Document VjJ2pq7d4gonq8Mewqj09V1YZ

FILE NAME Insulation Contractors & Distributors ICD DATE 1968 June 18 DOC ICD052 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Memo to IDCNA Directors RE National Health Safety Program with Article June 18 1968 To ALL IDONA DIRECTORS From - Ted Brodie - Chairman HEALTH & SAFETY COMMITTEE SUBJECT NATIONAL HEALTH FROGRAM 1. Background On May 14 1968 a meeting was held at the New York Academy of Arts & Science under the sponsorship of DR IRVING J. SELIKOFF In attendance were representatives of all segments of the insulation industry The subject covered the by now acknowledged problems associated with asbestos its uses and applications 2 Proposed Program Dr. Selikoff outlined akproposed program to answer the environmental safety problems besetting the industry Briefly it consisted of 1 A Technical Committee to perform basic studies of environmental conditions 2 A Scientific Committee to review the results of the above studies and make recommendations to ... 3 An Insulation Industry Hygenic Council composed of representatives of NIMA IDCNA Sprayed Asbestos Fiber Association the Union as well as a medical consultant These committees would review the entire problem of environmental health as it partains to the Asbestos Worker insulation industry - dust control vapor control motivational engineering educational material etc. Final recommendation as to Standards and solutions would be by unanimous consent of the Council 3. Financing . Figures were presented that indicated that approximately 1,000,000.00 would be required during the first five yearu of the program This of course depends on the scope of the program The next problem revolved around how this money is to be raised At a subsequent meeting held on June 11 1968 the suggestion was advanced by Mr. Hutchinson that the Union Contractors portion should be raised by opening existing agreements to add a per hour contribution to the health welfare funds said amount to be transmitted to the Council for disbursement PRODUCED JM - 83 000760 This represents an increased labor cost that must be passed on to the customer in a contractor to survive The customer in of 168 order for many in- stances is the Federal Government and the Office of Budget Management Considering the inadequacy of medical and scientific resemch information concern- ing safe exposure levels of asbestos dust and also considering the supposition and assumption on which the proposed Threshold Limit Value is based it is difficult to imagine a justification for the economic stress this regulation will place upon the construction industry Federal Government and private enterprise We respectfully urge the Secretary of Labor to 1. Reinstate the Threshold Limit Value for Asbes- tos Dust at 12 fibres per milliliter 5 microns or greater in length for an interim period 2. To initiate 31 comprehensive epidemiological study of the entire asbestos industry as it exists in the United States and to determine not only the effects of asbestos but also asbestos associated with other airborne contaminants and cigarette smoking 3. To provide adequate lead time prior to the ef- fective date of reduction of any Theshold Limit Value in order that the construction industry operating on fixed contracts can cope economically with the increased costs that such a re- duction will create 4. To provide definitive information concerning the specific requiremets of regulations 5. Provide our trade associations with representation on future Study and Advisory Committees We representing the construction industry have been moving forward to provide salety and health informiaGon and mplement safer working conditions We in- tend to continue and accelerate this program It is our desire to provide every possible protection for our people Thank you for the opportunity of appearing at this public hearing today At Schinnerer from the West Coast also made a fine presentation as follows am Albert D. Schinnerer and am an employer trustee of of Portland the Asbestos Oregon Workers YOUR INSULATION CONTRACTOR'S SERVICE CENTER ALL TYPES OF CANVAS PONCHO PREMOLDED FIBERGLAS FITTINGS SIZED HP & C.P. FIBERGLAS CLOTH PRESSURE SENSITIVE H.P. & P. FIBERGLAS TAPES . ROLL CORNER BEAD FIBERGLAS SCRIM BLACK OR WHITE ALL SPEC FIBERGLAS MATERIALS GREAT LAKES TEXTILES INC 13229 SHAW AVE CLEVELAND OHIO 44112 216 268-3502 - ee ene S Western States Occupational Health Plan This occupational health plan is operated for the benefit of our construction industry Our contractual consultant States and specifically includes all of the twelve 12 most western of the continental states Our plan was funded in 1967 and on June 8 1967 the trustees resolved to begin working with Dis Clark Cooper and Irving Tabershaw of the School of Public Health at the University of California for the purpose of minimizing asbestos and other related problems in our construction industry Our contractual consultant service now operates under the name of Tabershaw- Cooper Associates and is well recognized in the occupational health field give this history so that you will know we represent 5 years of demonstrated concern about occupational health and are not novices on the subject of asbestos At this time I want to point out that the name Asbestos Worker is a musnomer when applied to the