National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

NIOSH Program Update

Grady Calhoun, CHP

Director

Division of Compensation Analysis and Support

Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, 155th Meeting

Virtual

December 7th, 2023
Contracts, Staffing

 Dave Sundin and Kim Kraus will retire at the end of the year

 The Deputy Director position has been posted and we are waiting on the 

results
IT Update

 We continue to process all cases manually

 We have achieved steady-state processing of dose reconstructions

– We continue to achieve our goal of having more than 90% of all dose 

reconstructions completed within 5 months of receiving the last data 

required for completion

 The Site Research Data Base (SRDB) has been restored on ORAUT’s space We 

are testing methods to allow all who need access to have it

 The Board Review System (BRS) and SEC Viewer are next on the list

 NOCTS will be last as it is the most complicated
Workshops, Town Halls, Outreach

 Completed outreach event on 8/16 in Fernald/Mound area

 Completed outreach event on 9/12 in Rocky Flats area

 Events tentatively scheduled

 Tampa FL Area, March 2024

 Kansas City, MO May 2024

 Chicago, IL July 2024

 Gallup, Grants, and Albuquerque, NM Sep 2024
Age of Cases since the Pause Began

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

4/30/20215/31/20216/30/20217/31/20218/31/20219/30/2021

10/31/202111/30/202112/31/2021

1/31/20222/28/20223/31/20224/30/20225/31/20226/30/20227/31/20228/31/20229/30/2022

10/31/202211/30/202212/31/2022

1/31/20232/28/20233/31/20234/30/20235/31/20236/30/20237/31/20238/31/20239/30/2023

10/31/2023

# of cases

6-9 mo 9-12 mo > 12 mo

This graph represents the amount of time cases reside with DCAS. The times are measured from the date the case is received from DOL to the date 

the draft dose reconstructions are sent to the claimants. DCAS goal is to complete dose reconstructions within 5 months of the receipt of the last 

data required for dose reconstruction. The age of cases increased significantly when the pause started in May of 2021 and peaked in October of that 

year. The processes in place now have reduced the age of cases steadily to date. 
Record Requests to Department of Energy*

219 total outstanding

 10 between 61 and 120 days old

 1 between 121 and 180 days old (WIPP)

 0 greater than 180 days old

*as of November 24, 2023
Case status report*

56,983 cases to NIOSH from DOL 

 49,299 returned to DOL with DR

 952 administratively closed

 3,657 pulled by DOL for Special Exposure Cohort (SEC)

 1,881 pulled from DR by DOL

1,194 at NIOSH for dose reconstruction (DR)

*as of November 24, 2023
Probability of Causation Summary*

49,299 DRs sent for final adjudication

 36,257 less than 50% - 74% of total

 13,042 greater than 50% - 26% of total

 These percentages have remained relatively consistent over time

*as of November 24, 2023
Active Cases*

1,194 active at NIOSH for DR

 418 in the DR process

 212 draft DR reports with claimants

 564 cases preparing for DR

*as of November 24, 2023
For more information, contact CDC

1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636)

TTY: 1-888-232-6348

www.cdc.gov

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.