For an index to all NYCOSH in the News articles, click here.

• Illness at Work - New York Times, December 29, 2003
  
  
• Charges Sought in Tropicana Collapse: Two Worker-Safety Groups Urged a Federal Probe into What They Said Were Willful Violations - Philadelphia Inquirer, December 24, 2003
  
  
• Get the Lead Out - amNew York, December 10, 2003
  
  
• E.P.A. Releases Lead Tests - Downtown Express, December 9-16, 2003
  
  
• E.P.A. Moves Closer to Releasing Test Results - Downtown Express, November 11, 2003
  
  
• Asbestos Victims Lose to Business in Proposed Law - Inter Press Service, October 28, 2003
  
  
• Unions Rip WTC Health Registry - Daily News, October 27, 2003
  
  
• E.P.A. Delays Release of Lead Tests - Downtown Express, October 14, 2003

Illness at Work

New York Times Letter to the Editor
December 29, 2003

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=
F20C17FF3F5A0C7A8EDDAB0994DB404482

To the Editor:

Re ''When Workers Die'' series (front page, Dec. 21-23):

For each worker killed on the job as a result of traumatic injury, 10 workers die of occupational diseases. Although an estimated 66,000 workers die each year from occupational disease, their employers are never prosecuted.

It is difficult to prove that a worker's death from an occupational disease is a result of a particular employer's action or inaction. Illnesses caused by exposure to chemicals often have a latency period of 10 to 40 years. Workers are often exposed to hundreds of chemicals over their lifetime.

Stronger enforcement of current standards would help. But standards exist for only 500 of the some 70,000 chemicals used in the workplace, and the standards that do exist are woefully out of date and inadequate.

Occupational disease is preventable. The death of a worker from occupational disease is no less necessary or tragic than the deaths described in your excellent series. Unfortunately, as with the fatalities you described, some employers get away with murder.

Joel Shufro
New York, Dec. 23, 2003

The writer is executive director, New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.

By Amy S. Rosenberg
Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
December 24, 2003

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/7560830.htm

ATLANTIC CITY - Two worker-safety advocacy groups called on the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration yesterday to pursue criminal charges in the October collapse that killed four workers and injured 20 at a Tropicana Casino Resort parking garage.

"Because of the egregious nature of the accident and the history of the work site... more than a fine is required," states the letter, signed by Jim Moran, director of PhilaPosh, a coalition of 100 Philadelphia-area unions, and Joel Shufro, executive director of a similar group based in New York, NYCOSH.

"This case cries out for criminal prosecution and imprisonment of the culpable parties," stated the letter from the Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health and the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.

The letter cites two previous construction accidents at Tropicana involving the same contractors - concrete subcontractor Fabi Construction of Egg Harbor Township and general contractor Keating Building Corp. of Philadelphia - and a history of workplace safety violations.

Previous accidents

In 1995, a worker fell to his death at a construction site at the Tropicana. In 2002, three workers were injured when an area of concrete fell in. One of those workers was injured again when the top five floors of the garage collapsed Oct. 30.

Fabi declined to comment yesterday; a spokesman for Keating could not be reached for comment. Keating has said the garage project has been "done by the book. Every precaution was taken."

Moran has been a vocal critic of OSHA, saying the agency rarely pursues criminal prosecutions even when it concludes that there were "willful" violations of safety rules.

With prosecution, the laws call for a $250,000 fine and a maximum six-month jail term. "We think that's rather cheap for killing workers," Moran said in an interview.

Yesterday, OSHA spokeswoman Kate Dugan said that the investigation was not complete - investigators have until April to file their report - and that any talk of criminal prosecution would have to await the OSHA report.

Report is pending

The Department of Labor, of which OSHA is a part, "will continue to refer cases for criminal prosecution whenever the evidence is strong enough to support it," Dugan said. "If the evidence is there, we refer it to [the Department of] Justice."

In some cases, she said, the Justice Department will decide not to pursue criminal charges even if OSHA recommends them.

In the Tropicana collapse, investigators are looking into whether contractors allowed enough curing time for the concrete, whether there was enough shoring, and whether connections between the garage floors and the outer wall were adequate.

City inspectors questioned contractors a year before the accident about samples of concrete that were not reaching desired strength after a standard 28-day test. In response, engineers allowed the concrete to be tested after 90 days - but some batches still came up short in testing, city records show.

