Minutes of Meeting
NC 170 - Multi-State Project
St. Louis MO,  October 5-6, 2001

NC 170:  Occupational Safety and Health Through the Use of Protective Clothing

List serve address: NC170@iastate.edu

NC-170 Web page: http://txnc170.human.cornell.edu/

Members in Attendance: Mastura Raheel (Illinois), Janis Stone (Iowa), Anugrah Shaw (Maryland), Ann Slocum (Michigan), Charlotte Coffman (New York), Susan Ashdown (New York), Donna Branson (Oklahoma), Margaret Rucker (California), and Mary Winter, (Iowa, Administrative Adviser)  

1. Members Absent: Kay Obendorf (New York)

2. Guest Present: Yiqi Yang, (Nebraska)

• Call to Order, Announcements, Agenda, Mastura Raheel
• Comments from Administrative Advisor: Dr. Mary Winter
• Election of Officers for 2002
• Introductions & Review of Research Interests
• Date and Place for Annual Meeting, 2002
• State Progress Reports
• Objective Group Meetings regarding current project to end 2002
• Discussion of the project draft proposed for 2002-2007, Dr. M. Rucker, Discussion leader
• Objective group discussions for proposed project: 2002-2007.
• Meeting adjourns Sat.  October 6 12:noon

4.   Dr. Raheel called the meeting to order and welcomed Dr. Winter, Administrative Adviser, and Dr. Yang, University of Nebraska, who will join the new project.  Dr. Raheel expressed appreciation for Dr. Joan Laughlin"s leadership and guidance as the NC-170 Administrative Advisor over the past several years.

5.  Members introduced themselves.

back to top

She indicated she was present to offer advice based on procedures established by USDA for multi-state project research.  A new procedure for multi-state reports is "peer review" before the report is submitted to NCA-5.  She suggested we review the information on the CREES website: http://www.wisc.edu/ncra/manual1.htm

Possible names of peer reviewers were discussed and members agreed to return to the topic later in the meeting.

7.   Dr. Rucker was nominated and elected on a unanimous ballot as Chair for the coming year.  Dr. Stone was re-elected as Secretary. 

8.   The date of the next Annual Meeting will be September 26 and 27, 2002.  The location of the Annual Meeting will be Kansas City, MO, Embassy Suites--near the Airport. The 2003 meeting will be planned for San Diego, CA.

9.   State project reports were given, based on previously e-mailed reports.  Researchers pointed out work completed, in process, and/or planned cooperatively with other agencies:

• CA noted cooperative work with the California Department of Forestry.
• IA noted educational materials funded by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and Environmental Protection Agency.
• OK reported work conducted in cooperation with two universities, four companies, and the Natick National Protection Center, that is funded by the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism.
• NY noted cooperative work in process with Agricultural Engineers at various Stations.
• IL, MD and NY noted that the ASTM-F 2130-01 standard has been approved and will appear in the 2001 Annual Book of ASTM Standards. MD reported that work is continuing with ASTM to establish precision and bias for the approved ASTM-F 2130-01 standard method. MD also will work with ISO to get the method reviewed and adopted as an international standard.

  back to top

10. NY reported on the NC-170 web site and ways to make it more visible on search engines were discussed.  A discussion followed concerning intent and purposes of the site.

• Dr. Winter pointed out that "Appendix L" of the CREES manual gives guidelines for Web pages. She read the recommendations concerning web pages to us.  It was noted that our page currently meets these guidelines and has all the parts recommended.
• It was agreed that the site is to be an outreach resource for other researchers, but also should provide information for consumers. Question and Answer section should be updated.
• All members were asked to send updated information for the "Members" section as well as updated publication lists (not to exceed 12 entries) of their most recent or significant publications related to the project. 
• NY agreed to investigate costs and ideas to improve the NC-170 "front page" and organization of related information provided, with the idea that the "history" of the group should not be there.  (Perhaps the front page should offer topic alternatives vs. focusing on the organization of the research team.).
• NY will investigate changes for hidden codes to make the site more visible to search engines.
• Dr. Winter reminded us that the abbreviated state reports must be submitted for  inclusion in Appendix A of the NC-170 annual meeting minutes

11. Dr. Rucker opened the discussion of the proposed new project, Draft 4. 

Dr. Winter reported that the Format for NC/Multi-state Research Project Proposals has changed.  She referred to "Appendix A" of the Guidelines for Multi-state Research Activities: Error! Reference source not found.

