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FILE NAME Painters and Allied Trades PAINT DATE 1977 OCT DOC PAINT053 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Article from Painters and Allied Trades Journal 9 1887-1977 %: JournalJournal An IBPAT Special Report Report lists hundreds NEWS AND FEATURES page Inside Front Cover From the General President 4 AFL Affirms Social Economic Goals 12 Ask The Doctors 13 Bacon Forum 14 . Pension Plan Annual Report DEPARTMENTS page 17 General Executive Board Minutes 23 January 1 to June 30 Audit Report 27 Financial Statement 30 The Members Speak Out * DEVOTED TO THE TRADE INTERESTS OF RESIDENTIAL @ COMMERCIAL S. FRANK RAFTERY General President 1750 New York Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 : GLAZING @ CARPET @ LINOLEUM @ SOFT TILE # PAINT AND VARNISH MAKING BRUSH MAKERS AND TO THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN GENERAL ROBERT J. PETERSDORF General Treasurer 1750 New York Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 General Vice Presidents Any member or subordinate body publishing programs souvenirs or other documents of any description must not designate them as The Official Journal of the Brotherhood or as The Painters and Allied Trades Journal either upon the publication itself on their advertising contract contract forms or stationery Robert J. Petersdorf Publisher Editor 1750 New York Ave. N.W Washington D.C. 20006 BERNARD SNIEGOWSKI : 1st District 1443 Westchester Boulevard Westchester Ill 60153 A. L. MONROE 2nd District 7909 Bayberry Drive Alexandria Va 22306 JAMES WOLFORD 3rd District 100 Devon Lane Williamsville N.Y. 14221 Allied Trades Second Class mail entry authorized at Washington D.C. . VOLUME 91 No. 9 OCTOBER 1977 JACK T. COX 4th District 2212 DuPont Drive Irvine Calif 92664 GUY LEBER 5th District POSTMASTERS ATTENTION The official journal of the Interna- 1930 Bishop Lane Change of address cards on Form 3579 tional Brotherhood of Painters and Louisville Ky 40218 | SelB Subscription ase should be sent to THE PAINTERS AND Allied Trades organized March 15 JAMES B. COX 6th District ALLIED TRADES JOURNAL 1750 New 1887 and the only publication issued 8800 Blue Ridge Ext No. 10 York Ave. N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 under its auspices ee Kansas City Mo. 64138 esta Price 2.00 per year Single 20 cents WILLIAM A. DUVAL 7th District PRINTED ON UNION MADE PAPER PRINTED WITH UNION MADE INK 1750 New York Avenue N.W. 3 Washington D.C. 20006 h a PRINTED IN U.S.A. FILE NAME Painters and Allied Trades PAINT DATE 1977 Oct DOC PAINT053 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Article from Painters and Allied Trades Journal JournalJournal the Cover IBPAT Special Report lists hundreds of hazardous NEWS AND FEATURES page Inside Front Cover From the General President 4 AFL Affirms Social Economic Goals 12 Ask The Doctors 13 Bacon Forum 14 - Pension Plan Annual Report DEVOTED TO THE TRADE INTERESTS OF RESIDENTIAL @ COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL 'SIGN fiPICTORIAL @ COACH fiAUTOMOBILE 'AIRCRAFT e MACHINERY fiRAILWAY EQUIPMENT SHIP AND SCENIC PAINTING DECORATING PAPERHANGING WALL COVERING fi DECORATIVE AND ARCHITECTURAL GLASS WORK GLAZING fiCARPET @ LINOLEUM S OFT TILE @ PAINT AND VARNISH MAKING BRUSH MAKERS AND TO THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN GENERAL Any member or subordinate body publishing programs souvenirs or other documents of any description must not designate them as The Official Journal of the Brotherhood or as The Painters and Allied Trades Journal either upon the publication itself on their advertising contract forms or stationery Robert J. Petersdorf Publisher Sam Parker Editor 1750 New York Ave. N.W Washington D.C. 20006 Published monthly by the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades Second Class mail entry authorized at Washington D.C. . POSTMASTERS ATTENTION AL IEDChange of address cards on Form 3579 should be sent to THE PAINTERS AND ALLIED TRADES JOURNAL 1750 New York York Ave. N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 Subscription Price 2.00 per year Single copy 20 cents PRINTED ON UNION MADE PAPER PRINTED WITH UNION MADE INK DEPARTMENTS page 17 General Executive Board Minutes 23 January 1 to June 30 Audit Report 27 Financial Statement 30 The Members Speak Out ry S. FRANK RAFTERY General President . 