NIOSH testimony on asbestos by R. A. Lemen, June 21, 1984.

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  This testimony opened with an historic review of the development of asbestos (1332214) exposure standards for workers in the United States. Current data indicated that larger doses of asbestos produced greater biological effects than smaller doses. However, uncertainty in exposure estimation has been a problem due to changes in methods of measuring exposure and the inability to compare results based on different sampling techniques. While respirators were felt to be effective in reducing employee exposures, there were problems in using or selecting the proper ones to use. Some of the problems included the decision whether to use single use or dust and mist respirators for best protection; discomfort associated with wearing respirators; the need for fit testing; and the physiological stress and drying of breathing passages and sinuses experienced by persons wearing the equipment. Medical surveillance programs for asbestos exposed workers were discussed. The proposed standard was designed to reduce the risk of workers developing asbestos related disease by considering the estimated probability of developing significant disease following a given cumulative exposure; by comparing the risk estimate with the health and safety risks in workers in non asbestos producing or using industries; and by understanding the technical limits of reliable sampling and analysis.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Hazardous Substances Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Asbestos-fibers Asbestos-workers Dust-inhalation Fibrous-bodies Lemen-R-A NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Testimony
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Testimony
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSDTT - Division of Standards Development and Technology Transfer
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-16
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00170023
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1984 Jun; :1-16
• CAS Registry Number:
  Asbestos (CAS RN 1332-21-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1984
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9329c76c29aa9cfd12a8fc7319f41b8c309638701731525ae1c91c7f4db679c2dc0b9adf8ff0da52bbcc5a5097f12fccdd9957718323e5fa4f8125c6f9981077
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/179956/cdc_179956_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.27 MB ]