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Simonds Saw and Steel Co.

(Site Profile/Docket Number 51)

Location: Lockport, New York

Also known as: Allegheny-Ludlum Steel Corp., Simonds Saw and Steel Div., Guterl Special Steel Corp., Simonds Steel Division, Wallace-Murray Corporation

Special Exposure Cohort Petition Information

The Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) is a unique category of employees established by the Act (42 CFR Part 83). Claims compensated under the SEC do not have to go through the dose reconstruction process. To qualify for compensation under the SEC, a covered employee must meet specific requirements (e.g., must have at least one of 22 “specified cancers,” and have worked for a specified time period at one of the SEC sites). Classes of employees and work sites can be considered for addition to the SEC through a NIOSH petition process. More information about the Special Exposure Cohort can be found on our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Open/Active SEC Petitions

There are currently no open/active SEC petitions from Simonds Saw and Steel Co.

Class(es) Added to the SEC

  • All Atomic Weapons Employer employees who worked at Simonds Saw and Steel Co. from January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1957, for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, occurring either solely under this employment or in combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees included in the Special Exposure Cohort.

    Note: This class was established by Petition 157.

Classes Not Added to the SEC

  • All Atomic Weapons Employer employees who worked at Simonds Saw and Steel Co. in Lockport, New York, from January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006.

    Note: This class was established by Petition 157.

Petitions Qualified for Evaluation

Below is a list of the petitions that qualified for evaluation. Select a petition on the list to view the table for that particular petition.

Petition 157 (Jan 1, 1951 to Dec 31, 2006)

Steps in Petition Process: Petition Details:

Date Received

December 4, 2009

Date Qualified for Evaluation

March 8, 2010

Summary of Information in Petition

Job Titles and/or Job Duties: All employees who worked in any area during the applicable covered thorium operational and residual periods.

Period of Employment: January 1, 1951 through December 31, 2006

Note: The information above is what qualified for evaluation. During our evaluation of whether dose reconstructions can adequately be completed for the above job titles and period of employment, information may cause NIOSH to change some the dates or job titles/duties. Therefore, as this petition proceeds through the SEC petition process and if an SEC class is proposed, the proposed class may not exactly match the above information.

Copy of the Petition Received

December 4, 2009 [452 KB (7 pages)]

Federal Register Notice Announcing that a Simonds Saw and Steel Co. SEC Petition has met the Minimum Qualifications for Review and Evaluation

March 22, 2010 [42 KB (1 page)]

SEC Petition Evaluation Report

December 9, 2008 [984 KB (151 pages)]
(August 13, 1942 through December 31, 1957)

Evaluation Report Sent to the Advisory Board

November 2, 2010

Petition Discussed by the Advisory Board

The Advisory Board will discuss this petition (residual period; 1958-2006) on July 29, 2014, during its regular meeting. The petition was previously discussed on November 16, 2010, during its regular meeting.

Advisory Board Recommendation on SEC Petition

December 8, 2010 [34 KB (2 pages)]
(January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1957)

August 28, 2014 [31 KB (1 page)]
(January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006)

HHS Letters to Congress Regarding the SEC Petition

January 6, 2011 [79 KB (10 pages)]
(January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1957)

October 9, 2014 [67 KB (9 pages)]
(January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006)

HHS Designation/Determination of Additional Members to the SEC

 Designation

January 6, 2011 [36 KB (5 pages)]
(January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1957)

Determination

October 9, 2014 [36 KB (4 pages)]
(January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006)

Note: A “designation” will be published if there is a recommendation to add a class to the SEC. A “determination” will be published if there is a recommendation not to add a class to the SEC.

Federal Register Notice: Designation/Determination Regarding a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort

 Designation

January 21, 2011 [41 KB (1 page)]
(January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1957)

Determination

November 6, 2014 [161 KB (1 page)]
(January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006)

Effective Date for the SEC Class

February 5, 2011

(January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1957)

Not applicable. This only applies if the class was added to the SEC.

