Document XRYegbKVOZzroO4zVDma2gJVg

OHC-56 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH COMMITTEE Minutes of Meeting Monte-Leone Hotel New Orleans, Louisiana September 20, 1971 MEMBERS PRESENT: N. V. Hendricks, Chairman M. V. Andresen E. E. Christofano L. B. Grant, M.D. J. Hogan, M.D. M. N. Johnson, M.D. K. S, Lane, M.D. J. E. Long W. E. McCormick K. M. Morse C. F. Reinhardt, M.D. T. R. Torkelson K. D. Johnson GUESTS PRESENT: L. E. Cassidy, M.D. J. Jorgensen F , L. Oglesby F. L. Lyman, M.D. S. Schreiber N. G. White MEMBERS ABSENT: M. R. Gasque, M.D. W. J. Martin, M.D. W. McNab Standard Oil Company (N. J.) American Cyanamid Company Hercules Incorporated PPG Industries, Inc. Gulf Oil Corporation Monsanto Company Union Carbide Corporation Minnesota Mining & Mfg. Co. B. F. Goodrich Company U. S. Steel Corporation E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. The Dow Chemical Company Manufacturing Chemists Association Canadian Industries Ltd. Rohm & Haas Company Tennessee Eastman Company CIBA-GEIGY Corporation Allied Chemical Corporation Shell Chemical Company Olin Corporation Cyanamid of Canada Ltd. BASF Wyandotte Corporation 1. Minutes of the Meeting of May 6, 1971 The subject minutes were approved with the correction to item 10 to indicate that the subcommittee reporting on the vinyl chloride project should have been designated the "vinyl chloride subcommittee", rather than the "epidemiology subcommittee." 2. Membership Changes OHC-57 2.1 Membership losses: 2*1.1 By expiration of term: E. M. Dixon, M.D. Celanese Corporation - May 31, 1971 F. L. Oglesby Tennessee Eastman - September 11, 1971 2.1.2 By change of employment: J. W. Wolfsie, M.D. UNIROYAL, Inc. - July 10, 1971 2.1.3 Pending expirations: W. j. Martin, M.D. Cyanamid of Canada - October 9, 1971 2.2 New Members 2.2.1 Board action completed: L. B. Grant, M.D. PPG Industries - May 11, 1971 J. E. Long Minnesota Mining & Mfg. Corp. - May 11, 1971 C. F. Reinhardt, M.D. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. - June 9, 1971 W. V. Andresen American Cyanamid Company - June 9, 1971 2.2.2 Board action pending: L. E. Cassidy, M.D. Canadian Industries Ltd. - October 9, 1971 OHC-58 2.2.3 Committee action pending: D. L. Eynon Koppers Company, Inc. - January XO, 1973 (Date of Available Opening) F. L. Lyman, M.D. CIBA-GEIGY Corporation (Opening now available) It was moved, seconded and carried that the name of Dr. Lyman be forwarded to the MCA Board with recommendation for favorable action at its next meeting. 3. Election oF Vice President To fill the vacancy in this office created by the resignation of Dr. Wolfsie. the Chairman named the following subcommittee to ' bring in a nomination: William E. McCormick, Lee B. Grant, M. D. Kenneth M. Morse Chairman Mr. McCormick subsequently reported for the subcommittee that its choice was Kenneth S. Lane, M. D. of Union Carbide Corporation. No other nominations were offered from the floor, and Dr. Lane's election to the post of Vice-Chairman to complete the unexpired term of Dr. Wolfsie was confirmed by voice vote. 4. Report to the MCA Board Liaison Committee for Environmental Quality and Control The Chairman reported that he had attended the meeting of the subject Board Committee on September 14, and presented a written report to them on the activities of the Occupational Health Committee. Copies of the report, which describes both current and projected Com mittee programs, have been distributed to the Committee membership. CMA 039863 OHC-59 5. Committee Organization and Function 5.1 Rules of Organization and Procedure The chairman referred to his letter to the Committee dated June 17, 1971. The following subcommittee is charged with developing these suggestions into a report suitable for submission to the Board for approval as a revised Terms of Reference and new Function Statement. K. S. Lane, M.D., Chairman J. Hogan, M.D. W. V. Andresen K. M. Morse This subcommittee is also charged with revision of the Committee's Rules of Organization and Procedure to bring them into conformance with the General Principles Applicable to the Structure and Operation of Committees. In so doing, they have been asked to follow, as appropriate, the model offered by the present draft revision of the subject rules for the Labels- and Precautionary Information Committee. In this function they were asked to consider carefully whether the present membership restrictions were consistent with the current needs of the Committee and what modifications, if any, should be recommended to the Board. 