HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Simonds Saw and Steel Company, Lockport, New York

 

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 

Simonds Saw and Steel Company

Lockport, New York
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Simonds Saw and Steel Company, Lockport, New York 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.

___January 6, 2011____ __[Signature on file]_____________

Date Kathleen Sebelius

II. Employee Class Definition

All Atomic Weapons Employer employees who worked at Simonds Saw and 

Steel Co. from January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1957, 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 included 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 December 

10, 2010. 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

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

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.

• Principal sources of internal and 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, and thorium metal.

• NIOSH located sufficient personnel monitoring, area monitoring, and source term 

data that, when coupled with existing dose reconstruction methods, support 

reconstructing internal doses from uranium exposures at Simonds Saw and Steel 

Co. during the operational time period from January 1, 1948 through December 

31, 1957. However, NIOSH has not located sufficient personnel monitoring, 

source term, or air sampling data which will allow internal exposures to thorium 

and its associated gaseous decay product (thoron) to be reconstructed at 

Simonds Saw and Steel during that same time period. 

• NIOSH 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. 

• In sum, NIOSH finds that it is not feasible to estimate, with sufficient accuracy, 

the total internal radiation dose for workers at Simonds Saw and Steel Co. during 

the period from January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1957. 

• Although NIOSH identified significant issues impacting its ability to bound internal 

doses for the proposed class, NIOSH believes that it has access to sufficient 

information and monitoring data to support bounding internal doses for the 

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

• NIOSH located sufficient personnel monitoring, area monitoring, and source term 

data that, when coupled with existing dose reconstruction methods, support 

reconstructing external doses from uranium exposures at Simonds Saw and 

Steel Co. during the operational time period from January 1, 1948 through 

December 31, 1957. However, NIOSH has not located sufficient personnel 

monitoring, area monitoring, or source term data which will allow external 

exposures to thorium to be reconstructed at Simonds Saw and Steel Co. during 

that same time period. 

• NIOSH also 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 finds that it is not feasible to estimate, with sufficient accuracy, 

the total external dose for workers at Simonds Saw and Steel Co. during the 

period from January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1957. 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Simonds Saw and Steel Company, Lockport, New York Page 4

• NIOSH determined that it is not able to include occupational medical dose in 

dose reconstructions for Simonds Saw and Steel Co. workers because the 

medical X-ray procedures were performed at an off-site, non-covered facility. 

• As detailed above, NIOSH has documented that it cannot complete the dose 

reconstructions related to this petition with sufficient accuracy for the employees 

who worked at Simonds Saw and Steel Co. during the period from January 1, 

1948 through December 31, 1957. 

• 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.

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

doses for employees who worked at Simonds Saw and Steel Co. during the 

period from January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1957, NIOSH intends to use 

any reliable internal and external monitoring data that may be available for an 

individual claim (and that can be interpreted using existing NIOSH dose 

reconstruction processes or procedures), and existing methods contained in The 

Site Profile for Simonds Saw and Steel, ORAUT-TKBS-0032, to support a partial 

dose reconstruction for non-presumptive cancers and/or cases that have less 

than 250 work days of employment.

• 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). 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Simonds Saw and Steel Company, Lockport, New York Page 5

(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). 

IV. 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.”

V. 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.