Dennis W. Groce

Industries in the United States with Airborne Beryllium Exposure and Estimates of the Number of Current Workers Potentially Exposed

Estimates of the number of workers in the United States occupationally exposed to beryllium were published in the 1970s and 1980s and ranged from 21,200 to 800,000. We obtained information from several sources to identify specific industries with beryllium exposure and to estimate the number of current workers potentially exposed to beryllium. We spoke with representatives from the primary beryllium industry and government agencies about the number of exposed workers in their facilities. To identify industries in the private sector but outside the primary industry, we used data from the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS), which is managed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Health Hazard Evaluation program of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. We used IMIS data from OSHA inspections with a previously developed algorithm to estimate the number of potentially exposed workers in nonprimary industries. Workers potentially exposed to beryllium included 1500 current employees in the primary beryllium industry and 26,500 individuals currently working for the Department of Energy or the Department of Defense. We identified 108 four-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) categories in which at least one measurement of airborne beryllium was ≥ 0.1 μ g/m3. Based on the subset of 94 SIC categories with beryllium ≥ 0.1 μ g/m3, we estimated 26,400 to 106,000 workers may be exposed in the private sector (outside the primary industry). In total, there are as many as 134,000 current workers in government and private industry potentially exposed to beryllium in the United States. We recommend that the results of this study be used to target at-risk audiences for hazard communications intended to prevent beryllium sensitization and chronic beryllium disease.

Surveillance of respirable crystalline silica dust using OSHA compliance data (1979–1995)

BACKGROUND The objective of this work was to estimate the percentage of workers by industry that are exposed to defined concentrations of respirable crystalline silica dust. METHODS An algorithm was used to estimate the percentage of total workers exposed to crystalline silica in 1993 at concentrations of at least 1, 2, 5, and 10 times the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Recommended Exposure Limit (REL) of 0.05 mg/m3. Respirable crystalline silica air sampling data from regulatory compliance inspections performed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), for the years 1979-1995, and recorded in the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) were used to estimate exposures. Therefore, this work does not include industries such as mining and agriculture that are not covered by OSHA. The estimates are stratified by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. RESULTS This work found that some of the highest respirable crystalline silica dust concentrations occurred in construction (masonry, heavy construction, and painting), iron and steel foundries (casting), and in metal services (sandblasting, grinding, or buffing of metal parts). It was found that 1.8% (13,800 workers) of the workers in SIC 174--Masonry, Stonework, Tile Setting, and Plastering--were exposed to at least 10 times the NIOSH REL. For SIC 162--Heavy Construction, Except Highway and Street Construction--this number is 1.3% (6,300 workers). SIC 172--Painting and Paper Hanging--which includes construction workers involved in sandblasting was found to have 1.9% (3,000 workers) exposed to at least 10 times the NIOSH REL. The industry that was found to have the highest percentage of workers (6%) exposed to at least the NIOSH REL was the cut stone and stone products industry. CONCLUSION Not enough is being done to control exposure to respirable crystalline silica. Engineering controls should be instituted in the industries indicated by this work.

A Survey of Private Sector Respirator Use in the United States: An Overview of Findings

Limitations of previous surveys of respirator use led the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics to undertake a survey of respirator use and practices among U.S. private sector employers. The survey was mailed to 40,002 private sector establishments in August 2001; the responses were used to develop national estimates. Respirator use was required in 4.5% of establishments and for 3.1% of employees. Of the establishments requiring respirator use, 95% used air-purifying respirators and 17% used air-supplied respirators. Manufacturing; mining (including oil and gas extraction); construction; and agriculture, forestry, and fishing had the highest rates of establishment respirator use. Respirators were used most frequently to protect against dust/mist, paint vapors, and solvents. Large percentages of establishments requiring respirator use had indicators of potentially inadequate respirator programs. Of establishments requiring respirator use, 91% had at least one indicator of a potentially inadequate respiratory protection program, while 54% had at least five indicators. The survey findings suggest that large numbers of employers may not follow NIOSH recommendations and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) requirements for the selection and use of respirators, potentially putting workers at risk. The findings will aid efforts to increase the appropriate use of respirators in the workplace.

Quartz Analyses of the Bulk Dust Samples Collected by the National Occupational Health Survey of Mining

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted the National Occupational Health Survey of Mining (NOHSM) over a 6-year period, which began in May 1984 and ended in Augu...

Prevention of beryllium sensitization and chronic beryllium disease.