In addition, workers have alleged that pole supports were bending in the days before the collapse, and that the pace of construction was accelerated, even as concrete curing times were lengthened and support poles were shared with another site up the Boardwalk.
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Contact staff writer Amy Rosenberg at 609-823-0453 or arosenberg@phillynews.com.

© 2003 Philadelphia Inquirer

By Chuck Bennett
amNew York Staff Writer
December 10, 2003

[For an archive of articles and documents concerning WTC-related occupational and environmental safety and health, visit http://www.nycosh.org/linktopics/WTC-catastrophe.html]

Toxic World Trade Center dust may have contributed to high lead levels found in lower Manhattan homes, the Environmental Protection Agency said.

In a report posted on its Web site, the EPA found 70 out of 263 downtown homes tested had lead levels exceeding its safety benchmark.

"It is not surprising," said EPA spokeswoman Mary Mears. "It could be related to World Trade Center dust."

Lead is a problem throughout the city and not all high lead levels were caused by the WTC, she added. Lead paint on walls and furniture is a common contamination source.

After a cleaning, 16 apartments still had high lead levels and need additional decontamination efforts.

About 10% of all buildings built before 1939 have excessive lead levels, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"This factor makes it difficult to distinguish between lead from WTC dust and other sources, especially in older buildings," the EPA report said.

David Newman, an industrial hygienist with the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, a health advocacy group, said the testing sample group was too small to accurately estimate lead levels and other toxins in the 30,000 to 40,000 apartments closest to Ground Zero.

Lead is especially dangerous for children's health. If children under seven were living in apartments with high lead levels, the EPA urges blood tests.

By Elizabeth O'Brien
Downtown Express
December 9-16, 2003

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_new/epareleases.html

Lead was the most common contaminant found among the 263 Lower Manhattan apartments the Environmental Protection Agency tested for a range of possible 9/11-related toxins, according to results released on Monday.

Of the 222 apartments E.P.A. contractors tested before and after cleaning, 70, or 31.5 percent, had lead levels before cleaning that exceeded the agency's conservative benchmark of 25 micrograms per square foot. After cleaning, 16 apartments still had levels of lead above the E.P.A. standard.

E.P.A. spokesperson Mary Mears cautioned that urban environments often have background lead, making it hard to tell whether the lead detected in wipe tests came from the World Trade Center collapse.

"Everybody would love to be able to draw conclusions from this, but you can't for lead specifically," Mears said.

The detailed wipe tests were part of the voluntary asbestos cleaning and testing program the E.P.A. announced in May of 2002 in response to the World Trade Center disaster. Just over 3,400 homes received testing and cleaning for asbestos; 263 apartments were randomly selected to receive in-depth sampling for dioxin and 23 elements, including lead and mercury.

Dave Newman, an industrial hygienist with the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, said that the wipe test results raise questions about the extent of lead contamination in Lower Manhattan.

"The data constitute a small sample and therefore may not be representative," Newman said. "The data however may indicate that there was a larger number of apartments that could have been affected by lead contamination that may not have been tested or cleaned."

The E.P.A. sent individual results to all apartments that received the wipe testing. The agency did not re-clean the 16 apartments that had elevated post-cleaning levels of lead; instead, officials gave affected residents information on the proper wet-wiping and HEPA vacuuming cleaning methods to use, said E.P.A. spokesperson Bonnie Bellow.

The E.P.A. also told affected residents what to do if they had small children in the home. Children under age seven are most susceptible to lead poisoning, which can cause cognitive deficits and a lowered I.Q.

Compared with the lead levels, a smaller number of apartments were found to have increased dioxin, mercury, and antimony. While the E.P.A. notified all residents of their own results, the agency did not contact the neighbors of people who had elevated levels of lead or other toxins.

"Just because one person in a building had lead exceedences," Mears said, referring to elevated levels, "That in no shape or form means other people in the building have lead exceedences."

"But it indicates that they might," countered Jo Polett, a resident of 105 Duane St., whose apartment was found to contain pre-cleaning lead levels of five times the agency's health-based benchmark. She said she wished the E.P.A. had conducted outreach in her building, so she wouldn't have to decide whether to alert her neighbors herself about possible lead hazards.

The presence of lead paint, more prevalent in older buildings, could also influence test results, Mears said. The building at 105 Duane was constructed around 1990, but much of the housing in Lower Manhattan consists of residential conversions built before the 1970s.

The E.P.A. organized the wipe test results by census tracts, or small sections of land used to tally population. There are about 17 census tracts in the E.P.A. testing area south of Canal, Pike, and Allen Sts., but the E.P.A. did not test in two tracts on the southern tip of Manhattan.

