myths" of the hapless grocery store and winning recognition as a vinb: agency, is an uphill fight. "We have t live down enough horror stories the. really happened in the early days," hadmits. But he asks, "How do you iigh back when you're being killed by : myth?" Cost of compliance For the 4 million businesses affected by 05}]A regulations, the cost of com plying with the safety and hcz.-.:- stan dards is no myth-in fact, it is astrono mical. A McGraw-Hill survey snows tluit U. S. industry plans to invest about $3.2 billion for employee safety and health this year--up 17% from 1975. Preliminary plans projected three years lienee already total $3.C billion. At least 2.5%* of total planned capital investment will lie spent for worker protection in 197G and 3079, and the bite for manufacturing companies will hit 3.3%. Despite the costs, few argue that osha--or something like it--was not needed. The statistics are Loo chilling. For example, during World ; iar II. 292.000 U. S. servicemen were killed in battle--and 300,000 workers were killed in*faclory accidents- Some 03.000 work ers lost major limbs, compared with 17.000 combatants who returned minus an arm or a leg. Still, businessmen say that the agency's dubious methods have cost millions of dollars and have produced thousands of problems--with out yielding much improvement. Few companies arc willing to discuss for the record their experiences with OSHA inspectors. "It would bo like sassing the policeman," says one Lop executive. But those who will talk arc almost unanimous in their frustration with OSHa's performance. John J. Ahern, director of security for General Motors Corp.,says:"There is no direct correlation between their regulations and the actual accidents that do occur." The safety manager for a large Bos ton-based consumer products company adds: "We've spent millions trying to cope with regulations, yet accident lev els have not improved much." Corn admits that OSHA has a history of emphasizing minor safety matters while overlooking major ones and, even more vital, failing to focus attention on health standards. But he says his pro posed program would eliminate such wheel spinning. He has launched a multifaceted effort to define "serious" and "nojiserious" hazards, and he plans to revise and standardize the system of penalties for each categoryBut that may not satisfy some of the larger companies, which feel they arc diligent enough about workplace safely without OSHA hovering over their heads. Uu 1'ont Co., for instance, boasts that it had only one disabling injury for each 4 million man-hours worked--about one-tenth the rale for the chemical industry and about 1/20 that of all industry. Du Pont executives point to their 60-year-old medical pro gram and the work of their 41-year-old Haskell Laboratory for Toxicology & Industrial Medicine as signs that they are equally concerned about health. The lab is being expanded by lO'i to handle carcinogenic studies. Bui even Du Pont, with its good record, was slapped with $21,080 in fines in April, and Ned K. `Wallers, the company's safety manager, complains that none of the citations was related to injuries. In fact. SOvo were for "improper place ment" of guards on machines and for lack of handrails on stairways. CM has the same beef. The company was inspected 614 times through last December and received 258 citations representing about 1,800 violations. Ahern claims that cm has invested $79 million and the equivalent of 1,100 man-years to satisfy OSHA require ments in 1974 alone, but to no avail. "We had a good safety program going long before anybody ever heard of OSHA, and we haven't seen any effect from all the money that's been spent, so far as any reduction in our accident rate is concerned," he says. Small businesses are even more bit ter about OSHA. That $21,GS0 in fines le vied against Du Pont could be a hefty chunk of sales for small companies and they fear that capriciousness on OSHA's part will put them out of business. Small business is getting an increas ingly sympathetic hearing in Congress. Short on Inspectors Ironically, while numerous cita tions--fair or not--do result from most CxiUA inspections, the chance that an inspector will visit any given plant re mains slim. OSHa's funding has always fallen far short of what would be needed to hire enough inspectors to visit every' plant. And a plan to shift many of O.sha's duties to