1750 New York Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 ROBERT J. PETERSDORF General Treasurer - 1750 New York Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 VOLUME 91 No. 9 OCTOBER 1977 The official journal of the Interna- tional Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades organized March 15 1887 and the only publication issued under its auspices 3 PRINTED IN U.S.A. General Vice Presidents BERNARD SNIEGOWSKI , 1st District 1443 Westchester Boulevard Westchester Ill 60153 A. L. MONROE 2nd District 7909 Bayberry Drive Alexandria Va 22306 JAMES WOLFORD 3rd District 100 Devon Lane Williamsville N.Y. 14221 JACK T. COX 4th District 2212 2212 DuPont Drive Irvine Calif 92664 GUY LEBER 5th District 1930 Bishop Lane Louisville Ky 40218 _ JAMES B. COX 6th District 8800 Blue Ridge Ext No. 10 Kansas City Mo. 64138 WILLIAM A. DUVAL 7th District 1750 New York Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 The Decade of Job Safety ne NIOSH Reveals Trade Names of Causing Paint Products Armstrong Tile Cement 90 Mostell 931 undercoating and Dayco wood filler are just three of the 265 products which contain causing chemicals listed in a recent National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health NIOSH survey The survey found 411 prod- ucts that contain causing chemicals but the chemical makeup 146 of these products are claimed secrets by the manufac- turers The names of these 146 products will not be released until H The conflict between the workers right to know and the manufac- turers desire to protectprotect trade se- . ; crets is resolved As many as 300,000 workers used these 411 products in the past three years thus exposing themselves to the risks of cancer without even knowing it Of the 265 products revealed by NIOSH 164 fre- A Message from GP Raftery Companies spend millions of dollars to test the performance of their products They can tell you to the degree when the paint will blister to the minute how fast the paint will dry and to the foot how much area it will cover However only a few of these products have ever been tested for the death and suffering they will cause for those of us who apply the products : Slowly we are learning the names of products that are harmful to us The NIOSH list of name products that can cause cancer among IBPAT members just scratches the surface For us it is the starting point of a drive to find safer products to substitute for these harmful ones But we need your help . We need your help to determine the extent that these products have been used by each of you so that we can intelligently decide what action must be taken to protect our members health and safety in the ae future . Read through the NIOSH list Check these products with which you have worked and write how many times you have used them over what number of years in the blanks provided Clip your answers along the dotted line and send them to IBPAT JOURNAL 1750 New York Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 Keep the NIOSH list as a reference for products you may want to avoid in the future We will also publish a list of substitutes for these products in an upcoming issue of the Journal Please return your checklist as soon as possible This is very impor- tant for all our members quently used in the paint trades are listed on the following pages | My Local Number is The NIOSH survey identifies the manufacturing companies the names of their products and what ASBESTOS CONTAINING PRODUCTS Corning Fiberglas Corp. Kaylo 17 I have worked with these products Number of times Number of years the causing chemicals in the products are The most common causing chemical among the products in the NIOSH survey is asbestos Two other known causing chemicals benzidine , Kaylo Manville Corp. Black Plastic Cement Asbestile Cement Transite Conduit Joint Sealing Compound No. 352-7M Refractory Cement Asbestos Fiber 7R06 : Tuff Kote Co. : Tuff Kote White 250Z 82-91 i TE TEE and chloroethylene vinyl chloride are also contained in products in the Rainy Co. Butyl Tite Butyl Rubber Caulk 600 Putty NIOSH survey For more informa- TREMCO Mfg TREMCO Mastic Roof Cement _ ion on these chemicals see page TREMCO Seam Sealer . ) TREMCO Glazing Compound Dark Green Roof Preservative Tar & Asphalt Types TREMFIX Emergency Roof Repairmastic ae Chalking Compound at PETE TREMCO 102 Texture Coating THIOKOL Chemical Corp. a a UTEP 1120 LEA Mfg Co. Grip Master Cement MATCOTE Co. : No. 1-723 Light Gray skid Reliance Universal Inc. 2200 French Provincial Wiping Stain 150 : Hamilton Materials Inc. All Purpose Joint System I CIT PIT) THE OCTOBER My Local Number is Causing I have worked with these products Number of times Number of years | Products Cont'd Southwestern Petroleum Corp. Heavy Duty Roofing Coating Manus Products Co. Inc. Manus Bond Safety Step Non Paint Black Philadelphia Resins Co. 5030 Resin 5030 Hardener McFadden Co. Wood Filler Paste Deshler Products Co. Glazing Compound Quaker State Oil Refining Corp. Quakercote Emulsion Type Undercoating Quaker Coat Undercoating Teledyne Inc. Pro Seal 700 TEE Williams Co. Sherwin Williams