Grant Number:	5R01CA086473-03 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Valiante, David
Organization:	New Jersey State Dept/Health/Senior Srvs
Project Title:	Development and Validation of a Mail Survey of Chemical
Fiscal Year:	2001

DESCRIPTION:(Adapted from Investigator's Abstract) This project is a three-year hazard surveillance methods study to develop and validate a mail survey instrument to characterize the potential for employee exposure to chemicals at specific workplaces. The mail survey and pre- testing, follow-up, and validation protocols will be designed with the assistance of researchers from the Rutgers University-based Center for Public1 Interest Polling within the Eagleton Institute. The project's main objective is to determine if a mail survey of employers reporting the use of chemicals with comprehensive 6(b) OSHA standards on their Community Right to Know (CRTK) Survey will generate estimates of potential occupational exposures to these chemicals useful to prioritize specific workplaces for a variety of possible interventions. The survey will target approximately 1,000 workplaces reporting the use of at least 100 pounds of one or more of twenty-four chemicals for which the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has promulgated comprehensive standards under Section 6(b) of the OSH Act. All of these chemicals are classified as carcinogens by either the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) or OSHA. Reports of chemical use or release will be obtained from the 1997 CRTK Survey and the 1996 Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). CRTK Survey data for 1996 shows almost 2,000 reports of at least 100 pounds of one of the OSHA 6(b) chemicals among 1,038 employers in the private sector, both manufacturing and non-manufacturing. Telephone follow-up will be conducted with survey non-responders and incomplete responders. A stratified random sample of survey results, including pounds of the specific chemical used per year, number of days used per year, and number of employees potentially exposed, will be verified with onsite visits by industrial hygienists to respondent employers' workplaces.





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