The Department
of Energy
Former Worker
Medical Screening Program
Table of Contents
Abbreviations Used in This Report
2.0 Program Strengths and Accomplishments
Appendix A: Individual Project Descriptions
Abbreviations Used in This Report
AFL-CIO |
American Federation of Labor and Congress of
Industrial Organizations |
BeLPT |
Beryllium Lymphocyte Proliferation Test |
BTMed |
Building Trades National Medical Screening Program |
C.F.R. |
Code of Federal Regulations |
CPWR |
CPWR – The Center for Construction Research and
Training |
CT |
Computed Tomography |
DOE |
|
DOL |
Department of Labor |
EEOICPA |
Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act |
EFCOG |
Energy Facility Contractors Group |
FWP |
Former Worker Program |
FY |
Fiscal Year |
GDP |
Gaseous Diffusion Plant |
HSS |
DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security |
IAAP |
|
IRB |
Institutional Review Board |
JHBSPH |
|
K-25 |
|
LANL |
|
NIOSH |
National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health |
NSSP |
National Supplemental Screening Program |
ORNL |
|
PFWP |
Pantex Former Worker Medical Screening Program |
SNL-NM |
Sandia National Laboratories – |
SOMD |
Site Occupational Medicine Director |
SRS |
|
UNM |
|
WHPP |
Worker Health Protection Program |
Y-12 |
Y-12 National Security Complex |
Among the worker health programs
that have been revitalized by the Office of Health, Safety and Security (HSS),
one of the most significant is the Energy Department’s Former Worker Medical
Screening Program, otherwise known as the Former Worker Program (FWP).
Through outreach and medical screening activities, this program has
provided extremely valuable diagnostic health information to numerous former
workers since the program began in 1996.
The FWP identifies, notifies and makes medical screening services
available to the more than 600,000 former employees who have worked in the
weapons complex during the past 60 years for the Department of Energy or its
predecessor agencies. Medical
screening examinations are designed to check for adverse health effects related
to occupational exposures and are conducted by dedicated medical experts from
consortia of universities, unions, and commercial organizations with expertise
in administration of medical programs.
Most participants examined have been found to be healthy; however, those
with medical findings have been referred for medical follow-up or referred to
the Department of Labor’s Energy Employee Occupational Illness Compensation
Program, which compensates DOE employees for occupational illnesses.
HSS has developed stronger and
more effective relationships with the Labor Department and the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to increase the effectiveness of
programs addressing the health care of former workers, and enhancing assistance
to all eligible workers who have had exposures to radiation and other toxic
substances. In addition to the
obvious benefits to workers and former workers, this initiative is having a
positive impact on health care costs.
Even with HSS’s positive outreach,
many former workers still have not enrolled in this program, either for initial
medical screening or for re-screening after their initial evaluation.
HSS will redouble its efforts to reach out to these former workers and to
assist all the workers who wish to take advantage of the program’s benefits.
The FWP demonstrates the Department’s commitment to those workers who
served our nation through the important work conducted by the Department of
Energy and its predecessor agencies.
HSS is committed to the safety and
health of our workforce and will ensure continued support of this important
program. It is important that our
current workers are aware that the Department will not forget those who
previously worked here. Equally
important is that the current workers know that they too will be eligible for
the program’s benefits after they leave the Department.
We, together with the consortia, will work together to strengthen the
program through current and planned programmatic enhancements identified in this
report. This report is a testimony
of our collective commitment to all those who served our nation through the
important work conducted by the Department of Energy and its predecessor
agencies.
Glenn S. Podonsky
Chief Health, Safety and
Security Officer
The U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) Former Worker Medical Screening Program, otherwise known as the Former
Worker Program (FWP), provides for the conduct of ongoing medical screenings for
former DOE workers to identify adverse health conditions that may have resulted
from working at DOE facilities.
Mandated by Congress in the Defense Authorization Act of 1993 (P.L. 102-484),
the FWP provides medical screening, including examinations, to check for adverse
health effects that could be related to radiation, noise, beryllium, asbestos,
silica, lead, cadmium, chromium, solvents, and other occupational exposures.
In addition, a limited number of health assessments are provided for
personal health conditions, such as blood sugar, blood cholesterol, blood
pressure, and smoking, without significantly impacting the overall cost of the
program.
The program, managed by the DOE
Office of Health, Safety and Security, uses independent occupational health
experts through cooperative agreements held by consortia of universities, labor
unions, and commercial organizations throughout the
The approach that DOE has used to
establish and implement the FWP has resulted in recognition of the program’s
high degree of credibility by former workers, participating physicians and other
medical providers, and other U.S. Government agencies, such as the Department of
Labor. The program’s strengths
center on the use of the best available, evidence-based approach to determine
possible causality of disease; the involvement of national occupational medicine
leaders and use of independent organizations to administer the medical
screenings; aggressive and multi-faceted outreach programs; uniformity of
protocol and equity of access across DOE sites; and a respect for the
confidentiality and protection of former worker medical screening information.
DOE intends to further improve
upon the demonstrated strengths of the FWP by continuing to enhance
communications with participants, current workers, and other stakeholders,
including other government agencies such as the Department of Labor and the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; streamlining FWP project
protocol review processes to improve the efficiency of operations; and focusing
attention on programmatic issues requiring periodic review.
Finally, DOE will also explore additional ways that the FWP can benefit
former workers and will further examine the use of computed tomography for
cancer screening purposes within the FWP.
This annual report provides an
update to the 2007 report summarizing the work that has been conducted since the
inception of the FWP.
The purpose of this report is to
provide an overview of the history, goals, accomplishments, and future direction
of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Former Worker Medical Screening Program,
or Former Worker Program (FWP). DOE
places the highest priority on continuing the work of the FWP as required by the
Defense Authorization Act of 1993 to establish and carry out a program for the
identification and ongoing medical evaluation of its current and former
employees who may be subject to significant health risks from possible exposure
to hazardous or radioactive substances.
The Department has developed the programmatic and institutional
infrastructure to provide initial medical screening that is available to all DOE
workers. This infrastructure
includes designated regional centers located near major DOE sites.
In addition, DOE expanded the program in 2005 to include the National
Supplemental Screening Program, which provides medical screening services to
former DOE workers from sites not covered by a regional project or workers who
no longer live in close proximity to the regional screening clinics.
This supplemental program ensures that all former DOE workers have ready
access to screening, regardless of their previous worksite or location.
This nationwide, comprehensive network of over 10,000 health clinics in
close proximity to most workers’ residences, constructed through considerable
effort by DOE in conjunction with universities and other organizations,
represents tangible evidence of the Department’s commitment to its former
workers.
The FWP is managed by the
Department’s Office of Health, Safety and Security (HSS).
The FWP applies basic principles and a state-of-the-art methodology of
general medical screening tests to a set of occupational health conditions that
arise among DOE workers in order to provide detection of work-related diseases
and conditions at an early stage, allowing for successful treatment.
