Document wD3b7VDwbK6n9Bworby96BaL4

FILE NAME Painters and Allied Trades PAINT DATE 1975 Jan DOC PAINT037 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Article from Painter's and Allied Trades Journal Preliminary concern ,* findings of the , immediate IBPAT mobile van testing pro- . bership to the mem- Igram are beginning to come into our Brotherhood's Head- * quarters in Washington D.C. ' - General President S. Frank Continued testing is import ; tant for as President Raftery has said IBPAT members _ consistently rank among the top * About 800 members are be tested during this phase Raftery has said that a complete medical profiloef the members .,, tested will be ready by mid- 1975 .. The 23d General Convention five construction trades in the average number of worker's compensation awards they receive Painters and allied tradesmen consistently face the program which will be the clinical survey phase of program In addition to the long clinical survey there be a mortality study and in Los Angeles was the site of the kickoff of the Brotherhood's many related health haz- ards whether working with _ industrial hygiene survey The first phase fo most extensive and ambitious compounds found in paint 98,800 by NIOSH take . = ; w . i 2 Looe ; ad safety and health program in its varnish solvents and exotic about a year says Dr. Selikoff history Results of tests made coatings or with such materials He said that members are there are now being studied as gypsum board IBPAT mem- being tested for among other other General President Raftery at the time told Convention dele- gates that the coming . years will be the decade of job safety Also present at the convention was Dr. Irving J. Selikoff the nation's leading authority on environmental medicine and Director of Environmental Medicine at Mt. Medicine inin Sinai School of New York bers also work often in extremely dangerous places sky- scrapers or on bridges With us safety is not a shot deal General Presi- dent Raftery has said and points to IBPAT efforts on behalf of health and safety which go back to the years the union worked hard supporting passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act The bill things exposure to titanium preliminary test According to was finally passed by Congress in 1970 and went into effectin . findings to be verified 1971. The Occupational Safety throughout by further testing ' and Health Administration is the U.S. and Brother- the U.S. Department of Labor hood members may be exposed agency charged with overseeing - to very hazardous solvents health and safety on job sites The results of the tests taken The mobile diagnostic van in Los Angeles and of future from which initial test results Toledo Ohio The van will located at the Union Heal Center there and will conduc members : from January through February 1 The second city on the van tests to be taken at from 15 to 20 locations will indicate the health areas of greatest interest to IBPAT health and safety specialists ; are now coming in is a cooperative effort of IBPAT and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health NIOSH which contracted with schedule will be St. Louis where it will examine member from Februar2y2 through Marc 1. Local officials will provide IBPAT members in both areas Moreover as the mobile test unit travels throughout the U.S. and Canada the tests will be refined to focus on areas of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine to operate the van Following its test run during the Convention the van is now with further details mobil The locations of future mobil van stops will be reported \ coming issues of THE JOURNAL 2 THE JANUARY 1995 1995 ee asbestos silica wood dust and polyvinyl chloride Serious findings of cancer cirrhosis of the liver among , a comparatively new bstance illustrates the need Continuous studies : Polyvinyl chloride is just one Ow is what you cannot see erials erials that the microscope asures and the laboratory The harmful effects | chemicals can be ngjust as permanent and just as certain We want to put a stop to all this nonsense We want to search out those dangerous " areas and remove them he said As for the mobile van General President Raftery has noted that the van's tests constitute a thorough health screening covering every phase of an individual's health record Results of the tests are being passed back to members so that they can be kept on record by the member's physician The member will be alerted to any condition which he or she should bring to the attention of a doctor The team of health specialists manning the van will release information only with the written permission of the membesro all records are protected by confidentiality In order to evaluate the work surroundings of IBPAT members particular attention will be paid to those with 15 or more years experience in their particular craft The year time period is important because a primary goal of the testing program is to detect exposure to carciogenic substances which have been known to cause cancer after long periods of exposure Contact with polyvinyl chloride for example has been known show signs of cancer after 30 years of exposure THE JANUARY 3 " ican] oon