Substance data bases and right to know laws: application to occupational epidemiology

The Illinois Right to Know (RTK) law included requirements for substance lists to be submitted by companies to the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL). This provided an opportunity to test the feasibility of identifying workplaces utilizing common chemicals for future epidemiologic investigations. A sample of IDOL files (n = 115) was obtained, and relevant data elements were coded. A second sample of substance names within these files (n = 1,015) was selected, and searches in three standard references were conducted to identify chemical descriptions. Equal proportions of employers and manufacturer/suppliers were in general compliance with RTK law reporting requirements (58%). Forty-five percent of substances sampled from employers (chemical users) and 71% of substances sampled from manufacturer/suppliers (chemical producers and distributors) could be identified. The ability to identify substances reported using chemical names was approximately equal across companies (90%), while the ability to identify substances with nonchemical names was greater in manufacturer (59%) than in employer (32%) files. This study suggests that the ability to identify potential occupationally exposed groups using this resource may be greater among manufacturers than among employers. Recognition of substances used in the workplace could be improved if companies were required to report chemical names.