Document ybo190ejDGBz827q2qagdq46D

FRICTION MATERIALS STANDARDS INSTITUTE, INC., EAST 210 ROUTE 4, PARAMUS, NJ 07652 November 3, 1983 To: Officers and Board of Directors Subject: OSHA Emergency Standard for Asbestos Exposure and the Institute's Health and Environmental Affairs Committee Today's NEW YORK TIMES front-paged the decision of OSHA to proceed with an Emergency Temporary Standard lowering the maximum 8 hour Time Weighted Average (TWA) asbestos exposure level from 2 fibers per cc. to 0.5 fibers per cc. A copy of the article as it appeared in the TIMES is enclosed. As noted, a spokesperson stated that OSHA hoped that the emergency rule would be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER on Friday, November 4, 1983. Before distributing this information to the full Membership, I will wait for the FEDERAL REGISTER document to spell out the details. Any action or response to this OSHA move would ordinarily be coordinated by our Health and Environmental Affairs Committee. However, Mr. Jim Armstrong of Bendix Corporation, who has chaired our Health and Environmental Affairs Committee called me yesterday on his plans. In summary he noted that due to the Allied Corporation takeover of the Bendix Corporation, that he will not be with Bendix after January 1. Mr. Armstrong indicated that he would write me concerning his move, and noted that he would no longer be able to serve as Chairman or a Member of this Committee. Based on this OSHA move and Mr. Armstrong's plans, I called Mr. Bob Nelson of Abex, President of the Institute, but was advised that Mr. Nelson was not in the office, being out ill. I will await Mr. Nelson's return to the office as concerns restructuring the Committee. When the FEDERAL REGISTER publishes details on this Emergency Temporary Standard, I will advise the Membership. Any action on the Institute's part will depend on input from Mr. Nelson and the Committee. The foregoing is for your information. EWD/dr Enc. E. W. Drislane Executive Director FMSI-0395 FMSI 02623 FRICTION MATERIALS STANDARDS INSTITUTE, INC tl~?A YORK November 3f 1933 EMERGENCY RULING ; SET BY JOB AGENCY ; ON ASBESTOS PERIL `Grave Danger' to 375,000 Is Cited--Permissible Level of Exposure Is Cut 75% By Tlie AmxWM rnj& WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 J^^he Labor Department, warning today that 375,000 workers laced "grave danger" from asbestos fibers, reduced by 75 percent the permissible level of expo sure in the manufacturing, construc tion and maritime industries. I An agency of the department, the OcI cupatkmal Safety and Health AdminisI tration, put out an Emergency Tempo1 raty Standard loweringthe legal asbes tos exposure level over an eight-hour day from 2 fibers a cubic centimeter of airto half a fiber. The emergency rule, the first by the Reagan Administration, is enforceable Immediately upon publication in the Federal Register. A spokesman, Doug las Clark, said the agency hoped that would occur Friday. Agency Risk Assessments In announcing the action. Labor Sec retary Raymond J. Donovan said the job safety agency's risk assessment predicted "three excess cancer deaths per 1,000 workers exposed for one year at the current permissible exposure level." ' Those studies also .showed "risk of gravedanger" to people who have even short-term asbestos exposure, the agency said, adding that the mortality rate was 53 times higher for smokers who are exposed to asbestos. Such studies indicate that lowering the asbestos level to half a fiber a cubic centimeter of air will "save many lives," the agency said. Cancer and Lung Disease Link Asbestos, a fibrous mineral widelv used as a fire retardant in buildings and reinforcement in concrete pipes,, has been shown to cause cancer and de bilitating lungdiseases. Unions representing workers in con struction and manufacturing indus tries had been pressing the Adminis tration to take such emergency action. An asbestos health standard has been on the books since 1972, not long after the Occupational Safety and Health Ad ministration was created, but has re mained unchanged since 1976. Under Government procedures, the job safety agency must propose a per manent asbestos standard and seek public comment on it within 60 days of publication of the emergency rule. The agency administrator, Thorne G. Auchter, said last April that he was speeding OSHA's work on tightening the existing asbestos standard, in a let ter to Sheldon Samuels, director of health and safety of the Industrial Union Department of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial'Oiganizations, Mr. Auchter said, ''Personally, I am very con cerned about the asbestos problem." He said at the time that the agency planned to issue new rales by June 1984. Mr. Clark said the emergency stand ard was released today because OSHA officials had only just completed work oo the document, which emerged in draft form eight weeks ago. He said that the agency was "making very minor changes" in the emergency standard as late as Tuesday morning. He said Mr. Auchter was concerned about the fact that whenever an emer gency standard was issued, OSHA was not permitted to go through the nor mal, timeconsuming process of seek ing formal comment from interested groups. So, in the last two months, Mr. Clark said, the agency circulated its risk assessment among scientists in privatebusiness to obtain their feelings onthe proposal. Asked why the emergency standard was issued when Mr. Auchter had said earlier that asbestos regulation would be handled through the normal rule making process, Mr. Clark said. "As we got into it, and produced a risk as sessment, it just seemed this was the mast appropriate wayto go." Mr. Samuels said he was pleased by (be agency's move against asbestos, but added: "The real test is whether they have put into place Che enforce ment mechanism. It's the quality, rather than the quantity, of enforce ment." Three large asbestos concerns, the I Manviile Corporation, UNR Industries j Inc. and the Amatex Corporation, have ! filed for bankruptcy law protection in ' the face of thousands of lawsuits by for mer workers who claim they con tracted respiratory problems as a re sult of their jobs. Increasing Concern Voiced Issuance of the emergency standard was spurred in part by increasing con cern about the exposure of construction industry workers to asbestos at work sites where buildings were being demolished. The agency said in Octo ber that it was stepping up Government inspections of thesesites. The emergency standard also re quires that employers train their work ers in the handlingof asbestos. The standard permits wide flexibility on bow companies achieve the lower exposure levels. Such methods include removing fibers from workplace sites with suction equipment, reorganizing work practices and furnishing respira torstoworkers. ' Unions contend that strict engineer ing controls are the best solution to the problem. Mr. Donovan noted, however, that the Occupational Safety and Health Act required that such health standards call for corrective measuresfthat are "clearly feasible'' to Industry. Similar standards have been successfully chal lenged in court by Industry. Mr. Donovan said he agfeed that workers were "exposed to grave dan ger." Doubts Voiced by Industry A spokesman for the asbestos indus try said last night that producers were "unaware of any scientific proof to sus tain any such grave danger" to work ers as contended by the Labor Depart ment. Bob J. Pigg, executive director of tbe Asbestos Information Association, said in a telephone interview that the indus try considered an emergency tempo rary standard for permissible exposure to asbestos fibers "unneeded and un warranted." Mr. Pigg said that although the In dustry opposed the emergency stand ard, it would comply by using ong or more of several methods, spcb as sup plying breathing apparatus to workers, increasing dust-removal equipment and relocating work stations to places where theexposure level was below the permissible limit. He said it would be difficult to estimate the added cost pending further study. FMSI 02624 TT