Reducing carcinogens in public schools: a non-regulatory approach by a regulatory agency.

Introduction

The New Jersey Worker and Community Right to Know Act (N.J.S.A. 34: 5A-1 et seq.), effective August 29, 1984, resulted from concern about the proliferation of hazardous substances in the workplace and the environment. Under the Act, the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) is responsible for administration of the biennial or annual Right to Know (RTK) Survey, for enforcement of container labeling and worker training and for preparation of hazardous substance fact sheets (1). This paper reports on a pilot project by the NJDOH Public Employees' Occupational Safety and Health (PEOSH) Program (2) which used information from the 1990 RTK Survey to reduce public school staffs potential exposure to carcinogens, thereby reducing the risk of future disease.

Methods

In November 1990, the 1990 RTK Survey, along with instructions for completion, was sent by the NJDOH RTK Program to 1,576 public employers in New Jersey, including state agencies, county and municipal governments, public school districts, and other public authorities. The Chemical Abstracts Service number, Department of Transportation number, type of container, percent of the hazardous substance in the product (in ranges, e.g. 90-99%), amount of the product (in ranges, e.g. 11-100 gallons), and number of exposed or potentially exposed employees were requested for each individual container of a hazardous substance. The information on the returned surveys (100% participation rate) was computerized by November 1992.

A list of the public school districts that reported any of 10 known human carcinogens with the information on each container of these carcinogens was then generated from the database. These 10 most reported carcinogens were arsenic, arsenic trioxide, asbestos, benzene, benzidine, lead chromate, sodium arsenate, sodium arsenite, sodium dichromate, and vinyl chloride (3,4). The PEOSH Program phoned a 10% random sample of the school districts between February and May 1993 to obtain additional information about the reported carcinogens, i.e., in what product, what used for, who exposed, frequency of use, where stored, if still using.

The results of the phone survey were used in the preparation of a letter, containing specific recommendations about the 10 carcinogens, which was sent by the PEOSH Program in July 1993 to the superintendent of each school district on the list. A form, "Follow-Up on Carcinogens Reported in the 1990 Right To Know Survey," to be completed and returned to the PEOSH Program, was enclosed with each letter. The form listed each individual container of any of the 10 carcinogens previously reported by the school district, for the purpose of requesting further information. The school districts that had not returned the form by mid-November 1993 were phoned. Information from the returned forms was computerized and analyzed.

Results

Random Sample Phone Survey

Of the 575 public school districts in New Jersey, 318 (55%) reported one or more of the 10 carcinogens on their 1990 RTK Survey. Of the 32 randomly selected school districts, 31 (97%) participated in the phone survey. The findings from the phone survey included use of arsenic, arsenic trioxide, asbestos, benzene, lead chromate, sodium arsenate, and sodium dichromate in pure form for science or chemistry experiments or demonstrations. Also reported were asbestos in roof patching or cement, benzene (pure form) for drying leather, benzene in gasoline/fuel or in cleaners, lead chromate in paint for maintenance and in glazes for an art class, and sodium dichromate in floorstripper. Science and chemistry teachers and maintenance staff were the types of employees potentially exposed; students were also reported as potentially exposed to carcinogens used in science and chemistry classes (Table 1).

More detailed examples of the reported uses of these carcinogens included:

* a can of roofing cement with an unknown percentage of asbestos used by a maintenance person for roof leaks;

* a can of grafitti removal with 1-9% benzene used inside buildings, especially bathrooms, by the custodian;

* a 90-99% solution of benzene used once or twice by two chemistry teachers in a high school chemistry class to test the reactivity of double bonds in benzene rings;

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* pure benzene used in a high school advanced chemistry class for a demonstration of vapor pressure by a chemistry teacher;

* lead chromate of an unknown percentage in a can of paint used by a maintenance person for painting the metal supports of a cooling tower on the roof;

* a can of yellow paint with 1-9% lead chromate used by custodians to paint lines in a parking lot; and

* pure sodium dichromate used in a high school chemistry class for a demonstration of colors by a chemistry teacher.

The school districts reported the current status of the carcinogens as still being used, disposed of, planning to dispose of, or used completely. The letter to the 318 school districts recommended substitution of less hazardous substances, except for benzene in gasoline/fuel (no substitute).

