U.S. Department of Labor Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs 

Washington, DC 20210

March 26, 2020

Dr. Steven Markowitz

Chair

Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and

Worker Health

Queens College, Remsen Hall

65-30 Kissena Boulevard

Flushing, NY 11367

Dear Dr. Markowitz:

I am writing in response to your January 27, 2020, letter to the Department of Labor regarding 

the recommendation made by the Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health 

(Advisory Board or Board) at its November 20-21, 2019 public meeting. The Department 

appreciates the dedication and expertise the Advisory Board provides to the Energy Employees 

Occupational Illness Compensation Program and its stakeholders.

The Advisory Board has recommended that the Department, as part of the Site Exposure 

Matrices (SEM), identify job categories at Department of Energy (DOE) sites that likely have 

worked throughout the applicable sites and would have had potential exposure to many or all 

listed toxic substances at those facilities. The rationale the Advisory Board provides is that “a 

limited number of job titles at Department of Energy sites have been associated with duties that 

likely require on a routine basis that they visit and work in many, if not most, buildings and 

locations within a DOE site.” The Advisory Board provides examples of such positions and 

recommends that the Department “modify the SEM to identify a full list of site-wide job titles 

and link them to many, if not all, of the toxic chemicals to which they may have been exposed, or 

were used, at the DOE site where they worked.” No additional references or scientific rationale 

were included with this recommendation.

The SEM database is compiled based on documents and information obtained from various 

sources, including specific records from DOE. Each toxic substance and job category that is 

identified in the SEM is based on specific data establishing that a particular job category was at a 

given DOE site, and that specific toxic substances related to those job categories were at the site. 

As such, the Department does not make broad determinations across DOE facilities about toxic 

substances or job categories. The Department relies on objective data that supports each and 

every piece of information that is entered into the SEM database, and we are not aware of any 

specific, objective data that would support linking a set of job categories to any or all toxic 

substances across all sites.
2

In addition, when a claimant indicates that the employee worked in one of the categories that the 

Board references (e.g., a guard or a firefighter), the Department develops the case on an 

individual basis to determine, factually, the exact duties the employee was involved with at the 

claimed DOE facility. Once all information is gathered (from the Occupational History 

Questionnaire, DOE records, etc.), the Department may refer the case to an industrial hygienist 

to determine the potential individual exposures based on a proper evidentiary foundation.

Therefore, in the absence of any data or objective evidence provided in support of the Advisory 

Board’s recommendation, the Department must reject this recommendation. If the Advisory 

Board wishes to provide such evidence and rationale (per instructions in the Deputy Secretary’s 

letter of December 30, 2019), they may submit it along with a new recommendation.

On behalf of the Department, the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, the Energy 

program, and the communities we service, I look forward to the continued efforts of the 

Advisory Board.

Sincerely,

Julia K. Hearthway

Director

Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs