HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: Vitro Manufacturing, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

 

HHS Designation of Additional Members of the 

Special Exposure Cohort 

under the 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 

Designating a Class of Employees from 

Vitro Manufacturing

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Vitro Manufacturing, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

Page 2

I. Designation 

I, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, designate the class 

of employees defined in Section II of this report 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.

_____April 29, 2011___ _[Signature on file]____________

Date Kathleen Sebelius

II. Employee Class Definition

All Atomic Weapons Employer employees who worked at Vitro Manufacturing in 

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, from January 1, 1958 through December 31, 1959, 

for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, occurring either 

solely under this employment or in combination with work days within the 

parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the 

Special Exposure Cohort. 

III. Designation Criteria and Recommendations

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, for the class defined in Section II of this report, the 

Secretary has determined, and the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health 

(Board) has recommended, 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 

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.

The Board, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, advised the Secretary to designate the 

class as an addition to the SEC in a letter received by the Secretary on March 30, 

2011. 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Vitro Manufacturing, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

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IV. Designation 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.

• NIOSH determined that members of this class may have received internal 

and external radiation exposures to site contamination and residue piles 

containing uranium and uranium progeny, including radon. Vitro 

Manufacturing processed scrap and residues that could have resulted in the 

generation of airborne dust, surface contamination, and direct contact with 

bulk radioactive materials. The potential for unmonitored exposures 

continued at Vitro Manufacturing until Atomic Weapons Employer (AWE) 

operations concluded in 1959.

• NIOSH evaluated the feasibility for completing dose reconstructions for all 

atomic weapons employees who worked in any area at the Vitro 

Manufacturing facility in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania from January 1, 1958 

through December 31, 1959. 

• NIOSH found no indication that bioassay measurements were collected for 

the period from January 1, 1958 through December 31, 1959. Air monitoring 

and contamination survey data are not available for this period. Moreover, 

NIOSH determined that area air sampling results for the time period from 

1949 through 1953 were inadequate to bound internal intakes from uranium 

progeny during the period from January 1, 1958 through December 31, 1959.

• NIOSH has been unable to locate any individual external monitoring data for 

the period from January 1, 1958 through December 31, 1959. NIOSH has 

access to a limited amount of general process and radiological source term 

information associated with uranium recovery work, but no specific 

information regarding the work at Vitro Manufacturing during the class period. 

• NIOSH finds that it does not have access to sufficient personnel monitoring, 

workplace monitoring, or source term data to estimate unmonitored internal

and external exposures for Vitro Manufacturing workers during the period of 

continued AWE operations from January 1, 1958 through December 31, 

1959. Consequently, NIOSH finds that it is not feasible to estimate, with 

sufficient accuracy, unmonitored internal and external exposures and 

resulting doses for workers at Vitro Manufacturing (Canonsburg) during the 

period from January 1, 1958 through December 31, 1959.

• Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1), NIOSH determined that there is 

insufficient information to either: (1) 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; or (2) estimate the radiation doses of members of the class more 

precisely than a maximum dose estimate.
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Vitro Manufacturing, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

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• Although NIOSH found that it is not possible to completely reconstruct 

radiation doses for employees who worked at Vitro Manufacturing in 

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania during the period from January 1, 1958 through 

December 31, 1959, NIOSH intends to use any reliable internal and external 

monitoring data that may become available for an individual claim (and that 

can be interpreted using existing NIOSH dose reconstruction processes or 

procedures). Dose reconstructions for individuals employed at Vitro 

Manufacturing (Canonsburg) during the period from January 1, 1958 through 

December 31, 1959, but who do not qualify for inclusion in the SEC, may be 

performed using these data as appropriate. 

• NIOSH finds that it is feasible to reconstruct occupational medical dose for 

Vitro Manufacturing workers with sufficient accuracy by using claimantfavorable assumptions in the Technical Information Bulletin, Dose 

Reconstruction from Occupationally Related Diagnostic X-Ray Procedures

(ORAUT-OTIB-0006) and Guidance on Assigning Occupational X-Ray Dose 

Under EEOICPA for X-Rays Administered Off Site (ORAUT-OTIB-0079).

• The Board concurred with the NIOSH evaluation and recommended the 

proposed class for addition to the SEC.

 Health Endangerment

The Secretary established the health endangerment determination for the class of 

employees covered by this report based upon the findings summarized below.

(1) Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3), NIOSH established that there is a 

reasonable likelihood that such radiation doses may have endangered the 

health of members of the class. Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii), NIOSH 

specified a minimum duration of employment to satisfy this health 

endangerment criterion as “having been employed for a number of work days 

aggregating at least 250 work days within the parameters established for this 

class or in combination with work days within the parameters (excluding 

aggregate work day requirements) established for one or more other classes 

of employees in the Cohort.”

(2) NIOSH did not identify any evidence from the petitioners or from other 

resources that would establish that the class was exposed to radiation during 

a discrete incident likely to have involved exceptionally high-level exposures, 

such as a nuclear criticality incident, as defined under 42 C.F.R. § 

83.13(c)(3)(i). 

(3) The Board concurred with NIOSH’s finding that the health of the class may 

have been endangered and defined the class according to the 250-work day 

requirement specified under 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii). 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Vitro Manufacturing, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

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V. Effect and Effective Date of Designation

The Secretary submits this report on the designation of one additional class to the 

SEC for review by Congress, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 7384l(14)(C)(ii) and 

7384q(c)(2)(A), as amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended in 

scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.). Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(14)(C)(ii), as 

amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

Year 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 42 

U.S.C.), the designation in this report will become effective 30 days after the date of 

this report’s submission to Congress “unless Congress otherwise provides.”

VI. Administrative Review of Designation

The health endangerment determination of the designation 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 expand the class 

of employees covered by this designation, the Secretary would transmit a 

supplementary report to Congress providing the expanded employee class definition 

and the criteria and findings on which the decision was based.