Worker Health Protection Program (WHPP)

The Worker Health Protection Program (WHPP) is funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the DOE Former Worker Medical Surveillance Program (FWP). The FWP was created by a Congressional mandate in the Defense Authorization Act of 1993, which directed the DOE to fund voluntary medical screening to workers of DOE's nuclear defense facilities. WHPP is one of several university-based programs that have received funding to provide this screening; it has been in operation since 1999 and serves former workers at 14 DOE sites (hyperlink).

United States nuclear operations began in the mid-1940's, starting with the Manhattan Project, increased throughout the Cold War, and continue today with civilian energy, remediation and research projects. Workers from DOE facilities may be at an increased risk of occupational illness due to exposure to ionizing radiation, beryllium, asbestos, volatile organic compounds and other toxic substances used in the development, production and maintenance of nuclear weapons. The primary goals of the Worker Health Protection Program are to detect illnesses at an early stage when medical intervention may be helpful and to have independent occupational medicine physicians determine if existing health conditions are occupational in origin. WHPP participants are offered ongoing medical surveillance and are eligible for follow-up screenings every three years.

WHPP is administered by the Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment at Queens College, in conjunction with the United Steelworkers (USW) and the Atomic Trades and Labor Council (ATLC). To date, WHPP has performed over 51,000 physical examinations among 31,000 former and current workers. WHPP examinations include tests for occupational conditions related to work at the DOE facilities, such as asbestosis, chronic beryllium disease, emphysema, hearing loss, silicosis and some cancers. When illnesses are found during the screening, WHPP physicians make recommendations for appropriate follow up treatment. Findings from WHPP physicals may also be useful to support state and federal workers' compensation claims, including the Department of Labor's Energy Employee Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICP), a compensation program which was established solely for DOE facility workers: http://www.dol.gov/owcp/energy/

For more information on WHPP

Visit:
www.worker-health.org

The 2014 Former Worker Program annual report:
http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/03/f20/2014_FWP_Annual_Report.pdf

For frequent updates about WHPP, the DOE and general health and safety issues, follow WHPP on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/WorkerHealthProtectionProgramwhpp

Steven B. Markowitz, MD, DrPh

Project Director

Tel: (718) 670-4184 / Fax: (718) 670-4167 / Email: smarkowitz@qc.cuny.edu

Steven Markowitz, M.D. is a physician specializing in occupational and environmental medicine. Dr. Markowitz is currently Director of the Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment and Professor of Environmental Sciences at Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY). He is a faculty member of the CUNY School of Public Health and Adjunct Professor of Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he was on the full- time faculty from 1986 to 1998. He received his undergraduate education at Yale University and his medical degree and doctorate in epidemiology from Columbia University. Dr. Markowitz is board-certified in occupational and environmental medicine and internal medicine.

Dr. Markowitz currently directs the Worker Health Protection Program, a medical screening program for former Department of Energy workers who built the nuclear weapon arsenal of the United States. This program is co-sponsored by the United Steelworkers International Union and the Atomic Trades & Labor Council. This program conducts the largest early lung cancer detection project in occupational health in the country through the application of low-dose helical CAT scanning. To date, over 13,000 workers who were exposed to asbestos, uranium, and other lung carcinogens have been screened for lung cancer in this program.

Dr. Markowitz previously directed the Queens College World Trade Center Health Program , which monitored the health of over 2,000 WTC workers and provided treatment services to WTC workers with 9/11-related health conditions.

Dr. Markowitz' research interests center on occupational and environmental disease surveillance; occupational cancer; asbestos-related diseases; and the burden and costs of occupational diseases and injuries. Dr. Markowitz is Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. He is Associate Editor with William Rom MD of a major textbook, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, (4nd Edition, Lippincott William and Wilkens, New York, 2007, 1884 pp.). Dr. Markowitz is on the Board of Scientific Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Toxicology Program; the World Trade Center Scientific and Technical Advisory Board of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; and the Oversight Committee for the Occupational Health Clinics, New York State Department of Health.