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It's a long process at OSHA 1\ >5 k The steps to a standard What's on the docket Scientists atthe National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health study effects of industrial materials on workers' health and report their findings to OSHA NIOSH scientists now working on: 13 materials, on which they will issue data by June 30 A. Standards writers at OSHA sift the evidence and determine the limits of workers' exposure to toxic materials. Some proposals go back to NIOSH for more data Standards writers now working on: Ammonia, carbon monoxide, chloroform, cotton dust, inorganic mercury, silica, Mitfnrir* pr\r\ TDI Solicitor's Office of the Labor Dept, reviews the proposals for legal adequacy so that they will survive court challenge Hearing procedures at OSHA give industry and unions a chance to air their objections to the standards and propose amendments Solicitor's Office now working on: Benzene, beryllium, inorganic lead, trichloroethylene V Proposals now at hearing stage: Inorganic arsenic, nciso limits IinCi^o i ni/-vi_ r r<GDUCTION Why things are in sue Scientists from E. I. du Pont de Ne mours & Co. last month alerted the Na tional Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (niosh) to a possible new can cer threat. Reports from the Soviet Union drew a strong link between can cer and chloroprene, a bulk chemical that is used to make synthetic rubber, adhesives, and coated fabrics. NIOSH is now assessing chloroprene itself and will pass its findings on to the Occupa tional Safety & Health Administration for action. OSHA-which, its critics say, is al ready failing to cope with the work it has-hardly needs another chemical to reckon with. It is concerned with hun dreds of substances that are known or suspected to be harmful to the health of workers exposed to sufficient quan tities. Yet in its four years of exis tence, OSHA has managed to issue only a handful of health standards that have stood up. Two cover asbestos and vinyl chloride; others deal with a dozen suspected carcinogens, most of which are little used in U. S. industry. The vinyl chloride standard, sus- tained by an appeals court just two weeks ago, is significant because it af fects an important segment of the plastics industry. But osha's unimpres sive output has led to charges that the agency is lax and too ready to knuckle under to political pressure. During the Nixon Administration, in fact, charges that OSHA chief George C. Guenther had delayed certain standards at the behest of the White House were later substantiated. Even outgoing Labor Secretary Peter J. Brennan, who has had OSH A under his wing, recently con ceded in a letter to Senator Harrison Williams (D-N.J.), whose labor sub committee is investigating OSHA, that the record "is not an exemplary one." Improvements. The pace of new stan dards development has picked up con siderably since late fall, however. Dan iel P. Boyd, in charge of standards development, has added dozens of people to his staff, which is beginning to grind out new proposals at a steady rate. Drafts for eight nesv standards, covering such widely used substances as benzene and nitric acid, are ex pected to reach the Labor Dept.'s Solic itor's Office by July 1. Another 400 standards are scheduled to be released in batches over the next two years. But many drafts have already be come jammed at the solicitor's level. That unit, under Benjamin W. Mintz, is seriously understaffed, particularly as more standards become the object of litigation. Mintz plans to add seven or eight lawyers to his stall of 10, but that probably will not be enough. "It's the toughest kind of legal writing the de partment has ever done," says Mintz. "Wc want to write standards so they can hold up to court challenge." Court decisions. Legal challenges have already seriously undermined C-sha's health effort. Even' health standard having a significant potential economic impact on industry has wound up in court. The asbestos standard survived and has been in force since 1972. The vinyl chloride standard wiil take effect on Apr. 1. The Second District U. S. Court of Appeals in New York emphat ically rejected industry's contention that OSHA had set the exposure limit 36 BUSINESS WEiK Fefrunry 24.1975 INDUSTRIAL PROOUCTiON 21421001 'I ) I j j 12 l 4i1 i i i i 1