OSHA cites chemical manufacturer following worker fatality

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited AC&S Inc. with 12 serious violations at the chemical manufacturer's Nitro facility following the death of a worker.

During sandblasting activities, the air line for a supplied air hood was hooked up to a nitrogen gas line and the worker became unconscious. Nitrogen gas presents several risks, including displacing available oxygen. The serious violations related to the fatality included failing to label nitrogen lines at connection points and not ensuring that breathing air couplings were incompatible with other gas systems.

"ACS has a responsibility to ensure that its workers are safeguarded from workplace hazards and by not properly labeling its gas systems failed to protect a worker who ended up losing his life. That is intolerable," said Prentice Cline, director of OSHA's Charleston Area Office. "OSHA's standards are designed to prevent this kind of tragic incident."

Other serious violations included failing to provide training on hazardous chemicals, ensure stairways wider than 44 inches have handrails on each side, provide process safety information and process hazard analysis, use approved electrical chain hosts, develop a mechanical integrity program, and document that equipment complied with recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer know or should have known.

Proposed penalties against AC&S Inc. total $42,700.

Coast Guard medevacs 2 after chemical exposure

HOUSTON — Two crewmembers of a tankship in the Galveston Fairway Anchorage were medevaced by a Coast Guard boat crew after the crewmembers suffered chemical exposure Sunday.

The crew of the 478-foot Panamanian flagged Siva Rotterdam contacted the Coast Guard and reported exposure of two Crewmembers by contact and inhalation to phenol.

They reported that the crewmen were attempting to repair or fix a frozen line containing the phenol. The line broke and sprayed one of the men, the other man had inhalation exposure and was vomiting.

Hazardous Materials and EMS crews met the men at shore for possible decontamination and transfer to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Texas City is investigating the incident.

Govn't to Evaluate Occupational Health Risks of Silver Nanoparticles

Source: Occupational Health and Saftey Magazine

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is looking into the potential risk to employee health posed by silver nanoparticles, or AgNPs, and also to identify gaps in the technical knowledge so lab and field studies can be done. 

The agency's request for information was published in the Dec. 19 edition of the Federal Register, and it says comments will be accepted for 60 days at www.regulations.gov by visiting Docket No. CDC-2012-0014.

AgNPs are used in products such as sensors, filters, inks, and in antimicrobial coatings. Some textiles, keyboards, wound dressings, and biomedical devices contain them.
 
Published reports on workers' AgNP exposure are limited but indicate exposure can occur through airborne release during the production of silver nanoparticles or can result from exposure during electro-refining of silver.

The agency is requesting published and unpublished reports on in vitro and in vivo toxicity studies of AgNPs, information on possible health effects in workers exposed to them, descriptions of work tasks with the potential for exposures, measurement methods and workplace exposure data, and information about control measures.

Study: Insurers May Face an Additional $11 Billion in Asbestos Claims

Source: Mesothelioma & Asbestos Awareness Center.

A new report issued by ratings firm A.M. Best indicates that U.S. insurers can expect to pay an additional $11 billion in asbestos-related insurance claims above and beyond the $23 billion already set aside for future expenses. The same report shows that the industry has already paid out some $53 billion for such claims during the last quarter-century.

According to a Wall Street Journal article, A.M. Best indicated in their report that the rise in costs can be attributed to the increasing cost of each claim, the success rate of experienced mesothelioma attorneys, and the long latency period of diseases such as malignant mesothelioma. All of this means that “sizable losses are likely to continue for years,” according to the study results released last week.

Some of the insurers who have seen significant asbestos claims throughout the last few decades include Travelers, Hartford Financial Services Group, Berkshire Hathaway, CNA Financial Group, and Lloyd’s of London. Dozens of others have been hit with smaller claims.