5.2 Communication with Member Companies The chairman expressed concern over the limited extent of exposure of the Committee and its programs to the MCA member ship. Among the steps suggested for improving and strengthening the image of the Committee were: (1) Improved coverage in the MCA Annual Report. The following task group was named to work on a suitable draft for-submission to the editor of the 1972 Report: W. E. McCormick, Chairman, Dr. M. N. Johnson and Mr. Warren McNab (2) A series of articles in Pilot, perhaps comparable to the Pollution Control Primer series from the Air and Water Committees. (3) Development, with the cooperation of the Safety and Fire Protection and Labels and Precautionary Information Committees, of a series of Material CMA 039864 OHC-60 Safety Data Sheets designed to meet the requirements to be imposed upon employers by the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The Chairman appointed Emil Christofano and Dr. C. F. Reinhardt to work with the other committees in developing a program to prepare such Material Safety Data Sheets. Mr. Norman G. White of the Safety and Fire Pro tection Committee addressed our Committee briefly as to the status of his Committee's plans and procedures for a joint subcommittee to carry the major respon sibility for this program. The last suggestions were formally approved by motion duly made, seconded and carried. The plan for a series of articles in Pi lot was approved in principle and the Chairman was asked to draft a proposed organizational outline for such a series, and to circulate it to the Committee. 6. Liaison with Other Organizations 6.1 Designation of Liaison Responsibilities l Mr. Hendricks informed the Committee that he had appointed the following named individuals for informal liaison with the indicated organization: Emil Christofano American Industrial Hygiene Assn. T. R. Torkelson American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists M. N. Johnson, M.D. Industrial Medicine Association N. V. Hendricks American Petroleum Institute 6 *2 Liaison with the Federal Government In response to invitations submitted by MCA at the urging of the Committee, Mr. George C. Guenther, Assistant Secretary of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has designated Mr. Joseph J. LaRocca, Chief of the Office of Project Management and Support, as the individual from his depart ment responsible for liaison with the MCA Safety and Fire Pro tection and Occupational Health Committees. OHC-61 In a similar vein. Dr, Marcus Key, Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, has named Dr. Charles Powell, Assistant Director, NIOSH, to a comparable role. Mr. Hendricks will maintain a continuing program of consultation and informational exchange to keep the Committee and the Federal agencies mutually informed concerning items of common interest. 6.3 Liaison with MCA Committees Mr. Hendricks reported that he had sent letters to the chairmen of the Safety and Fire Protection, Labels and Precautionary Information, Food, Drug and Cosmetic Chemicals Committees, the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemicals Regulation, and Chemtrec, expressing our interest in a closer liaison between the Occupational Health Committee and their activities, and had received favorable responses from each. Mr,. Morse suggested that liaison among the technical committees under the surveillance of the MCA Board Liaison Committee for Environmental Quality and Control would be improved if the technical committee chairmen were to meet informally as a group before they reported to the Board Committee session, A "chairman's breakfast" was mentioned as an appropriate format for such meetings. Mr, Hendricks volunteered to take the initiative in presenting Mr. Morse's suggestion to MCA management Copies of a report describing the status and activ ities of the just-recently activated Chemtrec (Chemical Transpor tation Emergency Center) were distributed to the Committee. 7. Workshops The Committee was informed that the attendance for the Safety and Fire Protection Committee/Occupational Health Committee jointly sponsored Workshop on the Impact of the Occupational Safety and Health Act on the Chemical Industry, scheduled for t.ho followin' day, might reach 400, and that a favorable response to the program was anticipated. As to future workshops, consideration was given to a repe tition of the New Orleans workshop at some other site, and/or a more narrowly focused industrial hygiene workshop. It was decided to avail an evaluation of the performance and acceptance of the New Orleans workshop before making any further plans. To that JCMA 039866 OHC-62 end, each Occupational Health Committee member attending the Workshop was asked to prepare a critique, covering program material, presentation, relative emphasis, etc., and to in dicate his recommendation as to whether this workshop should be repeated "as is," revised, or replaced by one of altered content and format. Dr. Torkelson moved that the Chairman be authorized to proceed with approval for OHC participation in a second pre sentation of the New Orleans workshop program if, in his judgment, the critiques he received were favorable. His motion was seconded and carried. Dr. Mac Roy Gasque was asked to continue his responsibility for workshop planning. 