This program directly benefits former DOE workers by promoting early
identification of health problems and improving the understanding of health
risks that former workers may face because of possible workplace exposures
during their prior employment with DOE.
Since 1996, DOE has made great
strides in addressing the occupational health legacy of its 50 years of nuclear
weapons design and production. The
Department has successfully demonstrated the feasibility and value of conducting
targeted medical screening programs for occupational diseases among DOE workers
by using third-party medical experts who provide high-quality services,
resulting in high credibility with worker populations.
These screening programs have been extremely responsive to the directives
of Congress and to the needs and concerns of DOE workers.
While this program focuses on
former workers, current DOE workers are routinely screened either through the
onsite medical clinics or through contracted services provided by offsite
vendors. For example, beryllium
workers receive medical evaluations annually, and workers who were exposed to
beryllium in the past receive testing every three years.
The DOE FWP also plays a vital
role in assisting efforts undertaken by Congress and the Department to address
the needs of DOE workers. In 2000,
Congress passed the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program
Act (EEOICPA), administered by the Department of Labor (DOL), to compensate
current and former workers for illness and injuries that resulted from their
work at DOE facilities. The DOE FWP
complements EEOICPA, as it provides former DOE workers with medical evaluations
conducted by expert occupational medicine physicians and laboratories who
provide both the workers and the claims examiners with objective information for
decision-making about the appropriateness of compensation.
“As a former worker at
- Participant, Medical Screening Program for Former Workers of
1.1
Historical Background
From the earliest days of the
Manhattan Project in the 1940s, DOE and its predecessor organizations, the
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Energy Research and Development
Administration (ERDA), developed a nuclear weapons arsenal through a nationwide
industrial complex working with hazardous materials and processes.
The nuclear weapons industry was unlike any other industry.
The nuclear weapons complex and its committed workers, under the
heightened threat of nuclear conflict, worked with a sense of secrecy and
urgency. Equally important is the
fact that they worked in close quarters, in many cases, with a variety of
occupational hazards for several decades prior to the emergence of modern health
and safety regulations including DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, which was not established until 1971.
Moreover, affected individuals seeking medical treatment and/or workers’
compensation were not adequately informed regarding their occupational exposures
and thus could not obtain the most targeted, and therefore most effective,
screening available.
As the Cold War ramped down in the
early 1990s, the U.S. Government realized it had a commitment to remediate its
nuclear production facilities and address the health risks of the more than
600,000 former construction and production workers who had been involved in the
nuclear weapons programs.
To address the legacy of the Cold
War era and to ensure that current and future workers would be provided a higher
level of protection, Congress and DOE implemented three major programs: 1)
establishing medical screening for former DOE workers; 2) compensating former
DOE workers who had developed diseases as a result of working at DOE facilities;
and 3) implementing new regulations concerning worker safety to ensure that
mistakes of the past were not repeated.
The first of these programs was
initiated in 1992, when Congress passed the Defense Authorization Act of 1993.
Section 3162 of this Act authorized DOE to:
“…establish and
carry out a program for the identification and on-going medical evaluation of
its current and former employees who are subject to significant health risks as
a result of the exposure of such employees to hazardous or radioactive
substances during such employment.”
While Section 3162 called for DOE
to develop a program to provide ongoing medical evaluations for former workers
of defense nuclear facilities, the FWP was expanded in 2005 to include all
former DOE Federal, contractor, and subcontractor workers from all DOE sites.
Accordingly, the FWP provides a
process to:
Identify the
hazardous substances and radioactive substances to which former workers employed
by DOE and its subcontractors may have been exposed as a result of such
employment.
Identify former
workers employed by DOE and its subcontractors who may have been exposed to
hazardous or radioactive substances in the course of their employment.
Determine the
appropriate number, scope, and frequency of medical evaluations and laboratory
tests to be provided to former workers employed by DOE and its subcontractors
who may have received a level of exposure with significant health risks.
Make the
evaluations and tests available to program participants.
Inform program
participants of compensation benefits that might be available to them.
Ensure that
privacy is maintained and protected with respect to medical information that
personally identifies any program participant.
Ensure that
participation in the program is voluntary.
The simplicity and common sense
conveyed by Section 3162 belied the challenges that DOE faced in bringing this
directive to reality. The primary
challenges have been: 1) identifying and locating the vast number of former
workers who had worked within the DOE complex but were no longer employed; 2)
overcoming the distrust of former workers who felt that DOE had deceived them
about the nature of the risks that they faced; and 3) bringing the needed
occupational health expertise to DOE communities, most of which are located in
rural areas with few, if any, occupational medicine physicians.
From the start, DOE recognized
that a special approach would be needed for some groups, especially for
construction workers who had been employed intermittently by subcontractors.
For many of these workers, DOE had no records of employment or even of
the employers, and therefore the only way to reach these workers was through the
unions where they were members. In
addition, exposure records for these workers are likely not to exist or to be
incomplete, making it difficult to determine overall exposure levels.
Therefore, the screening programs for these workers had to follow a
model, in which the first step was a detailed work history interview made
specifically for construction work tasks.
Interviews were used to establish the kinds of risks to which these
workers had been exposed, so that medical exams could be tailored to those
risks.
Two pilot projects for
construction workers—Hanford and Oak Ridge—were started in 1996 by CPWR - The
Center for Construction Research and Training (formerly the Center to Protect
Workers’ Rights, CPWR) and the University of Cincinnati Medical Center using
identical protocols. In 2005, these
two individual projects were merged into one national program now called the
Building Trades National Medical Screening Program.
The protocols have now been adopted to cover construction workers from 23
DOE facilities.
DOE has forged unique
relationships with universities, labor groups, and organizations with expertise
in administration of medical programs throughout the country to administer the
FWP protocol. A debt of gratitude
is owed to these organizations for their dedication to this program:
·
Atomic Trades and
Labor Council
·
·
CPWR - The Center
for Construction Research and Training
·
Comprehensive
Health Services
·
Creative Pollution
Solutions, Inc.
·
·
·
·
·
National Jewish
Health
·
·
Occupational
Health Link
·
·
·
University of
·
University of
·
University of
·
University of
·
United
Steelworkers
·
Zenith
Administrators.
“The Medical Screening Program is a program we can’t afford not to be a part of.
It’s a first-class operation. We do whatever it takes to get our members
involved because it helps them avoid health risks down the road.”
- Participant, Building Trades National Medical Screening Program
1.2
Program Description
The FWP has four interrelated
program goals:
Identify and
contact DOE workers who may have been exposed to hazardous substances in the
course of DOE employment.
Conduct
appropriate medical screening of former workers who wish to participate in the
program.
Provide
information and assistance to affected workers in gaining medical care and
compensation for work-related illnesses.
Use the collected
information to implement controls for current operations in order to prevent or
reduce negative health effects for current and future employees.
