Phthalates - EPA assessment?

Oy! yet again, one is confronted with material from academic courses, and realizes 'hey, this actually was useful!" EPA considering risk assessment for phthalates

Phthalates have been used in toys, cosmetics, personal-care products, food packaging, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and cleaning and building materials. They have been found in products such as teethers and pacifiers that babies put in their mouths.

President George W. Bush signed a law this year banning three types of phthalates in children's toys and child care items, except for minute amounts, while temporarily banning three others pending further study. - well, even an idiot can get it right once in a while -

The same six phthalates have been banned in European toys for nearly a decade.

Risk Communication

The Godfather Guru of Risk Communication, Peter Sandman, has quite a few columns on his website, www.psandman.com, including this one, Simplification Made Simple, published in the Sept. 2008 issue of The Synergist. The website has the unabridged version.

Zamboni Inhalation Risks

Zamboni: originally developed by Frank Zamboni in '49, registered as an international trademark, it is nonetheless used as a generic colloquialism for ice resurfacing vehicles in ice hockey arenas. Think of a giant ride-on lawn mower that melts the ice and then squeegees it smooth, using an internal combustion engine for power both to move & melt. They can slice your fingers off. [well, duh]. They can scare the bejeepers out of small children by leaving a bloody trail of crimson transmission fluid on the ice. They can become runaway weapons of vehicular mayhem if controlled by a vodka-swilling driver. When will society wise up to the inherent dangers of the seemingly innocent Zamboni? From the CBC comes yet another story of Zamboni baloney: Public health officials in Quebec City are alerting people who attended a weekend hockey tournament in Portneuf to be vigilant about any breathing problems, after a Zamboni used at the event emitted toxic fumes. Seven people were sent to hospital with chest pains and breathing problems after playing hockey at the St. Ubalde arena rink on Sunday. Two of them are still in intensive care, while another is suffering from a build-up of liquid in the lungs. Health officials suspect the patients inhaled nitrogen-oxide emitted by a Zamboni machine with an improperly calibrated motor, operating in an arena that wasn't very well ventilated. IAQ: Electric surfacers: apparently they leave the ice harder & players happier Problems in hockey rinks (esp. PM2.5): What's more, 14 per cent also tested higher than 100,000 particles of pollution per cubic centimetre, roughly the equivalent of the air quality that might be experienced standing next to Toronto's Highway 401, the busiest road in the country. --- parts per cubic centimeter? I realize the US (and industrial hygienists are even worse than most American scientists) is pretty oblivious to the whole concept of S.I. units or 'metric'. But why not ppm? or even per cubic meter (like us)? Guarding: Chop off kid's fingers Powered Industrial Trucks: ZUI: zamboni under the influence Totally unrelated to health, but really cool photos: looks like the zamboni ran over a penguin:

stupidity in action

One of my biggest pet peeves is the "modern" belief that vaccinations are no longer necessary as a public health measure. of the measles patients, 33 were from Indiana and 1 resided in Illinois. Patients ranges in age from 9 to 49 (mean age: 12). Measles vaccination was documented for 2 persons, one of whom had received 1 dose, and one who had received 2 doses. [3 doses being the magic 'fully vaccinated' number]. MMWR, vol. 54, no. 42, pp. 1073-1074, 2005, Import-Associated Measles Outbreak Now, I realize that it is possible to get vaccinated and no have immunity (e.g., me). I also realize that vaccination does not provide life-long immunity (e.g., the patients over 40). But really, 31 of these people suffered through a case of the measles (and its attendant infection-related health problems) due to a simple refusal to vaccinate their children.

10 Germiest Jobs

The magic list is supposedly: 1. Teacher/day-care worker 2. Cashier, bank employee 3. Tech support/computer repair 4. Doctor or nurse 5. Lab scientist 6. Police officer 7. Animal control officer 8. Janitor or plumber 9. Sanitation worker (AKA garbage man/woman) 10. Meat packer Hands down, I have absolutely no doubt about #1. Though the article thinks pest control workers climbing around in dark basements after rats should be added to the list. While I would not want the job, it would take one monster basement to be that 'germy'. The only biologically active thing in mine is the cat's litter box. The rats, not the basement, are going to be diseased.

Daylight Savings Time

OHS online has their tip d'jour from the APHA. Dealing with time changes isn't quite something I would normally associate wiht either Public Health or emergency preparedness.

35W follow up

well, the tenuous relationship this has to IH is that I was en route to the AIHA sectional meeting. I get on the highway & head north to the meeting place. I abruptly realize that I'm crossing the new 35W bridge. The memorial pylons (I'm assuming they're part of the memorial?) are really tasteful. This disaster, too, shall pass.

