Making up for lost time?

No. However, it is nice to see OSHA trying to look scary. The explosion at Imperial Sugar in Georgia has the Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board report released earlier this week. The 3rd paragraph of the story in the NYTimes has a link to the document. Lots of pretty good photographs, with diagrams, etc. I haven't read one of their reports before. 89 pages of reading for a chilly Autumn evening. The Times article reports the proposed $8.7 million fines. This popped up on my radar right after the news today brought up the fines announced against BP following their explosion in Texas a few years ago. In both cases, I'm far more curious about how much these companies will actually pay. We all know that "proposed fines" bears no semblance to "actual fines". The Times article about BP included: Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has repeatedly said that “there’s a new sheriff in town,” signaling that she would take a more aggressive approach in enforcing wage and labor laws, after what she said was lax enforcement under President George W. Bush. This might be more plausible, if OSHA hadn't been so lax for the past 39 years. How often do they prosecute anyone for anything? BP is cited for 439 willful and egregious violations. This is finally the trigger to request the Attorney General to prosecute criminal charges. Are they going to? If 15 deaths & 439 willful violations don't do it .... what will? The Strib also reported (the only point in their article which wasn't in the Times): Since the 2005 accident, four additional people have died at the Texas refinery, including one employee and three contractors. BP was fined $50m by the Department of Justice in 2007 to settle criminal charges stemming from the Texas explosion. Reports the BBC News. This subtly gets to the point most in the US miss. These criminal charges are from failure to comply with the Clean Air Act. In other words, the EPA had them prosecuted. These people likely won't be criminally prosecuted from OSHA. Like everything else with the gov't: wait and see ... wait and see ...

Air Quality Index - AIQ

This is posted on the MPCA website for Twin Cities Minnesota .

Colt v. US

COLT INDUSTRIES, INC., Plaintiff/Cross-Appellant, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant-Appellee No. 89-1165 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT 880 F.2d 1311; 1989 U.S. App. LEXIS 10672; 89-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) P9450; 64 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5231; 30 ERC (BNA) 1179; 19 ELR 21450 July 24, 1989, Decided Taxpayer was assessed civil penalties in a consent decree because it failed to eliminate violations of the Clean Air Act. In satisfaction of the civil penalties imposed by the consent decree, the taxpayer remitted payment. The taxpayer then claimed the payment as an ordinary business deduction under I.R.C. § 162(a). Does anything more clearly demonstrate the fact businesses see non-compliance fines as just an ordinary business cost?

Hazmat Hounds

Now this is the sort of thing that is just tooo strange to make up: What do you do with dog vomit after Fido eats the rat poison you stupidly left lying around? Question from health official: We have had two cases in the state recently where a dog has eaten zinc phosphide rat poison. The dog is rushed to the vet, they make it vomit and are overcome by the phosphine. We are going to send out an advisory suggesting that this procedure be performed outside of the facility, think behind the building, so we can get adequate ventilation. The issue then becomes what to do with the dog barf? Do we have them direct the dog to a plastic garbage bag and seal it up? Since we have had two cases of this there must have been others somewhere in the US, do you know of anyone who has an experience with it? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Response from EPA: Inducing vomiting is the right treatment. But acid or water causes decomposition and release of phosphine gas. Recommendation is to flood away barf with copious water, while wearing respirator. (Look up respirator in NIOSH) They recommend disposal in a DRY soil pit, but you have to get it there. Level B, or at least supplied air, is my best guess. What about Baking Soda, the all-purpose solution? At least it's not an acid. The following is from Google search on decontaminating sodium phosphide: SYNOPSIS A rodenticide of high mammalian toxicity which in the presence of dilute acid will decompose to liberate phosphine. It is not cumulative in body tissues. SELECTED PROPERTIES Physical characteristics: A grey powder of high melting point which sublimes when heated in the absence of oxygen. Solubility: Practically insoluble in water and ethanol. Soluble in benzene and carbon disulfide. Stability: Stable when dry but decomposes slowly in moist air. It reacts violently with acids with decomposition to the spontaneously inflammable phosphine gas. Vapour pressure: Very low. Phosphine odour detectable at 1.5-3.0 ml/m3 of air, depending on its purity.