These goals have the dual effect
of demonstrating DOE’s fulfillment of Congress’s mandate and gaining the
confidence of its workforce that it is both meeting its obligations to former
workers and protecting its current workers from preventable injury and illness.
In designing and conducting the
FWP, the Department has purposefully integrated a set of core principles that
promote program excellence by:
Ensuring that the
medical aspects of the program are designed and overseen by occupational
medicine experts
Employing a broad
range of outreach methods to ensure maximum participation of former workers
Utilizing
state-of-the-art medical screening techniques and analyses, when appropriate
Ensuring the
confidentiality and safeguarding of workers’ personal and medical data.
At the inception of the program,
the FWP included two major components: 1) a needs assessment phase to identify
groups of at-risk workers and site-specific exposures of concern; and 2) a
medical screening phase, which included notifying members of the at-risk groups
and providing medical screening examinations for interested individuals.
Since the program was expanded in 2005, medical screenings are available
to all concerned former Federal, contractor, and subcontractor workers.
The health conditions that are targeted through a uniform national
medical protocol are chronic lung disease and other major organ damage that may
be associated with occupational exposures to such hazards as noise, radiation,
beryllium, asbestos, silica, welding fumes, lead, cadmium, chromium, and
solvents.
In addition, the program examines
workers for common non-occupational health problems, focusing on blood sugar
(diabetes), cholesterol (coronary artery disease), blood pressure
(cardiovascular disease), and smoking (heart and lung disease and cancer).
This is not intended to be a comprehensive examination but to complement
the screening services to some degree without significantly impacting the cost
of the exam.
To initiate efficient and
inclusive screening programs, HSS has worked with DOE Headquarters program
offices to obtain rosters of former employees from site contractors and DOE site
offices. Invitations are sent to
employees on the rosters, using the most recently known addresses.
When addresses are found to be outdated or inaccurate, supplemental
methods are used; these include Internal Revenue Service mailings or
address-update services. A second
method of reaching out to former DOE workers is through personal contact and
program visibility within DOE communities.
Building and Construction Trade Councils, construction contractors, and
local unions are also involved in identifying potential FWP participants.
The labor unions that have been actively involved in the FWP employ, in
many instances, former workers who serve as local outreach coordinators to
contact individuals, attend group meetings (e.g., retiree clubs, Lions Clubs,
fairs), contact local media, and publish articles in union newsletters to
increase awareness of the FWP.
Newspaper ads and public service radio announcements are also used.
These outreach methods have the added benefit of making current workers
and families of DOE workers aware of this beneficial activity undertaken by DOE.
DOL has also assisted with outreach in the past by providing FWP
information to their claimants on behalf of DOE.
“The entire process was very professional and very timely run.
I appreciated the exam and the expeditious way that I received the
results.
To be truthful I don’t
know how you can improve your current system.
It was a nice change from the 1/2 to 1 hour wait in my doctor’s office.
Thanks.”
- Participant, Pantex Former Worker Medical Screening Program
The medical screening examinations
delivered by a network of over 10,000 medical clinics are comprehensive and
include physical examinations, occupational and medical history questionnaires,
chest x-rays with interpretation for occupational lung disease (B reading),
spirometry, beryllium lymphocyte proliferation tests (BeLPT), blood chemistry
tests, urinalyses, and audiometry tests.
In addition, at certain sites, workers with a history of additional
exposures have received specialized testing (e.g., bladder cancer testing at Oak
Ridge K-25, mercury exposure testing for construction workers at Oak Ridge Y-12,
silicosis testing at the Nevada Test Site).
All medical information that is
collected as part of this program is treated as confidential and is used only as
allowed by the Privacy Act of 1974, and all FWP activities are conducted with
the approval of the Institutional Review Boards (Human Subjects Committees) of
DOE and involved universities. All
individuals sign an informed consent and Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA) authorization prior to participation.
2.0
Program Strengths and Accomplishments
2.1
Program Strengths
The approach that DOE has used to
establish and implement the FWP has resulted in recognition of the program’s
credibility by former workers, participating physicians and other medical
providers, and other U.S. Government agencies, such as DOL.
The strengths are:
Use of the
best available, evidence-based approach to determine possible
occupational causality of disease
Aggressive and
multi-faceted outreach programs
Involvement of
national leaders in occupational medicine and use of world-renowned medical
institutions knowledgeable with respect to respiratory diseases
Uniformity of
protocol and equity of access across DOE sites
Respect for the
confidentiality of former workers’ medical screening information.
“A program employee was at a local supermarket when a past program participant
called her over and asked her if she recognized him.
“Don’t you recognize me?
Your Program saved my life, you know.”
The former worker continued to tell the employee that the program
referred him to his personal physician because of a discrepancy in his physical
exam.
Turns out he had colon cancer
and had just had his last chemotherapy treatment.”
- Participant, Medical Exam Program for Former Workers from
2.2
Achievement of Stated Goals
Each FWP team focuses on a
distinct subset of the former worker population to:
Workers eligible for this program
include all former DOE Federal, contractor, and subcontractor employees from all
facilities, not just those involved in the nuclear weapons program.
A map showing DOE sites where regional projects have been initiated is
presented in Figure 1. Sites where
regional projects have not yet been set up are covered by the national programs
for screening construction and production workers.
To establish an efficient
nationwide medical screening program, DOE entered into cooperative agreements
with universities, labor unions, and commercial organizations with expertise in
administration of occupational medical programs.
Over 360,000 potential FWP participants have been contacted as of
December 2008. Table 5.1 (see Section 5) illustrates the number of former workers by
site that the FWP service providers have attempted to contact.
Site- and population-specific
medical screening was initiated on a pilot basis at 12 sites in 1996-1997 and
was gradually expanded to provide medical screening at all DOE sites.
The DOE sites, sponsoring organizations, and the year that screening was
initiated are provided in Table 5.2.
As of December 2008, 55,285 individuals have undergone at least one
medical screening examination (Table 5.3).
In addition, 7,371 people have undergone re-screening three years after
their initial screening and evaluation (Table 5.4).
A breakdown of the number of individuals screened and re-screened by DOE
site is presented in Figure 2.
BNL |
Brookhaven National
Laboratory |
KCP |
|
NTS |
|
IAAP |
|
LANL |
|
SNL-NM |
Sandia National
Laboratories – |
INL |
|
LLNL |
|
SRS |
|
Figure 2.
Number of Individuals Screened and Re-screened by DOE Site through
December 31, 2008
Two important program developments
occurred in 2005-2006 to address the special needs of sub-populations of DOE
workers. Construction workers
throughout the DOE complex are now served by a part of the FWP that is
structured to meet the requirements of former workers who have had many
different employers and highly intermittent job-related exposures due to the
nature of work conducted by the building trades at DOE sites.
