Document zQp4OpMxEJXLMeJYb017JB0L6

FILE NAME Painters and Allied Trades PAINT DATE 1978 July DOC PAINT058 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Article from Painters and Allied Trades Journal Painters Painters Painters NYSSILR LEGAL DEFENDANT'S CORNELL UNIVERSIT EXHIBIT UCC ITHACA NY case Specific- UCC Specific- STATE 10058 ALL Black On the Cover IBPAT skills are helpingto preserve Amer- Journal NEWS AND FEATURES page Inside Front Cover From the General President 9 IBPAT Rallies for Labor Law Reform 12 Supreme Court Crimps Safety Inspections 14 The Dangers of Excessive Noise 16 A Dream Ended Plant Closedowns 31 The General Treasurer Reports DEPARTMENTS page 21 23 . 27 Bacon Forum Local and District Council News Financial Report DEVOTED TO THE TRADE INTERESTS OF RESIDENTIAL fiCOMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL 'SIGN fiPICTORIAL COACH fiAUTOMOBILE A IRCRAFT ' MACHINERY @ RAILWAY EQUIPMENT DECORATING SHIP AND SCENIC PAINTING ' PAPERHANGING WALL COVERING e DECORATIVE AND ARCHITECTURAL GLASS WORK GLAZING @ CARPET 'LINOLEUM 'SOFT TILE PAINT AND VARNISH MAKING BRUSH MAKERS AND TO THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN GENERAL Any member or subordinate body publishing programs souvenirs or other documents of any description must not designate them as The Official Journal of 7 Brotherhood or as The Painters and Allled Trades Journal either upon the publication itself on their advertising Contract forms or stationery 750 New York Ave. N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 entry nteraionl nternational Brotherhood of Painters and Allled Trades Second Class mail authorized at Washington D.C. POSTMASTERS ATTENTION Change of address cards on Form 3579 should be sent to THE PAINTERS AND ALLIED TRADES JOURNAL 1750 New York Ave. N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 Subscription Price 2.00 per year Single Copy 20 cents PRINTED ON UNION MADE PAPER PRINTED WITH UNION MADE INK VOLUME 92 No. 7 JULY 1978 The official journal of the Interna- tional Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades organized March 15 1887 and the only publication issued under its auspices . L aman, 4 AH LABOR PRESS FAFL CLC f ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION J 3 PRINTED IN U.S.A. S. FRANK RAFTERY General President 1750 New York Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 ROBERT J. PETERSDORF General Treasurer 1750 New York Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 General Vice Presidents BERNARD SNIEGOWSKI 1st District 1443 Westchester Boulevard Westchester III 60153 A. L. MONROE 2nd District 7909 Bayberry Drive Alexandria Va 22306 JAMES WOLFORD 3rd District 100 Devon Lane Williamsville N.Y. 14221 JACK T. COX 4th District 2212 DuPont Drive Irvine Calif 92664 GUY LEBER 5th District 1930 Bishop Lane Louisville Ky 40218 JAMES B. COX 6th District 8800 Blue Ridge Ext No. 10 Kansas City Mo. 64138 WILLIAM A. DUVAL 7th District 1750 New York Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 U.S. Warns Workers on the Labor Dept. expressed disap- pointment in the ruling IBPAT General Secretary urer Robert Petersdorf thinks the courts reasoning is ridiculous when an Internal Revenue officer can go through personal papers without a search warrant and a customs agent searches personal be- longings without a warrant The decision can delay and complicate OSHA's job of insuring the health and safety of America's workplaces that's not good workers the AFL ob- ruling by a judge panel in Idaho which held that surprise inspections violated an employer's constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment The case was initiated by Ferrol G. Barlow owner of a Pocatello plumbing and heating firm who had refused to allow an OSHA com- pliance officer to inspect the company's work area Barlow supported in the constitutional fight by wing and employer groups including the John Birch Society and the U.S. Chamber Asbestos The U.S. Department of Health Education & Welfare has warned that millions of American workers who have been exposed to asbestos on the job since the early 1940s may be felled by cancer and lung disease In issuing the grim nationwide alert HEW Sec Joseph A. Califano . noted that between 8 and 11 million workers many of them IBPAT members have come into contact with asbestos fibers since the be- - of Commerce ginning of World War II including the E eet Dept. of Labor will immediately seek warrants from the courts in White was joined in the majority ruling by Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justices Potter Stewart 4.5 million who worked in wartime shipyards He said up to 2.5 million are currently exposed to significant urteous by the Supreme Court and get on with the job of protecting the health and safety of working men and Thurgood Marshall and Lewis F. Powell Jr. A dissenting opinion was filed by Justices John P. Stevens William H. Rehnquist and Harry A. levels of asbestos Califano termed asbestos one of the most dangerous and insidious substances in the workplace : followed d balky publicity s to try The ling Both Raftery and Petersdorf fear that the ruling is emphasizing the value of property over the human rights of the workers With death t 12,000 workers yearly and injury for one out of eight workers the price is too high to pay adds IBPAT Research Director Hank Wilson Blackmun Justice William J. Bren- nan did not participate The majority contended that most businessmen would continue to al- low OSHA inspectors entry to their workplaces without demanding a warrant . The minority disagreed warning that OSHA would encounter un- Joining Califano at a news conference announcing the asbestos alert was Surgeon General Julius Richmond who said he was send- ing an advisory to the nation's 400 000 doctors about the health risks diagnosis and treatment of asbestos- caused diseases Asbestos has been recognized as hat 3 acted ction on e Fourth 3 7 he court safety fea nistrative I respect deed might SpNRIET Julea Bingham said OSHA was review- ing the decision carefully and that would soon be issuing instructions to its field staff on new inspection procedures Sen Harrison A. Williams DN.J. who authored the