(January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006)

Federal Register Notice: Final Effect of Designation of a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort

February 11, 2011 [39 KB (1 page)]
(January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1957)

Not applicable. This only applies if the class was added to the SEC.

(January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006)

Letter to DOL Regarding the Addition of a New Class of Employees to the SEC

February 7, 2011 [18 KB (1 page)]
(January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1957)

Not applicable. This only applies if the class was added to the SEC.

(January 1, 1958, through December 31, 2006)

SEC Petitions Not Qualifying for Evaluation

There was one additional petition received that did not qualify for evaluation.

Worker Outreach Activities

Based on a recommendation from the Advisory Board to provide workers and site experts with opportunities to participate in developing the technical documents used in dose reconstruction, NIOSH established a Worker Outreach Program.

At Worker Outreach Meetings, current and former DOE and AWE employees have opportunities to obtain information about Site Profiles, Technical Basis Documents, and Technical Information Bulletins, and to provide information for consideration and possible use in dose reconstruction. This process is valuable to ensure that the technical documents used in dose reconstruction contain correct and useful information.

Below are the Worker Outreach Activities for Simonds Saw and Steel Co.:

Advisory Board Work Group on TBD 6000

This Work Group is responsible for the review of the specified TBDs and the Appendices that apply to specific work sites. The Work Group will also review reports developed by the Board’s contractor (SC&A) pertaining to these TBDs and the Appendices. They will assist NIOSH and SC&A in resolving issues that arise through the review process. The Work Group will make recommendations to the Board in cases where Appendices involve sites with SEC petitions.

Sites currently being considered by the Work Group include: General Steel Industries (GSI) and Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co.

Meeting information (including agendas and transcripts) for this Work Group can be found on either the individual site pages or the Advisory Board and Public Meetings page.

Note: Baker Brothers, Bliss & Laughlin Steel, Simonds Saw and Steel Company sites were previously discussed by the TBD 6000 Work Group, but are not currently under discussion.

Work Group Members:

  • Paul L. Ziemer (Chair)
  • Josie Beach
  • John W. Poston
  • Wanda I. Munn

Meeting Information:

Pre-Decisional Document Policy

Please note that as part of the procedures and processes of the Advisory Board’s Work Groups, several kinds of pre-decisional documents may be developed. These pre-decisional documents, such as white papers, matrices, working drafts, etc., are distributed among Work Group members as research and background tools to facilitate discussion and deliberation. Although discussion during a public meeting may cover pre-decisional documents, these documents often are not further revised or finalized, and thus do not reflect the final determination or evaluation of the Advisory Board and its Work Groups. Additionally, some pre-decisional documents not otherwise posted on the website may contain sensitive information, which would require an interested party to obtain such documents by filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the CDC/ATSDR FOIA office at foiarequests@cdc.gov.

Technical Documents

If the energy employee’s personal radiation information is incomplete, NIOSH will use other sources to estimate the radiation dose. This may involve using technical documents called Site Profiles, Technical Basis Documents, and Technical Information Bulletins.

Site Profile

  • ORAUT-TKBS-0032 Rev. 02: Site Profile for Simonds Saw and Steel [854 KB (59 pages)]
    Revised October 21, 2014

    Revision Includes: Incorporates Advisory Board comments as directed by NIOSH. Intake rates in Table 3-13 (formerly Table 17) of Section 3.3 were recalculated, and intake rates for the 95th percentile were added. Dose rates in Table 4-3 (formerly Table 20) of Section 4.4 were recalculated for 1948, and dose rates for the 95th percentile were added. Residual approach in Section 5.0 for internal and external was completely revised. Updated table and figure numbering to current format. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

Advisory Board and NIOSH Comments and Discussion Papers on Simonds Saw and Steel Co. Documents

The Simonds Saw and Steel Co. discussion papers listed below are working documents prepared by NIOSH or its contractor for use in discussions with the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health or its Working Groups or Subcommittees. Draft, preliminary, interim, and white paper documents are not final NIOSH or Advisory Board (or their technical support and review contractors) positions unless specifically marked as such. These documents represent preliminary positions taken on technical issues prepared by NIOSH or its contractor.