These workers not only have those exposures typical of construction
workers, but they are also exposed to additional hazardous substances within the
production environment. Secondly, a
supplemental program was created to find and offer medical screening to former
workers who have retired to locations distant from their worksites and to
workers whose site medical screening programs had been phased out or, in some
cases, never established.
The results
of the medical screening conducted thus far are as follows1:
·
Approximately
11,500 people, or 23.8 percent of those screened, had evidence of obstructive
airways disease as indicated by spirometry (Table 5.3).
Such findings typically indicate chronic obstructive airways disease (or
emphysema) and/or asthma. While
smoking is a prime cause of chronic obstructive airways disease, occupational
exposures to irritants at DOE sites also likely contributed to the development
of this disorder in some cases.
·
Hearing loss is
extremely common among DOE former workers, with 59.4 percent, or 25,361 workers,
meeting the definition of noise-induced hearing loss (Table 5.3).
Given that the average age of the former worker population screened is
62, hearing impairment in a large percentage of these individuals is most likely
a combination of age and noise exposure.
·
Beryllium, a light
metal that has been heavily used at DOE facilities, sometimes causes
sensitization that may lead to chronic beryllium disease.
Over 43,000 workers have participated in beryllium screening.
Of these 1,318, or 3.1 percent, had at least one abnormal BeLPT.
Table 5.5 illustrates beryllium testing findings.
In fiscal year (FY) 2000, Congress
directed DOE to initiate a pilot program using computed tomography (CT) scanning
for workers at the gaseous diffusion plants (K-25, Paducah, and Portsmouth) to
allow early detection of lung cancer, a type of cancer for which existing
treatments have limited effectiveness unless the cancer is detected at an early,
curable stage. DOE was further
directed in FY 2006 to begin a similar program at the Y-12 National Security
Complex and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and in FY 2008 to conduct
such CT screening for workers at Mound, Fernald, and the gaseous diffusion
plants. While some uncertainty
remains about the benefits of CT scan screening to reduce lung cancer mortality,
the Department provides this type of screening for participants who meet
eligibility requirements, including a history of at-risk occupational exposures,
in order to gather the data needed to make a final determination as to how this
type of testing will be administered more broadly within the FWP.
Between 2000 and 2006, the FWP
servicing the gaseous diffusion plants used state-of-the-art CT scanning to
screen 6,220 former and current gaseous diffusion plant workers to detect small,
early lung malignancies. Between
2006 and 2008, 2,335 former workers from Y-12 and ORNL were screened using CT
scanning. The results of the CT
scanning conducted thus far are as follows:
DOE Site |
Number of Participants Screened |
Number of Lung Cancers Detected |
% Lung Cancers Detected at Early Stage |
|
1,737 |
8 |
88% |
|
2,047 |
18 |
78% |
K-25 |
2,436 |
19 |
79% |
ORNL |
648 |
4 |
25% |
Y-12 |
1,687 |
7 |
100%* |
TOTAL |
8,555 |
56 |
79% |
*Final results have
been obtained for 5 of the 7 lung cancers detected in Y-12 participants.
One hundred percent of these lung cancer cases (5 of 5) were classified
as early lung cancer. Information
on the remaining two cases is expected shortly.
An additional component of this
pilot program is monitoring of mortality of the participants screened for early
lung cancer detection at the gaseous diffusion plants in 2000-2006.
This monitoring is performed through periodic receipt of vital status and
cause-of-death information from the National Death Index.
Screening for personal health
needs has also been very useful.
While these exams do not add significant cost to the program, they have produced
significant added benefits for participants.
Data from the Building Trades National Medical Screening Program have
shown that on the first exam 35 to 50 percent tested abnormal, but 44 to 57
percent of these participants who tested abnormal on the first exam were normal
when they returned for a re-exam three years later.
The results from the initial exam and the re-screening exam are as
follows:
Condition |
Abnormal on First Exam |
Abnormal on First Exam and |
Blood sugar |
38.8% |
44.2% |
Blood cholesterol |
51.2% |
53.4% |
Blood pressure |
35.7% |
57.5% |
The FWP requires that follow-up
activities be conducted when medical screening tests indicate adverse medical
findings. Individuals who are found
to have adverse medical findings are referred to their personal physicians for
follow-up care. They are also
informed about the availability of EEOICPA benefits and are referred to DOL,
which administers the EEOICPA program.
Participants with abnormal beryllium blood test results are informed of
the follow-up diagnostic testing that is funded through the EEOICPA upon
acceptance of their claim.
As a result of the FWP, DOE has
incorporated significant workplace hazard controls, and analysis methods have
been enhanced in the areas of maintenance, construction, and decontamination and
demolition operations. In addition,
DOE has applied operational lessons learned to its current workforce based on
exposures identified through the FWP.
“The best medical exam I have ever had.”
- Participant, National Supplemental Screening Program
As a result of the data gathered
from screenings for chronic beryllium disease among current and former DOE
Federal and contractor workers, DOE initiated the Chronic Beryllium Disease
Prevention Program, codified in Title 10 C.F.R. Part 850, for its current
workforce. This program requires
DOE sites to inventory and assess beryllium exposure hazards to determine
whether employees are at risk for chronic beryllium disease.
Sites that identify employees at risk due to ongoing or past work must
implement chronic beryllium disease prevention programs that include reporting
health and exposure data to the DOE Beryllium-Associated Worker Registry.
These sites are required to submit summary data in semi-annual progress
reports. Health data are collected
through medical surveillance programs for current workers at 21 DOE sites.
Exposure data are collected through industrial hygiene programs at 16
sites that have continuing beryllium operations.
The findings from the Building
Trades National Medical Screening Program have led to significant changes in DOE
safety and health procedures during construction operations.
In particular, the findings have led to a general awareness that
beryllium exposures are a significant risk for construction workers.
The Savannah River Site instituted a policy change requiring
characterization of facilities for beryllium before construction operations
start and providing construction workers with suitable protection.
Also, due to the unexpectedly large percentage of former construction
workers from Brookhaven National Laboratory who have received abnormal beryllium
tests, this program met with site leadership in September 2008 to inform them of
the program’s beryllium screening results and to discuss implications for
integrated safety and health programs.
2.3
Overall Accomplishments
The program has resulted in a
high level of satisfaction among participating former DOE workers.
A rating of satisfactory was obtained in no less than 85 percent of
customer satisfaction surveys received from FWP participants who had medical
screenings over the past several years, as indicated by records maintained by
HSS. In FY 2008, an average of 95.5
percent of the participants indicated satisfaction with the program.
The vast majority of participants are very satisfied with the program in
general, the services they receive, the quality of the personnel, and the
timeliness of service delivery.
The program has been able to
match national occupational medicine expertise with local parties throughout the
DOE complex.
To overcome both the longstanding shortage of occupational medicine
expertise in DOE communities and the perceived lack of objectivity of local
physicians expressed by some DOE workers, DOE has attracted renowned
occupational medicine physicians from across the country to develop and conduct
the FWP medical screening program using a network of over 10,000 clinics and
prominent medical institutions with expertise in respiratory conditions.
