NIOSH Program Update

Stuart Hinnefeld

Director

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Division of Compensation Analysis and Support

June 2012

Santa Fe, NM
Program News

 DCAS staff updates

 Revisions to Advisory Board Web page

• Table listing SEC petitions currently with the 

Advisory Board for consideration

• Former page has now been divided into several 

smaller pages

• Advisory Board meetings 

• Recommendations on SEC petitions 

• Correspondence and miscellaneous items 

• Reports from the technical support contractor 

• Technical support for the review of NIOSH dose 

reconstruction program

Program News—cont.

 Redesign of SEC section on the individual site 

pages

• Contains more information on the number of 

petitions received, classes added to the SEC, and 

petitions currently under consideration

• Petition information is displayed in a table format

—For sites with multiple petitions, a table is displayed for 

each petition

• Project is in-progress; SEC sections for 18 

individual site pages have been reformatted 



Overall Initial Claim Information

(as of May 31, 2012)

 37,055 cases have been referred to NIOSH for 

dose reconstruction

 35,258 (95%) cases have been returned to DOL

• Cases submitted with a DR report 30,941

• Cases currently pulled from DR by DOL 1,249

• Cases currently pulled from DR for SEC 3,068 

 1,122 (3%) cases remained at NIOSH for dose 

reconstruction 

 675 (2%) cases were administratively closed
Overview of Active Cases

(as of May 31, 2012)

 Of the 1,122 cases remaining at NIOSH for 

dose reconstruction:

• 237 cases in the dose reconstruction process

• 220 initial draft dose reconstruction reports in 

the hands of claimants, and NIOSH awaiting the 

return of the OCAS-1 form

• 665 cases in development to begin the dose 

reconstruction
Summary of PoCs for Completed 

Dose Reconstructions

(as of January 31, 2012)

 Of the 30,941 dose reconstructions sent back 

to DOL for final adjudication:

• 8,969 (29%) cases had a PoC ≥ 50%

• 21,972 (71%) cases had a PoC < 50%
Distribution of PoC

for Cases Sent to DOL

(as of May 31, 2012)

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

0-10% 11-20% 21-30% 31-40% 41-49% >= 50%

8809

4022

3317 3547

2285

8961

Probability of Causation

Number of Cases
Submittals vs. Production

(as of March 31, 2012)

0

400

800

1200

1600

2000

2400

Q1-2002Q1-2003Q1-2004Q1-2005Q1-2006Q1-2007Q1-2008

Q1-2009

Q1-2010

Q1-2011

Q1-2012

Cases Received from

DOL

Draft DR Reports to

Claimants

Final DR Reports to

DOL
Status of First 5,000 Claims

(as of May 31, 2012) 

 4,873 claims at DOL

• 285 pulled for DOL issues

• 378 pulled for SEC

• 4,210 submitted with DR

 108 claims at NIOSH

• 95 admin closed

• 3 DRs with claimants (DOL reworks/reinstated within past 

year)

• 9 DRs in process (DOL reworks/reinstated within past year)

• 1 gathering information

 19 claim numbers deleted
Status of First 10,000 Claims

(as of May 31, 2012) 

 9773 claims at DOL

• 462 pulled for DOL issues

• 1001 pulled for SEC

• 8,310 submitted with DR

 197 claims at NIOSH

• 169 admin closed

• 7 DRs with claimants (0 initial; 7 DOL reworks within past year)

• 20 DRs in process (7 initial; 19 DOL reworks within past year)

• 0 gathering information

 30 claim numbers deleted
DOE Response to Requests 

for Exposure Records

(as of May 31, 2012) 

 Number of outstanding requests 186

 Outstanding requests > 60 days 41
Special Exposure Cohort Summary

(as of June 12, 2012)

 Petitions received 204

 Petitions in qualification process 1 

 Petitions qualified for evaluation 125

• NIOSH evaluation in progress 5

• NIOSH evaluation completed 120

– SEC Evaluation Reports 

 with the Advisory Board 

 for recommendation 12 

 Petitions not qualifying for evaluation 79

Note: Petitions not qualifying include five petitions received prior to the 

rule becoming final and Petition 34 where the site was de-listed. 
Special Exposure Cohort Summary—cont. 

(as of June 12, 2012)

 89 SEC classes have been added since May 2005

• 51 (57%) through the 83.13 process

• 38 (43%) through the 83.14 process

 14 SEC classes have been denied since May 2005

 Represents classes of workers from 63 sites

 Represents 4,081 potential claims