state agcr.cic-s falls short of the mark because slate governments arc usually unwilling to accept the financial burden of enforce ment or unable to come up with plans that satisfy OSHa's criteria. The resulL has been an overload situation. Says Kobort S. Smith, a Cornell University induslrial.rclalions professor why pui/Ushed a study on OSHA: "The typical business establishment will sec an OSHA inspector every 77years, about as often as we see Halley's comet."1 The prospect of an inspection is somewhat greater for companies in what Corn calls high-risk industries-- those with above-average injury rates. Within a year. Com plans to concen trate 30S* of his inspection staff on such industries, which include aluminum, bronze, brass and copper casting, and meLal stamping. This will mean that the remaining 70S of inspectors must add to their work load those companies in nonlargeted industries that would have been visited by the inspectors in the conccn- BUS1NESS Wt'CK: Juno w. 107G OS tration program. Nonctlu'^'. Corn and bis officials remain adui./inl that the load should not he lightened hv re moving small businesses from their purview. "Small is not safe in the work site,*' insists Karen Mann, osiia's Congres sional liaison. "Of the businesses cov ered by OSHA, 90'* have 25 or fewer em ployees, yet these are responsible for 55% of industrial fatalities, 58% of serious violations, and 70% of em ployee-initiated complaints." Much of the loathing small business ment course, referred to insi.-the agency as "couth lessons," has started for all compliance officers. This stress on tact is welcomed by many of osha's regional adminis trators. John V. Kiatronc, acting ad ministrator for the New England area, praises Corn for eliminating the "gangbuslcrs image our inspectors got stuck with." Corn's "couth lessons" make compliance officers realize that they "must treat inspection subjects as clients/* not as felons, he says. The change has been noticed by a plant will also he heel'd up, along wit its in-house acumen. H<; U pushing fc research facilities and funds so tha staffers can get 'hands-on" cxpcricnc developing technologies to meet pre jtosed or existing standards. An ctT tivc laboratory operation, lie main tains, could also cut days from puLl: hearings on proposed standards. Belter understanding It could also help squelch the oftheard complaint that osha stresse: Striking at OSHA through tha courts While Morton Corn wages his 'private war with Congress to reform osha, several separate battles arc being fought in the law courts. Their outcome may be years away, but they could have a greater impact on the* agency's effectiveness than any Congressional action coldd produce. Two of the current suits involve the permissible roadblocks that a company may place in the way of an osua in spector Irving to get into its plant. The Supreme Court has agreed to review one suit, brought against osha by Gib son Products Inc., an East Texas dis count store that refused to let an in spector in without a search warrant. A U. S. District Court ruled that Gibson was within its rights, and Corn fears that if the Supreme Court upholds that ruling, employers would be forewarned by an effort to seek a warrant and would have time to conceal violations. The other suit questions whether an employer whose plant is about to be in spectcd can put the inspector through as many paces as he wishes. Godfrey Brake & Supply Service Cu. of Rapid City, S. D., declined to accept an in spector's official credentials as reason enough to let him wander through its plant. Instead, the company insisted that the inspector fill out a 29-part questionnaire. A lower court upheld the spirit of the action, although it did cite 18 of the 29 questions as "gratuitous." The ruling stated that "an employer may withhold consent to inspection un til he or she has had an opportunity lo prepare a contemporaneous written record of identification." OSHA has, of course, appealed the decision. Noise standards. Several of oSJIA's stan dards are being attacked through the Labor Dept/s own judicial channels. Industry is closely watching the prog ress made by Continental Can Co. lo overturn OSHA's noise standards. The company is trying to get individua hearing protectors accepted as : method of meeting noise regulations while OSHA is arguing for "engineering controls"--machine enclosures and the like. An administrative