These physicians have worked with local clinical facilities and local
labor unions to ensure highly accessible and appropriate medical screening
services and follow-up.
The program has created good
will among former DOE workers and local DOE communities.
The
implementation of the FWP has demonstrated good will and has in some cases
softened the distrust of former workers who felt that DOE deceived them about
the nature of the risks that they faced while working for the Department.
The FWP has identified pre-cancerous conditions and cancers at early
stages, allowing successful treatment and, in some cases, the elimination of the
disease, thus substantially improving the health and well being of many former
workers who participated in the program.
With the knowledge that DOE is committed to worker safety and health,
current workers will likely have fewer concerns about working at DOE sites, will
remain with DOE longer than they would have otherwise, and will be more
productive while employed. In
addition, a valuable added benefit of the medical screenings provided through
the FWP is the identification of non-occupational health conditions, such as
uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, and elevated cholesterol levels.
“I received an urgent call from
- Participant, Worker Health Protection Program
Since the publication of the first
FWP Annual Report in January 2008, a number of initiatives have been undertaken
to improve upon past successes of this program.
1.
Sharing quarterly progress reports
with DOE Site Occupational Medicine Directors (SOMDs).
In an effort to open lines of communication between the former and
current worker programs and to foster a better working relationship, DOE asked
the FWP projects to share copies of their quarterly reports with each SOMD.
In so doing, DOE not only informs the SOMDs of the medical findings, but
also provides useful information for current workers’ health and safety
programs. In particular, this
information is important for construction workers performing maintenance,
remodeling, or cleanup in buildings contaminated with beryllium, asbestos, or
other hazardous materials.
2.
Requesting input from SOMDs
concerning the data collected and reported on quarterly progress reports.
DOE recently participated in an Energy Facility
Contractors Group (EFCOG) conference call, including SOMDs from across the
complex, and requested recommendations for improving upon the information that
is currently collected and reported.
3.
Holding biannual program meetings.
Since its creation, HSS has held three biannual program meetings.
Principal investigators, project coordinators, and other project staff
have met in
4. Forming a Task Group to explore program issues requiring focused attention. At the second biannual meeting, a Task Group was created to review program issues, including:
Revising Medical Screening/Re-screening Protocols to include additional tests on exam/re-exam. General health assessments have been added to the screening/re-screening protocol to further benefit former workers by identifying non-occupational conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and elevated cholesterol levels. These screenings add very little, and in some cases no, additional cost to the program.
Reviewing language relating to potential work-relatedness
and possible compensability of medical findings based on “de-identified”
letters reporting medical results (i.e., letters stripped of personally
identifiable information) collected from each project.
5.
Promoting participation by DOL and
the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
DOL and NIOSH met in November 2008 with DOE and FWP
project staff to discuss how to link the FWP and EEOICPA efforts in order to
better serve the former DOE worker population.
Interfacing these two programs presents an opportunity for expanded
success in outreach and program implementation of EEOICPA.
6.
Informing current workers as they
leave DOE employment that they are eligible for FWP benefits.
HSS is working to ensure that each DOE site has program
information to share with workers as they retire/separate from DOE.
7.
Obtaining updated rosters of
former workers.
HSS is
working with DOE program offices to obtain rosters of former workers from sites
where screening has recently started, and updated rosters of workers who have
retired or separated since previous rosters were obtained.
The response from the program offices as a result of this request has
been very positive, and we are receiving updated records to share with the FWPs.
8. Enhancing FWP planning, reporting, and budgeting processes:
HSS recently revised the monthly financial report submitted by each project to ensure consistency in reporting and to enable DOE to better track project spending rates and plan for future budgetary needs.
Quarterly progress reports are being revised to separate
medical findings from initial screening exams vs. re-screening exams, and to
incorporate surveillance case definitions developed for multiple medical
conditions to ensure consistency in reporting across the program.
9.
Sharing knowledge and best
practices.
Through the
biannual program meetings, the group continues to share lessons learned and
processes for improving program activities, such as outreach methods.
In addition, a coordinated effort on the part of FWP project staff has
resulted in cost-effective methods, such as sharing rosters and address-update
services, to achieve program goals.
This approach allows the projects to increase the number of medical screenings
conducted within budget constraints.
10.
Addressing preservation and
ownership of DOE site records.
To deal with preservation and ownership of site and
personnel records for DOE contractors and subcontractors, HSS is working with
the DOE Office of the Chief Information Officer to ensure that this issue is
addressed in all contracts. This
provision will mitigate past concerns and will ensure continuity of records
management. Acquiring rosters of
former workers for the purpose of inviting them to participate in this program
has, at times, been challenging.
Clarifying ownership of these records will facilitate outreach to former workers
in the future.
“I wish to thank your screening program for possibly saving my life by
participating in your free medical screening.
The X-ray picked up a spot in my right lung.
I was contacted by the doctor in
- Participant, Former Worker Medical Screening Program for the
To continue making significant
contributions and providing diagnostic health information to former workers and
to ensure the Department continues to meet its obligation, DOE will conduct the
following activities:
HSS will continue to publish annual
reports in order to communicate program findings to all stakeholders.
a.
Continue to
improve communication with participants and stakeholders.
b.
HSS will work with
the DOE Office of Science Human Subjects Protection Program to create a DOE
Central Institutional Review Board (IRB) in order to streamline the annual IRB
process for reviewing FWP protocols, informational materials, and informed
consents. Projects are reviewed to
assure that they meet proper standards of human subject protection and that they
accurately describe the benefits and risks of participating in the screening
program, the process to be undertaken, and how their test results will be stored
and protected. In most cases, each
FWP project has been reviewed by its own organization’s IRB, the DOE site IRB,
and the DOE Central Beryllium IRB.
DOE is working to restructure the current process to minimize duplication of
efforts because FWP projects have received multiple reviews over the course of
this program’s existence. This
process change would improve the efficiency of operations.
c.
The FWP Task Group
will continue to meet regularly to review issues requiring focused attention.
A priority for this group in the coming year is to thoroughly review the
de-identified letters containing medical results provided by each FWP project.
This review will help determine what improvements could be made to better
communicate the possibility that medical findings discovered during exams may be
work-related, as well as the potential compensability of such findings.
Tables 5.1 through 5.5 summarize
the detailed results of FWP operations through December 2008.
In past years, sites reported the
total number of contacts attempted and medical tests performed.
This year, to provide a better measure of FWP activity, sites were asked
to report the number of individuals to whom attempted contacts were
directed or who were tested.
Because of this change in reporting, the numbers reported here cannot be
directly compared to those provided in previous annual reports.
Table 5.1
Number of Former Workers Contacted by DOE Site
Note:
Numbers refer to individuals to whom attempted contacts were directed, rather
than total number of attempted contacts.