8. Chemical Safety Data Sheets The Chairman reported that the draft on elemental phos phorous was the only one now outstanding. Dr. M. N. Johnson raised the point as to the care that should be taken in drafting Chemical Safety Data Sheet recom mendations in format so restrictive as to imply disapproval of alternative procedures that may be used by some companies and that may provide equivalent degrees of safety. The Secretary was asked to mail copies of the current "guidelines" for Chemical Safety Data Sheet authors to all members of the Committee. Mr. Ar.dresen expressed the view that, in all revisions or new sheet issues, care should be taken to be certain that they included all information essential for the preparation of Material Safety Data Sheets by the users of these materials. He also suggested that the value of the sheets could be in creased without increasing their size, if separate bulletins on general safety practices could be issued and referenced, y ng where appropriate, in the individual Data Sheets. An apparent error in reference to the recommendations on eye protection in Section 5.2.2 of SD-9 - Caustic Soda, was called to the attention of the Committee. The Committee felt that this error was sufficiently serious to justify immediate t reprinting of the same and destruction of defective copies. whether or not the draft Data Sheet on Vinyl Chloride should be revised to identify the allegations of carcinogenicity CMA 039867 OHC-63 was discussed at length, without a firm decision.. The Chairman was asked to take this up with the Safety and Fire Protection Committee on Wednesday, September 22, and to clear any tentative decision with MCA staff counsel. The extent of duplication and the occasional inconsisten cies among the standards and safe handling recommendations of the American National Standards Institute, the American Indus trial Hygiene Association, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Safety Council and MCA was discussed at some length, but no specific means to cope with this problem could be identi fied. The problem should be recognized, and to the extent feasible, authors of MCA Chemical Safety Data Sheet drafts should avoid wording that would confuse the users of these bulletins or create an unjustified impression of opposing viewpoints among the issuing organizations. 9. Occupational Safety and Health Administration Standards The program of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to develop permanent standards to replace the consensus standards initially blanketed into their operations was discussed at some length.. An initial phase will be the development of criteria documents on industrial work space con taminants of widespread interest. Among those to receive early attention are: carbon monoxide, asbestos, cotton dust, silica, fiber glass, beryllium, lead, and mercury. The physical agents heat, noise, and U.V.. radiation are also slated for prompt con sideration. Messrs. Emil Christofano and Kenneth Morse were asked to develop proposed MCA goals on atmospheric and biological mon itoring for the montrol of workspace contaminants. The Chairman announced his intention to keep in touch with NIOSH as these criteria were being prepared for publication in the Federal Register as proposed criteria. He will appoint task groups to participate in the drafting of MCA comments on such criteria from time to time as the need arises. Mr, Christofano discussed the problem of definition of an individual "competent," within the meaning of the regulation, to approved personal protective equipment for specific task applications. He urged that National membership in the Amer ican Industrial Hygiene Association be considered prima facie evidence of such competence. No Committee action was taken in regard to the Department of Labor questionnaire on Occupational Noise that was brought to their attention by the Chairman's letter of August o, 1971. CMA 039868 OHC-64 The Chairman urged that the Committee members give careful $ attention to the studies and Proposed Standards for Heat Stress, indicating that, in his opinion, the Proposed Standards failed to take acclimatization and self-selection into account, were unnecessarily restrictive and would be very difficult and expen sive to comply with. He recommended that each member study carefully the report of the symposium on heat stress conducted at the Industrial Health Foundation in June. The proceedings have been published by the IHF under the title "Assessment of Heat Stress and Strains" Engineering Series No. 8-71, and may be ordered by writing them directly at Industrial Health Foundation, Inc. 5231 Centre Avenue Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15232 Mr. Hendricks asked that all members make a serious effort to collect data and document heat exposure records of present industrial practices that experience has demonstrated adequate to protect properly selected and acclimated workers. 