Merry Holidays and a Happy New Year from Future Environment Designs! What Do We Have In Store for the New Year!

A Merry Holidays and a Happy New Year to all of you who journeyed with us this past year.  It has been a see-saw kind of year with some ups and some downs.  As some of you know we were trying to sell the business.  We've decided we are not going to sell the business and instead will ride the business into the sunset (as we prepare and get ready for retirement probably another 10 years).  As we go into our 35th year of being in business we continue to adjust and modify the services we offer to our clients, allowing our clients to utilize our 35 years of experience and Angelo Garcia, III's 40+ years of experience.  

Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Centre

In 2023, we will continue our At Your Convenience service.  The At Your Convenience service brings the training or respirator fit testing to your location.  All we need are five or more people and we're At Your Convenience!  Tired of traveling through rush hour traffic to get to your training center?  Tired of paying travel expenses for your employees for training?  Tired of the same old non-productive training classes?  Or are you just tired of the same old training?   If you have answered yes to any of the above questions, then you need to give us a call.  Future Environment Designs Training Center (FEDTC) (with a Coursecheck rating of 4.8 out of 5) is now providing training At Your Convenience.  We can perform the training in your office. We provide a laptop, a projector, PowerPoint presentations, and a wireless device for internet access. You provide the seating and the blank wall (no blank wall, we’ll provide the screen). We do the rest.  We can do this training for any of the courses and services in our Course Offerings and Training Services Catalog.

The Bergdorf Goodman Windows

In 2023, we will be expanding our collaboration with SiteDocs to help you elevate your safety programs.  Future Environment Designs can work with you to create the various Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)-compliant safety and health programs (i.e., hazard communication, respiratory protection, confined space entry, bloodborne pathogen, and construction safety & health programs) that would go into the SiteDocs platform.  We can help you meet the training requirements, develop the data (such as Safety Data Sheets and Chemical Inventories), and create the checklists that would be used by your staff to meet the regulatory requirements.  With the SiteDocs platform that information would be readily available to all your staff.  To learn more about what SiteDocs can do for your safety program, you can book a quick call with Brent Martyniuk here.  To learn how Future Environment Designs can help you with developing your various safety and health programs contact us here.  We believe the SiteDocs platform would greatly impact your business helping you save time and money, and elevate your safety program from being on the shelf to being part of your day-to-day operations.

Saks Fifth Avenue

FEDTC continues to offer our One-Stop Service which allows employers to contact us or register online to:

• Schedule staff development on asbestos, mold, or other safety and health regulations (see our Course Offerings and Training Services Catalog.),
• Schedule respirator medical evaluations to comply with the OSHA respiratory protection standard 1910.134,
• Order the proper respirator and filters for your staff, and
• Schedule quantitative respirator fit testing to comply with the OSHA respiratory protection standard 1910.134, to be performed on the day of the class.

We provide this One-Stop Service making your occupational safety and health requirements simple and easy to complete.  Contact us here or register online here.

Finally, FEDTC will continue to lead the field by attending the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY) Environmental Conference (save the dates March 16-17, 2023) and the Environmental Information Association (EIA) National Conference & Exhibition (save the dates March 25 - 29, 2023).  We will bring back the current information from these conferences and share it in our classes.  FEDTC is one of the few training providers that provide the FEDTC dropbox folder (with hundreds of reference documents regarding indoor air quality, asbestos, lead, mold, etc.), we also provide our students with the negative air app (to help calculate the number of negative air units for a work area), our project monitor and air sampling technician courses include a New York State or New York City asbestos air sampling table (these can be purchased here) and for those considering opening your own business our book "Do As I Say, Not As I Did What I've Learned After 30 Years of Being in Business" discusses the four pillars of operating a successful business, you can purchase the book here.  We wish you a Merry Holidays and Hope to see you in the New Year!

OSHA's Silica Standard - What's All The Fuss About? Part One

Happy New Year!  May your New Year be healthy, profitable, & peaceful!  This blog post we will talk about the silica regulation and what the fuss is all about.  We've heard from some of our clients that they are concerned that the regulation is like the asbestos regulation.  Well in reality the regulation is more like the lead regulation than the asbestos regulation.  The big drop in the permissible exposure limit makes it similar to the asbestos regulation in that visible dust exposures may result in violations, but that's where it ends for similarity.  Table 1 of the silica standard is similar to the 1926.62 (d) (2) of the lead standard which is Protection of Employees During Assessment of Exposure.  Where based on a certain task (i.e., scrapping lead paint) the employer must comply with all parts of the standard, including the use of respirators.  Table 1 in a sense has a similar requirements.