construction industry insulator and has been sn for some years Materials that are involved in much of the applied work today don't contain asbestos Therefore we generally don't have a situation where the worker is continually exposed to asbestos products week after week or year after year In a 1968 paper prepared for the Second Interna- tional conference on the Biological Effects of Asbestos at Dresden Germany Dr. Clark Cooper and Leroy Balzer made a then current estimate on their observa- tion of the insulator's time spent on work involving the use of asbestos materials and placed it at 45 That study is 4 years old and now we use asbestos cements and asbestos spray material just to name two subsequent material changes With respect to the proposed Standard 1940.93 a for exposure to asbestos chist have great concern for the practical implementation of the standard in our construction industry In construction an employer often has a few people here and a few people there and you can multiply this for the number of jobs he is currently doing generally over a large geographical territory To monitor each of these jobs where some asbestos product is specified for installation the proper time period is likely an impossible task for any of our contractors want to go step further to say that it is unrealistic to expect that individual construction employers have the monitoring expertise requmed and further many don't even have the resources to acquire it Tabershaw Associates have surveyed in the field a number of jobs in the Western States jurisdic tion and have monitored for asbestos dust the varTORES activities that the insu alor performs when he handles asbestos products from this they have been able to make some conclusions on what could be hazardous activity and what is not a bazardous activity in the course of a day's work From the studies there have been promulgated some guide lines for good work practices in the misulation contracting in- NICA OUTLOOK PRODUCED J8 M 3 IDCNA dustry It is my suggestion that study be given to these including construction industry input to arrive ^ tconstruction industry controls for asbestos chist rather than the proposed 5 fiber hour time weighted average offer my observation that the asbestos dust problem today is not what it was 30 or 25 years ago and in construction those are the illness cases we see to- day Given a proper amount of time for tation the industry can do even better Now I want to make some comments on implemen- other items in the proposed standard 1. Under paragraph heading -Particular opera- tions and paragraph 6 states that asbestos dust shall he removed only by vacuum cleaners This wording is unnecessarily restrictive and unimaginative for improvement in methods Wet cleaming methods should be authorized plus an allowance for other efficient techniques that may be developed 2. Paragraph -Warning Signs 1 construe this section as applying at the time respirator use is mandatory are not of hazardous nature When operations paragraph e is not applicable 3. Paragraph -Medical Examinatioannsd Records I should like to advise that for employers in the Western States there is by agreement between the Western Insulation Contractors As- sociation and the Western States Conference of Asbestos Workers a provision for finding med- ical examinations for lung disease surveillance in each local anea in accordance with specifica- tions set forth by the trustees of the Western States Occupational Health Plan This program has been set up at local clinics by Fabershaw- Cooper Associates and they are prepared to continue this program and set the appropriate standards of the examination and the frequency that will provide for the worker's health I bc- lieve the above arrangement does micct the ob- jective of this part of the Standard If not I think it is necessary to revise the wording for the construction industry so that it will Just one example NIOSH recommends that preplacement and termination medical examinations be required for every term of employment of asbestos exposed workers In construction as the work load shifts from one employer to another in an area or from one area to another it is not uncommon for a worker in the labor pool to have a halfdozen terms of employment in single year It isn't likely but if each were asbestos exposed that would amount to 12 examinations for one individual My last comment is in respect to Standard 1910.12 -Construction which is not presently pro- Continued on page ae cee Vesigaeecee e teem mmeene 43 oF mee tameeee ee ree .025 thick LIES FLAT ! when laced HOLE WIRED 1 SAVE e installation time material labor LIGHTWEIGHT FLEXIBLE | LESS MATERIAL SAME INSULATION VALUE | HIGH TEMPERATURE INSULATION 1-16411C Type 11 | .018 thick Stainless Steel | CER O | LACING HOOK WASHER USED FOR REMOVABLE TURDINE BLANKETS VALVE AND Flange COVERS SUPERCHARGER COVERS - PUMPS SHIPS LACING BOOKS applied without my bonding ever may be washers MAY 1972 Accurate Pipe Measurement ag LOW COST FASTENERS CALIPER ... through 12 Pipe or tubing ag agaag g ag FOR REMOVABLE TYPE INSULATING BLANKETS Used extensively by contractars & ship [ builder on TURBINE BLANKETS VALVE & FLANGE COVERS PUMPS EXHAUST MANIFOLDS i EASTERN Co. Inc.Inc. FLANDERS RD 20 Ith DEPT W OHI.MONT MASS U17 489 QZ17A PRODUCED JM 0 2 001999