A-Better-Way Award Winning Site.
IS YOUR JOB KILLING YOU?
© 1996 James Q. Jacobs
There are as many as 575,000 hazardous chemical
products in workplaces. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) estimates that over 32 million workers are exposed to hazardous
chemicals. Evidence collected by OSHA indicates that chemical exposure
occurs in every type of industry. In 1986, a total of 136,212 work-related
chemical injuries were treated in emergency rooms according to National
Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) data. The chronic
disease rate included 25,388 cancer cases and 12,890 cancer deaths.
In 1994, the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry (ATSDR) reported an occupational injury and illness incidence
rate of 8.4 per cent of workers. Painters, plumbers, construction, and
other workers experience serious central nervous system problems from
exposures to solvents. Welders suffer from acute and chronic respiratory
disease, and show increased rates of lung cancer. The Associated General
Contractors has admitted that there are 82 hazardous chemicals involved
in concrete work, including very toxic carcinogens such as benzene and
vinyl chloride. Hospital personnel who administer cytotoxic (chemotherapy)
drugs experience both short-term health effects and chronic effects
(cancer, leukemia, birth defects, miscarriages, and chromosomal damage).
Some 40-50,000 manufacturing workers per year experience chemical source
illnesses. They file 10,000 worker compensation claims in connection
with chemical injury.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970
created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration within the
Department of Labor to implement safety and health programs. The primary
purpose of the Act is to assure safe and healthful working conditions
for every American worker over the period of his or her working lifetime.
Congress authorized the Secretary of Labor to set mandatory safety and
health standards, stating, "The Secretary, in promulgating standards
dealing with toxic materials, or harmful physical agents under this
subsection, shall set the standard which most adequately assures, to
the extent feasible, on the basis of the best available evidence, that
no employee will suffer material impairment of health or functional
capacity even if such employee has regular exposure to the hazard dealt
with by such standard for the period of his working life."
The process of protecting workers proceeded slowly
at best. For example, acute toxicity to vinyl chloride was reported
as early as 1938. In 1949 liver damage was reported in 15 of 48 workers
exposed to vinyl chloride in Russia. Early in 1974 the Federal Government
declared angiosarcoma of the liver to be on occupational disease after
six cases of the exceedingly rare, fatal disease were found among vinyl
chloride workers at the B. F. Goodrich Chemical Company plant in Louisville,
Kentucky. The federal standard allowed workers to breath 500 ppm (parts
per million parts of air) of vinyl chloride vapors even though that
level readily caused cancer. More worker deaths due to the rare liver
cancer were soon discovered elsewhere. As many as 700,000 workers were
estimated to be at risk.
In March, 1974, The New York Times
reported that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had asked pesticide
makers to voluntarily stop using vinyl chloride aerosol propellant.
A month later the Times reported that Clairol was recalling 100,000
cans of hair spray after a request for voluntary recall from the Food
and Drug Administration. Spraying an aerosol with vinyl chloride propellant
in a bathroom for 4 seconds produced a level known to cause cancer.
During 1974 the Food and Drug Administration recalled or banned about
100 aerosol products, including hair, deodorant, and insecticide sprays.
In the April 5, 1974, Federal Register,
OSHA declared an emergency level of 50 ppm for vinyl chloride, a level
shown to cause cancer in mice. At the same time NIOSH scientists were
"unable to describe a safe exposure level," and therefore "rejected
the concept of a threshold limit for vinyl chloride gas in the atmosphere."
After OSHA proposed a zero tolerance level The Society of the Plastics
Industry urged OSHA to hold hearings and grant additional time in order
to keep industry plants operating. Today the OSHA standard allows vinyl
chloride in workroom air at 1 ppm during an 8-hour workday in a 40-hour
workweek. The maximum amount allowed in any 15-minute period is 5 ppm.
NIOSH recommends that workers exposed to any measurable amount wear
special respiratory protection equipment.
OSHA promulgated a Hazard Communication Standard
(HCS) in 1983 covering employees in the manufacturing sector only. A
fundamental principle of the HCS is that employees exposed to hazardous
chemicals without knowledge of their identities, the hazards posed and
appropriate protective measures are at a significant risk to injury.