In the census tract for Battery Park City, a new development, 12 apartments had elevated lead levels before cleaning. Levels did not go down below the benchmark in 3 of the 12 apartments. Mears said that an E.P.A toxicologist would have to study the Battery Park City results further before she could comment.

In the census tract for Tribeca east of Independence Plaza North, 16 apartments had elevated pre-cleaning levels of lead, a number reduced to 5 after cleaning.

Many factors can contribute to the presence of lead in Lower Manhattan apartments, Bellow said, adding, "Nobody is suggesting there was no lead in the World Trade Center."

Detailed wipe test results, are available at the E.P.A. Web site at www.epa.gov/wtc

Elizabeth@DowntownExpress.com

By Elizabeth O'Brien
Downtown Express
November 11, 2003

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_29/epamovescloser.html

Environmental Protection Agency officials say they are almost ready to release their findings on the post-9/11 toxin tests the agency conducted in 263 Lower Manhattan apartments. Data will include geographic information on tested apartments but will not reveal building or apartment numbers, agency officials said last week.

The detailed wipe tests were concluded by early August, according to E.P.A. spokesperson Mary Mears. Agency officials have said they did not release the data for several months because they were determining the best way present results in a meaningful way that did not compromise the privacy of residents whose apartments received testing for contaminants including metals and dioxin. Bonnie Bellow, another E.P.A. spokesperson, said the results should be out in a few weeks, although she did not have an exact date.

Scientists and community members have argued that they need specific information such as addresses to help them put the data in context and to warn residents in neighboring apartments who did not participate in the E.P.A. cleanup problem. Many factors could affect the amount of contamination a residence sustained as a result of the World Trade Center collapse, including its location and whether the windows were open at the time. In addition, a building's age could influence the presence of lead, one of the toxins tested for by E.P.A. contractors.

"Data such as this, if it were presented in an understandable and usable format, would be very valuable both for people affected by contaminants in their building and with regard to public health issues," said Dave Newman, an industrial hygienist with the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.

Newman and others criticized the way the E.P.A. presented a portion of its wipe test results at a health forum two weeks ago. An official presented the results in terms of samples taken, instead of apartments tested. Community members said it was hard to determine what it meant when the official said that 13.5 percent of 675 pre-cleaning samples taken in 214 apartments had elevated levels of lead.

E.P.A. toxicologist Dr. Mark Maddaloni admitted in a telephone interview that such presentation was "less than ideal." Maddaloni said he expected that Downtowners would be pleased with the way the E.P.A. presents the full results.

Jo Polett, a resident of 105 Duane St. whose apartment was found to have pre-cleaning lead levels of five times the E.P.A. standard, said that she was disappointed the E.P.A. would not present specific building information. She received the results from all the wipe tests taken in her building, but they were broken down by samples taken, not apartments tested.

"I've got this information—what do I do with it?" Polett asked, adding that without locations it was hard for experts to help her interpret the charts.

The E.P.A.'s Bellow stressed that the agency never reveals personal information about those who have had their residences evaluated by the agency.

"We are not approaching this differently than we are anywhere around the country when we have contaminants in people's homes," Bellow said.

By Daniel Porras
Inter Press Service
October 28, 2003

http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=20832

NEW YORK, Oct 28 (IPS) - U.S. labour and public interest groups are protesting a proposed bill they say will lead to gross under-compensation and years of waiting for thousands of Americans with asbestos-related diseases.

The bill has been dubbed the asbestos-company bailout bill -- a settlement that favours corporations like construction and energy giant Halliburton, the target of more than 200,000 asbestos claims.

Asbestos was widely used for fireproofing and insulation until the 1970s, when scientists concluded that inhaled fibres could be linked to cancer and other diseases. Injury claims over the material have driven 67 U.S. firms into bankruptcy.

USAction, a consumer activist organisation, recently took out a full page ad in 'The New York Times' highlighting a 59-year-old Navy veteran dying of lung cancer, whose settlement would be nullified under the proposed new law.

The law, the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act, would create a special federal court within the Court of Federal Claims that would have jurisdiction over all asbestos-related claims and could bar individuals from suing companies under product-liability laws.

Under the bill, companies that produce asbestos would -- over 20 years -- pay into a trust fund from 108 billion dollars to 153 billion. People with asbestos-related diseases then would file claims with the special court, which would determine the severity of damages and the compensation.