Many asbestos diseases, including both asbestosis and mesothelioma, can take anywhere from two to five decades to develop and become evident. Hence, asbestos lawsuits are still being filed more than 30 years after the government imposed rules about the use of the toxic material. Therefore, insurers are still paying out on policies they sold as much as 50 years ago, when asbestos was widely used in all sorts of products and in many industries. Mechanics, machinists, insulators, plumbers, electricians, and a wide variety of other tradesmen may have suffered asbestos exposure on the job during those years.

A.M. Best analyst Gerard Altonji said: “Given the long latency period between exposure to asbestos and the manifestation of mesothelioma, as well as the very large number of people exposed over a great many years…it is likely that asbestos losses will continue to develop for many years to come.”

Though the additional $11 billion is not enough to cripple the industry, Altonji and his colleagues add, investors with the various insurance companies involved have reacted negatively when an insurer announces additions to its asbestos reserves.

OSHA Demanding SeaWorld Comply with Subpoenas for Employee's Testimony; Follow-up to 2010 Trainer Drowning

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has filed a petition against SeaWorld of Florida to comply with administrative subpoenas that require SeaWorld to provide three managers to be interviewed during OSHA's follow-up abatement inspection.

SeaWorld has declined to provide personnel to answer questions regarding what's been done to correct prior violations related to trainers' exposure to struck-by and drowning hazards when engaged in performances with killer whales.

"The employee testimony for the follow-up abatement inspection, required by a subpoena, allows OSHA inspectors to determine if SeaWorld employees continue to be exposed to unsafe and unhealthy working conditions," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. 

"Abating safety and health hazards in the workplace needs to be as important to an employer as recognizing the hazards in the first place."

The follow-up inspection is being conducted as a result of previous violations that OSHA identified after a February 2010 drowning of a trainer who was grabbed and pulled under the water by a six-ton killer whale during what SeaWorld described as a "relationship session." In August 2010, OSHA issued SeaWorld citations related to the incident. SeaWorld contested OSHA's proposed violations and penalties.

A trial was held by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, and in June an administrative law judge upheld OSHA's citations against SeaWorld. Subsequently, SeaWorld was required to abate cited hazards, including those specifically related to trainers working in proximity to the killer whales. However, since the order went into effect, SeaWorld has filed a petition with the review commission seeking additional time to abate the violation regarding trainers' interaction with killer whales. SeaWorld maintains that the petition, which is pending resolution, should restrict the scope of OSHA's follow-up inspection.

The enforcement action has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle of Florida, Orlando Division by the department's Atlanta Regional Solicitor's Office.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov

Ozone levels have sizeable impact on worker productivity

Ozone pollution is a pervasive global issue with a wide range of opinion on acceptable levels. While policy makers agree that regulating ozone smog reduces hospitalizations and mortality rates, researchers at Columbia wanted to know if it also affects job performance.

They studied the impact of pollution on agricultural workers using daily variations in ozone levels. Their results show that the pollution had significant negative impacts on their productivity, even at levels below current air-quality standards in most parts of the world.

The researchers found that a 10 ppb (parts per billion) change in average ozone exposure results in a significant 5.5 percent change in agricultural worker productivity.

"These estimates are particularly noteworthy as the U.S. EPA is currently moving in the direction of reducing federal ground-level ozone standards," said study author Dr. Matthew Neidell, PhD.

President Obama has said he would not support a proposal by the EPA to tighten the federal ozone standard because it would pose too heavy a burden on businesses.

The study findings suggest that environmental protection is important for promoting economic growth and investing in human capital. This is the first study to examine the direct impact of pollution on worker productivity. It's published in the American Economic Review.

Photo: freedigitalphotos.net

Researchers developing bacteria to turn methane waste into diesel fuel

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a group led by the University of Washington $4 million to develop bacteria that can turn the methane in natural gas into diesel fuel for transportation.

"The product that we’re shooting for will have the same fuel characteristics as diesel," said principal investigator Mary Lidstrom, a UW professor of chemical engineering and microbiology. "It can be used in trucks, boats, buses, cars, tractors – anything that diesel does now."