• Proposal format currently required:
• Project Number
• Project Title
• Requested Project Duration
• Statement of the Issues and Justification
  • Need as indicated by stakeholders
  • Importance of the work 
  • Technical Feasibility of the research
  • Advantages for doing the work multi-state
  • Likely impacts of successful completion
• Related, Current, and Previous Work
• Objectives
• Methods
• Measurement of Progress and Results
  • Outputs
  • Outcomes or Projected Impacts
  • Milestones "time linked accomplishments
• Projected Participation

  back to top

12. The remainder of the meeting was spent going over various sections of the Draft 4 proposal making modifications to clarify the methods, etc. Important changes are noted here:

• Objective 2 will be modified to read "To examine user acceptance"
• PPE will be defined to include both work clothing for protection and personal protective equipment (PPE) as specified in the Worker Protection Standard for Agriculture.
• One addition to the methods section was made:  Dr. Yang   will investigate liquid moisture transport through multi-layer fabric systems using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, if funding allows.  Furthermore, he will assess the effects of mechanical finishing on fabrics" UPF values.
• In the body of the text of the proposal, editorial changes will include
  • 1) states will be identified by two-letter abbreviations. 
  • 2) 'Sunlight' will be changed to as "ultraviolet radiation" or "UV radiation" or  UV after first mention. Reference to SPF will be deleted.
  • 3) Use of the verb "determine" will be changed to "assess, find, discover" or some equivalent.
  • 4) All organizations will be first spelled out correctly, then abbreviations used on subsequent mention, e.g. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
  • 5) In discussion of Dr. Ashdown"s work, "coveralls" should be changed to" protective clothing" or "garments."
• The section on "Measurement of Progress and Results" will be modified to specify outputs, outcomes, and milestones.  Objective groups offered suggestions for these changes.  Milestones will be written by Objective Editors.  The section currently labeled "Outcomes or Projected Impacts" was rewritten as "Outcomes."
• The information about the Web page in the new proposal will be moved to the Outreach Plans section. It will be noted that NY will continue to host the site.  The Listserve will reside at ISU with Dr. Mary Winter.
• Section titled "responsibilities and work assignments" p. 11, Draft 4 will be deleted.
• Appendix E was reviewed; codes will be identified. Dr. Raheel reminded us of the e-mail she sent in June to suggest codes that might be used to cover this project within the Experiment Station, as this has not been required on previous proposals.  Information about this will be sent to Dr. Rucker October 8, 2001.
• J. Stone and C. Coffman"s affiliation in Appendix E will be changed to Extension rather than Department.
• Certain references were deleted; others will be added.

13. Discussion of possible peer reviewers was revisited.  Names proposed in rank order were:

 ACADEMIC

1) Dr. Rinn Cloud, Textile and Consumer Science, Florida State University,

2) Dr. Carol Warfield, Consumer Affairs, Auburn University

3) Dr. Billy G. Oakland, University of Tennessee

INDUSTRY   

1) Arthur D. Schwope

2) Norman Henry, duPont

3) Jeff Stull, International Personal Protection, Inc.

The remainder of the meeting was spent going over various sections of Draft 4

14. Affiliations of reviewers were to be e-mailed to Dr. Winter by October 8, 2001.

15. Various other pieces of information were to be sent to Dr. Rucker by October 8, 2001.

16. Timeline for completion of final draft of the proposal is:

·    October 22. Dr. Winter will mail Draft 5 to peer reviewers.

·    November 5. Reviewers will have comments to Dr. Winter.

·    November 8-12. Drs. Branson, Slocum, Rucker, and Stone will work on response to review during ITAA meeting.

·    Completed Draft 6 will be forwarded to Dr. Winter.

17. The committee expressed its appreciation to Dr. Winter for her guidance and expertise, to Dr. Yang for his interest in the new project and attendance, to Dr. Raheel for her capable leadership as chair, and to Dr. Stone for preparing minutes during the past year.

19. The meeting adjourned at 12:00 noon October 6, 2001.

Responsible Individual(s):

___________________________________
Janis Stone, Secretary

___________________________________
Mary Winter, Administrative Advisor/Date

Appendix A

Abbreviated State Reports of NC-170 Committee

Woven fabrics have been tested for physical properties such as, thickness, geometry, solid volume fraction, air permeability and moisture vapor transport. Furthermore, liquid pesticide retention and penetration on secondary surfaces has been evaluated using the recently approved ASTM method developed by NC 170 researchers at IL, MD, and NY which uses Gas Chromatography for residue analysis. A second method, using gravimetric  analysis  is  used at IL to measure pesticide retention and penetration in protective materials. Correlation between the results of the two methods  is underway. The objective of this study is to establish a statistical model to predict protective efficacy of chemical protective clothing based on regression analysis of data pertaining to fabric and liquid chemical parameters.

During 2001, IL participated in a much more elaborate Round Robintesting in collaboration with Maryland, New York, Spain, and Taiwan, to establish precision and bias for the ASTM-F 2130-01 test method ( see Maryland's report for details). A draft of this method also has been submitted to the European Standards Organization (ISO) for review and adoption as a standard method.

