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.