Spraying Water to Keep Dust Levels Down Will Become Common Place

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released the final rule for respirable crystalline silica 1926.1153 on March 25, 2016 with compliance dates more than one year past the publication date.  Giving the various industries regulated by the standard plenty of time to comply.  In fact, the construction industry was the first industry required to comply by June 23, 2017, however, the current administration delayed the standard until September 23, 2017 giving the construction industry additional time to comply.  In addition, OSHA's silica website is quite robust with guidance documents in helping the industry comply.  With all this time to comply, including challenges to the standard that the courts eliminated, and equipment manufacturers having time to review Table 1 of the standard, complying with the standard is pretty straightforward if you are performing any of 18 tasks in Table 1.

Table 1 tasks involve exposures to respirable crystalline silica when the following tools are used on concrete, brick, block, stone, mortar, and other materials that contain crystalline silica:

• Stationary masonry saws;
• Handheld power saws;
• Handheld power saws for cutting fiber-cement board;
• Walk-behind saws;
• Drivable saws;
• Rig-mounted core saws or drills;
• Handheld and stand-mounted drills (including impact and rotary hammer drills);
• Dowel drilling rigs;
• Vehicle-mounted drilling rigs;
• Jackhammers and handheld powered chipping tools;
• Handheld grinders for mortar removal (i.e., tuckpointing);
• Handheld grinders for uses other than mortar removal;
• Walk-behind milling machines and floor grinders;
• Small drivable milling machines;
• Large drivable milling machines;
• Crushing machines; and
• Heavy equipment and utility vehicles when used to abrade or fracture silica containing materials (i.e., hoe-ramming or rock ripping) or used during demolition activities; and 
• Heavy equipment and utility vehicles when used for tasks such as grading and excavating.

Doing tasks in this manner, we hope will be a thing of the past!

If your work involves Table 1 tasks then determine how long your workers do those tasks and follow the requirements.  If the requirements require a respirator then you may want to reduce the time period a worker does a task so a respirator is not required.  This would be considered an administrative control under hierarchy of controls and perfectly acceptable.  Once you have determined the tasks, the controls, and time periods, the next step is to write your exposure control plan.  The exposure control plan details the tasks, controls, and time periods/respirator requirements and designating a competent person to ensure the exposure control plan is enforced.  The final step is to train the workers and the competent person on the exposure control plan so everyone understands and knows what is required under the plan.

Wearing A Respirator, Adds Significant Costs for Silica Projects

If your exposure control plan requires respirator, then you must meet the requirements of the respirator standard 1910.134, see our blog post regarding the directive which tells you how this standard would be enforced.  This standard would require a medical evaluation of workers to ensure they can wear a respirator, annual respirator fit testing, and annual training on the use of the respirator.  Respirator standard would also require a written program and the designation of a competent person to administer the written program.  In addition, the silica standard would require you provide a medical exam, specifically for silica, if workers use respirators for 30 days or more in a calendar year.  This medical would be required every 3 years.  The medical must include:

•  medical & work history; 
• chest x-ray;
• pulmonary function test; 
• physical exam focused on the respiratory system; and
• testing for latent tuberculosis infection.  

After all of the above, the final steps in compliance is maintaining the records, in accordance with 1910.1020, and updating the plans on an annual basis.  1910.1020 standard requires that exposure records be maintained for 30 years from the date of creation and medical records be maintained for duration of employment plus 30 years. 

More Projects Will Look Something Like This

Based on the above information, we think it is pretty obvious that you want to eliminate tasks that involve the use of respirators or reduce the amount time a worker does a task that might require a respirator.  Doing so eliminates the need for the silica medical exam and all the requirements under the respirator standard.  The long term costs involved with meeting the requirements for using a respirator (silica medical exam & respirator standard requirements), we think would outweigh the cost of improving equipment used by workers to meet the requirements of Table 1 for each of the tasks.  We have added some silica courses to our schedule to help you comply with the new standard.  Visit our website for more information.  Happy New Year and Be Safe!  

