History of Advisory Board 

Review of ORAUT-OTIB-0052

Kathy Behling, SC&A, Inc.

Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, 

Subcommittee for Procedure Reviews

February 16, 2023
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Background

 ORAUT-OTIB-0052, “Parameters to Consider When 

Processing Claims for Construction Trade Workers”

 Provides guidance for developing a coworker (now 

coexposure) model for unmonitored construction trade workers 

(CTWs)

 Multiple revisions, SC&A reviews, PERs, & Board discussions

 May 25, 2022, Subcommittee for Procedure Reviews (SPR) 

tasked SC&A to present the history, reviews, presentations, 

and outstanding issues of OTIB-0052 and related documents
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OTIB-0052 chronology, 2007–2011

 ORAUT-OTIB-0052, rev. 00 PC-1, January 16, 2007

 SC&A draft review of ORAUT-OTIB-0052, rev. 00, July 3, 2007 

– 16 findings

 OCAS-PER-014, rev. 0, November 28, 2007 

 ORAUT-OTIB-0052, rev. 01, February 17, 2011 

– to address 5 of SC&A’s 2007 findings

 SC&A draft review of ORAUT-OTIB-0052, rev. 01, July 11, 2011

– Of 16 2007 findings, 6 closed, 3 transferred to ORAUT-OTIB-0020 review, 

1 in abeyance, & 6 in progress
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OTIB-0052 chronology, 2012–2018 

 SC&A’s draft review of OCAS-PER-014, rev. 0, March 16, 

2012

 ORAUT-OTIB-0052, rev. 02, July 24, 2014

 DCAS-PER-062, rev. 0, November 2, 2017

– in response to the issuance of rev. 01 and 02 of OTIB-0052 

 SC&A’s draft review of DCAS-PER-062, rev. 0, May 31, 2018
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2013 Advisory Board discussion

 March 12, 2013: SPR presented OTIB-0052, rev. 00 and 01, to 

Board

– 16 findings (refer to table 1 of accompanying handout)

 Board discussion raised questions about how OTIB-0052 is 

being used and interpreted by dose reconstructors 

(summarized on next slide)

 Requested followup discussion at next Board meeting did not 

take place
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2013 Advisory Board questions

 How were the CTW ratios 

established?

 Is there validity in establishing 

such a ratio?

 What kind of evaluation 

quantitatively needs to be done 

when applying this or determining 

whether to apply this at a 

particular site?

 Who made the decision that we 

were going to put construction 

workers in a category of using 

coworker data?

 Why are we using coworker data 

for unmonitored workers, when it 

appears these people should just 

be put into a Special Exposure 

Cohort?

 What is the science behind the 

1.4 correction factor?

 Do you apply correction factor to 

every job title in the construction 

industry?

 How it is OTIB-0052 being used, 

and where is it being applied?
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2017 Advisory Board discussion

 December 13, 2017: SPR presented OTIB-0052, rev. 02, to 

Board

– Resolution of original 16 findings from 2007 SC&A review

 Board discussion raised additional questions that NIOSH 

promised to follow up (summarized on next slides)

 NIOSH has not yet presented resolution of Board questions to 

the Board
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2017 Advisory Board question 1

Board question

 It appears there may be a lot of 

updating to do with OTIB-0052, 

because of coworker models and 

other related issues that are going 

on at other sites, such as SRS, 

Idaho, Hanford, etc.

NIOSH response

 Agreed but stated that they will 

continue using OTIB-0052 and 

the CTW correction factor of 1.4 

until other data become available. 

NIOSH is in the testing phase with 

an SRS draft implementation 

guide, so that may prompt 

changes.
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2017 Advisory Board question 2

Board question

 The finding 8 response from 

NIOSH indicates that no value is 

gained by using information other 

than that contained in the 

HPAREH database. However, 

HPAREH only contains dosimeter 

data for workers actively 

employed in 1979 or later. Is there 

not a value to be gained from 

studying workers who terminated 

during a period before 1979?

NIOSH response

 There were discussions on the 

application of the HPAREH to 

workers who terminated prior to 

1979; however, they were not 

prepared to provide details that 

would answer the question. 

 The Advisory Board requested 

that NIOSH provide a followup 

regarding previous discussions to 

clarify this question.
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Questions?