Sustainability in Health and Safety

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The Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI) recently published “Viewpoint” articles by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine professors who warn that global climate change is likely to unlock dangerous new microbes, as well as threaten humans’ ability to regulate body temperature.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is calling the deaths of three American firefighters in New South Wales “a terrible tragedy.” The three, who were in Australia helping fight that country’s ongoing wildfires, were in a C-130 Hercules firefighting aircraft carrying a load of retardant when the plane went down in New South Wales, according to news reports.

The wildfires raging through Australia are stark reminders that other parts of the world – including the U.S. – are also at risk, due to factors related to climate change, like warmer temperatures and drier conditions that lengthen the wildfire season and help a fire spread once it’s ignited. Even if your home or place of employment is not directly threatened by flames, you could be affected by the smoke from wildfires that are burning many miles away.

The EPA started the new year off with a move it says will ultimately reduce the emissions of gases that contribute heavily to air pollution, including the formation of smog and acid rain. On January 6, 2020, the agency issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rule (ANPR) soliciting pre-proposal comments on the Cleaner Trucks Initiative (CTI).

Air pollution is known to be a serious health risk –a cause of asthma, heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and a factor, according to the World Health Organization, in an estimated seven million deaths worldwide every year. A growing body of research suggests air pollution may also be harming our brains. In recent years, new areas of study have opened up into how air pollution might affect our minds and the way we think and feel.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) has published a significantly updated version of a safety standard that provides guidance for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving a safety and environmental management system (SEMS) for offshore operations.

The EPA said yesterday that it will not impose new financial responsibility requirements for the petroleum and coal products manufacturing industry (the industrial sector that transforms crude petroleum and coal into usable products) “because the financial risk to the federal government from those facilities is already addressed by various existing federal and state technical and financial requirements and modern material management practices.”