10. Epidemiological Survey of the Chemical Industry The Chairman reviewed the deliberations of the Subcommittee on Epidemiology over the past month, and related the parallel activities occurring in the American Petroleum Institute. A feasibility study has been conducted by the University of Texas, and on the basis of that study, their committee had solicited proposals for the performance of a full survey by an outside contractor. Howard, Johns Hopkins and the University of Michigan submitted the best proposals, and copies of their proposals were distributed to MCA's Epidemiology Subcommittee. They were asked to consider: (1) which protocol would be best for the model for an MCA survey, and (2) whether to submit to the MCA Board a formal request for funding of such a survey m the 1972-73 budget.. 11. Polyvinyl Chloride Acroosteolysis Registry The Secretary relayed Dr. Dinman's plea for wider and more prompt responses to his requests for the submission of pertinent data to the Registry. He also alerted the Committee to the im pending exhaustion of currently authorized funds for maintenance of the Registry activity, and asked them to determine the wishes of their companies in regard to any refunding. OHC-65 12. Vinyl Chloride Monomer Study Mr. McCormick reported for the Vinyl Chloride Monomer Sub committee that they had selected the research proposal from Industrial Biotest as technically adequate and most advantageous from a cost standpoint. The subcommittee recommended that their proposal, with a possible reduction in scale of effort, (if neces sary to accommodate available funding) on study of acetylenederived VCM, be presented to the vinyl chloride manufacturers and users as a suggested protocol. This recommendation was moved, seconded and carried and the Secretary was asked to proceed with plans to hold a meeting of representatives of the vinyl chloride industry to consider these matters. He was also asked to ascertain the current status of Dr. Viola's research and available results before any such meeting. The question was raised as to whether an epidemiological survey of vinyl chloride workers to determine the incidence of cancer or other lesions suggested by Dr.. Viola's work might be ir. order. It was decided to delay any decision on such a survey until more lab oratory data was available from lower level exposures 13. Treatment for Chemical Exposures 13.1 Phenol Decontamination Studies on the relative advantages and disadvantages of water, versus glycerol or other polyalcohols, for the removal of phenol contamination from the skin, are still underway at Dow Chemical Company. No Committee recommendations are planned prior to the completion of this work. 13.2 Treatment of Phosgene Exposure The recently published data on the treatment of phos gene exposure by hexamethylenetetramine has been submitted to Dr. K. L. Lane for critical review. 13.3 Gastric Evacuation Following Hydrocarbon Ingestion The matter of whether or not warning labels on hydro carbon solvents should, or should not, recommend induction of vomiting for the emergency treatment of ingestion of such solvent was discussed, but no decision was reached. The Committee urged that MCA develop guidelines on this point to be followed consist ently in the Chemical Safety Data Sheet series . CMA 039870 OHC-66 14. Future Meeting Schedules The next regulai meeting of the Committee was scheduled for Wednesday, April 5, at a site to be determined later. If necessary to expedite the vinyl chloride research program, the Committee expressed an interest in an early December meeting, subject to the call of the chair. Their attention was called to the December 13-14 schedule of the Safety and Fire Protection Committee. Respectfully submitted, Kenneth D. Johnsory Secretary Occupational Health Committee Minutes Subject to Approval December 3, 1971 KDJ/cj CMA 039871 1 r OHC-67 Liaison Report of the Labels and Precautionary Information Committee Mr. Norman White, of the subject Committee gave an extensive report of the project being conducted by them to secure consensus support for a hazard labeling system acceptable for both in-plant and transportation uses. This would combine major features of the National Fire Protection Association "704" labeling system and the MCA HI program. The salient feature of the proposed labeling system involves a division of the diamond label into five areas, with appropriate seventy-of-risk numerals in each area. The control area would be used for inhalation hazard, the upper for skin hazard, the lower for ingestion, and the lateral areas for eye hazards. The selec tion of these areas was based on the features of the human face, with correspondence between the previously described areas and the nose (for inhalation), the brow (skin), mouth (ingestion), and the lateral eye positions. The Chairman agreed to appoint representatives from the Occupational Health Committee to a joint subcommittee consider ing the hazard labeling system.