judge in ih:J-abor Dept/s OSUA Review Commis sion has already ruled for Continental Can, and the full commission nas re viewed the case, though the results o: the review are not yet public. Unions have also entered the judicial fray, and ironically, OSHA hopes labor will win at least one of these suits. Three months ago the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers International Union sued the agency, saying that it should cease considering inflationary impact in enforcing its standards, osha has tried unsuccessfully to be exempted from an executive order calling for all federal agencies to prepare inllationary impact statements for even' stan dard. The requirement has caused in terminable delays in issuing the health standards that Corn feels are so badly needed. has for osha may stem from lack of communication, suggests Barry J. White, the agency's director of re gional programs. "Employers say they want lo make the work place safer, but that the standards can be worse than no help at all." Corn's proposals will serve to remedy this situation. He is already holding hearings to discover business's specific objections lo a sampling of standards, and he will use this information to ei`Ihcr eliminate or to revise the rules. If these first hearings work. Corn says he will use the same technique lo review many more of OSH.t's standards. .And he is asking for recommendation:; from the National Federation of Indepen dent Businessmen and similar-smallbusi ness groups. Corn has also launched an all-out efforl to make inspectors themselves more diplomatic in their dealings with the businessmen they visit. A comport- few companies. Frank A. Noruk, direc tor of safety and security for Mil waukee's Hamischfeger Corp., senses a new attitude at osha. "Instead of just looking for violations they are trying to seek solutions." he says. But such favorable comments arc still rare. Privately, osha official* con cede that inspectors may use rudeness to cover up their lack of understanding of the standards. Plenty of business men agree. "They are sending in people who arc not well-grounded in lu>w a plant operates," complains John 0. Wilson, manager of benefits and loss control at UiGiorgia Corp.. a diver sified San Francisco company. Corn sees training as the answer here. loo. He has instituted factual as Well as social courses for inspectors, and he is seeking approval to semi a number of inspectors to graduate school full time fur one year. If Corn gels his way, osua's physical specific control technologies to solve safety and health problems without un derstanding what they entail. The ex perience of Kawocki IScryleo Industries Inc., a multimiHion dollar Heading (Pa.) company, is a classic case. The company had been complying with 1kryllium standards for more than 20 year.*. But as won as OSHA specified method* to deal with the existing stan dard, Kni started having problems. In 1919 the Atomic Energy Commis sion set a standard for ambient inplant beryllium of 2 mierograms jkt cubic meter of air. In 19o9 the standard was modified to monitor only respi rable particles that could enter the lungs. Hut in 1971. OSHA adopted the AlX' s standard and eliminated the dis tinction between respirable and umrespirnblo partieles. It also specified that lajvl samplers--devices worn by the employee --be used instead ol (be higb-vohmie general air samplers nsu- CC OUSINCSS WGliK: Juno 14. 197G see 1-0060 GOvenr.wtfrtT ------ j ...v it Jinds that it simply cannot comply, nay?* Nmes 1*. Butler, assistant to the pres. . it. "KM was charged with violation even though the generally accepted sam pling method showed compliance." DiGiorgio's Wilson is angry with OSHA for similar reasons. "We get noise citations at our sawmills, hut every thing in a sawmill makes noise." he says. "It's hopeless unless you build a plant run hv computer." If OSHA had belter laboratory facil ities, presumably it could try to develop noise-dampers that work in sawmills. And it could make sure that industry learned of such new developments. To . . I*. .*1 .lie able. " WeVo Uvn recruiting hard..