Department of Energy Support to the 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA)

Office of Health, Safety and Security

August 2012
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National Day of 

Remembrance

• On July 16, 2012, the United States Senate announced the 

passage of S. Res. 519, a Senate resolution designating 

October 30, 2010, as a National Day of Remembrance 

(NDR) for Nuclear Weapons Program Workers. 

• This year will mark the fourth anniversary of the NDR, 

honoring the thousands of men and women who tirelessly 

served our country by building and maintaining our nuclear 

weapons complex during World War II through the Cold 

War. 
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DOE’s Core Mandate

Work on behalf of the program claimants to 

ensure that all available worker and facility 

records and data are provided to DOL, NIOSH, 

and the Advisory Board.
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DOE Responsibilities

1.Respond to DOL and NIOSH requests for information 

related to individual claims. (employment verification, 

exposure records).

2.Provide support and assistance to DOL, NIOSH, and 

Advisory Board on large-scale research and site 

characterization projects through records research 

and retrieval efforts at various DOE sites. 

3.Conduct research, in coordination with DOL and 

NIOSH, on issues related to covered facilities 

designations. 
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EEOICPA 

Site Contacts

• DOE EEOICPA Site POCs: 

– Coordinate all research activities with NIOSH, Advisory Board, 

DOL and various contractors

– Set up site visits and tours for NIOSH and DOL staff as well as 

other groups

– Work with both DOL and NIOSH to identify site subject matter 

experts and to facilitate interviews with current and former 

workers

– Manage site’s response to individual records requests. Ensure 

DOE responses are complete and timely

– Onsite source of EEOICPA information to workers
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Individual 

Records

Fund and coordinate records retrieval activities at DOE 

sites in support of individual claims. 

 Employment verifications for DOL (~6,000/year) 

 Dose records for NIOSH (~4,500/year) 

 Document Acquisition Requests (DAR) employee 

work history/exposures for DOL

(~5,500/year)
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Individual 

Records

Total number of EEOICPA records requests completed:

– FY 2011: ~16,000

– FY 2012: Anticipate approximately 16,000
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Individual 

Records

• Claimants often worked at multiple DOE sites, for 

multiple contractors and subcontractors, and in 

different jobs or divisions over a career. 

• Records packages that DOE provides to DOL and 

NIOSH can be hundreds of pages long. 
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Individual 

Records

• For a typical request for a worker’s records, DOE will 

have to go to many different site departments and 

within those departments many different records 

sources or databases. 

• For example, one DOE site routinely checks 

approximately 40 different sources for responsive 

records, including hard copy paper records, microfilm, 

microfiche, databases and scanned electronic records. 
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Large Scale

Research Projects

• Large scale research projects are driven by the needs of 

DOL and NIOSH. 

– DOE must react and accommodate the requests within existing 

funding. 

• These projects can take years and can cost hundreds of 

thousands of dollars to support. 
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Large Scale

Research Projects

• DOE must review many of the requested records due to 

classification concerns. 

– Millions of pages have been reviewed so far and this can be a 

time consuming and costly process. 

• DOE is often supporting 4-5 projects at once, although at 

various stages of the process (start up, research, wrap 

up, etc.)
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Large Scale

Research Projects

• Rocky Flats

• Savannah River

• Pantex

• Hanford

• Sandia

• Los Alamos

• Clarksville

• Medina
Document 

Reviews

• DOE committed to providing documents to 

NIOSH, DOL, and the Advisory Board, but must 

do so in a responsible manner.

• The DOE EEOICPA Security Plan link: 

http://www.hss.energy.gov/HealthSafety/FWSP/Advocacy/HSS_Security_Plan

_EEOICPA.pdf

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Document 

Reviews (cont.)

• NIOSH, the Advisory Board and their contractors 

have submitted 50 documents for DOE 

classification review since June 2012.

• The average turn around time for review and 

released documents was 8 work days. 

• In certain cases where an expedited review is 

necessary, DOE has returned documents in one 

to two days.

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Facility Research

Research and maintain the Covered Facilities Database

• Database of over 300 facilities covered under 

EEOICPA. This includes DOE facilities, AWEs and 

Beryllium Vendors whose employees are eligible for 

benefits under EEOICP.

• Full listing on the DOE HSS website:

– http://www.hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/FWSP/Advocacy/faclist/findfacility.cfm

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DOE Initiatives

• Ongoing effort to identify additional records 

collections useful for EEOICPA. 

– Collections are evaluated, indexed and cross 

referenced against previous claims. 

• Sandia National Lab and Nevada National 

Security Site (former Nevada Test Site) 

collaborating on a legacy records collection 

potentially useful for EEOICPA requests. 

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Secure Electronic Records 

Transfer (SERT) System

• The SERT is an HSS-hosted environment where DOL 

and NIOSH can send and receive records and data in a 

secure manner. 

• To effectively securing large volumes of PII information, 

the system will reduce the time to complete EEOICPA 

claims and improve transparency between Agencies. 

• Currently, all DOL, NIOSH and DOE users have been 

trained and we are taking the final steps to go live. 

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Outreach 

• DOE Headquarters (HSS)

– Has initiated a Joint outreach Task Group that includes DOE, 

DOL and NIOSH, along with the DOL Ombudsman and the DOE 

Former Worker Medical Screening Programs. 

– The goal of creating a workgroup is to coordinate and improve 

outreach efforts between the agencies. 

– The Group held 18 "Town Hall" meetings in and near the 

communities of 9 DOE sites.

– http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/FWSP/Formerworkermed/e

vents_calendars.html
Informational Video

• Preparing an informational video on the benefits and 

services available to DOE workers and their family 

members through the Former Worker Medical Screening 

Program (FWP) and the EEOICPA Program. 

• The video is intended as an additional outreach tool to 

promote the FWP and EEOICPA; it will not replace the 

Town Hall meetings that the JOTG holds in the 

communities near and around the DOE sites. 

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Former Worker Medical 

Screening Program

• Mission: To identify and notify former workers at risk for 

occupational disease and offer them medical screening 

that can lead to treatment

• Program now serves all former workers from all DOE 

sites in locations close to their residences

• Further information on the FWP can be found at: 

http://www.hss.energy.gov/HealthSafety/FWSP/formerw

orkermed/
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Former Worker Medical

Screening Program

Local Screening Programs for Rocky Flats: 

• Production Workers

– Principal Investigator: Donna Cragle, PhD, 

– Co-Principal Investigators: John McInerney, 

MD, and Lee Newman, MD

– Local Outreach:1-866-812-6703

• Construction Workers

– Principal Investigator: Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA, 

MPH 

– Local Outreach:1-800-866-9663
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Questions?