They will target the natural gas associated with oil fields, which is often flared off as waste, as well as so-called "stranded" natural gas reserves that are too small for a pipeline to be economically viable.

The team aims to capture that natural gas and use bacteria to turn its main component, methane, into a liquid fuel for transportation.

"The goal at the end of three years is to have an integrated process that will be ready for pre-commercialization pilot testing," Lidstrom said.

7 states want to sue for fracking-related air quality

The Washington Times is reporting that seven Atlantic states are threatening to sue the Environmental Protection Agency, seeking harsher air quality rules on the oil and gas industry and its most effective drilling method Hydraulic fracturing or "fracking".  The process involves pumping water-based solutions deep into the ground to force rocks to break apart and allow oil or natural gas to be removed.

It's a hot debate, with some saying that fracking could set the U.S. up for energy independence. On the other side are opponents like New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, the leader of the seven-state coalition that includes Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island. He tells the Times:

“Regulators have failed to require the industry to use available and cost-effective measures to control emissions from drilling sites...Our coalition is putting EPA on notice that we are prepared to sue to force action on curbing climate-change pollution from the oil and gas industry."

Opponents of fracking are concerned about air pollution, chemical exposure, water contamination even an increase in earthquakes. Health officials say that more research is needed before the U.S. boosts oil exploration.

“The question here is very simple,' said Seth B. Shonkoff, executive director of Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy. "Why would the United States dramatically increase the use of an energy extraction method without first ensuring that the trade-off is not the health of Americans in exchange for the energy demands of foreign nations?”

The industry meanwhile, touts the economic benefits insisting that U.S. oil and gas supplies can help the nation become energy independent in less than 20 years.

Photo: freedigitalphotos.net

Screening tool helps identify health and safety impacts of shift work on individual workers

An international team of sleep researchers has developed the world’s first screening tool to help reduce workplace accidents and illnesses, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, caused by shift work.

Published in the journal Sleep, the new tool will enable health professionals and industry to better understand individual vulnerability to the health and safety impacts of shift work.

This screening questionnaire for a condition known as shift work disorder (SWD) has been developed by researchers from Monash University, and US partners, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Henry Ford Hospital.

At least 15 per cent of workers in Australia, the US, and the United Kingdom, and around 23 per cent of workers in Japan are estimated to work outside normal hours, causing significant disruption to their natural sleep-wake schedules. SWD, characterised by extreme sleepiness and/or insomnia, is thought to affect around 10 per cent of shift workers.

Associate Professor Shantha Rajaratnam, of Monash and Harvard University, said the prevalence of shift work has been unknown due to the lack of accurate assessment tools.

"Shift work is a reality of modern economies, but research has shown that there are very real health risks associated with working outside regular hours," Associate Professor Rajaratnam said.

"Aside from associated health problems, shift workers are significantly more at risk of workplace injuries. The workers most affected by sleep disruption - those with SWD - account for a significant proportion of this risk and need to be identified."

Shift work, especially overnight, is associated with a higher rate of car crashes, industrial accidents, actual and near-miss injuries and quality-control errors on the job.

Secondary health problems linked with shift work include cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases and mood disorders, including depression.

"This questionnaire is an important step in better understanding causes of vulnerability to shift work, and targeting interventions to those who most need them," Associate Professor Rajaratnam said.

"However, this is only a first step and further tests of actual impairment from lack of sleep must be developed for implementation in occupational settings."

"More collaboration between researchers, industry and government partners is needed to tackle these significant challenges and make shift work as safe and productive as possible."

Photo: freedigitalphotos.net

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Study: Smaller Companies Bearing the Financial Burden of Employees with Cancer

Disability in Workers with Cancer Equals 20 Percent of Healthcare Spending

Each year, more than three million American workers are diagnosed with cancer, leading to high productivity losses that mainly affect smaller companies, reports a study in the December Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 

Analyzing a national survey of medical spending, the researchers found that cancer in U.S. workers leads to productivity losses of more than 33 million disability days per year, amounting to $7.5 billion in lost productivity. Based on the average wages of the workers surveyed, disability costs due to cancer were equal to 20 percent of total healthcare spending.