safety aw said he was shocked by the thrust of the majority decision Williams said the ruling was paricularly disturbing in view of the strides made by Labor Sec Ray Marshall and Dr. Bingham toward redirecting the goals of the agency They have worked to make the OSHA program responsive to the Very real needs of America's work- | ers and anything that impedes their Porgress is greatly troubling in- he said The decision written by Justice Byron R. White affirms a 1976 due enforcement problems with an expected increase of refusals for voluntary compliance to inspections resulting in additional administrative costs for the agency The minority also held that the Constitution did not prohibit the kind of inspections that OSHA has conducted without a warrant The 1970 law provides that the agency may inspect workplaces during regular working hours and at other reasonable times and within reasonable limits and in a reasonable manner 99 . Since OSHA became operational in 1971 it has conducted about 400,000 inspections With its 1,300 inspectors the agency conducts about 60,000 inspections annually fewer than 2 percent of the 6 million establishments covered by the act a definite cause of cancer and res- piratory disease not only among workers but also their families and entire communities The serious health effects of as- bestos may not show up for 15 to 35 years after initial exposure by then it may be too late ' Asbsetos diseases include lung cancer intestinal can- cer asbestosis a disabling lung dis- order and mesothelioma cancer of the chest cavity and stomach area Califano estimated that as many as half of the persons exposed to asbestos on the job develop one of the more serious diseases While the federal government's responsibility in regulating exposure to the carcinogen is spread through several agencies Califano noted that to date there has been no sys- Continued on next page THE JOURNAL 13 U.S. Warning Cont'd tematic effort to notify physicians workers exposed in the past and others to the health risk The Occupational Safety & Health Administration has the responsibility for regulating exposure levels in workplaces and requiring employers to provide safeguards for workers OSHA's existing standard limits worker exposure to asbestos to two fibers per cubic milliliter of air It was instituted in 1972 over the strong objections of union safety experts and medical consultants Initially the standard provided for a fiber limit dropping to two fibers on July 1 1976. AFL unions ' had warned that even the fiber limit was too high to be safe calling for a fiber limit and an eventual reduction to zero The AFL Industrial Union Dept. was unsuccessful in a subse- quent court suit to have OSHA's exposure limit lowered but the court did order the agency to review certain parts of its regulation to meet some of labor's protests In 1975 OSHA did propose reducing the exposure limit to 0.5 fibers per milliliter But the fiber standard remains in effect Califano did not suggest that the current exposure limit for asbestos is safe saying only that current workers can be expected to face smaller risks than those exposed in the past Ask The Doctors Do you worry about the chemicals with which you have to work Do you have symp- toms of an illness which may be connected to your occupa- ' tion Ask the Doctors is the - JOURNAL mr feature de- signed to an- swer your questions about the haz- ards the painting and allied trades : This month .: ss Dr. Edwin C. Holstein of New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine discusses the dan- gers of noise Brother F. R. writes I have been working for this company's body shop for 32 years and as in any body and fender shop there is many times this terrific noise when they use the air hammers air chisels and grinding metal All this noise I understand will eventually affect people's hearing Dr. Holstein replies The Dangers ear infections injuries and certain diseases Excessive noise may be the most widespread occupational hazard all It occurs in a broad variety industries from steel to papermak ing to tool and die works to wood working to construction Millions workers are exposed to excessive noise Noise levels can be measured ing a simple hand instrument The result is measured in called decibels dB Sometimes result is adjusted to account for the pitch fact that noises of different have differing abilities to cause hear ing damage In that case the resul is expressed as dB At this OSHA regulations call for a maxi mum level of 90 dB averaged over an hour exposure Unfortunately thousands of work places exceed the OSHA standard for noise For instance pneumatic drills foundry operations planers jointers sanders acetylene welding and wire drawing are often in range of 90-99 dB Furnaces forging manners lathes presses riveting guns pneumatic wrenches and circular saws may at 100-109 dB Corrugating machines for steel sheet sandblas ing machines nail machines pneumatic air hoists may register 100-119 dB while a jet engine will exceed 130 dB F. R. is correct term ex- posure to excessive noise will defi- nitely decrease a person's hearing This may begin to happen after less than a year of excessively noisy work and will reach a peak at about ten years After that there will be little if any additional hearing loss due to this cause However hearing loss due to other causes may con- tinue to add to the loss caused by excessive noise so that the worker may begin to notice that his hearing is poor only after twenty or thirty years have gone by Some of the other causes of hearing loss are the normal loss that occurs as we get older loss due to certain medicines important to realize that the bel dB scale is quite differen from most kinds of measuring A noise that is 100 dB is 10 time as loud as one that is 90 dB 100 is ten times as loud as 100 dB one hundred times as loud as 90 When a normal person is expose to loud noise say 94 dB for hour or so and then returns quiet area he may feel that he not hear as well as he did befor he was exposed to the noise A ful hearing test would show that impression is correct such an posure might cause him to around 10 dB of hearing In words a sound would have to 14 THE JOURNAL JULY