W e read with great interest the Letter to the Editor by Newman and colleagues(1) in response to our article entitled “Industries in the United States with Airborne Beryllium Exposure and Estimates of the Number of Current Workers Potentially Exposed.”(2) We commend the authors of the letter for raising a number of issues that, while clearly beyond the scope of our article, are relevant to the health of beryllium workers. At this time, we want to clarify some issues regarding our goals and methods. In the hierarchy of prevention (i.e., primary, secondary, and tertiary), primary prevention is usually considered the most desirable since it is concerned with protecting susceptible individuals from disease onset. The goal of our article was to further the cause of primary prevention of beryllium sensitization and chronic beryllium disease (CBD). Specifically, we used measurements of airborne beryllium collected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to identify industries where beryllium is present and to estimate the number of employees in the United States who are currently potentially exposed to beryllium. Our article alerts workers and company officials to the potential for beryllium exposure and the associated risks for beryllium sensitization and CBD. The authors of the Letter to the Editor offered the criticism that the “paper underestimates the number of former workers who have been exposed to beryllium.” Primary prevention is pertinent to currently exposed workers. Starting with the title of our article and throughout it, we clearly stated that we would estimate the number of current workers rather than the number of former workers. Personnel at the Department of Energy (DOE) had provided us estimates of the number of former workers who had enrolled in medical surveillance, and we reported those estimates. Also, a month before the publication of our article, other researchers published an estimate of the number of construction workers who had ever been employed at DOE sites and had potentially been exposed to beryllium.(3) A comprehensive estimate of the number of workers from both the public and private sectors who had formerly been exposed to beryllium would complement our article, with its focus on primary prevention, by serving secondary and tertiary prevention. Newman and colleagues pointed out that the OSHA data we used were based on surveys conducted in a fraction of the companies in the United States. To address this limitation, our algorithm for estimating the number of exposed workers extended beyond just the companies where beryllium was measured to include an estimate of exposed workers in similar companies where samples were not taken. Newman and colleagues also expressed concern that OSHA did not conduct air measurements for beryllium in companies where it was not suspected. In fact, the exposure data from OSHA did include measurements of beryllium in worksites where it was not suspected. This occurred because samples sent by OSHA inspectors for metal analyses were subjected to laboratory tests for a variety of metals, even if only a single metal was the focus of attention. We used the OSHA samples to identify many users, “downstream” of the primary beryllium producer, who were very likely unaware of the potential for exposure. We do not know of another industrial hygiene data base in the United States that has measurements of beryllium in worksites where it was not suspected. We and other researchers have identified beryllium sensitization and disease associated with airborne levels below 0.1 μg/m3 beryllium.(4,5) The authors of the Letter to the Editor criticized the absence of exposure measurements below 0.1 μg/m3. However, given the field and laboratory methods used by OSHA during the relevant period of sample collection (i.e., 1979–1996), 0.1 μg/m3 was probably the minimal concentration that could be measured reliably from a personal 8-hour sample. Moreover, 0.1 μg/m3 might have been recorded in the OSHA database in some instances as a default level when the laboratory reported that no beryllium was detected. Consistent with our awareness of the risk associated with low exposures, we recommended that OSHA and others should have the capability to measure air concentrations below 0.1 μg/m3 when monitoring beryllium currently and in the future. We would like to offer a final recommendation to further the prevention of beryllium sensitization and CBD. OSHA is collecting data on beryllium exposures and associated health risks in preparation for proposing a new standard. In the past, OSHA standards have impacted workers both in the United States and in other countries that look to OSHA for guidance. We have provided OSHA access to beryllium data at NIOSH and understand that OSHA has requested relevant data from others. We urge all researchers and users of beryllium to cooperate with OSHA in order to ensure the development of a standard that will adequately protect current and future workers exposed to beryllium.

National Occupational Health Survey of Mining Query System

Abstract The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a project called the National Occupational Health Survey of Mining (NOHSM) from 1984 to 1989. The NOHSM consisted of 491 mine surveys. The mines were selected so as to be statistically representative of the entire U.S. mining industry. At each mine, NIOSH employees obtained data regarding occupational hygiene programs, potential exposure to chemical and physical agents, and bulk dust samples. The NOHSM survey data have been automated in the NOHSM Query System. This system allows queries to be processed against the data collected during the NOHSM survey. The NOHSM Query System was developed to be user friendly so that end-users can process their own queries against the NOHSM data. This was accomplished by making the system key driven with on-line help, and simplifying the query formulation process by minimizing the selections. There are two steps in formulating a query. Step one is deciding which data to retrieve or how to...

Respiratory health services reported by U.S. mining facilities in the National Occupational Health Survey of Mining (1984–1989)

This report describes the involvement of mine management personnel at U.S. mines in providing environmental and medical services related to respiratory health. The data were obtained by means of a questionnaire that was administered to mine management personnel at 491 mines and mills during May 1984 to August 1989. The data indicate that 62% of U.S. miners worked at facilities that provided at least a portion of workers with chest X-rays, and 41% worked at facilities that provided at least a portion of workers with pulmonary function tests. Eighty-five percent of miners worked at facilities in which the company required a medical examination of all new employees; the majority were required by company policy to have a medical examination before returning to work after an illness. However, only 2% of miners were required by company policy to have an exit medical examination when their employment ended. This report underscores the need for respiratory health to remain a primary concern of all persons who provide occupational health services to miners.