Weekly Fatalities

It's sad that they can actually report this by week. The U.S. Department of Labor has a Weekly Reports of Fatalities, Catastrophes, and Other Events. I wish there was a note as to which ones were fatalities. Especially since a few of the entries read:

• Victim was cleaning out a pit at a grain elevator. He was walking near the unguarded opening and fell through, 15-20 feet, to the bottom of the pit. - now this I assume is a fatality
• Victim fell from a 3-step ladder. -- how is this on the list at all, unless it was a fatality?

There is a note: There are 26 OSHA State Plan States. Since there is no reporting requirement, a number of states have elected not to report their fatalities to OSHA. .

Old OSHA Videos

Well, thank goodness for YouTube. The following 3 videos are all dated from 1980 (according to the info on YouTube). All three are produced for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to promote itself and workers' rights regarding occupational safety. There are a couple scenes in the history of OSHA video which I just cannot imagine being included in a video today. According to the notes on all 3, the videos were banned & destroyed by the incoming OSHA Secretary in '81 (read: Bush I). They are all about 30 minutes. If they were produced for the government, they are in the public domain.

History of OSHA

Unfortunately, the beginning of this will not trigger the emotional response it did in 1980. The comparison of the death toll of the Vietnam War to the fatality rate here in the US during the same year was a great point. But, then again, I remember the end of the war. We can't provide the same statistics (thank God) about either Gulf War.

Can't Take No More

history of worker safety movement

Worker to Worker

I like the opening tune: Take This Job & Shove It. A look at the different kinds of hazards one can find at work.

a

that's all, folks

Title 29 - Labor Chapter 15 - Occupational Safety & Health Sec. 666 - Civil and criminal penalties (e) Willful violation causing death to employee Any employer who willfully violates any standard, rule, or order promulgated pursuant to section 655 of this title, or of any regulations prescribed pursuant to this chapter, and that violation caused death to any employee, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for no more than six months, or by both; except that if the conviction is for a violation committed after a first conviction of such person, punishment shall be by a fine of not more than $20,000 or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by both. Now, here we go: > "civil and criminal penalties" gives a first impression that the plural applies to criminal, as well as civil. Nope. There's only one criminal provision under the federal (and Minnesota) Occupational Safety & Health Act. It's here. You need to actually achieve killing your employee. Not only that, but it also needs to meet the legal definition of "willful", which isn't the same as used in normal conversation. There's one of those op-ed pieces on a blog bemoaning the state of affairs when killing your worker carries a lower penalty than assaulting a burro on federal property. A claim I've read before. The author, however, failed to provide a bibliography along with the word 'bibliography'. So, I'm not sure how valid his numbers are, or where they're from. Which is sad, because I would like to use some of them & would have been happier if I didn't need to go looking for the information from primary sources. Like the burro. Or ... "By comparison with other federal agencies, OSHA is hardly the big bully it is often painted as. For example, the penalty for killing a burro on federal land is one year in jail, and the penalty for mail fraud is up to 30 years behind bars. The Environmental Protection Agency [in the course of] one year obtained prison sentences totaling 256 years." e.g. I'd like to know which year that was & where the burro law is. He also stated: "... there are fewer OSHA compliance officers than there are U.S. fish and game wardens. In other words, the large mouth bass and the wild turkey are afforded better [protection] than U.S. workers."

Myth (the myth of objective educated opinions)

Myths pervade even public health. Yesterday's Midmorning program had as guests professors of

infectious diseases @ Mayo

public health professor @ Pitt, and

pediatrics @ Indiana U.

Public health officials are trying to figure out why a majority of Americans, including many public health nurses and doctors, have told pollsters recently they are wary of the H1N1 vaccine. Wary to the point that they're not sure they will get the shot against H1N1 flu. A look at medical myths and what fuels the fear of vaccines.

This I need to hear. My opinion, prior to doing so, is that medical & public health officials are

a) inadequately educated about vaccines & how they are made

b) subject to the ignorance of peer-education. Rather than peer pressure, this is peer pressure exerting influence about facts. If all of my patients/clients believe it, it must be true.

Behind stupid executive decisions

Wow - the EPA actually thought greenhouse gases are bad.

Wow - the Bush II administration refused to accept science.

