Environmental Health and Safety

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When workers enter the hazardous and historic McCluskey Room at the Hanford Site this summer, they will be safer due to their preparation and involvement in planning and training for the job.

The seeds have been planted and are being cultivated for the development of a global occupational health and safety standard. I am participating as a U.S. delegate and member of the U.S. leadership team on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to develop the new OH&S standard – ISO 45001.

The EPA has released a final risk assessment for trichloroethylene (TCE) that identifies health risks to workers in shops and dry cleaners that use the chemical as a degreaser or a stain removing agent. Consumers may also be exposed to TCE when using spray aerosol degreasers and spray fixatives.

Emotional and behavioral problems show up even with low exposure to lead, and as blood lead levels increase in children, so do the problems, according to research funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. The results were published online June 30 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

The Department of Labor and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have teamed up again to prevent heat-related deaths and illnesses. Heat-related injuries and fatalities in outdoor workers continue with record-breaking heat waves over the last three summers.

 The EPA today released a new policy statement on climate change adaptation to help the nation prepare for and respond to the impacts of a changing climate. The policy commits the Agency to work with states, tribes, and local communities to increase their resilience to extreme weather events and prepare for the impacts of climate change. 

A study by researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), found that houseboats that use gasoline-powered generators without emission controls routinely emit carbon monoxide concentrations well above NIOSH’s immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) value of 1200 parts per million.

Employees today are expected to do more with less, and safety professionals are no exception. While the business case for safety would seem to be obvious – high injury rates cost money and reduce productivity – getting upper management to commit resources to safety can be challenging if there’s a perception that the cost won’t justify the results.

When severe weather strikes, we often turn to meteorologists and weather forecasters for life-saving information.  Tina Eller of Atlanta told the New York Times that her local weatherman, Glenn Burns, saved the lives of her and her family in 2011 by issuing an on-air warning to take cover when a tornado was minutes away from ravaging her community.