On July 28-29, the venerable American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) called a meeting of occupational health and safety groups in Chicago to discuss a possible alliance among them to support the work of ACGIH in setting voluntary standards (the famous TLVs) and publishing educational and scientific materials for sale to the profession and the public. Eleven major OSH organizations attended the conference, including AIHA, ASSE, ACOEM, AOEC and our OHS Section of APHA (represented by Dave Kotelchuck, past Section president).

The ACGIH was founded in 1938, and in the three decades between its founding and the passage of the OSHAct in 1970 was the only national organization promulgating health and safety guidelines that were scientifically based and protective of worker health and safety. Since the establishment of OSHA the organization has continued to publish and update its annual list of TLV’s, based primarily on the voluntary efforts of many individual health and safety professionals, among them members of our OHS Section of APHA.

In recent years the membership of ACGIH has declined (as have the memberships of many of other health and safety organizations, of course), but costs to develop and update TLVs have not. Then in the early 1990s ACGIH was slapped with three lawsuits alleging that ACGIH was in fact a governmental agency masquerading as a private, non-profit organization – and indeed OSHA had in the past adopted many ACGIH standards as OSHA standards (which labor unions, OSH groups like our Section, and even many companies objected to because this action bypassed regular OSHA procedures in adopting standards based on holding hearings on each and every standard adopted). ACGIH successfully defended itself from these lawsuits, but the financial costs were enormous – well over one million dollars in legal costs alone.

In calling the Chicago meeting, ACGIH proposed an Alliance of OSH organizations: “ACGIH is seeking to expand support for its mission by developing an alliance with the key professional organizations that play an important role in developing and using scientific guidelines. Allied professional organizations would play an important role in ensuring the organization’s mission by providing financial support, encouraging a broader range of professionals to take an active role in donating to this mission, identifying professionals with needed expertise for scientific guideline development and providing input to the organization’s short- and long-term goals and activities.”

This was a good meeting in that it encouraged ACGIH to try to keep going, but none of the 11 groups which attended (including OHS) were in a position to offer money to the group, even if they might like to, nor would any be willing to assume the legal liability that might go along with such an alliance. The ACGIH folks believe that they can write terms of affiliation that will protect other allied organizations, but they admitted that of course anyone can sue them or any allied group, but the suits would lose according to ACGIH legal advisors. However the legal costs to defend could be quite stiff, as their own experience demonstrates.

Also, the proposed alliance would present important policy questions for OHS. When we have a federal agency that can enforce standards (OSHA) -- and an especially good leader of OSHA at this time -- how helpful to workers H&S are such voluntary standards? This writer has certainly used ACGIH TLVs over the decades to press employers to lower exposure levels. But considering the money and time that goes into them (an estimated $20-40K per TLV), are the cost and value worth it today as compared to pressing OSHA to develop such standards?

Also there are many in our Section who object to the whole concept of H&S standards based primarily or solely on keeping below certain exposure limits and call for worker protection without depending on them. On the other hand, ACGIH leaders are irrevocably committed to developing such occupational exposure standards (OEGs), as a matter of deep philosophical belief.

What emerged as this meeting concluded is that, pending organizational approval, many organizations would be happy to join an informal advisory board to assist and advise ACGIH and help it increase its outreach to their members. This writer would support OHS/APHA participation in such a board. While many of us, myself included, view OEGs as of real, but limited value in protecting worker health and safety, I believe it is important to support friendly organizations deeply committed to worker health and safety without overriding cost-benefit or profit-making perspectives.

When such an advisory board is formally proposed, our Section will of course have an opportunity to discuss and decide on its participation.

 ~ Dave Kotelchuck