Vuvuzela

Okay, so I've been procrastinating about writing due to the World Cup. I feel positively European, since I can tell you which 8 games went on this week and who's advancing and when the next games are. One of the big to-dos about the games in South Africa is the use of the Vuvuzela, a traditional horn used there for soccer games.

At one of the U.S. games (I think it was England, if not it was Algeria), I saw two men in the American fan section wearing ear plugs. I was so amused (pleasantly). You could see the little yellow ear plugs, which means they probably weren't inserted exactly the right way. But, given the fact that these traditional horns can produce up to 120 dB(A) at 1 meter @ 1 kHz, I finally agree that any amount of noise reduction is a good thing. What I really want to know is who these two fellows are and why they thought that was a good idea. Do they already have occupational exposure to noise? Are they industrial hygienists or safety professionals or occupational medicine nurses/doctors? Or did they just decide 'hey, this is going to be really really loud, let's bring ear plugs!"

There are countless studies published on noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) and many involving sports-related exposure. Two months ago, immediately prior to the World Cup in South Africa, several articles have been published about the vuvuzula in particular, as well as - of course! - a Wikipedia page on health effects.

So, in summary, they're really really really loud.

original cited research (if the article is on-line, I included a link):

Swanepoel D, Hall JW III, Koekemoer D. Vuvuzela – good for your team, bad for your ears.
S Afr Med J (2010) 100, 4, 99-100.
with a follow up report from the authors explaining their noise measurement method & providing a table of results:  122 dB(A) at 1000 Hz and 2000 Hz at the bell opening.

Swanepoel D, Hall JW III. Football match spectator sound exposure and effect on hearing: A pretest-post-test study.
S Afr Med J (2010) 100, 4, 239-242

Berglund B, Lindvall T, Schwela DH, Goh KT, eds. Guidelines for Community Noise. Technical Report. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1999.

According to South African media Sports24, 1.5 million of these things have been sold in Europe since October.  If they were all being manufactured in South Africa, I would be more likely to believe the ever-present claims of sports proponents about how wonderful things like this are for the local economy.

One manufacturer has designed a vuvuzula which reportedly produces 20 fewer decibels.  While 100 dB dropped down to 80 dB will get you by in the workplace, it still ignores the fact that Soccer City in Johannesburg will hold up to 84,490 people for the World Cup this year.  Noise exposure is additive.  The end result of 20,000 (or more) people blowing is going to be far above 80 dB even with the new gadgets.

Picture of warning symbol on vuvuzula

One of these things turned up at the Riverview last week during the US : Slovenia game.  With the theater at almost capacity (I'd guess 90% of 700 person capacity), the vuvuzula was surprisingly loud.  Everyone turned around at the first blast and immediately knew what it was without seeing it.  One of them was a nice, if loud, addition to the game since it was only blown about a dozen times in short blasts.  In a really large movie theater, one was enough for me sitting at least 20 yards away.  I think it was at the back of the theater and I was sitting almost down front.

Last Sunday at the Germany : England game, someone brought a small (18") version to a restaurant.  It was an unholy racket.  Luckily he only blew it about 3-4 times before the game started.  The restaurant, needless to say, was much smaller than a movie theater.
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Sports and Risk Perception

This is an astonishing example of public risk perception.  The public health advice is also shocking.

Soer, who was present when the study was done and is knowledgeable of the findings, gave some simple advice on how to avoid any danger.

"Wear earplugs to the games," she said. "Either buy them at a pharmacy or make them yourselves and take it with you to the soccer games.

make them yourself... ? And this comes from a medical doctor?
I don't know what Communication Pathology is.  I infer from their limited website it is infectious diseases.  One of study foci was transmission of disease by sharing horns, so I understand a pathologist being involved.  But she obviously isn't familiar with how ear plugs work.  Does she think a wad of cotton is going to help?  Or is there some common item South Africans use for this purpose?

With poor risk communication from professionals, it is unsurprising that individuals are not making optimum choices.

"I am not worried," said Matthew M'Crystal, a 24-year-old law student. "Anyway, it won't kill us."

The chronic excuse:  'it won't kill me'.  Well, one of these days, being a lawyer, he's going to decide to sue someone over his noise-induced hearing loss by claiming "But I didn't know it was bad for me!"


"I could have died in Mexico," said Ricardo Avila, a 56-year-old soccer fan visiting South Africa for the tournament. "So no, it does not bother me."

Here is a different problem with individual risk perception.  Even when you give a perfectly clear explanation of the risks of exposure, and the employee really does understand it ... her risk comparison may be standardized against something other than yours.

"You have a 1:100 probability of losing your hearing"
"Yes, but I live in the area of town with the highest crime rate, gang activity and there was a drive-by shooting on my block last night.  Losing my hearing isn't so bad."

There will be a few more posts about noise and the World Cup.

