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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8151
An agreement between labor and management in the synthetic
rubber industry may improve protection against a cancer-causing air contaminant
for thousands of workers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
is in the final stages of revising its standard on 1,3-butadiene (BD), and will
now reopen discussion of the exposure limit due to the labor-management
agreement.
The agreement was between the United Steelworkers of
America (USWA), which merged with the United Rubber Workers (URW); the
International Chemical Workers Union (ICWU), and representatives of the
International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers (IISRP).
As a result of the agreement, OSHA will reopen the record
on 1,3-butadiene for 30 days to receive comments. If OSHA revises its standard
in accordance with the terms of this agreement, the permissible exposure limit
(PEL) for BD will drop by a factor of 1000, from the current 1000 parts per
million (ppm) limit to a new PEL of 1 ppm.
Although OSHA was not a party to the negotiations,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Joseph A. Dear
said OSHA is "very pleased that the major parties affected by BD have joined
together to reach consensus on so many of the key aspects of the standard."
"Consensual rulemaking isn't always appropriate or
efficient, but this negotiation could result in a triple-win situation," Dear
said. "The industry could get predictable limits requiring upgrading of
technology without threatening productivity or profitability. Workers' exposure
to a potent carcinogen could drop, by orders of magnitude in some cases. And
OSHA may be able to promulgate a final standard swiftly, allowing us to
effectively leverage limited agency resources."
Michael Wright, USWA director of health, safety and
environment, said, "Even though OSHA was not directly involved in the
negotiations, the agency was critical to our success. OSHA made it clear that
it would go ahead (with a final rule) without us. It kept the pressure on."
The current permissible exposure limit (PEL) is 1,000
parts per million (ppm). Current worker exposures are generally well below that
level. In 1990, after studies in mice showed BD to be a potent carcinogen
producing tumors at multiple sites, OSHA proposed to lower the PEL to 2 ppm.
The animal studies OSHA intended to rely on were challenged, even though they
were repeated over the intervening years.
But in mid-1995, preliminary results of an unpublished
epidemiologic study of effects on humans raised the possibility that cancer
rates in BD-exposed workers were elevated. OSHA is currently evaluating the
study to determine whether, in fact, the human and animal data are
quantitatively similar and how they can be used to assess occupational health
risk of BD exposure.
OSHA is now moving aggressively to update its risk
assessment and accelerate promulgation of a final standard.
The agreement between the unions and employer
representatives would reduce the permissible exposure limit (PEL) to 1 ppm as
an eight-hour time-weighted average (TWA) and would set a short-term exposure
limit of 5 ppm for 15 minutes. Engineering controls and work practice controls
would have to be used in most cases when exposures exceed the action level (AL)
of 0.5 ppm TWA.
The agreement also calls for the employer to institute an
"exposure goal program" that would attempt to limit exposures to below the
action level through specific engineering controls.
Adam Finkel, OSHA director of health standards programs,
said, "OSHA had recognized for some time the desirability of achieving a more
protective standard than our 1990 proposal, if possible. This agreement is
particularly welcome because it could enable us to get twice as much
protection---in many instances four times as much because the 'exposure goal
program' feature would push most workplaces below the 0.5 ppm action level."
If OSHA incorporates the 'exposure goal program' in its
final rule, it would be the first OSHA health standard with such a
technology-based provision, Finkel said.
The agreement also addresses provisions on exposure
monitoring, use and care of respirators, medical surveillance and written
performance-oriented programs such as a leak prevention program and a
ventilation maintenance program.
A notice reopening the record will be published soon in
the Federal Register. OSHA hopes to publish a final rule by early summer.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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