|,ut there's a real scarcity of im! - *-i;d health professionals." cnniplainsimvid J. Hlumc, ij.sHa's Philadelphia regional inspector. "I would guess there arc fewer than 4,000 people in the U. S. who arc truly industrial hygienists." Still, Com is getting gi>od response from his field people on the campaign to stress health. During the first quar ter of this year, Rhone's inspectors found 2,818 workers who were being exposed to 31 different toxic sub stances. ''We're headed in the direction Dr. Corn wants us to go," Rhone says. OSHa's field staff also likes Corn's a concept oi Uut age....................... . ^ group, with a consultation wing lhav totally disLincl from the inspection zz, citation functions. Hut to do this re quires Congressional authori?.atier.and this may he hard to get. The problem is that usha's enablia: legislation requires inspectors to citations for all serious violations, zz; warnings for all less serious infra.: Lions, on their JirsL visit. Kvery ye_. amendments to the law have been pnposed to allow citation-free consulta tions. but none has passed. Corn sees the ability to consult as vi ta! to the agency's future. Otherwise, he maintains, there is just not enough do this, Corn is forming a Technical Data Center for Toxicological Informa tion Si Program Support. He envisions a route whereby a company could draw on the data bank to sec how others found solutions to problems similar to its own. Improved communications would ex tend to OSUa's relations with other government agencies. To date there has been an absence of liaison with any of them. Conflicts have even cropped up between OSHA and its own research arm, the National Institute for Occupa tional Safety Si Health. KIOSH develops the criteria documents on which OSHA bases its standards, and in the past there has been no joint order of prior ities. NIOSH, for example, conducted ex tensive studies to develop a criteria document on heat stress, only to dis cover the issue was so far down on OSHa's list of priorities that work has still not begun on the standard. Com has already established monthly meet ings between OSHA and its research arm to avoid such wasted efforts. But most of these programs still de pend on adequate funding and staff ing. To bolster his new emphasis on health, Corn plans 10 freeze the num emphasis on real rather than trumped- money available for OSHA to do an ef ber of safety compliance ollicers at up hazards. Piatrone, for example, fective job. "We need something more 1,050 until it is matched by the roster points to the selective concentration to, stimulate businessmen to police of health inspectors, in fact, he wants programs as proof of osha's new effec :::emsclvcs." he says. "The agency to set up a special unit to respond to tiveness. He cites a sharp reduction in should be able to provide guidance to emergency situations, such as the in the number of construction workers an employer, not just come at him af famous Kepone case in Hopewell, Va. killed in trench cave-ins. OSHA has al ter the fact with a stick." A former employee of Life Science ways required that trenches in con Corn faces Congressional opposition Product Co.'s Kepone plant alerted struction projects be adequately on this issue from both supporters and OSHA to health problems with the shored. Nonetheless, until 1973 Mas detractors of the agency. The origin::! chemical long before the extent of sachusetts alone had a 40-year average sponsors of ;l:o act fvar that or.ee it is workers' illnesses became known. l>ul of live, workers killed in uvueh acci opened fur one amendment, the OSHA inspectors, more tuned to safely dents each year. Then osha selected agency's opponents will introduce addi problems than health, originally gave this standard for concentrated enforce tional, more limiting restrictions. A the complaint low-priority status. ment. The result: only two fatalities in meager ray of light appeared this year, Hut even if Corn gels the money to Massachusetts in more than 3l) mouths. when the House approved the consulta enlarge the health payroll-which is by tion operation. Hut the Senate is kee|- no means certain-he may find it im A service group ing obstacles to the revision in place. possible to recruit capable employees. To reach the Senate floor tor a vote, OSHA has only Ida fully qualified iiulus- Such efforts might help improve the measure, known as the Taft Irial hygienists aiut an almost equal osha's image as an effective j Policeman, amendment after its original r.jKinsor, numlier in various stages of training. but the agency would remain a police Robert A. Taft Jr. lU-Ohin\. must first Holh Corn ami his regional adminis man nonetheless, Coen's idea calls for be brought up before the Committee on trators arc having trouble Idling even mure radical change, lie wants to build Labor ,t 1`ublic Welfare, chaired by (tOVUtlNXHiNT see 1-0061 OUrINl'HS WLGK: Jo<>., . 