Dr. Silver Presents at Safety Fest

Employees of the X-10 site at Oak Ridge from 1943 to 1955
have a reduced burden of proof for certain claims under the federal
EEOICPA statute.  Credit:  OSTI

Ken Silver, Associate Professor of Environmental Health, was a co-presenter of a workshop at Safety Fest in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on September 13.  The workshop, presented with Tim Lerew, chairperson of Cold War Patriots, provided an overview of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). This federal law, enacted in 2000 and amended in 2004, provides nuclear workers with financial compensation and medical care for illnesses contracted at energy and weapons research and production facilities.  Survivors are eligible for certain benefits as well. 

The presentation contained case examples from Silver’s work with claimants at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, complementing Mr. Lerew’s overview of the law in his role as a national advocate. 

Silver also reported on activities of the Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health, a federal committee that advises the U.S. Secretary of Labor on implementation of EEOICPA.  Workshop attendees expressed interest in the Board’s recommended legal presumptions for occupational lung disease. 

Silver was recently reappointed to the advisory board for a second two-year term.