Site |
Former Workers
Contacted |
|
3,967 |
|
3,966 |
|
461 |
Brookhaven National
Laboratory (Construction workers) |
1,095 |
Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory |
13 |
Fernald (Construction
workers) |
1,785 |
Fernald (Production
workers) |
51,290 |
Hanford Site (Construction
workers) |
5,016 |
Hanford Site (Production
workers) |
53,896 |
Idaho National Laboratory
(Construction workers) |
1,843 |
Idaho National Laboratory
(Production workers) |
42,135 |
|
4,173 |
Kansas City Plant
(Construction workers) |
751 |
Kansas City Plant
(Production workers) |
1,903 |
|
96 |
|
4,447 |
|
25,506 |
Misc. small sites
(Construction workers) |
960 |
Misc. small sites
(Production workers) |
35 |
Mound (Construction
workers) |
571 |
Mound (Production workers) |
15,284 |
|
13,561 |
Oak Ridge Reservation2
(Construction workers) |
5,332 |
Oak Ridge K-25 (Production
workers) |
27,759 |
Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (Production workers) |
5,657 |
Oak Ridge Y-12 (Production
workers) |
8,244 |
Paducah GDP (Construction
workers) |
1,139 |
Paducah GDP (Production
workers) |
6,511 |
Pantex Plant |
4,221 |
Pinellas Plant (Production
workers) |
206 |
Portsmouth GDP
(Construction workers) |
1,279 |
Portsmouth GDP (Production
workers) |
13,635 |
|
514 |
Rocky Flats (Construction
workers) |
1,110 |
Rocky Flats (Production
workers) |
15,315 |
Sandia National
Laboratories, CA |
332 |
Sandia National
Laboratories, NM |
2,238 |
Savannah River Site
(Construction workers) |
4,711 |
Savannah River Site
(Production workers) |
31,563 |
TOTAL |
362,520 |
Table 5.2
Implementing Organizations
DOE Site3 |
Location |
Year Screening
Initiated |
Organization |
Key Personnel |
|
|
2000 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
|
|
2006 |
University of |
|
|
|
2005 |
|
Donna Cragle, PhD
John McInerney, MD
Lee Newman, MD |
Brookhaven National
Laboratory (Construction workers) |
|
2006 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
Brookhaven National
Laboratory (Production workers) |
|
Will begin in 2009 |
|
Steven Markowitz, MD |
Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory |
|
2005 |
|
Donna Cragle, PhD
John McInerney, MD
Lee Newman, MD |
Fernald (Construction
workers) |
|
2005 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
Fernald (Production
workers) |
|
2006 |
|
Steven Markowitz, MD
Ray Beatty |
Hanford Site (Construction
workers) |
|
1998 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
Hanford Site (Production workers)4 |
|
1998 |
|
Donna Cragle, PhD
John McInerney, MD
Lee Newman, MD |
Idaho National Laboratory
(Construction workers) |
|
2005 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
Idaho National Laboratory
(Production workers) |
|
2000 |
United Steel Workers, |
Jim Frederick
Steven Markowitz, MD |
|
|
2002 |
University of |
|
Kansas City Plant
(Construction workers) |
|
2005 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
Kansas City Plant
(Production workers) |
|
2005 |
|
Donna Cragle, PhD
John McInerney, MD
Lee Newman, MD |
|
|
2008 |
|
Lewis Pepper, MD, MPH
Robert Harrison, MD, MPH |
|
|
2007 |
|
Lewis Pepper, MD, MPH
Robert Harrison, MD, MPH |
|
|
2000 |
|
Brian Schwartz, MD, MS
Patrick Breysse, PhD, CIH |
Mound (Construction
workers) |
|
2005 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
Mound (Production workers) |
|
2006 |
United Steel Workers, |
Jim Frederick
Steven Markowitz, MD |
|
|
1997 |
|
Donna Cragle, PhD
John McInerney, MD
Lee Newman, MD |
Oak Ridge K-25 (Production
workers) |
|
1996 |
United Steel Workers, |
Jim Frederick
Steven Markowitz, MD |
Oak Ridge Reservation6
(Construction workers) |
|
1999 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (Production workers) |
|
2005 |
|
Steven Markowitz, MD
Garry Whitley |
Oak Ridge Y-12 (Production
workers) |
|
2005 |
|
Steven Markowitz, MD
Garry Whitley |
Paducah GDP (Construction
workers) |
|
2004 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
Paducah GDP (Production
workers) |
|
1999 |
United Steel Workers and |
Jim Frederick
Steven Markowitz, MD |
Pantex Plant |
|
2005 |
|
Arthur Frank, MD, PhD |
Pinellas Plant
(Construction workers) |
|
2005 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
Pinellas Plant (Production
workers) |
|
2005 |
|
Donna Cragle, PhD
John McInerney, MD
Lee Newman, MD |
Portsmouth GDP
(Construction workers) |
|
2004 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
Portsmouth GDP (Production
workers) |
|
1999 |
United Steel Workers, |
Jim Frederick
Steven Markowitz, MD |
|
|
2005 |
|
Donna Cragle, PhD
John McInerney, MD
Lee Newman, MD |
Rocky Flats (Construction
workers) |
|
2006 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
Rocky Flats (Production workers – beryllium and radiation)7 |
|
2005 |
|
Donna Cragle, PhD
John McInerney, MD
Lee Newman, MD |
Sandia National
Laboratories |
|
2007 |
|
Lewis Pepper, MD, MPH
Robert Harrison, MD, MPH |
Sandia National
Laboratories |
|
2006 |
|
Maureen Cadorette, PhD
Brian Schwartz, MD, MS |
Savannah River Site
(Construction workers) |
|
1999 |
CPWR - The Center for
Construction Research and Training, University of |
Knut Ringen, DrPH, MHA,
MPH |
Savannah River Site
(Production workers) |
|
1999 |
|
David Hoel, PhD |
Table 5.3
Selected Health Findings by DOE Site
Note:
Numbers refer to individuals tested, rather than number of tests conducted.