Review of disaster

Living at this end of the Mississippi, the big disaster is the collapse of the I-35W bridge. A report has finally come out addressing the public health / medical issues. There is a summary of the article in journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness covers some highlights of "lessons hopefully learned". Unfortunately, I doubt that the infrastructure maintenance long-term financing has been noticed.

Drugs in Drinking Water

Environmental concerns about the quality of source water suddenly include the active ingredients from pharmaceuticals/drugs. And people wonder why they're told they ought not dump old prescriptions in the toilet as a disposal method? Or put them in a landfill? Hmmmm ... where are they supposed to go? One recommendation I saw a couple years ago was to return it to the pharmacy where you bought it, since they will have a disposal program for their own waste. Of course, theirs could be going into a landfill, too - it just won't go in the ordinary trash. oooh, any my home town is on the map with a cute red "tested positive" dot. Yum yum. cholesterol medication nicotine derivative carbamazepine tranquilizers hormones "We plan to put this into some kind of context other than just scientific nomenclature, so folks can get some level of understanding about what it means," said Grubb. Wow ... what a concept. How are they going to explain parts per trillion? really, really small? Apparently since most of this stuff gets into the waters and sewers through human excretion, it might be an added incentive for more patient-specific dosing.

$8.8 million

third largest fine in history $8,777,500 in fines 108 willful violations about combstible dust I'm left wondering if the inspectors simply cited every observation separately, rather than as one blanket "failure to comply with ...." I called OSHA to ask for a copy. I am in awe. Morbid, horrified awe.

Uncomfortable = Unworn

So, (state) OSHA-man shows up on Tuesday for a random, unannounced inspection. My employer (for whom I'm doing an internship) handles this much, much more calmly and professionally than my last place of employment would have. I asked my boss, the Health & Safety manager for the whole plant, if I could tag along for part of the inspection. I've never been involved in one from OSHA before. Ones from CDC, USDA, DoD, state-EPA, yes; strangely enough, not state-OSHA. I'm excited when the answer is yes. So, yesterday afternoon, the boss says, hey, come along. We leave, walk across half of the plant, and meet OSHA-man and some union woman. 30 seconds after I walk into the room, union-woman looks at me and says, "you aren't wearing safety glasses." I am not exaggerating or being flip, when I say, this was the most embarrassing moment of my entire professional career. 7 years of riding people about wearing safety glasses as a safety professional, 6 years of doing it as a chemist. I wanted to crawl into a hole. So, why weren't they on? They're uncomfortable. I just got bifocals, and am getting accustomed to them. The frames got a bit twisted and lost a nose pad. They're down right annoying and are giving me headaches. So, of course, I took them off in my office & put on my regular specs. If it isn't comfortable, people simply won't wear PPE.

Tube Mill in Conneticut

article doesn't specify when the audit happened, printed on 7 aug 2008 58 serious + 5 repeat + 7 other 5 repeat = $40,800 = $8,160 ea. 58 serious = $168,800 = $2,910 ea. 7 other = $2,400 = $323 = ea.

Too Helpful Employees

I've discovered that one must anticipate the bizarre things employees might do, presented with the opportunity. No, I don't mean the zillion truly stupid things like standing on top of 30' ladders, plugging toasters into an area where flammable vapors accumulate, using a forklift to raise another forklift ... No, I mean the things they'll do in a sincere effort to help you. Or a sincere lack of understanding about what you're trying to accomplish. While performing personal noise exposure monitoring, I have discovered the instructions to the employee when applying the dosimeter must include:

1. Don't share. The employee understood that my primary concern was Machine A. She took the meter off, and gave it to the other worker when switching jobs. She wanted to make sure I found out how loud the machine was by keeping the meter with the worker at the machine.
2. It doesn't record things. Despite the fact that the meter does indeed "record" things, it doesn't actually record what you say. My boss advised this as part of the instructions. I would never have thought of it, but apparently others have.
3. "All day" means "until you leave". A couple employees seemed to either not care or not realize what data are recorded. I down-loaded the data & reviewed the dB v. time. I immediately noticed the last hour of data is 0 (i.e., uniformly less than the threshold). I also immediately realized the employee was not accurate in reporting it had been off for "20 minutes".
4. Have a reason for explaining why you picked on her/him. This week's measurements included a worker in an area already identified as in a hearing conservation program. 3 dB exchange rate or not, there's no way it was going to be less than the previously measured 92 dB. Standing next to a bright blue punch press that is at least 10 times larger than the '53 Plymouth I once owned, and was probably built in the same year, the operator asked rather plaintively, "why did you pick me?" My answer: "because I like blue". That wasn't my real rationale. But, it could have been. The reason was actually because he was the only one operating one of the giant beastie

The 300

Well, actually more like 200. Yes, California Occupational Health and Safety Administration - or Cal-OSHA, has about 200 inspectors. For the whole state. After some pregnant teenage migrant worker died of heat, I guess they might do something. Send that 0.5% of the inspectors (i.e., 1) to start checking to see if all of those millions of acres of farmland are actually vaguely complying with OSHA or ACGIH. Nah.