KEMAK R Hard Set FlintKote Co. Weatherproofing Compound C 13A Intercoastal Paint Corp. Metal Deadener 513 758 Asphalt } Mortell Co. Aluminum Roof Coating IBPAT 627 Tough Film Mortex Palmer Asbestos & Rubber Corp. Palmer Mirro Mastic to Southern Protective Products Co. page of portion this PPT Exterior Caulk 2541 Celotex Corp. : Plastic Elasticum Barret Aluminum Roof Coating Cement Barret E22056 Wall Covering Elastigum Roof Coating Flexigum Roof Coating S.I.S. Cement Weatherized Plastic Cement send and line doted TP along Cut TUTE Black Swan Manufacturing Co. Stainless Putty Armstrong Products Co. Inc. Armstrong Epoxy Resin A & Roach Paint Co. Inc. 54 Acoustic 200 Activator Protective Treatments Inc. PTI 707 Architectural Sealant E905 Dart Industries Inc. Kalman Nylode Paint & Chemical Co. 361 326 TTT 682 92 Union Chemical & Oil Co. MS Plastic Winter Plastic Perfection Model Products Co. TTT PTET Lastic Glazing Compound Chicago Mastic Co. High Velocity 10-108 Ceramic and Quarry Floor Tilecement Cellulo Co. Celluflow Chrysolite # Pittsburgh Corning Corp. Unibestos Babbitrite Products Co. Babbitrite 30 Mortell Co. Mack 2510-45 Coat Castrol Regal American Abrasive Metals Co. JED TPH Falcon Expo Slip Coating Expoxo Floor Orange Magnolia Plastics Inc. | 8A Resin 8B Catalyst 6 THE OCTOBER Eighty to 90 percent of all cancer may be caused by environmental factors such as the chemicals worker uses in his job Each year since the close of World War more and more untested chemicals have found their way into the prod each year the rates of cancer and respiratory disease are rising among painters Time after time the harm yesterday less products of are exposure | sidered safe The only safe is ZERO exposure But to avoid all icalsis not realistic All you can do is reduce chemical contacts enough - to keep the oddsin your favor Below are three methods You won't be able to use these methods 100 percent of the time but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be try ing Avoiding contact with job chemicals pays off big in the long run with good health To get this " benefit ask yourself every day I keeping my contact with the chem icals I use as low as possible Then use these three methods to improve your odds SUBSTITUTE safer prod ucts to substitute for the hazardous products on the NIOSH list Every one is always searching for the best product for the job For painters and allied tradesmen this has usually meant paint products that last longer dry faster look better or coat or clean quicker Today best product must also be selected for safety Replace hazardous prod ucts with safer products whenever possible To select replacement products for ones on the NIOSH list when choosing new products for job make sure that you know what chemicals the products contain It chemical contents are not listed on tain on sted on dous Products Causing Products Cont'd the product's label or if only tradenames appear ask your employer what the product contains If your employer doesn't know then you should write to the manufacturer If you feel you cannot ask your employer write directly to the manufacturer ) If the manufacturer is unwilling or unable to tell you what is in the product then you should feel un- willing to work with the product. until you know exactly what the product contains There are those manufacturers who are willing to what their product contains and there are those who aren't We should support those who do with our purchases As a last resort you can always write to IBPAT International Headquarters to the attention of GP Raftery Be sure to tell him about all your efforts to find out the facts In the near future the Journal will carry list of safe or safer substitutes This list will be updated on annual basis and will use information provided by industry government the research of MSSM our own research and your practical experiences with the products Remember Just because a label lists no harmful chemicals that does not mean the product contains no harmful chemicals So when searching for that substitute product avoid those which are not clearly labelled by the manufacturer CONTROL there is no sub- stitute for a hazardous product You must work with the product or not work at all This may be the case with some chemicals on the NIOSH List The obvious choice is to work But this does not mean you must work unprotected Half of the battle of protection is already won when you are aware of the hazardous chemicals in the products you use Once known they Ican be controlled Of course the best adviceis to treat all chemicals International Talc Co. Inc. Cermitalc . Lommie Talc Asbestine 325 3X . L & W Paint Products Co. No. 999 Textured Vault Spray Furane Plastics Inc. Epibond 122 Epibond 1210 Epocast D . FlintKote Co. Timesaver Hydralt 800-13 Compound Timesaver ProductsCo. Perma Caulking Knife Grade 26 Gray Perm Seal Caulking Compound James B. Day & Co. Dayco Wood Filler Golden Oak Carboline Co. Carbozinc No. 11 Green 2G5416 Standard Oil Co. of Calif Aluminum Asbestos Grace Co. Vulcatex Caulking Compound Grow Chemical Corp. Tropical RoofKoter Roof Koter 732-00 Celotex Corp. Phillip Carey Co. Carey Matic Heavy Trowel Grade Damp Resistant Coating - De Witt Products Co. Liquid Asbestos Fiber Roof Coating Asbestos Plastic Roof Cement Pfizer Inc. Asbestine Monosanto Co. Santo Fle1x3 Adhesive Engineering Co. & Concresive 1170 Parts A B 2143 B Base Concresive No. 4 Part A Aerobond 2199 Part A Laurence Inc. Celo 400 Birch Celotex Corp. Phillip Carey Co. Noah's Pitch Armstrong Cork Co. Armstrong Tile Cement 90 Insulmastic Ablestik Laboratories 166-5 Epoxy Paint Electric & Varnish Co. OEM Aluminum Roof Coating Pecora Chemical Corp. M242 Elastic Glazing Compound PecoRa BC 158 Butyl Rubber Pecora Black Special Mirror Mastic Gray Metal Sash Putty Manville Corp. Plastic Roofing Cement Aluminum Roof Coating , Insulkote Summer Grade Plastiseal Expanding Joint Compound Asbestos Fibrous Roof and Foundation Coating PABCO Paint Corp. > . White Hydroseal 559 Gilsonite Inc. Ready Coat Rain Patch 406 NTP Marvin Corp. 613 WB Wet Patch Plastic Cement Mostell Inc. 931 Undercoating Ohio Sealants Inc. Wall Board Adhesive No. 36 American Elastomer Co. AMELCO Adhesive ry aN My Local Number is Se I have worked with these products Go Number of times SD Number of years Ga ae mare cones (QA TTL TET TTT LT E PTT Cut along doted line and EEE send this Te portion TTA of page to IBPAT TET TPT DTTP ETT T TE TELE PET THE OCTOBER 7 My Local Number is I have worked with these products Number of times Number of years | Causing . || Products Cont'd Standard Paint & Varnish No. 165-101 C Stapon C Tank Coating Blue Base No. 165-100 Stapon C Tank Coating White Base | Bitucote Products Co. Bitucote Sealer AM Adhesive Metals Co. as hazardous Control of exposure to harmful chemicals in the area begins with engineering devices such as fans ducts and baffles These de- FEDROX Safety Floor and Deck Covering i NAPCO Corp. PABCO patch Wet Surface Plastic STEDI Products Co. Fruehauf Adhesive Compound Gibson Homan Co. vices provide the next best protec tion to substitution by keeping the harmful chemicals from entering collecting in the job area where eee TRE Hydroseal Black Cement Overall Paint Inc. Mastic Plastic Roofing Cement R. A. Chemical Co. V5233 Dulling Agent Top Coat Southwest Grease & Oil Quaker Koat Solvent Type Undercoating Unicorn Chemical Coating Inc. Marineco Aluminum and Mastic 13 American Tar Co. * 164 Wet Patch they would otherwise be breathed in by the lungs or absorbed through the skin A engineered area is the responsibility of the employer The employer shouldinsure that thejob area is engineered to reduce the workers exposure to harmful chem icals Exactly how far the employer BENZIDINE CONTAINING PRODUCTS Allied Chemical Corp. Benzidine Base must go toward insuring the control of exposure is not very clear except with those chemicals for which ie e el | || ETT EE RE P LE CHLOROETHYLENE Vinyl Chloride CONTAINING PRODUCTS Inmont Corp. RBH 5411 Medium Chrome Green RBH 5413 Chrome Yellow Paste RBH 5414 Light Chrome Yellow RBH 5415 Molybdate Orange RBH 5430 Vinylite Paste Wachtung Red Williams Co. Topaz G77HC114 Union Carbide Corp. Dynel Reliance Universal Inc. Blue Strip 371-81 Lilly Industrial Coatings rd No. 1268 Vinyl - C. P. Moyen Co. VS 6001 Cement B. F. Goodrich Hycar 1204 X 11 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Chemvic Sprayon Products ; 500-6-10 Editor Blue 500 42-4 Sandstone Beiye 500 27-54 Dove Gray 500 42-2 Lexicon Tan 500 27-14 Olivetti Gray 500-6-6 Medium Raphael 500-27-19 Praxis Gray AMTECH Inc. B. j Saran B. F. Goodrich 1 Roymal Geon 222 Roymal Co. . | * Fixative Concentrate 1852 - Blue Laquer OSHA regulations exist All the chemicalsin the NIOSH survey are regulated and have permis sible exposure levels To exceed these levels breaks the law which can cost the employer money But other chemicals some of which are known to be harmful are not reg ulated and nothing but the employer's regard for his workers his fore sight to future savings from safe areas or collective bargaining agreements can control their pres ence in the area If you believeyou are being over exposed to regulated chem file icals you may ask for a job inspection from NIOSH or complaint with OSHA who will need to test the air to resolve the complaint But the best bet is to attempt to work with your employer in these matters to make the neces sary tests and changes First NIOSH and OSHA inspectors are both over METHYLENEBIS