Related articles

• Silicosis Update(blogs.cdc.gov)

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• PACNY's Environmental Conference - The NYSDOL Round Table - Day Three and So It Ends!(futureenv.blogspot.com)

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• New NIOSH Study Supports the OSHA Annual Fit Testing Requirements for Filtering Facepiece Respirators(blogs.cdc.gov)

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• Its Been 15 Years Since 9/11. What Have We Learned?(futureenv.blogspot.si)

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Its Been 15 Years Since 9/11. 4 Things We Have Learned!

On September 11, 2001, two planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.  Those two planes caused the collapse of the buildings and the killing of 2,996 people and injuring over 6,000 others.  When they collapsed, a massive plume of dust was released into the air.  In addition, fires burned at Ground Zero for more than 90 days continuing to spew contaminants into the air.  Then-EPA chief Christine Whitman encouraged workers and residents to head back to Lower Manhattan saying the air was "safe to breathe.."  Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani repeated her claim by saying "to go back to normal" and the air around Ground Zero was "safe as far as we can tell, with respect to chemical and biological agents."  Though some experts, like Mount Sinai's Dr. Philip Landrigan, warned that it was not.

New York City pre-9/11

Will 15 years later we now know that Whitman did not have sufficient information to make that claim and recently has admitted she was wrong.  Studies of the dust have shown significant quantities of carcinogens, irritants, and poisons.  Contaminants like polyaromatic hydrocarbons, dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), fiberglass, lead, asbestos, volatile organic compounds, etc.  The pH of the dust was basic.  Records have shown the City knew of the hazards of the dust and air.  Expediency of the cleanup and the recovery was more important at Ground Zero, than protecting workers from the toxic dust at the site.  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was only onsite acting in an advisory role and obviously had little impact on the health consequences of the workers.  As has been printed in numerous articles and pictures many did not wear the respirators they were provided or were provided the incorrect respirator.

Various Respirators Worn During Recovery & Cleanup

The result from this lack of concern regarding the dust?  Will 15 years later we know, that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates roughly 400,000 people - including rescue and recovery workers, residents, students and school staff, building occupants and passersby - were exposed.   As of July 2016, nearly 75,000 were enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program (this program was established by the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2011).  56,580 of the people enrolled are from the Fire Department of New York and other responders.  8,881 are civilians that were exposed to the toxic dust.  Based on the CDC estimate that means hundreds of thousands of people remain unaccounted for and maybe untreated.  The World Trade Center Health Program is monitoring over 30,000 people and is treating 23,000 people.  On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed a law that reauthorized the Zadroga Act that extended funding for the World Trade Center Health Program through 2090.

Photograph by Andrea Booher taken on 09-28-2001 in New York

The statistics from the program can be found on the CDC website for the program.  These responder statistics show 18,639 members suffer from rhinosinusitis; 16,418 members suffer from gastroesophageal reflux symptoms (GERD); 10,274 members suffer from asthma; 6,532 members suffer from respiratory disorders; 5,639 suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and 1,033 members suffer from prostate cancer.  The New York City Health Department's research found that for all cancer types more cancer cases were found among rescue/recovery workers and civilian survivors compared with the New York State general population between 2007-2011 (11% and 8% respectively).  A 2011 study found that 8 years after 9/11, the prevalence of several respiratory conditions among 10,999 World Trade Center exposed male firefighters remained high in comparison to men in the general population.

    

One World Trade Center

What have we learned?  First, we should heed the warnings of experts, not politicians.  Second, respirators are an essential and mandatory part of any emergency recovery/cleanup.  Third, safety is important but not if we sacrifice health.  Finally, dust generated by disasters, calamities, and emergencies cannot be underestimated in its potential health risk.  Yesterday, was a day to remember and mourn those who died at 9/11.  It was also a day to remember the mistakes made by those who disregarded the dust from the World Trade Center and make sure those mistakes don't happen again!

