Mortality among workers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Details

• Personal Author:
  Keil H ; Richardson DB ; Wing S ; Wolf S
• Description:
  Background: Workers employed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) were potentially exposed to a range of chemical and physical hazards, many of which are poorly characterized. We compared the observed deaths among workers to expectations based upon US mortality rates. Methods: The cohort included 22,831 workers hired between January 1, 1943 and December 31, 1984. Vital status and cause of death information were ascertained through December 31, 2008. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were computed separately for males and females using US and Tennessee mortality rates; SMRs for men were tabulated separately for monthly-, weekly-, and hourly-paid workers. Results: Hourly-paid males had more deaths due to cancer of the pleura (SMR = 12.09, 95% CI: 4.44, 26.32), cancer of the bladder (SMR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.26, 2.71), and leukemia (SMR = 1.33, 95% CI: 0.87, 1.93) than expected based on US mortality rates. Female workers also had more deaths than expected from cancer of the bladder (SMR = 2.20, 95% CI: 1.20, 3.69) and leukemia (SMR = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.09, 2.36). The pleural cancer excess has only appeared since the 1980s, approximately 40 years after the start of operations. The bladder cancer excess was larger among workers who also had worked at other Oak Ridge nuclear weapons facilities, while the leukemia excess was among people who had not worked at other DOE facilities. Conclusions: Occupational hazards including asbestos and ionizing radiation may contribute to these excesses. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution Air Pollution, Indoor Dust Fuel Oils Mining Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety Vehicle Emissions
• Keywords:
  Asbestos-dust Author Keywords: Cohort Studies Bladder-cancer Blood-disorders Cancer Employee-exposure Health-hazards Humans Ionizing-radiation Laboratories Laboratory-workers Leukemogenesis Mathematical-models Men Mortality-data Mortality-rates Mortality-surveys Mortality Study Nuclear-energy Nuclear-hazards Nuclear-radiation Nuclear-reactions Occupational Diseases Pleural-cavity Radiation Radiation-effects Radiation-exposure Statistical-analysis Uranium-compounds Uranium-ore Women

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  56
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042979
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2013 Jul; 56(7):725-732
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr David B Richardson, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
• Email:
  david.richardson@unc.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Uranium (CAS RN 7440-61-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Performing Organization:
  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20090901
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20130831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:36b5fef5f23dca6308fd26c5598ca0754c31373c9cf839404226f1f7e23f976ed37b4882db0e3d6f8c9965c043aaead4da59fc4b3596551fb88ca172a1922238
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195024/cdc_195024_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 113.03 KB ]