Because inadequate communication is itself a significant risk, OSHA
was required by Court order to apply the HCS to all workplaces where
employees are exposed to chemical hazards, to the extent feasible. Due
to industry resistance and court challenges only since 1989 has the
HCS been in effect for all industries.
Today federal law requires that employers develop
a written hazard communication program and provide information and training
to employees about the hazardous chemicals in their workplace. Information
must be provided for all hazardous chemicals to which employees may
be exposed. Employers have a legal obligation to inform employees of
OSHA safety and health standards that apply to their workplace. Upon
request, the employer must make available to employees copies of those
standards and the OSHA law itself.
The OSHA standards also require the employer
to measure exposure to harmful substances and the employee has the right
to observe the testing and to examine the records of the results. Employers
must inform employees of the existence, location, and availability of
their exposure records when employees begin employment and at least
annually thereafter. Employers also must provide these records to employees
upon request, generally within 15 working days. They must provide a
date for release of the information and an explanation of the delay
should it take longer to process the request. Employers are required
to disclose the specific chemical identity (chemical name and Chemical
Abstract Service number) of materials for which exposure records are
requested. Exposure records must be maintained for 30 years.
The HCS requires chemical manufacturers, importers,
and distributors to ensure that material safety data sheets (MSDS's)
are provided with shipments of hazardous chemicals. MSDS's provide product
identification, Chemical Abstract Service number, lethal dose information,
hazard ratings, hazardous ingredient listings, physiological effects,
toxicology and health hazard data, emergency and first aid procedures,
spill or leak procedures, safe handling and use information, physical
and reactivity data, and special precautions. The law also requires
that, "...the employer shall maintain copies of the required material
safety data sheets for each hazardous chemical in the workplace, and
shall ensure that they are readily accessible during each work shift
to employees when they are in their work areas." MSDS's provide employers
and employees an opportunity to make an effective assessment of potential
hazards based on complete information on each workplace chemical. They
can also assess any possible additive or synergistic effects posed by
the hazardous chemicals in the workplace.
The HCS statute states, "Employers shall provide
employees with information and training on hazardous chemicals in their
work area at the time of their initial assignment, and whenever a new
hazard is introduced into their work area." The employer is always ultimately
responsible for ensuring that employees are adequately trained. Small
businesses must comply with regulations and ensure that their employees
are protected to the same extent as larger businesses.
In 1990 OSHA issued over 5600 citations for violations
of the HCS training requirements. There is evidence that complete training
on chemical hazards is not widespread in the construction industry despite
the requirements. A Bureau of Labor Statistics study based on a survey
of construction workers injured on the job indicated that only 23% had
been trained regarding hazards. Meanwhile, employers who comply believe
that the rule has been beneficial for workers. About 30% of these reported
replacing hazardous chemicals with less hazardous ones after viewing
MSDS's.
The ten most toxic and hazardous substances currently
listed are lead, arsenic, mercury, vinyl chloride, benzene, polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs), cadmium, benzo(a)pyrene, chloroform and benzo(b)fluoranthene.
NIOSH can provide free information on the potential
dangers of substances in the workplace. NIOSH may visit a jobsite to
evaluate possible health hazards. NIOSH will keep confidential the name
of the person who asked for help if requested to do so. Information
about toxic substances can be obtained by writing to:
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry
ATSDR Information Center - Division of Toxicology
Mail Stop E-57 - 1600 Clifton Rd. NE
Atlanta, Ga. 30333
Here follows a listing of useful Internet links
to search for further information, including government publications,
listings of hazardous chemicals and their MSDS's.
Though fewer workers' lives are sacrificed today
than in the past, each year the death and injury toll continues. Occupational
injury reporting requirements, free access to information and media
reporting played an important role in advancing past reforms. In today's
information age workers can more readily access the data needed to determine
the safety or health risk of their occupation and workplace.
Not
all employers comply with the provisions of law.
Do
not trust your employer. Do not trust contractors in your workplace.
The
best prevention is to know for yourself if your job
is a hazard to your health. Knowing might save your life.
James Q. Jacobs worked in the construction industry for
more than 20 years before
becoming a college professor. He litigated his own chemical exposure injury
case.
|