Related articles

• What We Know About How 9/11 Has Affected New Yorkers' Health, 15 Years Later(nymag.com)

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• 15 Years Later: September 11 Is Not Just A Memory(forbes.com)

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• Cuomo signs bill extending benefits for Ground Zero workers(newsday.com)

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• Zadroga Act helped many 9/11 first responders; for others, it was too late(amny.com)

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• Record Rates Of Cancer Seen In Survivors 15 Years After 9/11(nworeport.me)

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• 9/11: 15 years later(cbsnews.com)

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• Former EPA chief Whitman at center of 9/11 air safety controversy says 'I'm sorry'(yahoo.com)

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• 9/11 rescue workers were not informed of the danger of the operation(irishcentral.com)

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• Zadroga Act Needs An Extension(futureenv.blogspot.com)

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• Protecting Yourself During Restoration or Renovation Projects(futureenv.blogspot.com)

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NIH Still Active in Gulf Region Five Years After Oil Spill

NIH Still Active in Gulf Region Five Years After Oil Spill - as we've written in the past, the increase use of respirators during disasters is a necessary step to prevent worker exposure to contaminants that make them sick immediately or in the future.  Respirator use during disasters continues to be optional when it should be mandatory.  Disasters typically involve exposures to asbestos, silica, lead, poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), etc.  The only way to protect yourself from many of these contaminants is through the use of properly fitted air-purifying respirators.

English: Respirator (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A properly fitted air purifying respirator will protect workers for most disaster and demolition exposure issues.  Providing workers with this type of respirator requires that you meet the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) 1910.134 respirator standard.  The standard is not that difficult to comply with.  It does require a plan for respirator use (selecting the type of respirator that will protect workers), medical evaluation for employees using respirators (to ensure they can wear the respirator), fit testing (to ensure the employee wears the correct size and it fits), and training the worker (so they know how to wear a respirator and its limitations).  There are other requirements but these are minimal compared to the four main requirements listed above.

John Stenhouse's respirator (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As respirator use increases, we suspect improvements will be made to make them more comfortable, easier to use, and easier to get a proper fit.  We hope the lessons of Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 World Trade Center, and Gulf-oil spill disasters lead us to ensure respirators are used in the next disaster as we saw many wearing during the Hurricane Sandy Disaster.

Related articles

• Filtering Facepiece Respirator or Dust Mask. Which is it?
• A Perfect Romance: A Valentine's Day Guide to the Necessary Considerations of CBRN APR Use
• OSHA Releases New Respiratory Protection Directive
• September 5 is N95 Day - Whaaaaaat??
• Silica/Asphalt Milling Machine Partnership officials release 2 new silica exposure control guides
• This Menswear Brand Is Trying To Make Respirators Cool

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Future Environment Designs (FED) want to take this time to wish you all a Happy New Year!  We hope 2015 is as good as you wish it to be and it is a safe and healthy one.  At Future Environment Designs, its another year of staying the course.  Our prices for asbestos refresher courses have not changed since 2007 and that will continue in 2015.  Over the years we started several initiatives which will also continue in 2015.  Our Safety Suzy Newsletter, which provides you with information regarding changes in Indoor Air Quality (asbestos, mold, lead, etc.) requirements, construction safety requirements, respirator use and fit testing, OSHA regulations, and NYS indoor air quality and construction safety regulations will continue.  We provide a loyalty discount to our clients who do their training with us every year and provide a referral discount to those who refer work to us (these discounts can be added together, see your monthly Safety Suzy Newsletter for details).  

In 2015 we will continue the following improvements:

• Future Environment Design's mobile site, will allow you to view upcoming courses and download safety resources in phone-friendly formats.  Your suggestions and feedback can help shape the experience.  Visit our website with your mobile device through this link:    http://www.futureenvironmentdesigns.com/index.html.  
• Future Environment Designs used to provide students in our classes with a course CD called the FED Training CD.  This CD had all the regulations and other helpful information.  With modern technology and advent of the cloud technology, we now provide a link to our dropbox folder that contains all this information.  You can find that link at: http://futureenvironmentdesigns.com/resources.html.
• Future Environment Designs is working on an app that we hope will be ready in time for the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York's (PACNY's) 19th Annual Environmental Conference at Turning Stone Casino.  
• Gloveguard (see below) is a product designed to help workers keep their work gloves close to them and increase their use.  Future Environment Designs is providing these to our students to help them keep their gloves with them and increase their use.

We look forward to seeing all of you in 2015, Happy New Year!

Related articles

• Happy New Year - 2013

Merry Christmas, One and All!

We wish you all a Merry and Joyous Christmas!

Thank you to all of you who attended training with us or who we consulted with in 2014.

We look forward to serving you in 2015!

From all us at Future Environment Designs, Inc

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September 5 is N95 Day - Whaaaaaat??

