Superfund and contamination of workers' homes

Although originally conceived as a means to clean up abandoned hazardous waste sites, at least one state is now attempting to use the Superfund (CERCLA) legislation as a means to recover the costs of a home contamination incident. This case has not been litigated yet. If the state is successful, however, the Superfund program would be expanded not only to cover waste disposal practices but also industrial hygiene practices. Industries thus need to review the nature and disposition of their waste material and their industrial hygiene practices in order to assess their full potential exposure under Superfund. The small amounts of chemicals that may leave a factory on workers' clothing and shoes someday could develop into a costly home decontamination project. If a review of past and present industrial hygiene practices reveals that home contamination could have occurred, an industry should take an offensive (as opposed to defensive) role in correcting the problem. Not only can taking the initiative in remedying a problem help minimize damage to employee health, morale and public opinion, but clean-up costs can be reduced as well without sacrificing the quality of the remedial action.