Document e7GGaXxmmyRKQY5GqYjxrb7d4

FILE NAME Newspaper & Magazine Articles NMA DATE 1975 Oct 2 DOC NMA178 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Wall Street Journal Article - New Rules on Exposure to Lead Toluene Asbestos Offered by Labor Unit 4 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Thursday Oct. 2 1975 New Rules on Worker Exposure to Lead Toluene Asbestos Offered by Labor Unit By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter exposures Respirators could be used only WASHINGTON Labor Department where engineering controls and pracproposed new and revised job health stand tice measures don't reduce exposures to the ards limiting worker exposure to three microgram limit widely used industrial substances and setting The standard also sets a maximum procedures for handling 11 other toxic chem- standard for lead in the blood of 60 micro- icals grams per 100 grams of blood Workers The new standards cut in half the per- blood or urine would have to be tested peri- missible exposure to lead and toluene an in odically dustrial chemical and reduce by % the The department said health problems amount of asbestos fibers permitted in the from lead exposure have been recognized air at work places since the early 1800s More than one million Existing exposure limits for the other tons of lead are used annually in the U.S. toxic chemicals weren't changed Levels of Toluene Officials estimated that 100,000 workers The toluene standard sets an action nationwide are potentially exposed to to- level of 50 parts a million in air which luene a colorless volatile substance used primarily in producing benzene solvents and gasoline Workers in the petrochemical paint rubber shipbuilding construction and auto industries can be exposed to the chemical would trigger a monitoring program Worker exposures would be limited to 100 parts a million in air over eight hours The current limit is 200 parts a million The standard also sets a new ceiling limit of 200 parts a million during any minute period Thousands of other workers may be exposed to lead in more than 120 occupations including the making and reclaiming of lead storage batteries lead smelting glassers works printing painting and construction work , Toluene can irritate and burn skin dam- age the eyes and the central nervous sys- tem and could cause death from very high exposures federal safety and health offi- cials said Lead exposure can damage the brain and nervous system and can cause kidney ailments seizures and other ail- ments An estimated 50,000 workers are involved in manufacture of products containing asbestos The department issued its first standard controlling asbestos which can cause lung cancer and other serious ill- nesses in 1972 and would prohibit skin or eye exposure to toluene liquid The standard also first requires employglassers to use feasible engineering controls to reduce exposures to workers permitting use of respirators where such controls aren't feasible or don't reduce exposures to the 100 parts a million limit Industry groups often oppose such a requirement arguing that it is a waste of money to require expensive engineering controls that don't reduce exposures to the permissible limits and still require workers to . use respirators More than one billion gallons of toluene are produced annually in the U.S. Under the new standards for the 11 other toxic substances employers would be required to monitor exposures regularly when they exceed half of the existing permissible exposure level Above the level the rules re- Used in Solvents Chemicals quire engineering controls setting up a The other materials for which new work medical surveillance program and other standards were proposed are used primarily practice measures as solvents and in chemical processing to make plastics _ plasticizers rubber surface coatings and in printing Exposures to these chemicals can produce skin problems and respiratory damage and affect the central nervous system Approval Is Expressed One leading safety and health expert expressed tentative approval of the proposed standards for lead toulene and asbestos Louis Beliczky health and safety direc tor of the United Rubber Workers and at The 11 chemicals include butyl times critic of federal safety policy said touene a solvent cumene a chemical raw these three standards seem to be reason- material ethyl benzene used to produce styrene Methyl styrene used to produce chemicals and drugs styrene used to make synthetic rubber and plastic vinyl toJuene used in making resins cyclohexane a solvent camphor used in making plastics mesityl oxide a solvent methylheptanone a solvent and ozone used in water and waste treatment The new proposed standards will appear able and justified The revised asbestos standard . J allows workers to be exposed to an average of 0.5 fiber a cubic centimeter of air over any eight period instead of the present limit of five fibers a cubic centimeter of air The standard defines a fiber as a particle of as- bestos longer than five micrometers A worker couldn't be exposed to more than five fibers a cubic centimeter of air soon in the Federal Register Before they become final the Labor Department will review public comments on them environmental and inflationary impact statements and may hold public hearings over any minute period The new levels also are more stringent than a previously planned additional standard that would have cut exposure limits beginning next year to two fibers a cubic centi- Standards Tightened meter of air averaged over eight hours The lead standard reduces the permissi- The proposal also would require employ- ble exposure of workers to 100 micrograms ers to retain employe medical records for 40 of lead in each cubic meter of air averaged years or for the duration of an employe's over eight hours The existing standard is career plus 20 years Currently asbestos 200 micrograms Employers in industries us regulations require that some records be ing lead inorganic lead compounds or or kept for only three years and others for 20 , ganic lead salts initially would be required years ; to determine whether employe exposures ex- The tighter rules for asbestos exposure ceed an action level of 50 micrograms in wouldn't apply to the construction industry each cubic meter of air Exposures above which would operate under present stand- that level would require employers to regu ards until a special set of revisions for that larly measure lead exposures and to notify industry is developed The department said workers of the results workers could be exposed to asbestos on At exposures above the microgram jobs in construction shipbuilding auto man- level employers first would have to use all ufacturing auto repair asbestos products ew tn Tecra hla Ln ee ean chek, Ay ey on