The Environmental Protection Agency released a long-secret document last week that reveals the agency's conclusions on global warming while President Bush was in office. The December 2007 document says greenhouse gases are dangerous and need to be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

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1st Time Ever - follow up

I passed by the site two days later. The only thing which had changed was a thin little red plastic fence around the biggest pit. The kind of thing that's intended to be a visual "don't enter", and has not real ability to keep anything out. Fair enough. But ...

Still no sign. Still nothing to keep kids out of the other pits.

A couple days later I drove by again (it's actually on my way to 95% of the city). Nothing new. However, they were digging a trench - oh, about 5-6 feet deep (1.75 m). The worker is standing in the trench watching the excavator's shovel come down right in front of his face.

What possesses people to stand in a trench/pit while it is being excavated, with the bucket coming down right in front of their face? In all seriousness, is this just a macho-thing? At my 'field experience' last Summer, I ran into this, too. Luckily, the IH who was a real employee pulled a "get out of there now". It was like watching someone deal with my 5 year old.

I haven't had a chance to ask MN-OSHA if they made a site visit?

Hidden in Statistics

Since I've had children, I have repeatedly heard mothers demonized for letting their baby sleep in bed with mom. After a few months of insanity with child #1, I seriously thought I was coming down the post partum depression. The shrink said, "you're not depressed, you're sleep deprived."

I let my baby sleep with me. Nurse him every 2 hours by getting out of bed? When he would sometimes nurse for half an hour? Are you kidding me? No. Let Jr. sleep next to me: he nursed, I slept. This is not something which requires me to be awake. Of course, I'll probably be demonized for not looking adoringly on as my baby validated my womanhood and bonding with my child.

So - what do the statistics actually tell us?

Study says: Increased risk of crib death by 50%.

Oh, my god, get the baby out of the bed!!

But ... What are those risk factors?

Drinking and taking sedating drugs.

What if we only look at mothers who don't have those risk factors?

Wow - there is no increased risk of crib death.

Handwashing factors

A study in the UK indicates that shame is a greater motivating factor than previously anticipated. The rates of handwashing cited, however, are rather gross.

1st Time Ever

I've never filed a complaint with OSHA before. 877-470-6742 The response was professionally satisfying. I plan to call tomorrow to see what happened. It was nice being able to finally use my professional knowledge again for something other than homework. It was also gratifying to hear the response after describing the problem when I used the phrase "I'm an industrial hygienist". The city building inspector was my 2nd call. 612-685-8505. A thoroughly dissatisfying call. I got an answering machine(that's not a problem). What annoyed me was the lack of any option for "immediately dangerous situation". Not even "if this is urgent, please call 911". The voice mail indicates they will try to be out within 24 hours, maybe 48. They probably won't be out until Monday. There's a gas station going in on the corner of 36th St. & Cedar Ave. I stopped by the site last night on the way home after looking a the gargantuan pit as I drove by. The place occupies about 2 or 3 lots along Cedar. There is a pit the size of a standard swimming pool. (presumably for the UST for gas) Several other trenches and pits are present. There are no fences to keep kids out. There aren't even any signs saying "keep out". The soil is soft. One of the large excavators is parked right next to the large big pit. Trenching without shoring. Two of the walls are sloped shallow enough that they might not need reinforcement. But the side with the 20 foot (6.5 m) pile of dirt?

There is a large excavator parked between two pits. It's been raining quite a bit. The soil is pretty soft. I am quite certain that someone standing at the edge of the pit would have an imminent risk of slipping in. Followed by an imminent risk of quite a lot of soil falling in after her.

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OHS prosecution in UK

Apparently we aren't the only ones who complain about the lack of prosecution for occupational safety failure.

The Guardian is pro-labor, left-leaning paper (left in the sense the the US uses it).

Business OHS references

OSHA & other occ. health info. Links to news sources, presented from the business point of view

I often find it interesting reading the pro-business articles. Mostly what is left out or how the pro-IH position is presented. Now, mind you, the same goes for reading my own profession's publications.

Fire in the Hole!

Now this makes me wonder if they need a stationary source permit for discharging so much combustion by-products. I think I might drive by this evening with the kids. Big fire - might have the Minneapolis F.D. on hand.