The discussion papers have been reviewed to identify and redact any information that is protected by the Privacy Act 5 USC §552a and have been cleared for distribution.

Program Evaluation Plans (PEPs) and Program Evaluation Reports (PERs)

  • DCAS-PER-077: Simonds Saw and Steel Program Evaluation Report (PER), Rev. 0 [53 KB (2 pages)]
    February 28, 2017

    About this Document: Determines the effect of issuing DCAS-TKBS-0032, Revision 2, (Simonds Saw and Steel) on previously completed claims.

    Summary: A new dose estimate was performed for 105 effected claims using the TBD, as well as all other applicable approved dose reconstruction methods. The resulting probability of causation (POC) was below 45% for 73 claims and greater than 52% for 24 claims. Rework of the eight remaining claims resulted in a POC between 45% and 52%. For those claims, IREP was run 30 times at 10,000 iterations per NIOSH procedures. The resulting POC was greater than 50% for 3 of the 8 claims and below 50% for the remaining 5 claims. NIOSH will provide the Department of Labor with the list of all claims evaluated under this PER. NIOSH will request the return of the 27 claims that would now have a probability of causation greater than 50%.

Public Comments on Simonds Saw and Steel Co. Documents

How to Submit Comments

Comments on Simonds Saw and Steel Co. Documents can be submitted to the NIOSH Docket Officer electronically by email at nioshdocket@cdc.gov or printed comments can be mailed to:

NIOSH Docket Office
Robert A. Taft Laboratories, MS-C34
1090 Tusculum Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45226
Please include the Site Profile/Docket Number (51) on all comments.

Comments Received

Document Archive for Simonds Saw and Steel Co.

  • ORAUT-TKBS-0032: Site Profile for Simonds Saw and Steel Co.

    • Rev. 01: Revised April 18, 2011 [854 KB (57 pages)]

      Page Change Revision Includes: Revision initiated to incorporate SEC-00157 information as directed by NIOSH. Includes information on the SEC class. Section 3.4 was revised to reflect the inability to reconstruct thorium exposure during the operational period and the associated tabulation of internal exposure values (Table 20). The description of the derivation of the external exposure dose estimates along with the associated dose tabulation (Table 20) was revised to remove consideration of external exposure from thorium during the operational period. Additional changes include the following: The calculation of intake quantities from plutonium (Table 20) was revised to maintain consistency between trace radionuclides and those in which they are mixed. Deleted options of associating class S plutonium with class M uranium and vice versa. The site description and the associated dose calculations tabulated in Sections 3 and 4 (Tables 12 and 15) were revised to reflect the change in the end of the operational period and the concurrent change to the start of the residual period. The medical X-ray examinations section was revised. The tabulation in Table 20 was updated. Revised the methodology for assessment of internal exposure which includes the reconstruction exposure from thoron. Table 3 was added to show the number of rolling days for each year. Tables 8, 9, 10, and 11 were modified to include 1957 in the assessment of internal intake using air monitoring data. Information was added to section 3.1.2 detailing air sampling results for rolling activities on the 10 inch mill and for uranium forging activities (Tables 12, 13, 14 and 15 added). Intake rates in Table 17 were revised to account for the reduced use of engineering controls during the post 1952 time period (i.e., intake rates calculated for the initial operations period, 1948, were assigned from 1953 through 1957). Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

    • Rev. 00 PC-1: Page Change Revision July 8, 2005 [560 KB (45 pages)]

      Page Change Revision Includes: Page change to correct error in Pu-239 and Np-239 end dates on Table 15, page 27.

    • Rev. 00: Approved May 31, 2005 [556 KB (45 pages)]

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