Nearly 85 percent of the workers with cancer worked for smaller companies with fewer than 500 employees. These small-business employees had higher rates of other health problems as well, including high blood pressure, depression, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. They were also more likely to be uninsured.

Certain types of cancers, including women's cancers and melanoma, were associated with higher burdens of illness. For breast cancer, health care costs and hospitalizations were twice as high and disability days 55 percent higher than for other cancers.

The study is one of the first to document the economic impact of cancer in the U.S. workforce. The true cost in terms of lost productivity is likely even higher than the disability days measured in the study. The authors call for further efforts to reduce the burden of illness associated with cancer and its treatment—perhaps including supportive care interventions to reduce cancer-related disability.

Photo: freedigitalphotos.net

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Former Power Plant Worker Says "Liquid Wrench" Gave Him Cancer

A former power utility plant worker has filed a benzene complaint against Radiator Specialty of North Carolina. Homer A. Lindsay says the defendant’s "Liquid Wrench" product caused his multiple myeloma, a cancer that forms in the plasma cells and collects in the bone marrow.

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Lindsay, says that as an employee of the New Orleans Public Services Inc., a power utility plant, he was exposed to benzene-containing products, specifically, Radiator Specialty’s Liquid Wrench. He used the product to perform maintenance, repairs, and the installation of instruments, controls and piping.

Benzene, a known carcinogen, enters the body through the skin, lungs, or digestive tract. 

A number of medical studies have indicated that long-term exposure to benzene and other industrial solvents may increase the risk of developing multiple myeloma.

(Source: www.harrismartin.com)

Chemical exposure at work is putting plastic workers at risk of breast cancer

A new study published in the journal New Solutions presents strong evidence that women employed in the plastics industry are exposed to workplace chemicals that can increase their risk of breast cancer and reproductive abnormalities.

The study, by the University of Stirling, Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers and the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health, supports recent research led by the University of Stirling which reported a five-fold increased risk of developing breast cancer in premenopausal women who work in the plastics industry. Together these studies reveal the need for swift regulatory action on carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting chemicals on a global scale.

One Canadian worker taking part in the study explained the way chemical exposures affect her at work: “I don’t know if it’s from the smoke or if it’s from the fumes. You smell fumes, you taste [it] in your mouth, and then you get—it’s like a light-headedness, dizziness.”

Scottish plastics workers have reported similar experiences when interviewed by researchers:
“My concern was that the chemicals were openly used. Some people would be using different chemicals at more or less every bench. And when some of the ovens were on with no extraction…that was another complaint. I felt my eyes with the heat and the fumes building up – it was almost unbearable. It was really horrendous. F. didn’t bother about PTFE [flu] and he didn’t tell us when he was putting parts in the oven to cure them. It was only when we smelt the fumes and shouted, ‘F, have you put something in the curing?’ and he would go ‘Aye’. I would go like, ‘Get out of the road until it’s cured’. When the oven cools down it means that the fumes are going to stop.”

“Round the fabrication, and you would maybe be doing a job, maybe cementing like the clear acrylics, you would actually go to start work and you could actually see the dust landing on it and you would have to tell him to stop sweeping up because all they were doing was agitating all the dirt in the place and you had to tell him to stop while you got your job done. Because of them having no windows and no extraction, there was nowhere for it to go”.

"Sometimes you would go into the coating shop and when you opened the door, you would get a ‘yuuugh’ and you were gasping to get out of the place [because] you couldn’t breathe…They were spraying stuff and they were coating. What they used to have was these big tubs of powder, they attached a blower to it so that there was air getting blown through it. As soon as you attached the blower it was all over the place…also they used to take parts out of the [back door] and burn the plastic off with a blow torch and all the fumes would blow in.”