According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) today September 5 is N95 Day.  NIOSH says, "N95 Day is a time to recognize the importance of respiratory protection in the workplace and familiarize yourself with the resources available to help you make educated decisions when selecting and wearing a respirator."  To celebrate, NIOSH will be providing N95 filtering facepiece respirator information through social media channels such as a Twitter chat, a webinar, and new infographics.  For more information visit there website at:  http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/N95Day.html.

Interesting thing to us is why celebrate the N95 filtering facepiece respirators?  Filtering facepiece respirators have their place in protecting workers from respiratory hazards, however, that place is very limited.  This type of respirator cannot and should not be used for respirable dusts like asbestos or lead.  Nor should it be used for vapors or mists or gases.  As the picture above from Ground Zero - 9/11 World Trade Center rescue, recovery and cleanup shows, knowing which respirator to wear was one of the problems for the workers who worked there.  The picture shows workers wearing filtering facepiece respirators and half mask air purifying respirators.  Considering the contaminants (asbestos, mercury, PCBs, to name a few) at the site, filtering facepiece respirators should not have been a choice at all.  This is probably the main reason to have an N95 day is to make sure people understand the limitations of this type of respirator.  But why limit it to filtering facepiece respirators, we should be celebrating all respirators!  So for our part we say Happy Respirator Day!

Related articles

• OSHA Releases New Respiratory Protection Directive
• Danger is in the Air: Choosing the Right Respirators
• Filtering Facepiece Respirator or Dust Mask. Which is it?
• N95 Respirators and Surgical Masks
• Voluntary use of dust mask not good enough for Gulf cleanup workers [The Pump Handle]
• Importance of Respiratory Protection at Demolition or Disaster Sites
• Importance of Personal Protective Equipment
• Protecting Yourself During Restoration or Renovation Projects

OSHA Releases New Respiratory Protection Directive

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued directive number CPL 02-00-158 "Inspection Procedures for the Respiratory Protection Standard".  This new directive gives instructions to OSHA compliance safety officers and area directors on interpretations and enforcement policies for enforcing the respirator standard 1910.134.  This directive cancels and supersedes the previous directive CPL 02-00-120 dated September 25, 1998.  Directives are used by OSHA to ensure the standards are enforced uniformly across the country.  These directives are useful resources in that they inform the industry, and employers how OSHA intends on enforcing the respirator standard.

Changes to this revision include: updated definitions section to include definitions for assigned protection factors (APF) and maximum use concentrations (MUC); greater clarification on voluntary respirator use, and a better explanation of a compliant respirator program and provides additional acceptable methods to assess respiratory hazards; updates the directive with information related to the revised Hazard Communication standard (1910.1200); and provides guidance on evaluating the need for respiratory protection for chemicals used in workplaces by referring to employer's Hazard Communication program wherein chemical manufacturers communicated the need for respiratory protection.

Muster einer Atemluft-Einwegmaske (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to this directive if employers require employees to wear respirators for the protection against TB they must be in compliance with the respirator standard 1910.134.  Probably the most interesting portions of the directive are the modifications to voluntary use of respirators.  According to the directive, it was the intent of the standard that the employer would not be required to incur any costs associated with voluntary use of filtering  facepiece respirators (dust masks) other than providing a copy of Appendix D of the standard to each user.  OSHA is concerned that voluntary use may cause an employee's health being jeopardized by the wearing of a respirator, or the wearing of a dirty respirator that can cause dermatitis or ingestion of a hazardous chemical, and the sharing of a respirator that leads to transmittal of disease.

Voluntary use of filtering facepiece respirators is one of the most misunderstood sections of the respirator standard.  Some points from the directive: NIOSH-approved filtering facepieces are strongly recommended but are not required; voluntary use does not require the employer to have a written program; and merely posting Appendix D is not considered adequate.

The directive is a useful resource to give employers an indication of how OSHA will enforce the respirator standard and it is a useful tool to help avoid citations or to fight violations.  

Related articles  

• Filtering Facepiece Respirator or Dust Mask. Which is it?
• Danger is in the Air: Choosing the Right Respirators
• The Difference Between Respirators and Surgical Masks
• OSHA Quicktakes Announces HAZCOMM Standard Revision
• Importance of Respiratory Protection at Demolition or Disaster Sites