Introduction/Administrative News The TRADE Industrial Hygiene/Occupational Safety Special Interest Group (IH/OS SIG) Steering Committee met on January 22, 2008 through a conference call meeting. IH/OS SIG Steering Committee Chair Ralph Hinterman, Argonne National Laboratory, facilitated the meeting in which the following Steering Committee members participated:
Deana Colley, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
Tom Cornell, Fluor Hanford Inc.,
Bill Frede, Honeywell FM&T,
Ralph Hinterman, Argonne National Laboratory,
Lowell Howard, PNNL,
Michael Hurshman, S.M. Stoller,
Bob Kapolka, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE),
Daniel Marsick, DOE, HS-11, Office of Worker Safety and Health Policy,
Deborah McFalls, ORISE and
David Weitzman, DOE, HS-11, Office Of Worker Safety and Health Policy
The following IH/OS SIG Steering Committee members notified the IH/OS SIG Coordinator that they could not participate in the meeting:
Rob Nicholas, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and
John Peters, Brookhaven National Laboratory.
DOE Nanotechnology Safety and Health News
Dan Marsick reported that the Inspector General (IG) still wants to give DOE a non-concurrence on the IG Report. DOE is looking into what needs to be done to get a concurrence on the report within the next 90 days. Basely, DOE management does not concur with the IG Report findings. IG wants DOE to require regulations on nanotechnology activities at all DOE laboratories. DOE would prefer to see implementation of voluntary guidelines. Since this meeting IG has published the Audit Report, Nanoscale Materials Safety at the Department’s Laboratories (February 2008).
BACKGROUND
The National Nanotechnology Initiative was established as a multi-agency research and development program in 2001. As a part of the Initiative, the Department of Energy (Energy) is in the process of constructing Nanoscale Science Research Centers at six national laboratories. In addition to funding the construction and operation of these facilities, the Department funds nanotechnology projects at six other national laboratories.
Since the field of nanoscale materials research is relatively new, the health and safety risks associated with these materials are still emerging. Health and safety risks include possible pulmonary inflammation and lung tumors resulting from the inhalation of nanoscale materials as well as an increased potential for explosion and fire due to nanoscale attributes that are not present in the same materials at larger sizes.
The Department established DOE P 456.1, Secretarial Policy Statement on Nanoscale
Safety in September 2005. This policy stipulates that the Department and its contractors should use best practices and national consensus standards when establishing safety policies to protect workers. IUational consensus standards have not yet been established as the scientific community studies safety and health risks posed by nanoscale materials. The Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH) have taken a leading role among Federal agencies conducting research on the safe handling of nanoscale materials. In October 2005, CDC/NIOSH distributed, for peer review, information regarding precautionary measures for the safe conduct of nanoscale work, including medical surveillance, workplace monitoring, training, and engineering controls. Given the absence of consensus standards, we used the CDCAVIOSH information to determine whether the Department's laboratories were employing appropriate safety measures specifically tailored for working with nanoscale materials.
RESULTS OF AUDIT
We found that the Department and its laboratory contractors had not always employed precautionary measures as outlined by the CDC/NIOSH. While some laboratories had established work practices concerning the safe handling of nanoscale materials, the Department's laboratories we reviewed generally had not:
Performed medical surveillance on individuals working with these materials;
Monitored the workplace environment for exposure to airborne nanoscale materials;
Provided specific training in the safe handling of nanoscale materials; and,
Required that nanoscale materials research be performed in facilities equipped with all of the suggested engineering health and safety controls.
In addition, the Department had not established a mechanism to disseminate nanoscale materials safety information. Management told us that existing mechanisms, such as Departmental working groups, adequately performed the dissemination function for nanoscale safety information. However, at the time of our audit, neither the Department nor the working group had disseminated lessons learned and other information developed by the group to other laboratories working with nanoscale materials.
Department officials indicated that they were waiting for the development of national consensus standards before issuing additional guidance in the areas of medical surveillance, exposure rate monitoring, training, and use of engineering controls. Similarly, officials at several laboratories indicated that they were waiting for more definitive agency standards to be available before establishing specific safety policies locally. However, CDC/NIOSH has encouraged the establishment of interim standards until more definitive consensus standards are developed for nanotechnology.
We concluded that the Department should adopt a proactive approach to ensuring that its laboratories follow best practices in conducting nanoscale-related work. In this way, the Department increases the chance that workers will be protected from potential health and safety risks, some of which experts acknowledge may not be fully understood for years.
During our review, an Environment, Health and Safety (ES&H) working group representing the Department's Nanoscale Science Research Centers (NSRC), issued safety guidance for nanotechnology, entitled Approach to Nanomaterial ES&H. The policy suggestions in this guide conform to the CDC/NIOSH precautionary measures on medical surveillance, exposure rate monitoring, worker training, and engineering controls. Management stated that all of the Directors of the national laboratories have accepted the guidance and endorsed them as the best collection of safety and health information concerning nanoscale activities. While the development of this guidance is a positive development, the use of the guide is voluntary on the part of the laboratories. Accordingly, we recommended the Department adopt and issue the NSRC working group's guidance until national consensus standards can be established.
MANAGEMENT REACTION
Management did not concur with our recommendation. Management felt it was unnecessary to develop any additional policy or guidance in this area at this time. Management also stated that it had asked Laboratory Directors to provide an update on their progress in the development and implementation of requirements for nanotechnology activities.