Chloroaniline- worked and staffed Second MOCA CONTAINING PRODUCTS . many harmful chemicals are not | | Whittaker Corp. Thixon B aFE OSHA regulated Third employers resent government intervention so AMINODIPHENYL CONTAINING if you work with the employer in PRODUCTS stead of against him you'll get more aa Monsanto Co. 7 Santo Flex 13 done Filing for an NIOSH survey | e8 THE OCTOBER Se Hazardous Products ( Cont'Condt'd should be done in conjunction with your employer wherever possible and an OSHA complaint should be Do I have skin irritations stinging eyes sore throat How about headaches sleeplessness excessive irrita- controls Do you have exhaust fans bartiers enclosures ducts and baffles to control the exposures If not You can get some idea of your bility Do I cough wake up with a bad taste in my mouth have trouble and you've already tried substituting _ less harmful chemicals then you area exposure by asking your- self several questions Is there a lot of mist and dust on the job Can I see and smell impurities in the air breathing All of these can give a clue to harmful exposures you may be suffering in your job area Next assess your job area for engineering should have a talk with your em- ployer about instituting engineering controls to lower harmful chemical exposures Insistence on good work- ing conditioniss not too much to TWA TLV What They Mean expect And if you work with your employer you can make many en- ful chem A area safe from harmful exposure to chemicals is the responsibility of the employer The chemicals in the products listed by NIOSH are all regulated by OSHA who has established maximum permissible levels of exposure These permissible levels cannot be exceeded without breaking the law Permissible levels are determined after much scientific investigation Usually the more harmful a substance the lower the permissible level of gineering controls economically feasible The improvements of conditions will actually create greater efficiency among the workers to pay part of the bill Of course engineering controls are not always adequate to reduce or which exposure ae . , Permissible levels are expressed as the number of parts fibers exposures or because of the nature of the work are often impos- or grains per million or billion parts of air that can be safely tolerated by a worker over an work day Permissible sible to implement In these cases personal protective equipment can levels are computed as Time Weighted Averages TWA and Threshold Limit Values TLV of exposure TWA's and TLV's :| air samples are gathered from in front of the worker's face or in the immediate work area These measurements determine the concentration of contaminants per cubic centimeteorf air The concentration is then divided by the number of hours worked in the day TWA's and TLV's from area monitoring are compared with the permissible levels given in the OSHA regulations to f determine if the work is unsafe The regulations usually help control exposure to harmful chemicals Personal protective equipment is the least desirable method of controlling exposure because it avoids the real problem of making the job area safe But it is also the most common method of protection in the job area because it is the most economic means of pro- eir pres of contain a peak exposure level beyond which no moment the , work day exposure can legally go viding protection On temporary construction jobs this is a very im- ing over d chem : For asbestos the legal permissible level is two fibers per cubic centimeter of air TWA with no single exposure to exceed 10 portant consideration because engineering controls often can't be built work job or file in work who will fibers per cubic centimeter This means that you can five hours in one day an environment that contains two fibers per cubic centimeter of air but you cannot for 15 minutes in an into a job area that's only going to be around for a couple of months Some of the available personal olve the mployer et isto environment that contains 11 fibers per cubic centimeter of air If you have reason to believe you are overexposed to any chemical you can request NIOSH to monitor your work environ- protective equipment should be worn by workers even in engineered job areas Such items as e neces ment Or you can file an OSHA complaint which will include clean mended work clothes 7 .NIOSH monitoring But the best bet is to attempt to work with your with long sleeves shoes hard A RO T af employer in these matters to make the necessary tests and hats safety glasses and work gloves Sera | changes First NIOSH and OSHA inspectors are both overworked and staffed Second many harmful chemicals are not provide an extra margin of safety when engineering designs fail when | OSHA regulated Third