0^11 Ul Harrison A. Williams ` N.J.). Wil liams, a cus|x>nsor of the !..-iginal osifA legislation, loads those reluctant to open the taw up to destructive tamper ing. "To establish consultation in addi tion to inspection would he enough to create a bureaucracy nf very consider able proportions." lie maintains. Williams' stand is backed by orga nized labor. Most union leaders support Corn, but that support slops short of consultation. "We realize that many of the steps he has taken arc aimed at making OSUA more effective, hut we -SA'tTT *0*-'m*rw OtMtASlSItMS TAIL Ai/ro*A*.ttc 'TTHOA* -- WR3OM-CM1CYtC4O-A&SRGoU5_ ieo`ett& virw macur HCA0 II&MTS ' WiSCWOOS OOMacs to muKt MK3LS COOP <n$lON. FUP-OOWM Sum C*S5 When Jerry Brown was clcc,`.j gover nor in 197*1, lie says, "the mandate came down to go out and find viola tions." The aggressive attitude on the part of the state inspectors loft indus try with a sour tasle. "We're supposed to be able to ask for help without fear of being cited, but we've never been able to believe that," Wilson says. The seeds of industry's distrust have been amply sown throughout osha's five-year life, liven Corn agrees that the agency's history lias elevated "get ting off on the wrong foot to a near art *U*C> M( Hutu WM. H,U t. ne. raoiiciom r*&otp-oAc $ur CMTAO CISIRMKf &ACX-UP Tail IKfKIS C- OlCICHONAI. UCHIS SWXJLOCA hal/it.SS AJKlMAdC. A'A'f'UtO cum rvoftclo^ rtou tost terf 4MOK4 -0~<c tail cer wtutur stw Kit sen s ia*i i (-cctiioc0 tralization. so osha was splintered seven regions that became near!;, lonomous at the outseL" The immediate result was that f. sets of insjiectors set off in sever, ferent directions, with no slandarc inspection procedure-and with ; freedom to select those safety s dards that each wanted lo stress. Some 4,000 existing industry s' dards were adopted wholesale at i time. George C. Guenther, osha's 2 administrator, tapped the exist Walsh-llealy standards, as well those formulated by the American ' tional Standards Institute. Now C* is left with the legacy of those hast produced standards. "The reasons adopting them may have liecn good the time, but they have been load with time bombs," he says. Replacing the 4,000 quickie sta dards. with more workable, osh created ones may prove a formidu: task. Only three of OSII/V* hear standards have made it <mto i! books-lhosc for asbestos, a group of i carcinogens, and vinyl chloride. .Star dards development has traditional! been impeded by industry suits charg ing that they are too rigid, and late-:;, by labor suits charging they are no rigid enough. Labor supports Corn Cnoamcmuko TMCAIM.A. MOrt-SMO STMLn #V*SSCI*$ At least some congressmen are try ing to get a more objective view of OSHA's performance, and one that "Cowboy alter OSHA": Reflecting business impatience with the agency's nitpicking. relies on statistics rather than politics. Freshman Representative Edward AY, Paltison (D-N. Y.) recently sent a questionnaire to 2,000 employers in his can't go along on this one." says form." Worker well-being was an issue district and divided the responses into George Taylor, the osha specialist at in the U. S. long before OSHA. Child la two groups: those whose plants`had the AFL-OO. "It smacks too much of the bor laws were passed; the Walsh-Hcaly been inspected by osha and those weaknesses that caused state attempts Act went into effect, specifying health whose plants had not. Of the first at oSMA-typo programs to fail." and safety practices to be followed by group, S3rr said that compliance with companies doing business with the OSHA standards did nut cause them un Business Is distrustful government; a sprinkling of exposure due economic hardship, and 9-1G* of the standards were passed for isolated in second group agreed. And although Ironically, even if the consultation dustries, such as beryllium processing. 