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OSHA makes fiberglass hazards a priority
By Robert Horowitz (1995)
Synthetic mineral fibers (SMFs) were recently singled out by the United States
Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) as one of 18 "Priority
Safety and Health Hazards."
SMFs, which include fiberglass, mineral wool and refractory ceramic fibers, were
nominated to the OSHA Priority Planning Committee by Victims of Fiberglass. VOF
Chairman Robert Horowitz traveled to Washington D.C. in November, 1994 to
address the Committee and present written testimony in favor of prioritizing
SMFs. During the hearing, fiberglass industry lobbyists attempted to interrupt
VOF's presentation to OSHA with scurrilous personal attacks.
"Once again, VOF has been vindicated," said Horowitz. "Now, we
need to take action. To be competitive in the 21st century, American workers not
only need to be well trained, they need to be healthy."
To select 18 substances out of more than 125 occupational hazards nominated by
labor, industry and the public, officials from OSHA and other federal agencies
applied four major criteria:
- seriousness of the hazard
- number of workers exposed/magnitude of the risk
- quality of available risk information
- potential for risk reduction.
Among the other substances or injuries listed as priorities by OSHA were: diesel exhaust, occupational asthma, solvents, metalworking fluids, noise pollution and crystalline silica. When OSHA talks about occupational asthma, it means a host of industrial chemicals which are known to injure lungs, but not fiberglass. Only five of the 18 substances listed were singled out for regulatory action. SMFs were not among those five.
"For all other priorities, OSHA will work with business, labor, the professional community and its state plan partners to encourage worker protection without developing new rules at this time. In some cases interventions may involve OSHA's use of its existing authority, as well as program initiatives recently announced by President Clinton that provide incentives to employers who effectively find and fix hazards," according to an agency news release.
Frank Kane, public information officer for OSHA, told VOF he doesn't have a clue what OSHA will do if industry won't agree to voluntary precautions for the 13 substances identified as priorities but not slated for regulatory action. Meetings with key "stakeholders" have not occurred, he said. OSHA's language in its press release was purposely "broad," he conceded.
VOF, however, is not afraid to read between the lines.
"Without regulation there will be no change in the workplace," remarked Horowitz. "Industry is not exactly quaking in its boots at the thought of non-regulatory action."
Although SMF is not among five substances singled out for regulatory action, "permissible exposure limits (PELs) for air contaminants" is. OSHA currently has no PEL for airborne mineral fibers. A 1 fiber/cc of air fiberglass standard proposed by OSHA in 1992 as part of a group of standards for the construction industry was scuttled by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals later that year. The court rejected in total OSHA's PEL update for general industry, which covered some 600 substances. According to Loretta Schuman of OSHA's Health Standards office, the courts did not think OSHA could properly assess the risk of 600 substances in one or two documents.
Now, OSHA is considering the substances in groups of 20. Although SMFs are
not in the group currently under assessment, they could be in future groups.
Each group of 20 substances could take as long as three years to review, Schuman
said, but the review process will be thorough.
"I think now, since we have to review all of them, each time we redo a
substance we'll probably do it for construction and general industry at the same
time, as well as maritime and agriculture and whatever else is appropriate for
the particular substance," Schuman told VOF.
The process has been slowed by Congress' delay in approving a budget for OSHA.
When the budget impasse finally ended, said Schuman, OSHA wound up with more
money than originally planned. It was a big morale booster for the beleaguered
agency, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.
"We'd been existing on such a reduced budget," she said, "we
couldn't do anything but breathe."
More than 225,000 U.S. workers who are exposed to SMFs in manufacturing and
downstream use face the risk of respiratory cancers and lung damage, according
to OSHA. The agency expects this number to increase as fiber use increases in
residential, commercial and high-temperature insulation applications.
"Workers in end-use applications are exposed to very high levels and are
therefore of particular concern," according to the OSHA report, which
describes a two-man residential fiberglass blowing wool operation as an example
of a high-risk activity. In 1991, VOF Chairman Horowitz, then an aide in the
California Assembly, introduced legislation to ban the use of fiberglass blowing
wool in California.
"Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated statistically
significant elevations in the risk of lung cancer and other respiratory system
cancers among workers employed in fibrous glass and mineral wool manufacturing
facilities," states the OSHA paper. Industry representatives, OSHA
continues, attempted to attribute the elevated cancer rates to smoking in the
worker population. OSHA concedes such a phenomena could lower the mortality rate
of workers when compared with local cancer rates in the area around certain
fiberglass plants.
VOF rejects the use of local cancer rates as a means of comparison with worker
cohorts, because the same cancers are counted twice among a relatively small
pool of deaths. Statewide or nationwide comparisons are preferable, according to
Horowitz. But even with the smoking adjustment, OSHA notes, "the most
recent follow up of fibrous glass exposed workers in the U.S. study still
demonstrate a significant excess of lung cancer..."
Refractory ceramic fibers (RCF) have been shown to cause cancer in
experimental animals, OSHA continued. In a recent study, 42 percent of hamsters
exposed by nose-only inhalation for two years developed mesothelioma, the cancer
of the lung lining almost exclusively associated with asbestos exposure.
Furthermore, another study showed that chest pain and decreased lung function
were linked to RCF exposure.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has concluded that RCF present a
"significant risk of serious harm to human beings from cancer,"
according to OSHA. In 1993, the three top U.S. RCF manufacturers agreed with the
EPA to perform workplace exposure monitoring.