employers resent government interven- the impossible suddenly becomes | tion so if you work with the employer instead of against him | you'll get more done Filing a NIOSH survey should be done the possible or when direct contact by the worker with hazards cannot in conjunction with your employer a wherever OSHA complaint should be last resort possible and an be controlled These basics of per- * sonal protective equipment also pro- Continued on Page 11 THE OCTOBER 9 ASBESTOS is a fibrous mineral that like cotton can be made into thread and cloth Unlike cotton fibers its fibers are as strong as piano strings It is virtually indestructible proof fireproof and resistant to most chemicals Because of these properties it has found its way into more than 3,000 products from potholders and children's toys to welding rods and industrial and household insulation No factory or home is without asbestos and almost no group of workers is without potential exposure s Asbestos has long been recognized as a cause of cancer and other respiratory illnesses such as asbestosis and chronic bronchitis see the Jour- nal MSSM report t Recently the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced plans to ban consumer patching compounds containing asbestos and asbestiform tremolitic talc However some consumer products and many industrial products be which contain asbestos will still to come ; used for years The concentration of asbestos in the work en- vironment is established by OSHA regulation No. worker is to be exposed to more than two asbestos fibers for every cubic centimeter of air over an eight day No peak concentration of asbestos during the eight day can exceed 10 fibers per cubic centimeter and no sampling period can be shorter than 15 minutes To determine the exposure of a worker the hours spent working with the material is multiplied by the concentrations of the materials and is divided by the number of hours worked Often fiberous glass rock wool sodium silicate . or polyurethane are substituted for asbestos How- ever a general rule seems to be that any substance with the properties of asbestos does not belong in your lungs Consequently asbestos sub- stitutes should be handled with the same precau- tions as asbestos CHLOROETHYLENE chloride VC poly- vinyl chloride PVC and chloroethylene are all basically the same chemical and all cause cancer often a rare and incurable form of cancer of the liver hemongrosarcoma Between 1950 and 1970 vinyl chloride monomer and its polymer became the second most impor- tant plastic in production It was commonly found in many plastic paints Today only a few paints are known to contain vinyl chloride Though the term results of exposure to vinyl chloride those will not be seen among most of those who used the products until 1980 1990 or the year 2000 a small sample of what might be in store for those exposed to excessive amounts of vinyl chloride is provided from a study of one production plant in Niagara Falls The plant was one of the first opened to produce vinyl chloride Altogether the study covered 257 employees who had worked five years or more in the plant One out of eight hemongrosar developed the same liver cancer coma In general this cancer is so rare that only general one in 50,000 deaths are found in the population The message Vinyl chloride products should be avoided By all means if you must work with them or if you are not sure whether a paint you are working with contains a cancer causer or other harmful substance corrective by all means take proper measures The TLV established by OSHA for chloro ethylene is one part per million over 8 hours five parts per million maximum permissible ex posure for any minute sampling period BENZENE is a clear noncorrosive highly flammable liquid derived from oil The petrochemical and petroleum industries refining produce 94 of the benzene in the United percent States which is used chiefly as an intermediate in the production of other organic chemicals including styrene phenol and cychlohexane Benzene has been known for more than a cen tury as a powerful bone marrow poison Long term exposure to benzene causes anemia It also causes luekemia As early as 1928 benzene caus ing leukemia was documented Yet the product continued to be used becoming a very important chemical in the paint trades Other chemicals can be substituted But benzene is an impurity that appears quently in other thinners and solvents such toluene xylene and styrene As many as 150,000150,000 through these chemicals Just recently the permissible exposure lev for benzene exposure has been lowered from 10 parts per million parts of air to one part per million based on an eight average The new emergency standard also reduces the present maximum exposure