We disagree with management's position. After we received management's response, we followed up with several laboratories and found varying degrees of action on the policy suggestions in the NSRC guidance. Our review found that none of the laboratories had fully adopted the NSRC suggestions. One official stated that his laboratory was awaiting formal direction from the Department before acting.
During the course of our audit, we noted a concern regarding the Department being overly prescriptive about how contractors should achieve mission objectives and its impact on economy and efficiency. However, the disparity in precautionary measures we found warrants that the Department clearly establish expectations for such measures at its laboratories. In addition, the Department's adoption of the NSRC guidance would not involve the establishment of new requirements since the laboratory directors have agreed to adopt and operate in a manner consistent with them.
Given the potential health consequences, we believe it is important that the Department adopt and disseminate the best available guidance on nanoscale safety in order to protect workers in this important and emerging field of research. Management's comments and our response are discussed in more detail in the body of the report.”
Ralph Hinterman reported that plans are being made to hold a nanotechnology safety and health workshop at Argonne National Laboratory in June or July. The effort for the workshop is being lead by the Department’s Nanoscale Science Research Centers Safety Committee.
Dan Marsickl reported that the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has issued an interim guidance concerning the medical screening of workers potentially exposed to engineered nanoparticles in the manufacture and industrial use of nanomaterials. The document can be accessed at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/review/public/115/.
10 CFR 851News There is a new DOE 10 CFR 851 video that can be viewed directly from the DOE Web site at: http://hss.energy.gov/HealthSafety/WSHP/rule851/851final.html. The 15 minute video provides an overview of the standard for the DOE workers. DOE has a limited number of DVDs available for distribution too.
David Weitzman reported that DOE is not receiving many new questions from the DOE community about 851 at this time.
Aging Workforce Issues Bob Kapolka attended the Volunteer Protection Programs Participants’ Association (VPPPA) Conference last year that included a presentation about taking action to accommodate an aging workforce. The presentation was made by representatives from the Hasbro Company that makes toys and other items for resale to the general public. There are about 1,400 workers at the Hasbro Massachusetts Plant site which includes about 1.1 million square feet of workspace.
General information shared about the workforce in the United States:
48% of the employees in the workforce are age 40 or older
40% of the workforce will retire by the end of this decade
Number of people over age 65 has increased from 8% to 12% since 1950
Number of people over the age of 65 will increase to 20% by 2030
60% of the older workforce is remaining on the job due to their medical coverage
19-29 aged workers averaged being paid 10 days per incident
50-59 aged workers averaged being paid 48 days per incident
Hasbro has taken action to accommodate their aging workforce. Their job turnover rate is related to age. The older population turnover rate is not as high as the turnover rate in with the younger age groups. Some improvements made to address the older workforce needs included:
Focusing on postures and balances
Making packages smaller and lighter weight
Providing larger video display screens
Using larger font sizes and more contrast on the video screens
Moving materials off the floor (at least 12 – 18 inches from floor level) to help to address lifting issues (no floor storage)
Increasing lighting in the plant
Providing insoles for the workers’ shoes
Adjusting size and shape of controls at their plant operations
Minimizing the background noise to accommodate decrease in hearing abilities
Including ergonomic training into their training program
Implementing a special wellness program called “Fine Tuning the Aging Worker”
The company has benefited from these changes through seeing a decreased of time to complete a task: decreased an average of 30-45 seconds per task.
There was an interest expressed in having the aging workforce issues/solutions addressed during the annual Steering Committee meeting.
Joint EFCOG/DOE Chemical Management 2008 Workshop Dan Marsick reminded meeting participants that the Joint EFCOG/DOE Chemical Management Workshop was going to be held March 4-6, 2008 at the DOE Forrestal Headquarters Auditorium in Washington, DC.
IH/OS SIG Steering Committee Workshop The Steering Committee expressed an interest in becoming a co-sponsor of the DOE and DOE Contractor Meeting that is normally held each year in conjunction with the AIHce event. David Weitzman reported that the sponsors in the past have been DOE and the DOE Industrial Hygiene Coordinating Committee (IHCC). David agreed to check with the IHCC Chair to see if there are any objections to the IH/OS SIG also becoming a sponsor of the meeting. There was also some interest expressed in still having a separate IH/OS SIG Steering Committee meeting. It was noted that if the Steering Committee meeting was less than 4 hours, participating certified industrial hygienists would not be able to potentially receive a half point (certification maintenance point) toward their certification for such a meeting. More discussions on the two meetings will continue during the next conference call meeting. Since this meeting, it has been confirmed that the IH/OS SIG will become a sponsor of the DOE and DOE Contractor Meeting. The other two sponsors of the meeting will be DOE and the DOE IHCC. The meeting will be held on June 4, 5:00 to 9:00 pm in conjunction with the AIHce’ 08 event in Minneapolis, MN. A general announcement notice will be sent to the DOE community about the upcoming meeting.
Open Discussion David Weitzman reported that DOE is proposing a new amendment be added to the Beryllium regulation. More news about the proposal will be forthcoming as available.
Future Steering Committee Conference Call Meeting The next Steering Committee meeting is scheduled for March 18, 2008, 1:15 – 2:45 pm EST, conference call number 301-903-9175.
For additional information, please contact: Deborah McFalls, IH/OS SIG Coordinator
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education
P. O. Box 117, MS 10
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0117
