Document yr28nKVnBa9KeR2v9wNgKbpOX

i MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS ASSOCIATION 1025 CONNECTICUT AVENUE, N.W. WASHINGTON, D. C. 20009 (202) 483-6126 r> '1J .. October 24, 1973 To: TECHNICAL TASK GROUP ON VINYL CHLORIDE RESEARCH Subject: Tabershaw-Cooper Associates, Inc. Progress Report No. 2 for Period August 20 - October 11, 1973 Gentlemen: Distributed herewith is the subject report. Please note their request for possible MCA guidance on the persistence of follow-up efforts on terminatgd employees, and be prepared to express your views on this problem. Sincerely. Kenneth D. Johnson, Ph.D. Staff Representative Technical Task Group on Vinyl Chloride Research KDJ:mb Enclosure cc : Dr. D. P. Duffield Mr. D. M. Elliott Dr. Tiziano Garlanda RSV 0000490 MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS ASSOCIATION VCM EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY PROGRESS REPORT October 15, 1973 Prepared by Tabershav-Cooper Associates, Inc. 2180 Milvia Berkeley, California 94704 RSV 0000+91 Manufacturing Chemists Association VCM Epidemiological Study Progress Report Progress to Date Four of the five plants which had not responded to our back ground questionnaire at the time of the previous progress report have now done so, and one new plant has been added. The plant population is now 53 in number, of whom six have been dropped from the study because they had been in operation less that five years as of the end of 1972, and one has not responded. The latter plant haa agreed to participate, but the response has been delayed for administrative reasons. Table 1 shows the distribution of the 51 responding plants by the length of time over which usable records are kept, and Table 2 shows the distribution of the 45 plants included in the study by size of currently exposed work force. :o far, 21 plants have been contacted. Partial or complete data are now in hand from seven of these, microfilm from two plants is being processed, and the remaining plants are in the process of completing job history forms. The data now in hand comprises 492 active employees, 397 terminations whose current status is not yet known, and ll deaths. The number of deaths is less than expected because many of the first plants visited were relatively new, with a young work force. RSV 0000492 i 2 The microfilm now being processed will approximately double the size of the current sample, and since it comes from older plants, will yield many more deaths. The Measurement of Exposure In almost half of the current sample, plants were unable to provide any quantification of exposure beyond "high," "medium" and "low." To the extent that plant personnel were able to make rough estimates of exposure ranges, it appears that such terms as 'high" have different meanings in different plants. The situation is further complicated by the fact that in many plants a worker's exposure often depends on both his job title and on where in the plant he works, so that the transcript of his job title history has to be reviewed by the plant safety or personnel officer in order to estimate his particular exposure. It appears that the best use that can be made of these data is to give a score of 3, 2, and 1, respectively, to jobs with high, medium and low exposure, and to calculate a time weighted average of these exposure scores for each worker. This is now being done. ASV 0000493 3 Follow-up of Terminations Several companies have indicated that they do not wish their terminated employees to be contacted directly. Ordinarily a form follow-up letter would be sent to the last known address of each terminated employee asking (without identifying the specific study or the sponsor) whether that person was still alive. In the case of undeliverable letters, driver licensing bureaus, local telephone directories and retail credit agencies would be used to get a current address to which the letter would then be remailed. Not infrequently, the process of getting an address through driver license bureaus or retail credit agencies reveals indirectly that the individual is alive, as evidenced by such things as a record of a traffic violation or the opening of a charge account. If an individual is not to be contacted directly, this process can be exploited by having a retail credit agency review all the lists and files available to it to establish whether the person is alive or dead. However, for those who cannot be found in this way, the last resort is to have credit agency representatives visit the neighborhood of the last known address and make inquiries. Depending on the proportion of the group for whom the last step is necessary, the expense of an indirect follow-up may be prohibitive. Ve are presently testing, on two different groups of ter minated employees, the effectiveness of a driver license check (which is relatively inexpensive) and a recall credit agency check ft$V 0000494 4 extending as far as a neighborhood visit. If these methods prove ineffective or prohibitively expensive, it may be necessary to consider alternatives. One is to trace terminated employees only in those companies which permit a direct mail follow-up. Another is, in addition, to trace the other ter minations only as far as a check of driver license records, and a check of retail credit records, without any further follow-up. If the tests indicate that there is indeed a problem, we will inform the Manufacturing Chemists Association inmediately and seek guidance as to what appears to be the best solution. Future Plans Receipt of the remaining data from the plants already con tacted will bring the sample to approximately SO percent of the total to be included in the study. Data collection for the rest of the plants will proceed simultaneously with data reduction and follow-up of the sample in hand. *SV 0000495 Table L Distribution of 51 Planes by Number of Years for Which Personnel Records Are Available No. of Plants Number of Years Total <5* 5-9 ID-14 15-19 20-24 25+ 51 6 12 19 6 44 not included in study Table 2 Distribution of 45 Study Plants by Size of Current Exposed Work Force No. of Plants Number of Workers Total <50 50-99 100-249 250-499 500 + 45 14 15 10 3 3 RSV 0000496