Insurers and other ''defendants'' would be protected from further asbestos-related litigation, but might have to make additional contributions in the event the fund runs out of money.

"Settlements for people who are in court now will be thrown out," Helen Gonzales, policy director at USAction, told IPS. "Truly sick people, many of whom can't get health insurance, will have to go back to square one."

According to Gonzales, Halliburton, once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney and now under fire for receiving multi-million-dollar untendered contracts from Washington to rebuild Iraq, would save 3.7 billion dollars on pending asbestos settlements, which would be dismissed if the bill passes.

People with serious illness might then have to wait years for compensation to be dispersed through new bureaucratic channels, if they are deemed eligible for compensation at all.

"Consumers don't have a voice in this debate at all," said Gonzales. "It is all about rewarding corporations that pay money to Republican leaders in Congress."

Senate bill 1125 was sponsored by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah state, who proposed it to deal with the 60 to 90 thousand new asbestos-related lawsuits annually in the United States.

According to Hatch's office, the bill was created so that "all claimants can have a fair shot at getting compensation", and born out of concern that all the lawsuits would clog the justice system and push many companies into bankruptcy.

The bill will be considered by the full Congress when it convenes in November.

Injuries from exposure to asbestos range from mild respiratory infections to mesothelioma, a potentially deadly cancer of the cellular lining of the chest cavity. Some of them can take years to develop.

Asbestos is still used in items like brake pads and gaskets, roofing shingles and roofing sealants.

The top payment from the fund would be about 750,000 dollars for someone with mesothelioma, according to media reports.

The proposed law would establish a schedule of 10 compensation levels based on the seriousness of a claimant's illness.

The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) says the arrangement is unacceptable, claiming that a worker with 20 to 40 percent loss of lung function would receive only 75,000 dollars under the bill, even though he or she might be unable to work.

According to NYCOSH Executive Director Joel Sufro, the industry has taken the asbestos-disease crisis and twisted it into a litigation crisis. "If the companies want a compensation system that will reduce their costs ... they must set one up that does not take money away from the people whom they have hurt."

Another strong voice against the bill has been Public Citizen, a national non-profit consumer advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader in 1971 to represent consumer interests in government and the courts.

"The test for any bill must be whether it improves the lot of victims as a whole by providing them with swift, fair payments, while preserving the option to vindicate their current rights in court," the group says.

"Unfortunately, the proposed substitute does not meet this test."

Echoing USAction's criticism, Public Citizen called the proposed law a "one-sided proposal that could cut costs for asbestos companies and insulate them from much of their liability by wiping out large numbers of valid claims".

Labour groups opposing the bill include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Communications Workers of America and the Service Employees International Union.

"Overall, the bill would exclude the vast majority of workers with asbestos-related diseases from compensation and provide very low levels of compensation for workers with significant impairment and even fatal disease," says AFSCME.

"Because of restrictive medical criteria that departs from medical guidelines, many of those with severe asbestosis, who are totally disabled, will be eligible for a maximum award of only 40,000 dollars."

Public Citizen also contends the law would create an untested federal bureaucracy and an adjudication and compensation system the government might be unable to run.

"Taxpayers should not be responsible for bailing out corporations that sold this deadly product," it says.

"The ability to collect similar funds from defendants has proven to be very difficult and a major stumbling block in federal programs such as the Black Lung Benefits Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act." (END/2003)

Copyright © 2003 IPS-Inter Press Service

By Maggie Haberman
Daily News City Hall Bureau
October 27, 2003

http://www.nydailynews.com/10-27-2003/news/story/130973p-116962c.html

Leaders of several major city unions are blasting the Bloomberg administration's World Trade Center health registry as a waste of money that won't help their sick members.

"I'm requesting that the information on the registry be taken off our [union] Web site," said Lee Clarke, health and safety officer for District Council 37, the city's largest municipal union, which has offices a block from Ground Zero.

"My members did not sign up to be a guinea pig or a statistic, and that's exactly what the intent of this is," Clarke said of the $20 million study.

Clarke spoke after a private meeting on Friday, organized by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health for union officials with questions about the registry.

The city recently established the voluntary registry with federal funds to track the long-term health effects on people who were near Ground Zero on 9/11.

"A great deal of dissatisfaction with the registry was expressed by everybody who was" at the meeting, said Joel Shufro, the safety committee's executive director, adding his group hasn't yet taken a position about the registry.

