Crystalline Silica Rule at a Standstill
In a Jan. 25 letter to President Obama, the Union of Concerned
Scientists (UCS), a science-based nonprofit, joined others in
urging action against the delay facing OSHA’s Occupational
Exposure to Crystalline Silica proposed rule at the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB). Over 300 public health scientists, occupational safety experts and doctors signed a letter
to the president stating their concerns over OMB’s year-plus
hold on the rule, which they say leaves workers in danger while
preventing public participation in the rulemaking process.
OMB is required to complete review of proposed rules within
90 days; however, OMB has delayed review since its receipt of
the proposal on Feb. 14, 2011. The letter urges the president to
direct OMB to complete review of the rule so that it can move
forward.
Last November, AIHA
wrote the director of
OMB expressing concern over the delay in
the rulemaking process.
The letter urged OMB
to release the rule so
that OSHA can continue working toward
a finalized standard for
crystalline silica. In development for 14 years, OSHA’s proposed silica rule appears
on the agency’s regulatory agenda released Jan. 20. A notice
of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) was scheduled for February
2012, but was not published.
According to a NIOSH Hazard Review from April 2002
( http://1.usa.gov/nioshhazardreview), an estimated 1.7 million workers are exposed to crystalline silica in the U.S. A
2003, report ( http://bit.ly/ajimreport) estimated there were
between 3,600 and 7,300 new cases of silicosis—lung disease
caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust—per year from
1987 to 1996.
Read the UCS letter at http://bit.ly/obamaletteronsilica. More
information about the proposed rule is available from the OMB
website at http://bit.ly/silicaproposedrule. To read OSHA’s regulatory agenda, visit http://1.usa.gov/OSHAregagenda. AIHA’s
letter to OMB is available at http://bit.ly/aihaletteromb.
NANOMATERIALS
National Research Council: More Nanomaterials
Research Needed
A new report from the National Research Council outlines a
strategic approach for addressing potential risks to health,
safety and the environment related
to the use of nanomaterials. The
report discusses the need for the
development of research and sci-
entific infrastructure around the
field of nanotechnology, and sum-
marizes four research categories
that the Council believes should be
addressed within five years:
•;identify and quantify the nanomaterials being released and
the populations and environments being exposed
•;understand processes that affect potential hazards and
exposure
•;examine nanomaterial interactions in complex systems
ranging from subcellular to ecosystems
•;support an adaptive research and knowledge infrastructure
for accelerating progress and providing rapid feedback to
advance research
The full report is available at http://bit.ly/researchstrategy
fulltext.
OVERTIME WORK
Long Work Hours Lead to Increased Depression Risk
A study published in PLoS ONE on Jan. 25 suggests that a
significant connection exists between working long hours and
increased risk of depression. Researchers led by Marianna Virtanen
of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health followed a total of
2,123 British civil servants for an
average of 5. 8 years as part of this
study. Fifty-two percent worked
7 to 8 hours per day, 21 percent
worked 9 hours per day, 16 percent
worked 10 hours per day and 11 percent worked from 11 to 12
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