Letter and Follow-up Form

Of the 318 school districts who were sent the letter and form, "Follow-Up on Carcinogens Reported in the 1990 Right To Know Survey," 272 (86%) completed the form between July 1993 and May 1994. Of the 10 carcinogens identified in 1,303 reports from the 272 school districts, most had been disposed of (668, 51%), had been used completely and would not be reordered (65, 5%), or were slated for disposal (287, 22%). However, 245 (19%) of the reported carcinogens (of which 46 or 4% were benzene in gasoline/fuel for which there is no substitute) were still in use, and 16 (1%) were planned to be used completely and not reordered. Table 2 shows the current status of the 10 carcinogens reported by the school districts. The 1,303 reports of the 10 carcinogens from the 272 school districts that returned the form represent 74% of the total 1,769 reports from all 318 school districts. Of the carcinogens in the 1,303 reports, most were in pure form or in mixtures in relatively small percentages, while 650 or one-half were in amounts of 10 gallons or less and 433 or one-third were in amounts of 10 pounds or less.

Discussion

This project showed that school districts reduced potential employee and student exposure to carcinogens, as 78% of the 10 reported carcinogens in school districts that returned the follow-up form were disposed of, used completely and not reordered, or scheduled for disposal. From the phone survey and response to the letter and follow-up form, it is known that both the enforcement of the New Jersey RTK law and this project contributed to the reduction of carcinogens in the schools, though it is not known how much of the reduction was due to each. Although it was not an enforcement project, the fact that it was conducted by a regulatory program (NJDOH PEOSH Program) in conjunction with another regulatory program (NJDOH RTK Program) probably caused more positive results than would have happened if the project had been conducted by a non-regulatory program. This conclusion was reached from conversations with school district staff who indicated that they responded to Right to Know and/or Public Employees' Occupational Safety and Health Program communications because of previous experiences with the programs.

This project also proved to be a very efficient method to reduce and document the reduction of potential exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace, using information already collected from the RTK Survey. The cost and length of time to achieve results were much less than other methods of addressing hazardous exposures in the workplace, such as on-site industrial hygiene inspections or a registry using laboratory or physician reports of individual workers' exposures or diseases.

One concern is the validity of information on the follow-up forms returned by the school districts. This will be addressed by comparing the school districts' follow-up forms with their 1993 RTK Surveys, administered in spring 1994. School districts will be contacted regarding inconsistencies, and those that did not respond to the letter or responded that they were still using the carcinogens (except benzene in fuel or gasoline) will also be monitored.

Based on the success of this pilot project, the NJDOH PEOSH Program will continue to use the RTK Surveys to identify hazardous substances to which public employees may be exposed and to conduct similar short-term projects to reduce these exposures.

References

1. NJ Dept. of Health, NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection, NJ Dept. of Labor (1987), "Report to the Governor and the Legislature of the State of New Jersey on the Implementation of the Worker and Community Right to Know Act, 1983-1987" Trenton, N.J.

2. Roche, L.M. (1993), "Use of Employer Illness Reports for Occupational Disease Surveillance among Public Employees in New Jersey," JOM, 35:581-586.

3. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Humans, Overall Evaluation of Carcinogenicity: Updating of IARC Monographs, Vol. 1 to 42, Suppl. 7 (1987), International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization.

4. USDHHS (1991), "Sixth Annual Report on Carcinogens Summary," National Toxicology Program.

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the RTK Program, especially Janet Varan, for computer and clerical assistance; the PEOSH Program, especially Gary Ludwig, for industrial hygiene expertise and support; Michele Kasick for computer assistance, coding, and data entry; and Richard Willinger, Eric Beckhusen, Virginia Brenton, and Carol Lamond for technical reviews of the article. The New Jersey Department of Education, particularly Sylvia Kaplan, is also gratefully acknowledged for information and technical assistance regarding the public school districts.

Lisa M. Roche, M.P.H., Ph.D., Public Employees' Occupational Safety and Health Program, Occupational Health Service, New Jersey Dept. of Health, Health & Agriculture Bldg., Room 706, CN 360, Trenton, NJ 08625.