I think I might borrow a noise meter from the U's IH lab to see how loud it gets on Saturday during the Germany-Argentina game over at the Glockenspiel in StPl.  I'm considering playing hookey with my spouse on Friday to watch the Brazil-Netherlands game.  Maybe I can compare the two?  Get a publication?  lol
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Without Precedent

This is absolutely beyond the pale; totally unbelievable; without precedent...  a true story:

I am working on a project this week with a couple other people.  They were doing their thing, I was going to the next part of the facility to make sure it was ready for my colleagues.  I went into a small aluminum foundry.  This is:
In a noisy location in the factory; clearly labeled as needing hearing protection; has been required for years.  As a matter of fact, I am the one who did the last noise monitoring, and am quite certain it's over the company's OEL.

Me:  are those ear phones?
Worker:  yes
Me:  you do realize those won't protect your hearing?  You do know you're supposed to be wearing earing protection, right?
Worker:  these are okay
Me: actually, no, they're not.  You need to have real ear plugs in.
Worker: it's not such a big deal.
Me:  The Safety Department is going to get on your case about this. Actually, I am getting on your case about it to.

Enter two other men, one of whom is a supervisor.

Supervisor:  What's going on?  friendly tone
Me:  I was just getting on his case about wearing hearing protection.  friendly tone
Supervisor to Worker:  How many times do we have to tell you? tone of frustration
Me:  (thinking "all right!")
Supervisor to Worker: is that a radio you're listening to?
Worker:  No
Supervisor:  come on   .tone of 'don't try to pull one over me'
Worker:  No, it's an iPod
Me:  Bah
Worker:  well it is; it's different
Me:  well the ear plugs are still not protecting your ears
Worker: they're okay
Me:  actually, no, they're not.  You're taking all of the noise in here already and just adding more noise to it.  You really need to use real ear plugs
Supervisor:  waves his hand dismissively and says "don't bother with it"

I was beyond stunned

Me to Supervisor:  Are you blowing me off?
Supervisor:  yes
pause
Me:  That is totally inappropriate.

Quite unfortunately, I was in the middle of leaving when this happened.  So, my immediate departure was likely percieved, or claimed to be, storming off in a snit.  When he said "yes" about blowing me off, he said it in a perfectly normal tone of voice as if it was perfectly natural and obvious.

I went off to an unoccupied part of the plant. Where I swore and cussed a lot. Loudly. Unfortunately some of it was heard by the other two contractors.  It doesn't happen often, that I get so totally enraged.  I waited until I had calmed down, then called the Safety Department manager.  I've worked for him before, and we have a good working relationship.  I asked him what I should or could do.  Unfortunately, the supervisor's ID badge had been flipped around, and I was stuck not being able to immediately identify him by name.

I figured I would just let it be until later.  The photographic org chart was on my desk; I could identify him with it.  Less than 30 minutes later, we were progressing on to the next area of the plant.  Lo, and behold! The supervisor was standing right there.  I was undertain to which group the area belonged, and we needed to know.  So, I walked over to the supervisor and asked him.  I figured this would be a perfectly natural thing to start talking to him; then bring up the issue of his disrespect.  Maybe manage to get his name.

Me:  "Is this area part of Section A?" 
Supervisor:  No, it's one of my areas.

Pow!  I was holding a list of the areas and corresponding supervisors.  At least I would have a name now.  About 5 minutes later, after my colleagues got started, I approached the supervisor again.

Me:  Were you serious when you said you were blowing me off?
Supervisor:  Not really
Me:  That wasn't particularly nice to do in front of the other workers. I was trying to help them.
Supervisor:  Well, you know they're not going to pay attention to you.  You're an independent contractor.  They'll listen to me because I'm another supervisor.

This was becoming surreal.

About half an hour later, my colleagues and I had progressed on to the foundry area.  They started their project.  I checked the worker.  Still no PPE.  I approached the only other worker there. He was wearing a different over-coat, and I thought he might be the team leader.  (The company has Manager > Supervisor > Team Leaders > Workers.)

Me:  Can you tell me who the team leader is?
Him:  I am.
Me:  I would appreciate it if you could tell your worker over there that he needs to wear ear plugs. (pointing at the worker)
Team Leader:  The Supervisor said those were okay.
Me:  Well, he was wrong.  They aren't okay.  They won't protect his hearing.

I leaned over to look at the worker again, since he had just started up another machine.

Me:  Well, perhaps you could go talk to him because right now there's absolutely nothing in his ears at all...



I give kudos to the man in question, since he at least had the balls to blow me off to my face.  Beyond that, though ...?

He has, pretty much without hope of redemption, completely lost all professional respect I might have had for him.  Pow! Five minutes and someone now thinks he's an ignorant schmuck.
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IH standard baggage

While at work today, I stopped to talk to one of the workers, to explain what was going on regarding a project before the team arrived. I noticed rather quickly that his work station was particularly loud.  I asked if he was required to use hearing protection.  He said no, but then qualified his statement by pointing out he had only been on the job for 2 months.  Stunning me with his initiative, he walked to the next work station and asked his group leader.  No, no noise PPE required.

Not being convinced this assessment was correct, and being chronically curious, I went to the safety office to get a noise meter.  I returned, only to discover that the 2nd work station was no longer running.  Ah, well.  Loud, but not the same.