DOE Site |
Total Participants |
Spirometry |
Audiograms |
||||
Tested |
Obstructive Airways Disease Detected
8 |
Tested |
Hearing Loss
Detected |
||||
(No.) |
(%) |
(No.) |
(%) |
||||
|
1,334 |
1,035 |
187 |
18.1% |
984 |
626 |
63.6% |
|
662 |
651 |
155 |
23.8% |
N/A9 |
|
|
Brookhaven National
Laboratory (Construction workers) |
456 |
371 |
209 |
56.3% |
354 |
189 |
53.4% |
Fernald (Construction
workers) |
1,211 |
1,012 |
238 |
23.5% |
992 |
389 |
39.2% |
Fernald (Production
workers) |
742 |
706 |
105 |
14.9% |
721 |
182 |
25.2% |
Hanford Site (Construction
workers) |
2,683 |
2,102 |
599 |
28.5% |
1,424 |
945 |
66.4% |
Hanford Site (Production
workers) |
3,764 |
3,363 |
837 |
24.9% |
2,732 |
1,327 |
48.6% |
Idaho National Laboratory
(Construction workers) |
718 |
570 |
157 |
27.5% |
512 |
288 |
56.3% |
Idaho National Laboratory
(Production workers) |
3,940 |
3,846 |
732 |
19.0% |
3,790 |
2,252 |
59.4% |
|
1,082 |
990 |
473 |
47.8% |
N/A10 |
|
|
Kansas City Plant
(Construction workers) |
411 |
360 |
82 |
22.8% |
329 |
167 |
50.8% |
Kansas City Plant
(Production workers) |
1,579 |
1,538 |
336 |
21.8% |
1,537 |
693 |
45.1% |
|
804 |
772 |
194 |
25.1% |
404 |
102 |
25.2% |
|
2,488 |
1,58611 |
98 |
6.2% |
2,212 |
1,269 |
57.4% |
Mound (Construction
workers) |
280 |
240 |
61 |
25.4% |
224 |
121 |
54.0% |
Mound (Production workers) |
1,077 |
1,010 |
239 |
23.7% |
1,035 |
465 |
44.9% |
|
3,881 |
3,881 |
1,433 |
36.9% |
3,490 |
2,848 |
81.6% |
Oak Ridge K-25 (Production
workers) |
4,234 |
4,118 |
873 |
21.2% |
3,825 |
2,595 |
67.8% |
Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (Production workers) |
948 |
922 |
200 |
21.7% |
896 |
529 |
59.0% |
Oak Ridge Reservation
(Construction workers)12 |
2,225 |
1,815 |
451 |
24.8% |
1,667 |
1,132 |
67.9% |
Oak Ridge Y-12 (Production
workers) |
2,100 |
2,013 |
484 |
24.0% |
1,974 |
1,191 |
60.3% |
Other sites (Construction
workers)13 |
342 |
316 |
75 |
23.7% |
289 |
158 |
54.7% |
Other sites (Production
workers) 14 |
286 |
272 |
80 |
29.4% |
222 |
104 |
46.8% |
Paducah GDP (Construction
workers) |
716 |
640 |
195 |
30.5% |
588 |
430 |
73.1% |
Paducah GDP (Production
workers) |
2,903 |
2,833 |
474 |
16.7% |
2,888 |
1,916 |
66.3% |
Pantex Plant |
512 |
500 |
121 |
24.2% |
N/A15 |
|
|
Pinellas Plant (Production
workers) |
166 |
160 |
48 |
30.0% |
161 |
50 |
31.1% |
Portsmouth GDP
(Construction workers) |
837 |
676 |
166 |
24.6% |
658 |
444 |
67.5% |
Portsmouth GDP (Production
workers) |
3,305 |
3,270 |
706 |
21.6% |
3,299 |
1,913 |
58.0% |
Rocky Flats (Construction
workers) |
444 |
374 |
131 |
35.0% |
351 |
207 |
59.0% |
Rocky Flats (Production
workers) |
2,092 |
2,061 |
659 |
32.0% |
740 |
338 |
45.7% |
Sandia National
Laboratories (NM only) |
233 |
22116 |
20 |
9.0% |
198 |
107 |
54.0% |
Savannah River Site
(Construction workers)
|
3,225 |
2,804 |
573 |
20.4% |
2,775 |
1,337 |
48.2% |
Savannah River Site
(Production workers) |
3,605 |
1,355 |
148 |
10.9% |
1,398 |
1,047 |
74.9% |
TOTAL |
55,285 |
48,383 |
11,539 |
23.8% |
42,669 |
25,361 |
59.4% |
Table 5.4
Number of Former Workers Re-screened by DOE Site
Note:
Numbers refer to individuals re-tested three years after their initial
screening, rather than number of tests conducted.
Site |
Former Workers
Re-screened |
|
380 |
Hanford Site (Construction
workers) |
615 |
Hanford Site (Production
workers) |
942 |
Idaho National Laboratory
(Production workers) |
449 |
|
517 |
|
187 |
|
847 |
Oak Ridge Reservation17
(Construction workers) |
665 |
Oak Ridge K-25 (Production
workers) |
421 |
Paducah GDP (Construction
workers) |
147 |
Paducah GDP (Production
workers) |
448 |
Portsmouth GDP
(Construction workers) |
135 |
Portsmouth GDP (Production
workers) |
620 |
Rocky Flats (Production
workers) |
260 |
Savannah River Site
(Construction workers) |
718 |
Savannah River Site
(Production workers) |
20 |
TOTAL |
7,371 |
Table 5.5
Results of Beryllium Lymphocyte Proliferation Tests by DOE Site (through
December 2008)
DOE Site |
Number of
Participants Tested |
Participants with
Abnormal Test (No. (%)) |
|
654 |
29 (4.4%) |
Brookhaven National
Laboratory (Construction workers) |
372 |
25 (6.7%) |
Fernald (Construction
workers) |
1,034 |
15 (1.5%) |
Fernald (Production
workers) |
562 |
9 (1.6%) |
Hanford Site (Construction
workers) |
2,095 |
58 (2.8%) |
Hanford Site (Production
workers) |
2,950 |
108 (3.7%) |
Idaho National Laboratory
(Construction workers) |
590 |
16 (2.7%) |
Idaho National Laboratory
(Production workers) |
3,601 |
86 (2.4%) |
|
1,062 |
38 (3.6%) |
Kansas City Plant
(Construction workers) |
365 |
13 (3.6%) |
Kansas City Plant
(Production workers) |
1,468 |
56 (3.8%) |
|
445 |
21 (4.7%) |
|
2,512 |
65 (2.6%) |
Mound (Construction
workers) |
244 |
2 (0.8%) |
Mound (Production workers) |
996 |
34 (3.4%) |
|
2,106 |
49 (2.3%) |
Oak Ridge K-25 (Production
workers) |
4,116 |
211 (5.1%) |
Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (Production workers) |
900 |
35 (3.9%) |
Oak Ridge Reservation
(Construction workers)18 |
2,044 |
41 (2.0%) |
|
2,015 |
101 (5.0%) |
Other sites (Construction
workers) 19 |
411 |
6 (1.5%) |
Other sites (Production
workers) 20 |
185 |
8 (4.3%) |
Paducah GDP (Construction
workers) |
656 |
23 (3.5%) |
Paducah GDP (Production
workers) |
2,396 |
73 (3.0%) |
Pantex Plant |
481 |
8 (1.7%) |
Pinellas Plant (Production
workers) |
153 |
9 (5.9%) |
Portsmouth GDP
(Construction workers) |
696 |
15 (2.2%) |
Portsmouth GDP (Production
workers) |
2,865 |
42 (1.5%) |
Rocky Flats (Construction
workers) |
408 |
6 (1.5%) |
Rocky Flats (Production
workers) |
739 |
19 (2.6%) |
Sandia National
Laboratories, NM |
218 |
8 (3.7%) |
Savannah River Site
(Construction workers) |
2,795 |
53 (1.9%) |
Savannah River Site
(Production workers) |
991 |
36 (3.6%) |
TOTAL |
43,125 |
1,318 (3.1%) |
Appendix A: Individual Project
Descriptions
The U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) Former Worker Program (FWP) projects are briefly described below.
