HHS Determination Concerning a Petition to Add Members to the 

Special Exposure Cohort

Under the 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000

Determination Concerning a Petition for Employees from 

Simonds Saw and Steel Company

Lockport, New York

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination:

Simonds Saw and Steel Company, Lockport, New York
I. Determination

I, Sylvia M. Burwell, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), have 

determined that the employees defined in Section II of this report do not meet the statutory criteria for 

addition to the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC), as authorized under the Energy Employees 

Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. § 7384q.

[Signature on File] October 9, 2014

Sylvia M. Burwell Date

II. Employee Class Definition

All Atomic Weapons Employer employees who worked at Simonds Saw and Steel 

Co. in Lockport, New York, from January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006.

III. Decision Criteria and Recommendations

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, to designate a class for addition to the SEC, the Secretary must 

determine, upon recommendation of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (the 

Board), that:

(1) it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose that the class received; 

and

(2) there is a reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose may have endangered the health of 

members of the class.

The SEC final rule states in 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1) that it is feasible in two situations to estimate the 

radiation dose that the class received with sufficient accuracy. First, the rule states that radiation 

doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has established that it has access to 

sufficient information to estimate the maximum radiation dose for every type of cancer for which 

radiation doses are reconstructed that could have been incurred under plausible circumstances by any 

member of the class. Alternatively, radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if 

NIOSH has established that it has access to sufficient information to estimate the radiation doses of 

members of the class more precisely than a maximum dose estimate. NIOSH determined that it has 

access to sufficient site-specific information to reconstruct radiation doses incurred by the class of 

employees covered by this report with sufficient accuracy. 

In a letter received by the Secretary on September 3, 2014, the Board, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q,

agreed with the following NIOSH findings, effectively advising the Secretary that radiation dose can 

be reconstructed with sufficient accuracy for employees at the Simonds Saw and Steel Co. in 

Lockport, New York, in accordance with provisions of EEOICPA and the SEC final rule.

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination:

Simonds Saw and Steel Company, Lockport, New York Page 1
IV. Determination Findings

Feasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy

The Secretary established the feasibility determination for the class of employees covered by this 

report based upon the findings summarized below.

• Principal sources of internal radiation exposures for members of the proposed class included 

exposures to natural, enriched, and depleted uranium metals and thorium metals.

• NIOSH has determined that it can reconstruct internal dose from all sources at Simonds Saw and 

Steel Co. during the residual period from January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006.

• Consequently, NIOSH finds that it is feasible to bound with sufficient accuracy, the total internal 

radiation dose for workers at Simonds Saw and Steel Co. during the residual period from January 

1, 1958, through December 31, 2006.

• Principal sources of external radiation exposures for members of the proposed class included 

gamma (photon) and beta radiation associated with handling and working in proximity to natural, 

enriched, and depleted uranium metals.

• NIOSH has determined that it can reconstruct external dose from all sources during the residual 

period from January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006.

• In sum, NIOSH determined that it has access to sufficient site-specific information to either (1) 

estimate the maximum internal and external radiation dose for every type of cancer for which 

radiation doses are reconstructed that could have been incurred under plausible circumstances by 

any workers at Simonds Saw and Steel Co. from January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006; or 

(2) estimate the internal and external radiation doses to workers at Simonds Saw and Steel Co. 

from January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006, more precisely than a maximum dose 

estimate. The Board concurred with this determination.

• The Board concurred with NIOSH's determination that that dose reconstruction is 

feasible for the class of Simonds Saw and Steel Co. workers covered by Petition 00157

for the period from January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006, and therefore should 

not be added to the SEC.

Health Endangerment

Because the Secretary established that it is feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation 

doses encountered by employees at Simonds Saw and Steel Co. in Lockport, New York, as specified 

in this class, a determination of health endangerment is not required.

V. Effect of the Determination

Members of the class of employees covered by this determination and their survivors continue to be 

eligible to submit claims for compensation under EEOICPA. As required for cancer claims covering 

other Department of Energy and Atomic Weapons Employer employees (or Atomic Weapons 

Employees) not included in the SEC, qualified cancer claims under Part B of EEOICPA for members 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination:

Simonds Saw and Steel Company, Lockport, New York Page 2
of this class will be adjudicated by the Department of Labor, in part on the basis of radiation dose 

reconstructions, which will be conducted by NIOSH.

VI. Administrative Review of Determination

The determination provided in this report may be subject to an administrative review within HHS, 

pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.18(a). On the basis of such a review, if the Secretary decides to designate 

the class of employees covered by this determination, in part or in whole, as an addition to the SEC, 

the Secretary would transmit a new report to Congress providing the designation and the criteria and 

findings on which the decision was based.

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination:

Simonds Saw and Steel Company, Lockport, New York Page 3