House Passes Worker Notification Bill in Face of Strong Opposition: Proponents believe measure will help those at risk from occupational diseases, but opponents fear raft of lawsuits from alarmed employees

To its supporters it closes a wide gap in occupational health laws and in the long run will save the country millions of dollars. To its opponents it's an open invitation to an avalanche of unjustified lawsuits. It is the High Risk Disease Notification & Prevention Act of 1987, which the House passed last month by a slim 39-vote margin. According to Rep. Joseph M. Gaydos (D.-Pa.), the bill's original sponsor, H.R. 162 is designed to address a problem that Congress thought it had solved when it created the Occupational Safety & Health Administration some 17 years ago. "We believed," he explains, "that we would substantially reduce the number of deaths and injuries arising from occupational accidents and diseases. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked out that way. Each year, 100,000 American workers die from occupationally related diseases. Another 400,000 become disabled." In its report on the bill, the House Committee on Education & Labor noted that ...