Among the major concerns for union officials, many of whose members toiled for weeks and months near the Trade Center site, is that the program isn't designed to help refer sick people to medical care.

Another concern was about the level of confidentiality given to people who take part in the study.

City Health Department spokeswoman Sandra Mullin said the registry wasn't intended to be a clinical care system.

"However, we have developed a referral guide, and that will be sent to every individual who signs up for the registry, just to let them know what resources are out there," Mullin said.

The union meeting came just before tomorrow's congressional hearing about the government's response to Ground Zero-related health issues.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) said, "It is distressing that two years after the fact, the government's efforts seem so short of what is needed."

Originally published on October 27, 2003

© 2003 Daily News, L.P.

By Elizabeth O'Brien
Downtown Express
October 14, 2003

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_25/epadelaysrelease.html

The Environmental Protection Agency says it is not ready to release its findings on the post-9/11 toxin tests the agency conducted in 250 Lower Manhattan apartments, although community members are concerned after obtaining what appears to be raw data from the tests.

Cate Jenkins, an E.P.A. scientist based in Washington, D.C., said that data charts circulated among Downtowners and forwarded to the Downtown Express are genuine E.P.A. wipe test results. Jenkins has closely followed and criticized the E.P.A.'s response to the World Trade Center disaster and is not a spokesperson for the federal agency.

Jenkins said she could not interpret the results without further information such as the addresses of the apartments tested. She said she could not understand why the E.P.A. is taking so long to release the results. She called on the E.P.A. to provide official results with the proper context, so that residents can understand them.

"These numbers standing by themselves cause a lot of anxiety," Jenkins said. About the delay, she added, "I don't see what their problem is. I don't have that problem getting out large technical documents."

As part of its voluntary residential cleaning program, the E.P.A. tested for asbestos and cleaned in some 4,100 apartments south of Canal, Pike, and Allen Sts. In 250 randomly selected apartments, the agency conducted tests for a wider range of contaminants, including lead, mercury, and dioxin.

The E.PA. finished conducting these wipe tests by early August, said E.P.A. spokesperson Mary Mears. Many individuals whose apartments were chosen for the detailed wipe testing have already received their results, although composite data has not been officially made public.

Mears did not deny that the raw data has been assembled.

One community member recently obtained the E.P.A. wipe test data results from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's office and forwarded those results to the Downtown Express. Data charts list index numbers, contaminants and locations in apartments, such as "living room floor," along with measurements of contaminant levels.

One chart is labeled "Exceedences," the term the E.P.A. uses when levels of contaminants are found to be higher than the agency's health-based benchmark. There are no building addresses or apartment numbers listed.

Three residents have told Downtown Express in recent months that they have received letters from the E.P.A. saying they had excessive levels of lead before the cleanup.

Mears said that the E.P.A. was currently determining the best way to present data in a meaningful way that does not compromise the privacy of the residents whose apartments received the wipe tests. She said the agency is consulting with its attorneys and others to have the results ready for release within a month.

In August, the E.P.A.'s Inspector General charged White House officials with pressuring the agency to downplay the possible health risks caused by the destruction of the World Trade Center.

Jo Polett, a resident of 105 Duane St., is one Downtown resident who is anxiously awaiting the comprehensive results. A month ago, Polett learned that the wipe test conducted in her apartment found pre-cleaning lead levels five times higher than the E.P.A. standard for its Lower Manhattan cleanup. After the cleanup, tests showed lead levels that meet the E.P.A. standards.

Polett is concerned that some of her neighbors might have similar lead levels without knowing it. Polett said that in her 480-unit building there are a number of families with young children, who are most susceptible to lead poisoning. The E.P.A. has said that if its tests reveal elevated levels of toxins in an apartment, it will inform the residents in the affected apartment but will not contact any other residents in the building or the maintenance staff.

This leaves residents like Polett struggling with whether to reach out to her neighbors herself, and if so, the best way to do so without alarming people.

"I'm the one that has to figure out whether I need to get this out to my building, and I don't feel qualified," Polett said.

Dave Newman, an industrial hygienist with the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, has looked at the wipe test data circulating Downtown. Like many others, he has called for a full and timely release of the wipe test results, along with building and other information to place the data in a meaningful context.

Newman said that the E.P.A. "does have the data and we have the data. While it's not crystal clear, there have been a number of exceedences. For the people who live and work in spaces with exceedences, they need to know and it's unconscionable for [the E.P.A.] not to release this to the affected people."