The study’s synthesis of scientific findings on carcinogens and endocrine disruptors is one of its most important contributions. Workers in the plastics industry are reported to have high body burdens of hormone disrupting chemicals such as acrylonitrile, styrene, BPA and phthalates.

Professor Andrew Watterson of the University of Stirling said: “In Europe a number of countries have banned bisphenol A (BPA) and took action to ban baby bottles that were manufactured using the known hormone disruptor.

“But often there are still limited or no effective safeguards in place to protect workers who are directly exposed to BPA (and several other carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting chemicals used as additives in plastics manufacturing) on a daily basis.

“In the UK there are some 200,000 workers in the plastics industry in around 6000 workplaces and well over 90% of the workplaces are in small and medium enterprises. Yet the HSE, the UK enforcement agency, has recently floated proposals to remove active inspection of the plastics industry and only engage in reactive visits.

“Our research indicates the need for more not less oversight and investigation of health hazards facing workers in the plastics industry. Endocrine disruptors may also affect men’s health in potentially serious ways and merit serious surveillance.”

Sharp Spike in Computer-Related Injuries Predicted for Medical Workers, Find Studies

As U.S. health care goes high tech, spurred by $20 billion in federal stimulus incentives, the widespread adoption of electronic medical records and related digital technologies is predicted to reduce errors and lower costs – but it is also likely to significantly boost musculoskeletal injuries among doctors and nurses, concludes a Cornell University ergonomics professor in two new papers.

The repetitive strain injuries, he said, will stem from poor office layouts and improper use of computer devices.

"Many hospitals are investing heavily in new technology with almost no consideration for principles of ergonomics design for computer workplaces," said Alan Hedge, professor of human factors and ergonomics in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology's Department of Design and Environmental Analysis. "We saw a similar pattern starting in the 1980s when commercial workplaces computerized, and there was an explosion of musculoskeletal injuries for more than a decade afterward."

For a paper published in the Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 56th Annual Meeting, held Oct. 22-26 in Boston, Hedge and James asked 179 physicians about the frequency and severity of their musculoskeletal discomfort, computer use in their clinic, knowledge of ergonomics and typing skills. The most commonly reported repetitive strain injuries were neck, shoulder and upper and lower back pain -- with a majority of female doctors and more than 40 percent of male doctors reporting such ailments on at least a weekly basis. About 40 percent of women and 30 percent of men reported right wrist injuries at a similar frequency.

"These rates are alarming. When more than 40 percent of employees are complaining about regular problems, that's a sign something needs to be done to address it," said Hedge. "In a lot of hospitals and medical offices, workplace safety focuses on preventing slips, trips and falls and on patient handling, but the effects of computer use on the human body are neglected."

The gender differences, the authors write, appear to be in part because women reported spending about an hour longer on the computer per day than men.

In a second study of 180 physicians and 63 nurse practitioners and physician assistants in the same health system, published in a new volume, "Advances in Human Aspects of Healthcare" (CRC Press), more than 90 percent of respondents reported using a desktop computer at work. On average, they spent more than five hours per day using computers.

Fifty-six percent of doctors and 71 percent of nurse practitioners and physician assistants said their computer use at work had increased in the past year; 22 percent of doctors and 19 percent of nurse practitioners and physician assistants reported less time in face-to-face interactions with patients. Only about 5 percent of participants reported an "expert knowledge" of ergonomics, and more than two-thirds said they had no input in the planning or design of their computer or clinical workstation.

"We can't assume that just because people are doctors or work in health care that they know about ergonomics," Hedge said. "With so many potential negative effects for doctors and patients, it is critical that the implementation of new technology is considered from a design and ergonomics perspective.”

EPA to clean up chemical laden property of a former owner of a pyrotechnic company

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week will begin excavating areas of perchlorate-contaminated soil on and around a residential property  in Barstow, CA. The residence had been occupied by the former owner of Mojave Pyrotechnics, Inc., a defunct pyrotechnics manufacturing company that operated in the 1980’s.

Perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and man-made chemical that is used to produce rocket fuel, fireworks, flares and explosives.

EPA will remove approximately 1100 tons the  contaminated soil, down three feet into the ground—the equivalent of 50 truckloads. The soil will be disposed of at the U.S. Ecology landfill. The excavated areas will be capped with a layer of plastic and then backfilled with clean soil. Removal action may take up to three weeks to complete.

EPA has collected a total of 340 soil samples from 70 locations to determine the areas of contamination. Data from these samples shows two areas, the garden and trash pile areas, within the northwestern parcel of the site with perchlorate levels in the soil that exceed the EPA’s Regional Screening Levels of 55 mg/kg. Because these areas with elevated levels are readily accessible to on-site residents, future workers and the casual trespasser and are a potential source of further groundwater contamination, the agency determined that the contaminated soil needed to be removed to ensure the protection of public health.

Research indicates that this contaminant can disrupt the thyroid’s ability to produce hormones needed for normal growth and development.  

Glass container manufacturer will have to spend $37 million to reduce pollution from plants

Electrocorp pollution control equipment. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice announced that Ohio-based Owens-Brockway Glass Container Inc., the nation’s largest glass container manufacturer, has agreed to install pollution control equipment to reduce harmful emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter (PM) by nearly 2,500 tons per year and pay a $1.45 million penalty to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations at five of the company’s manufacturing plants.

"The pollution controls required by today’s settlement will significantly reduce emissions that can impact residents’ health and local environment in communities located near glass manufacturing plants,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “These new pollution controls will improve air quality and protect communities from Georgia to Texas from emissions that can lead to respiratory illnesses, smog and acid rain.”

“This agreement will significantly reduce the amount of air pollution, known to cause a variety of environmental and health problems, from the nation’s largest manufacturer of glass containers,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. “The settlement, the latest in a series of agreements with the glass manufacturing sector, addresses major sources of pollution at facilities located in four states and will mean cleaner air for the people living in those communities.”

The pollution controls required as part of the settlement to reduce NOx, SO2, and PM will cost an estimated cost of $37.5 million. Owens-Brockway will also spend an additional $200,000 to mitigate excess emissions at its plant in Atlanta by working with the Georgia Retrofit Program to retrofit diesel school buses and fleet vehicles with controls to reduce emissions, or it will assist with the purchase of new natural gas, propane, or hybrid vehicles.

Reducing air pollution from the largest sources of emissions, including glass manufacturing plants, is one of the EPA’s National Enforcement Initiatives for 2011-2013. This is the fourth settlement in EPA’s National Glass Manufacturing Plant Initiative.

NOx, SO2, and PM, three key pollutants emitted from glass plants, have numerous adverse effects on human health and the environment. NOx and SO2 contribute to ground-level ozone, or smog, acid rain, and the destruction of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. NOx and SO2 can also irritate the lungs and aggravate of pre-existing heart or lung conditions. PM contains microscopic particles that can travel deep into the lungs and cause difficulty breathing, coughing, decreased lung function, and even death.

The facilities covered by the settlement are located in Atlanta, Ga.; Clarion, Penn.; Crenshaw, Penn.; Muskogee, Okla.; and Waco, Texas.

VIDEO: Work crews evacuated as test reveals elevated chemical levels at train derailment site in New Jersey

Responders, work crews and officials were pulled from the site of Friday's train derailment in New Jersey this morning after elevated chemical levels were detected in the air. Officials say they hope to resume the offloading sometime this afternoon. One of the train cars involved in the derailment was carrying vinyl chloride and ruptured on impact.

Electrocorp air quality experts are currently assessing the best air quality solution for local businesses and homeowners. We carry over 40 custom blends of activated carbon for heavy chemicals and toxic gases such as the vinyl chloride.

Watch the news conference here: