MoreThe United Auto Workers Union (UAW) has revived a petition first made to OSHA in October, 1993, calling for an immediate action to promulgate a comprehensive standard for occupational exposure to metal-working fluids (MWF), according to a post on the ORC Worldwide website. ORC Worldwide is a Washington-based environmental health and safety consultancy.
The new effort is based on what the UAW says is new scientific evidence for respiratory disease and cancer allegedly caused by exposure to metalworking fluids under prevailing conditions, as well as new knowledge regarding microbial growth and exposure control measures, according to ORC consultant Dee Woodhull, CIH.
The petition asks OSHA to establish a permissible exposure limit of 0.5 mg/m3 or less, and to require employers to implement medical surveillance, exposure monitoring and other protective measures for employees exposed to MWF.
OSHA denied the 1993 petition in 2003, stating that the available evidence of adverse health effects from MWF exposure was not compelling, and that the evidence linking then current formulations of metalworking fluids to cancer was equivocal, according to Woodhyll. OSHA stated that “MWFs aerosols are associated primarily with respiratory conditions of widely varying levels of severity, and the risks MWFs pose for such conditions are unclear." A legal appeal filed by the UAW was rejected on the same grounds in 2004.
The UAW claims in its new petition that 227 reports on metalworking fluid exposures have appeared in peer-reviewed literature since 1999, according to Woodhull. Three studies found cancer associated with MWF exposure, and others reinforced associations between MWF exposure and respiratory effects, and demonstrated systemic toxicity from absorbed chemicals.
The new effort is based on what the UAW says is new scientific evidence for respiratory disease and cancer allegedly caused by exposure to metalworking fluids under prevailing conditions, as well as new knowledge regarding microbial growth and exposure control measures, according to ORC consultant Dee Woodhull, CIH.
The petition asks OSHA to establish a permissible exposure limit of 0.5 mg/m3 or less, and to require employers to implement medical surveillance, exposure monitoring and other protective measures for employees exposed to MWF.
OSHA denied the 1993 petition in 2003, stating that the available evidence of adverse health effects from MWF exposure was not compelling, and that the evidence linking then current formulations of metalworking fluids to cancer was equivocal, according to Woodhyll. OSHA stated that “MWFs aerosols are associated primarily with respiratory conditions of widely varying levels of severity, and the risks MWFs pose for such conditions are unclear." A legal appeal filed by the UAW was rejected on the same grounds in 2004.
The UAW claims in its new petition that 227 reports on metalworking fluid exposures have appeared in peer-reviewed literature since 1999, according to Woodhull. Three studies found cancer associated with MWF exposure, and others reinforced associations between MWF exposure and respiratory effects, and demonstrated systemic toxicity from absorbed chemicals.
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