45'c of those who had never been in amendment were put into law. Corn But it still took until 1970 for the gov spected agreed with a questionnaire might find that his biggest hurdle re ernment to pass the truly comprehen statement that "imposition of osha mains in the private sector. Many busi sive Occupational Safely & Health Act. standards serves the purpose of pro nessmen simply do not trust osha enough to use agency employees for consultation. For example, in same 20 states, federal osha programs have liccn supplanted bv stale programs which, under osha's enabling legisla Almost immediately the infant law wr.s buffeted by political winds. osha first came to life midway in lYcsidoul Nixon's first term, and Ih> camc a victim of Nixon's push for docenl.raU7.atum of government. The tecting the -.tfoiy of workers." the agreement figure jumped to 7S1 for employers who had been inspected. The survev. which was published hi April, indicates that there may be a siz able "silent majority" in industry that tion. are funded hall* by the slates and whole concept of a national drive for is ready In throw Us support to OSHA. half by the federal agency. worker safely and health was frag One laUir leader believes that the over Some of these states luive set up con mented from the outset. "The Admin whelming vole of coniidonoo registered sulting service's for business, but istration was not committed (o en in I'attisou's survey "probably shows a clients are often sorely lacking. Cali forcement," recalls Daniel II. Krivil, strong liberal tendency among the re fornia. for one, has a slate-level con the House l:iUr subcommittee counsel sponding industries. It is the anli-oSHA sulting program, ami DiGiorgio's Wil who worked on passage of Liu* original lonservatives who are vocal in their son explains why it often goes unused. osha ;iet, "K was committed to decen . condemnation of osha," lie says, "while CO OUSINESS WCCK: June U. 197G see i-0062 Corn: Pressing for changes lo "stimulate businessmen 10 police themselves/' those who support it have grown tired of fighting find are usually unheard." PaUison aides see it a bit differ ently. One of them says: "The business men in our district were visited Hy competent, helpful inspectors, and now they feel they can relax. They look on OSIIA now in the light of the problems it was created to deal with." But Corn docs not seem able lo use the favorable rcsua..% to iwa Last month, for example, he briefly scribed his projmsals for simplify*!.-O safely standards to a meeting of Sen ate legislative aides. He threw the scis sion open for questions, only to find that each aide wanted to dwell on con stituents'complaints about osiia. Corn, his voice tinged with exasperation, told UUS1NESS wf.kk, "There are 100.000 in spections ever}1 year [out of t million existing businesses]. In 1% the inspec tor may get high-handed or make a silly but possibly well-intended misjudgment. Yet it is this \% that contin ues to distort our whole program and the good that is being accomplished." Appointed federal officials, rather than elected ones, are sympathizing with Corn's plight. "Politicians tend lo get a lot of applause when they pick on OSHA," says Stanley E. Morris, deputy associate director of the Office of Man agement & Budget and an active mem ber of the President's Regulatory Re form Task Force. But economic adviser MacAvoy says the problem goes for deeper than that. He says: "There has been an inability to demonstrate the impact of OSIIA on the basis of reduced accident rates. My only concern is Williams: Alrsio ihai proposed changes create a "very considerable" bureaucracy. whether osnA can be made effective and at less cost." For his part. Com main tains that no matter how much time, money, and ef fort it takes lo make OSIIA an optimum performer, U would still l>c more ef ficient to revamp the agency i..an to eliminate it. As he sums it up: "It would bo foolish to scrap what wo have just to try something else." * 72 DUSINGSSWCEK: Juno M. 107G 'A i Hi! CXJR S'UOiUe SliBVB FBNCILS tfiSAW THAT EVEOW,&V'W PAW-HAWD=D WRITERS. MO lONSSB. tUVSr 70 WCaRY $CJT R&ttlUS LEADS AMD WA5TIMS TfANE A.\p .VOMrY 5HAR/WWS rstfCXS . ASTriE LEAD WEARS 1 DOW, THE Re/WARKASCE SLWA'Ij? SLEEVE DETRACTS TD flRT7r.1T if. HAND ASSEAiSifi? IViTfi W'ACH WAFAS'7C-$, TME PENCILS FEED T5;cYiS=LVES AUTO- A\ATic/.LW with a Simple push of THE vG-tHCK' CLICK "TCP. PEMTrLS EVCLL!?;VS HI' FOXV-lZ LEADS FC.vS'FSNJC.'LS^ GCkWlZ IM O.'A AUL .MlC^C'Fi.VJE o-AfJD 0.5 M*N UlTftN-FINE 517-55. IP Atf^OWE SA^S Vie HAS* A RMuiR PENCIL WITH AUTDAVNTIC LEAF ADVANCE*, TELL MIA\ 70 GO FLVA WTp. !o*ei Av.'jU.Mjtc :>l U-.'rtint: t.t.ilioiu-fy oMico supply lc.>WS. fVotW ot Anu'iit.i, LUI.. :*71J Cuumiui.i Slice!, lun.mcc, CA 00S0J see COvcnwv.Lt