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NIOSH Begins Updating Manual of Analytical Methods
The NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods (NMAM) received
funding for a three-year project aimed at updating and modernizing the process for disseminating sampling and analytical
methods. Additions to NMAM will include the publication of
over 40 pending methods.
NMAM comprises methods for
sampling and analysis of workplace
contaminants found in the air and in
the blood and urine of workers. The
methods featured in the publication
have been created and developed by
NIOSH and its partners and have been
evaluated according to established
experimental protocols and performance criteria. Chapters include information on quality assurance,
sampling, portable instrumentation,
method evaluation, biological monitoring, aerosols and special
measurement considerations.
NMAM is being funded as part of the NIOSH National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) program. An internal NIOSH
competition identified NMAM as the top priority out of 38 project proposals.
In the past, AIHA® has collaborated with NIOSH to help improve NMAM, including conducting a survey of AIHA-accredited
laboratories and proficiency analytical testing (PAT) program
participants to determine how best to develop NMAM. Based on
the survey results, a number of suggestions were implemented in
the 5th edition of NMAM published in 2007.
To access NMAM online, visit www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/
2003-154/.
OSHA Collects Information about Chemicals of Concern
From Aug. 16 through Aug. 27, OSHA conducted an online
forum to collect input from stakeholders regarding “chemicals
of concern" for which the agency
should develop exposure reduction strategies. The forum allowed
stakeholders to identify harmful
chemicals and explain why OSHA
should focus on these chemicals
in developing long- and short-term solutions for reducing workers’ exposure.
In the early 1970s, OSHA established approximately 400 permissible exposure limits (PELs) for hazardous chemicals. Since
then, OSHA has developed more protective regulations for only
29 chemicals, while the majority of OSHA PELs have remained
unchanged.
“Many of our permissible exposure limits are based on
1950s-era science that we now realize is inadequate to protect
workers in 21st-century workplaces,” Assistant Secretary of
Labor for OSHA David Michaels said in a press release. “We
must assure the protection of workers currently exposed to
well-recognized chemical hazards for which we have an inadequate PEL or no PEL at all.”
Workplace Fatalities Plunged in 2009, BLS Says
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) preliminary calculation of
workplace fatalities for 2009 shows a 17 percent drop from
2008, BLS announced on Aug. 19. The total of 4,340 fatalities
was the smallest ever recorded since the agency’s Census of
Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) was first used in 1992. The
rate of fatal work injury in 2009 was
3. 3 per 100,000 full-time workers,
down from 3. 7 in 2008.
BLS attributed the decline to economic factors, such as the 6 percent
drop in total hours worked from 2008.
Industries that normally account for a
large percentage of fatalities, such as
construction, experienced even
greater drops in hours worked than
the economy as a whole, BLS said. In
addition, many state agencies responsible for providing information for the
CFOI were unable to do so because of fiscal constraints and
other factors.
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis issued a statement in response
to the BLS report that read in part, “While a decrease in the
number of fatal work injuries is encouraging, we cannot—and
will not—relent from our continued strong enforcement of
workplace safety laws. As the economy regains strength and
more people re-enter the workforce, the Department of Labor
will remain vigilant to ensure America’s workers are kept safe
while they earn a paycheck.”
In remarks released in observance of Labor Day, NIOSH Di-
rector John Howard said that the BLS report “is welcome news,
but we must be careful in our interpretations, as BLS also cau-
tioned. Improvement was not found uniformly across all