He asked me about what I was doing. I of course answered him,
explained there is a limit for how much noise you can have,
showed him the meter was measuring noise,
explained the meter read-out, and
explained how that number relates to the company's exposure limit.
He was satisfied and thanked me for my time.  Just what every IH wants, eh?

If only I hadn't needed to spend 10 minutes finding a noise meter!

I often find myself wishing I had a standard bag-of-tricks to carry around.  Sure, there's always the things I might personally really need, like a spare pair of non-prescription safety glasses that I know fit over my prescription glasses or ear plugs.  (I do always carry a spare set of ear plugs in my pocket - even if I'm already wearing mine.  I've given them away 2 times in the past 3 days.) With the advent of smaller and smaller electronics, I would definitely add a noise meter to the bag.  The one I used a couple years ago for my internship was pretty compact.  It wouldn't need to be fancy; only functional.  A Dräger hand pump (the simplistic kinds) with a set of tubes for VOCs and CO.  A particle meter. ... hmmm...  a professional shopping list.

2008 BLS stats

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics has released the official Injury and Illness statistics for the 2008 calendar year. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/osh2.nr0.htm Table 23 is usually one of particular interest to me: this breaks down the data by causation, rather than industry. Not that the social demographics aren't interesting - but I can't control the demographics of my work place. The cause (fall, exposure, etc.) are what industrial hygienists are out to control. Hopefully the fatality data will be later today.

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

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.

Build it, and they will ... dump?

The MPCA (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency) is excavating the landfill in Washington County to install a modern containment system. As the Strib dubbed it, an "history-making landfill do-over". 33 acres of garbage. $20,000,000. wow. ever notice that people write $20M or $20 million? It doesn't seem so impressive without all the zeros. That has led to one of the biggest attempts to go back and undo decades-old environmental practices that the metro area has ever seen. At the bottom of the 90-foot pit, four dozers were spreading clay that will form the base of the landfill. Compactors with huge spiked rollers were smoothing it. ... The landfill will have three layers of heavy plastic liner, separated by layers of geosynthetic material. Lewis said the new landfill will hold mainly old garbage but is designed with a higher level of protection often used to handle hazardous wastes. It will have three distinct layers to prevent any contaminated water in the landfill from reaching ground water: two feet of compacted clay at the bottom, three layers of heavy plastic above that, and two feet of sand and a collection and drainage system above the liners. an MPCA senior engineer, said no surprises have come to light so far in the nearly 300,000 cubic yards of waste removed. -- now, that in itself is a surprise The state has received some complaints about construction noise since work began in early June, he said, and one call about odor. The contractor is spraying the waste with a slurry of cement and cardboard paper to reduce odors, ... What kind of precedent is being set? Can I complain about the landfill in my part of town (hypothetically) and have the MPCA bring it up to modern standards? Does this remove any grandfather compliance clause about environmental protection? And really, what's the difference - ethically or scientifically - between cleaning up 3M (and other people's) waste and cleaning up the arsenic floating around the Philips Neighborhood over here? Oh, I know the difference. 3M has tons of money and can afford to spend $8,000,000 to help cleanup. The pesticide company which operated in Philips doesn't exist anymore. and, of course: NIMBY "I don't understand how this could have been a viable solution -- to dig this up, put in a liner, and then put it all back into the ground," said ---, who lives a half-mile east of the landfill. She and others at public meetings advised MPCA officials to truck the trash away to be burned or buried elsewhere. "I don't understand" = MPCA didn't do a good enough job communicating the risk management -- or the person quoted represents people who aren't willing to expend the energy to understand. "I don't understand" just isn't the same as "I don't agree with" or "I do understand and I still think this is a poor choice". I do sympathize with people who don't understand it, and don't have the scientific knowledge to know which questions to ask. If someone doesn't understand, and they're not an environmental toxicologist or hazardous waste controller ... how do we expect them to even be able to question our decisions? Ah, back to my criticism of modern American educational system. Although, I would likely have supported hauling it off to incinerate it. Still, this "make this someone else's problem" just aggravates me. I don't like the fact there's arsenic in the neighborhood near mine - but it's not like the MPCA or EPA is going to pull up the top soil for an entire neighborhood and bury it somewhere else. Until someone figures out how to make money at it. .

holy cow ...

So, we all have our opinions about PPE. We express them to our employers / employees. Most likely repeatedly. In detail. We wonder at times (or at least I do), where all this information goes. Does an employee take this to another job? Does my colleague tell his kid to be safe? Well, I just had the most amazing thing happen. I got quoted on Minnesota Public Radio's Marketplace website. I have never had my professional opinion put forth in such a public manner. Of course, what happens? My husband then starts arguing about whether this statement is actually 100% true. Well, what if Respirator A is actually a bit more effective than Respirator B, although both are marketed as N-95? If A is more expensive than B, then my statement to MPR is invalid ... I suppose I should have argued in that case, if B is more expensive than A, then I could equally have said cheaper is better, and been equally wrong. As if anything in the world is ever 100% exactly the same 100% of the time ...

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.