The Department of Energy is defending its chemical vapor protections at the Hanford Site in Washington state, saying in court documents that its program not only protects workers but is being constantly updated and improved.
“Plaintiffs’ claims present an unwarranted intrusion into DOE’s ongoing cleanup operations at Hanford, including the world-class worker-safety and industrial-hygiene measures DOE has put in place,” according to documents filed by DOE in response to a demand for a preliminary injunction from plaintiffs in a worker safety lawsuit.
The state of Washington, the nongovernmental Hanford Challenge, and Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 598 have asked a federal judge to immediately require increased protective measures while their lawsuit to improve worker safety from chemical vapors associated with tank waste is being decided. A hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction is scheduled for Oct. 12.
The Department of Energy argues the plaintiffs have no scientific or technical data for the protections they are asking be implemented immediately, including mandatory use of supplied air respirators within tank farms and that respirators be used to 200 feet beyond tank farm fences during certain work activities. Tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Services already is temporarily requiring supplied air respirators within tank farms in response to union action, but said in court documents that none of the most recent expert assessments of tank farm vapors have recommended they be mandatory. In fact, a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health team did not request supplied air respirators or express concerns for their safety on a visit to Hanford tank farms in late July when suspicious odors were smelled, DOE said.
The department also challenged assertions that workers were being exposed to harmful levels of tank vapors, according to court documents. Monitoring results for sampling devices that workers wear near their faces have not shown evidence that occupational exposure limits (OELs) to chemicals have been exceeded during the past several years, DOE said. “Indeed, except in very rare instances, these personal sampling results near worker breathing zones have been less than 10 percent of the OELs,” according to its filing.
DOE also said that the plaintiffs’ arguments that workers are substantially endangered focus on a small fraction of the 195,000 entries into the tank farms in the first seven months of this year. About 50 workers received medical evaluations for possible exposure to vapors during that time. Symptoms reported tended to be those that are common in the general population, such as headaches and upper respiratory symptoms, DOE said. “In sum, the transient, common symptoms reported by a small subset of Hanford workers do not state a viable claim of vapor-caused health effects,” DOE said in court documents.