How much is too much?

A colleague mentioned yesterday that his new boss, the new Safety VP, who is also an industrial hygenist, was displeased by the 7 entries on the OSHA log to date (1/1-7/8). For a manufacturing facility of over 4,000 people in 600,000 sq. ft. Yes, anything could be worse. "The fatality rate is currently 183.6 deaths per 100,000 workers: Five tower workers died during one 12-day span earlier this year alone. 18 tower workers died on the job in 2006." Statistics check: if the death rate is 184/100,000 , how is it that 18 died in one year? Does that mean there are really only 9804 employees in the whole country? Media just spew forth numbers that look cool, or inflamatory.

Refusing Unsafe Work Conditions

It's always difficult trying to explain to someone how to tactfully refuse to do something. It can be even more challenging trying to explain when they need to refuse and when they're just being a pain in the ass about it. Since it's bleeped-out, this would be good at the workplace.

There Really Are No Accidents

Just to make Prof. Raynor happy: There Really Are No Accidents. These are from the Canadian WSIB (workplace safety & insurance board). I've posted them separately. This is the first one of the series I saw, immediately following Gabelstapelfahrer Klaus. Interesting comparison.

There Really Are No Accidents

Just to make Prof. Raynor happy: There Really Are No Accidents. These are from the Canadian WSIB (workplace safety & insurance board). I've posted them separately.

There Really Are No Accidents

Just to make Prof. Raynor happy: There Really Are No Accidents. These are from the Canadian WSIB (workplace safety & insurance board). I've posted them separately.

There Really Are No Accidents

Just to make Prof. Raynor happy: There Really Are No Accidents. These are from the Canadian WSIB (workplace safety & insurance board). I've posted them separately.

PIT Safety Video

Forklift truck driving safety video. German with English subtitles.

New Mascot for Health

The 6-foot-11, walking urine vial is being unveiled today as the mascot of HealthPartners' new website and advertising campaign.

Pop Culture PPE

If Bob the Builder can do it, so can you. Every time I've seen Bob the Builder (quite often with a 3 yr. old son), he always wears PPE. He was going at it with a jack hammer wearing: ear muffs, a hard hat, work gloves, and safety glasses. Working on a scaffold? Wearing a fall-harness. Brain wash 'em young to be safe. There is a balance in the workplace between 'safety' and 'practicality'. Hence having an hierarchy of controls, rather than just a monolith. This is particularly noticeable in Hollywood. In Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne is in the process of building the first Bat Suit, spray painting it Menacing Black. What is he wearing? Some short-sleeved shirt to make sure you notice Christian Bale has nice arms. But, he's wearing a nice half-face respirator. The filter cartridges of which do look like 3M's organic vapor/HCl/etc. No safety glasses, though. I suppose after paying an actor millions of dollars for his image, you need to make sure you get your money's worth. It's amusing. They make the effort to portray a character doing something that is "safe", when pretty much the only folks who would notice are the auto body repair mechanics or industrial hygenists. But Safety only gets a bit-part, a walk-on role, only enough so that ... what? Am I supposed to think Bruce Wayne is 'being safe'? Or did some costume director see some set design gal wearing a respirator while assembling and painting the sets, and think "... ooooh .... that looks kinda menacing?" And now Bat Man is wearing it because it fits in with the 'high tech' glamor going on in those scenes? And yet, only a few scenes later, while using a grinding wheel, he's got safety glasses on. What's the moral? Who cares why they're doing the right thing.

We're #3

Move to Minnesota: 1 in 3 high school students binge drinks 1 in 6 people have driven drunk in the past year Top 5 % adults reporting haven driven while drunk: Wisconsin (> 25%) North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota What's interesting class? 20% of the population of South Dakota is one hell of a lot less people than 20% of the California population.

Arsenic

The continuing saga of the Philip's Neighborhood. Minnesota health officials say they could begin recruiting participants next month for the Minneapolis Children's Arsenic Study. The study will measure arsenic levels in the bodies of 100 volunteer children who live in the south Minneapolis neighborhoods near the site of an old pesticide plant.