level of 25 parts per million to five parts per million and eliminates the peak level of 50 parts per million for any minute period AlsoAlso 10 3 THE OCTOBER Working With Hazardous Products Cont'd . Continued from Page 11 vides protection from unknown effects of chemicals and materials that are not fully tested With 25,000 untested chemicals now in use in various paint products and the number growing each year this protection is something that no worker can afford to be without Also included in personal protective equipment are respirators dust masks and air supplied hoods and other specialized protective gear from rubber gloves to ear plugs which reduce the worker's exposure harmful chemicals and substances 0 posures can add up to chronic illness and disease You may not re- member you may never have known but each of these exposures forms part of a link in your life that suddenly shackles you with an unwanted disease Working with hazardous chemicals is not a death sentence but the likelihood of developing cancer or some other serious disease is greater for you than for someone who has not been exposed to these sub- stances Prevent any one link in the chain from forming and you can remain safe year will do The OSHA standards for workers exposed to some cancercausing chemicals requires the employer to pay for the workers check ups For example the asbestos standard requires employer check for employees every one to two years depending on the level ' of exposures 0 Even if you have to pay for your own physical you should do it Regular check help you dis- ; cover problems early They also help you keep a record of your health while you work in case you need to apply for workman's that would otherwise damage his or her delicate lung tissue skin and internal organs . PREVENT using safer sub- stitute products in a engineered job area with full protective personal protective equipment will not prevent all harmful exposures to chemicals Changes in the weather changes in the efficiency of the equipment personal susceptibility permissible exposure levels that are too high and any number of other factors work to keep protection less than 100 percent Over a number of years these ex- - To stop smoking cigarettes is the simplest most effective breaker Many causing chemicals react with cigarette smoke to increase the risk of cancer and other respiratory problems far far beyond the effect of either the chemical or the cigarettes alone For example asbes- exposed workers who smoke have five- to times the chance of getting cancer as asbestos workers who do not smoke If you can't stop smoking switch to cigars and don't inhale Regular check are also very important Every six months would be great More realistically once a compensation some day So there you are To substitute to control and to prevent three methods to use daily to improve : your job conditions Substitute chemicals that are less harmful whenever possible control the work environment to reduce ex- posure and prevent illnesses by proper medical check and living habits If you follow these three. rules you will greatly reduce the risks associated with known and un- known chemical killers in your workplace It is never too late nor too early to begin So begin using these methods today OSHA's Common Sense Approach Backed . this year has won the backing of the AFL efi- The federation's Executive Council endorsed OSHA's efforts to step up enforcement in high is 150,000 industries and give priority to health hazards while reducing needless paperwork on keeping and reports of occupational injuries and disease But the council said it was opposed to the Labor Department's action exempting employers with 10 or fewer workers from recording related in- . juries and illness . i the peak minute The council also expressed concern over re- ports that a agency presidential task force would replace effective safety standards with a retrogressive and destructive system of fines and incentives for employers to abate hazards The task force is loaded against OSHA the council warned because of its dual chairmanship and makeup Although the Secretary of Labor will be a co- chairman so will the director of the Office of Man- agement & Budget : The council further noted that the Departments of Labor and Health Education & Welfare two agencies responsible for the administration of the federal safety law be outnumbered The other agencies are the Department of Commerce Council of Economic Advisers the White House Domestic Policy Staff the Small Business Admin- istration and OMB oo There is nothing that this task force has been instructed to do that could not have been accom- plished by OSHA under the common sense priori- ties program the council stressed THE OCTOBER = 11