3rd Circuit hears OSHA case on carcinogen exposure, 100s of 1000s of workers are exposed on the job

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.timesleader.com/news/ap?articleID=1141009

By MARYCLAIRE DALE

(AP)

Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, hearing cases in a federal appeals court this week, asked Friday why the Labor Department does not lower worker exposure to a known carcinogen.

The advocacy group Public Citizen wants the government to reduce the exposure limit for hexavalent chromium, which is known to carry a significant risk of lung cancer.

Hundreds of thousands of workers are exposed on the job to hexavalent chromium, including welders, ironworkers and aerospace painters.

A government lawyer said the agency has already cut the allowable limit by more than 90 percent to a "permissible exposure limit," or PEL, of 5 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Public Citizen wants the number lowered to 1 or below.

"You want us to sustain setting it at 5, which makes it more likely that more employees will be injured," O'Connor asked Labor Department lawyer Gary K. Stearman. "It's a little bit of a concern to me, and I'd love to know your answer."

Stearman, representing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said that further reductions would bring only slight benefits, at best, and that the agency knows more about the issue than the courts.

FULL story at link.