The Medical
Screening Program for Former Workers of
The Medical Screening Program for
Former Workers of Lawrence Livermore, Lawrence Berkeley, and Sandia National
Laboratories in northern
The Building Trades National
Medical Screening Program
The Building Trades National
Medical Screening Program (BTMed), which is administered by CPWR - The Center
for Construction Research and Training, an applied occupational health research
and development center of the Building and Construction Trades Department of the
AFL-CIO, serves former construction workers from 23 DOE sites.
The mission of the BTMed is to identify construction workers who have
been employed on DOE sites and who may be at significant risk for occupational
illnesses as a result of this work.
BTMed provides these workers with the best possible services, including
a work history interview and a medical screening exam.
BTMed relies on a clinic network of over 200 providers to conduct the
exam. In fiscal year (FY) 2008,
BTMed completed its program goal of 2,412 screenings, and since its inception
has completed more than 18,000 screenings.
The overall satisfaction rate continues to improve and reached 98 percent
in FY 2008.
A network of BTMed outreach
offices near DOE sites work with local stakeholders to promote the screening
program and the benefits of participation.
CPWR’s close ties to the unions that represent construction workers have
been particularly effective in facilitating outreach.
Every worker receives a written summary of all medical results within
three to six weeks, and a program nurse is available to answer any questions.
BTMed continues to operate a
geographically targeted outreach component, including direct mail through union
and site rosters, advertisement placement, and public service announcements.
BTMed has an enhanced web-based electronic system that enables workers to
register, complete intake procedures, and self-administer the work history
on-line (www.btmed.org). It also
maintains an electronic medical record that the worker can access at his/her
convenience.
Pantex Former Worker Medical
Screening Program
The Pantex Former Worker Medical
Screening Program (PFWP) is conducted by the Drexel University School of Public
Health and a team of occupational health professionals from the University of
Texas Health Science Center at
The Pantex facility performs high
security-level work; employees were indoctrinated with the need to maintain
complete confidentiality about the nature of their work.
This concern about divulging work history and exposures has deterred
participation. A group of eight
former workers who participated in this program, and who maintain some level of
communication with other former workers, has been recruited as helpers for the
program called “Ambassadors.” In a
volunteer capacity, they have made personal phone calls to previously
unresponsive former workers, resulting in over 25 screenings in the last
quarter.
The PFWP continues to enjoy
exceptionally positive ratings. One
hundred percent of satisfaction surveys returned this year were favorable, and
an average of 99.1 percent have been favorable since the inception of the
program.
Medical Exam Program for
The Medical Exam Program for Los
Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM)
Former Workers is managed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
(JHBSPH) and co-investigators, the University of New Mexico (UNM).
The program offers free medical exams to all former workers from both
sites in
For those former workers who are
uninsured, the free medical exam and testing offered through the program is
frequently the only medical care that these individuals have had in many years.
On exit surveys, over 95 percent of program participants stated that they
were satisfied with all components of the program.
The primary goal of the Savannah
River Site (SRS) former production worker health screening program is to provide
medical evaluations to former SRS workers who are at significant risk for health
problems because of potential exposure to hazardous materials during their
employment at the SRS and to develop a clear understanding of the health of the
former SRS worker population compared to other industrial worker populations.
The program’s secondary goals are to provide information and education to
former workers concerning their current health status and to serve as a resource
for referral to effective medical care or workers’ compensation for any
work-related illness that might be detected.
Well over 3,000 former workers have been screened, and a number of
effects have been identified. These
are primarily hearing loss and obstructive pulmonary disease, with some cases of
chronic beryllium disease. The
program has also identified some non-work related health issues.
The program continues to contact former workers using databases provided
by the site, and a few workers have requested re-exams many years after the
initial examination. The program
has had a good response from the workers even when they did not want to have a
physical examination. The
satisfaction survey data shows how effective the program is in the minds of the
participating former workers.
National Supplemental Screening
Program
In compliance with Public Law
102-484, Section 3162 (1993), the National Supplemental Screening Program (NSSP)
was established to evaluate the health of former DOE employees who may have been
exposed to hazardous substances.
Since October 2005, the NSSP, which is managed by
Worker Health Protection
Program
The Worker Health Protection
Program (WHPP) provides screening at eight DOE sites nationwide.
WHPP is led by
The success of this program is in
large part due to involvement of local site coordinators, who are current and/or
former workers who make up the “Ground Teams.”
The local coordinators provide information and assistance to new and
prospective participants regarding all aspects of the program, including Energy
Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act claims.
The Ground Teams are the local face of the program and, as such, inspire
trust and credibility among participants.
Because of their involvement, word of mouth is the single most successful
outreach method of WHPP. Program
coordinators will continue to work with the Ground Teams to develop outreach
plans that best meet their specific needs, such as newspaper articles, Internal
Revenue Service mailings, and billboards.
The program will work closely with DOE to obtain rosters of workers,
which will be used for invitation letters and brochure mailings.
An anonymous satisfaction survey
is used to elicit information on the quality of service that is provided.
The feedback is reviewed to identify which aspects of the program are
functioning well and which need improvement.
Satisfaction survey results for 2008 indicated an overall program
approval rating of 94 percent.
Worker Health Protection
Program – Early Lung Cancer Detection Program
As part of the DOE-supported WHPP,
Program successes to date include:
·
CT screened 2,335
Y-12 and ORNL workers (8/06-12/08)
·
Identified 11 lung
cancers to date, including 8 at an early stage
·
Identified an
additional 4 kidney cancers and 3 thyroid cancers
·
Re-screened 1,490
workers 1 year after their initial low-dose CT scan
·
Achieved very high
rates of satisfaction and compliance with protocol.
Former Worker Medical Screening
Program for the
The Former Worker Medical
Screening Program for the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAP) and Ames Laboratory
is conducted by the University of Iowa College of Public Health.
The program has located and screened more than 1,700 former nuclear
weapons workers in
This program has also educated and
assisted individual workers, surviving family members, and community members
regarding historical exposures and health risks at these sites and the Energy
Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program.
The
Outreach to date has included
direct mailings, recruitment calls, town hall meetings, radio interviews, press
releases, articles in local newspaper, and the distribution of informational
brochures.
1 Chest x-ray findings are not being reported at this time. The FWP is currently revising surveillance case definitions for associated pulmonary conditions to ensure that medical findings are being reported consistently across the program. Program data will be recalculated to reflect these new definitions. Results will be available on the FWP website by July 2009.