The effects of liquid/fabric surface tension difference, solid volume fraction of fabrics, thickness of fabrics and viscosity of pesticide mixture on pesticide penetration of nonwoven fabrics were studied, in order to develop a predictive, statistical model that estimates pesticide penetration. When the surface tension difference of the solid and a given liquid (g_diff) is equal to or less than -13 mN/m, fabric performance was governed by repellency mechanism, which is driven by mainly one factor, liquid-medium surface interaction. When g_diff is greater than -13 mN/m, fabric performance is related to repellency, wicking, and absorbency mechanisms.  For untreated materials, pesticide penetration increased with increased surface tension difference, decreased solid volume fraction, and decreased fabric thickness.  An empirical model has been presented to predict pesticide penetration for untreated nonwoven fabrics. The regression equation is:

          P = 18 + 0.24 g_diff - 30 u - 22 t - 0.010 (g_diff )²

where, g_diff is the surface tension difference; u is the solid volume fraction; t is the fabric thickness. In addition, Cornell participated in the inter-laboratory testing to develop the proposed ASTM standard test method currently being considered by Committee F23.

The outreach goal is to translate research into educational programs that help users understand the tradeoffs between reducing pesticide exposure and maintaining wearer comfort.  A teaching kit was assembled to demonstrate the variety of materials worn as body covering when handling pesticides. At pesticide applicator trainings as educational materials for loan to the staff of Cornell Cooperative Extension, Integrated Pest Management, and Cornell Pesticide Management Program, the kit is used to introduce, compare, and identify materials that pesticide handlers may have noted on pesticide labels or seen in stores and catalogs. In addition, a bibliography was compiled on children's exposure to pesticides and an educational leaflet was drafted. The intention is to help parents better understand potential exposure situations such as home, farm, school, playgrounds, etc. and to suggest ways to mitigate that risk. Cornell joined the USEPA Pesticide Audio Technology Initiative to explore delivery systems and develop educational materials for school-age youth that emphasize the important of reading labels on household products.

back to top

An Iowa survey of Polk County residents documented their understanding of sun protective strategies, behaviors, and experience with skin cancer. Effects of gender and skin tone were examined by Chi Square.  Men were more likely to report skin cancer and less likely to express intention to protect their skin; they report more time working in the sun. Light"skinned respondents were more likely to report sun protective behaviors showing understanding that they are more at risk. A wear study of two headgear designs, conducted in cooperation with Oklahoma, showed that wearers agreed that the prototype designs both gave effective sun protection but were more concerned about appearance. A study of the effects of household laundry products on the ultraviolet protective factor of fabrics is in progress.

Outreach efforts included 1) development of the sun-safety web page for consumers and other researchers, 2) presentations at international meetings concerning use of textiles for sun safety, and 2) creation of a portable exhibit and publication to teach how to use the letters on pesticide labels to select appropriate chemical resistant gloves with the EPA"s Chemical Category Chart.

The Oklahoma research focused on the completion of two field tests of sun protective headgear styles using two different populations, a group of volunteer lifeguards from two local pools, and a sample of university workers employed in outdoor occupations in Oklahoma and Iowa.  Data analyses were completed for both studies. One manuscript is in development on the lifeguard study, a presentation and an abstract report the 2-state data results.

A third study of multidisciplinary researchers was initiated in Spring 2001 with additional outside funding. The project will develop and test two alternative personal cooling textile systems designed for use by first responders to terrorist threats who are wearing protective ensembles.

Lawn care businesses in southeastern MI were surveyed to study clothing practices and perceptions of regulations for worker safety and environmental protection.  Data analysis has identified areas in which to focus educational efforts.  Protective practices, including maintenance and disposal could be improved in many cases.  Difficulties with the regulatory system were also identified.   The instrument was developed in conjunction with CA and joint analysis is planned (Objective 3).

To better understand user acceptance of protective products (Objective 1B) young adults were surveyed regarding knowledge of UV radiation, current practices with respect to sun protection, and attitudes/beliefs about sun exposure.  Three hundred and sixty-five people completed either a paper or an on-line version of the questionnaire.  Data, including open-ended questions, were coded and entered in SPSS.  Data analysis is in progress.

American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has approved test method F2130-01 on measurement of repellency, retention, and penetration of liquid pesticide formulations through protective clothing materials. This method will be published in the 2001 Annual Book of Standards, Volume 11.03. Maryland provided the leadership in the development of the test method. Inter-laboratory tests for this method were conducted by Illinois, New York, Spain and Maryland. Taiwan is in the process of conducting the tests and Poland could not participate due to limitations with their GC equipment. Protocol and materials were sent by Maryland to all the participating laboratories. The statistical analysis will be conducted for the precision and bias statement once the results are received from all laboratories. International Standards Organization (ISO) Working Group 3 on Protective Clothing has approved the same test method as an ISO committee draft. The comments provided by member countries are being reviewed. Revision to address the comments will be submitted to ISO in January 2000.

California analyzed data from surveys of wild-land fire fighters who alternated wearing a prototype protective clothing system with wearing their standard protective clothing system during one complete fire season. Features of the prototype receiving the highest evaluations were reflective tape on the jacket sleeves, which increased visibility, and a two-way zipper on the jacket, which allowed for better release of body heat.  California also cooperated with Michigan in surveying lawn care companies about protective clothing.  In addition, research continued on improving prediction of yarn strength and understanding the activation process and effects of anti-microbial finishing of fabrics.  Outreach activities included journal publications and presentations at professional meetings in addition to a report prepared fro the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.