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2Z-25-94 (DLR): CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS (No. 37) A - 17 BEOG officials told GAO investigators that the increasing workload at the commission is likely to double the average charge processing time from under 10 months in fisca11993 to 21 months by fiscal 1996. Unresolved charges carried forward from fiscal 1993 to fiscal 1994 to- taled about 73,000-an 38 percent increase from the nearly 53,000 charges carried forward a year earlier, the GAO reportfound. In a letter responding to the GAO Sndings, EEOC Chairman Tony Gallegos called the re- port a balanced depiction of the commission's ability to deal with its current e•niorcement re- sponsibilities, but added that changes in the charge processing system alone would not solve the underlying problem of limited resources. ','EEOC's workload growth`is now f:r beyond the point where making internal adjustments to the system alone, or reorganizing, will solve the problem,." Gallegos wrote. Larry Horinko, assistant director for GAO's Health, Education and Human Services Di- vision, told BNA Feb. 22 that although underfunding was a problem, that further changes must be made at the commission. "They do have a problem because of their workload," he said. 'But we don't think that resources are going to help. They need to consider changing the way-they do thfags." The commission "really can't expect more resources" from Ccngres• In light of budget con- straints, he added. .Smith, the aging committee's counsel called the report "really eniightenirsg" in showsang "the Incredible workload that EEOC is working under." But, despite the increase in charges, "no charges should take as long as two years to come.to some type of resolution," he added. GAO intervdewed EEOC commissioners and staffers, three former chai rnen, outside attorneys for both charging parties and respondents in preparing its report. Copies of the report, EEOC's Expanding Workload: Increases In Age Discrfrni:ctarton and Ocber Charges Cz11 for NetivApproach, are available from U. S. General Accounting Office, P.O. Box 6015, Gaithersburg, Md. 20884-6015, (202) 512-6000. The first copy is free; addi- . tional copies are $2 each. Orders should be sent accompanied by a check or money order made payable to the Superintendent of Docurnents. Oreers of 100 or more are discounted 25 percent. -0- OSHA PLANS AL4RCH PUBLICATION OF NOTICE ADDRESSTNG BROAD AIR QUALTPY HEALTH CONCERNS . ~ . ~ .. . Tbe Occupational Safety and Health Administration plans to publish a proposal next month to address indoor air quality as a broad occupational health threat, agency officials told BNA. .. A draft of a Federal Regiscer notice outtiaing the plan waso to have been delivered Feb. 22 O to OSHA adrninistrator Joseph A. Dear, they said. .~V The agency's plans call for publishing a generalproposal that would include a limited amount of regulatory text for addressing indoor aiirquality concerns, ranging from inadequate .~ building ventilation to environmenLal tobacco smoke exposure, agency officials said. OSHA' }is r ublication of a broad indoor air quality proposal, now scheduled for March, could end specu- ~ ation over whether the agency plans to address environmeutal tobacco smoke separately or as H part of a Lnore genersl rule. .. O OSHA offlcials said the document has not'ofticia]lybeen termed an advance notice of pro-04 posed rulemaking-which.vould offer a clear proposal on haw the agency inte--ds to regulate- and said the draft version offers only a brief preamble outlining the concerns raised over itt- door air quaZity. . "The idea is not to include a lot of specific regulatory language and get bogged down in the minutiae of the issue (butj Just to get something out that we can get some comment on," one. officiPl said. Copyright O 19" tryfiFl€ BUREAU OF NA11CPlAL AFFAIRS. INC., WasFiirlgfoA, D.C. 2o03T Ost 0•-269~J5~ f°. ?+i1~0

A- 18 (No. 37) CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS (DLR) 2-25-94 Other Air Quality Issues Officially, OSHA has planned what it terms a"strp one" proposal to address indoor air during the second quarter of fiscal 1994, which would be accompanied by a minimal regulatory analysis, according to the agency's regulatory schedule dated Dec. 27, 1993. That scbedule also calls for a "step two" indoor air proposal In the first quarter of fiscal 1995 that would in- clude a preliminary regulatory impact analysis. Several agency officials cautioned that the proposal planned for March publication is ex- pected to undergo several additional rounds of changes as it makes Its way through the various approval stages, beginning with the OSHA administrator, but also including the Labor Depart- ment and the Office of Management and Budget. Tbat process will ultimately determine wheth- er the proposal will offer merely options addressing the issue or more substanttve proposals for protecting workers from indoor air quality hazards, officials said. • OSHA plans to hold a series of public hearin,gs on the indoor air quality Issue following publication of Its proposal In March. Tbose hearings would add to the nearly 1,200 corr.rnents and studies the agencf has received since It published a request for information on indoor air- related issues In 1991. : Broad Rule Sougbt The agency's decision to address Indoor air quality generally rather than focusing on specific Issues such as secondhand smoke exposure would represent a victory for several groups, Including the AFL-CIO, that have lobbied for a broader rulemaMng that would include provisions requiring employers to train and educate workers on indoor air quality hazards. A broad rule also might include provisions governfng the design, maintenance, and oper- ation of beattng, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, agency officials said. Several OSHA officials noted that the more general rulemaking would resemble an ap- proach tried initially In Washington, where Dear headed the state's Department of Labor and Industries prior to his appointment as head of the federal job safety and health agency in 1993. "The Washington department has a keen insight on how to propose a standard and their Input was very useful," one OSHA official said. Other groups, ranging from anti-smoldsng organizationd to a coalition comprised of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, and the American College o; Occupational and Environmensal Medicine, have called on the agency to regulate secondhand smoke exposure separately because of research linking It to lung cancer. • - . ~ OSHA has taken some preliminary steps toward addressing secondhand smoke by gather- ing additional Information on occupational exposure. Tbe agency hired two separate contrac- tors tors In September 1993 to prepare reports, mostly hinged on available research, detailing the ~ bealtb effects of secondhand smoke In the workplace. .. ' F~ The issue is further complicated, however, by a.court case initiated In 1993 by Action on Smoking and Health, an anti-smoking group that has repeatedly petitioned OSHA to ban smok- ing. Tbe U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in May 1993 denied OSHA's attempt to have the suit-Acdon on Smokfng a.ad Xealtb (ii_SH) v. Dept. of Labor-dis- missed, and the case is set to move forward after OSHA delivers a brief in March. STATE-BASED SURVEILLANCE USEFUL FOR DETECTINO SILICOSIS, NIOSH SAYS Surveillance strategies developed by state health, departments to detect cases of silicos:s are useful and effective, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said in a re- cent report on surveillance programs that have been implernented in four states. CopyrtgM O 1994 by i1iE BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAtRS.1NC., wasnsnyrton. D.c.2A037 0418-2493/94/s431A0