Just Over A Week Away - 20th Annual PACNY Environmental Conference

Just about 9 days away is the premier environmental conference for New York State.  The Professional Abatement Contractors of New York's (PACNY's) 20th Annual Environmental Conference is being held at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York from Wednesday, February 24 to Friday, February 26, 2016.  The conference seems to get bigger and bigger each year. Attendees come from all over New York State and even from adjacent States.  Register here for the conference.  For more information about the conference visit PACNY's website.  See the promo video here.

PACNY convention at Turning Stone Casino from Tisa Zito- Old Soul Productions on Vimeo.

This year's conference should be another good one since it is the first conference since Article 32 New York State's (NYS's) Mold Law is in effect.  We are looking forward to Dr. Eileen Franko's presentation on New York State Department of Labor's (NYSDOL) update on the Mold Training on Wednesday and her leading the NYSDOL's panelists on Friday.  For those of you who don't know NYSDOL is charged with enforcing the new NYS Mold Law and has been enforcing NYS's asbestos regulations (Industrial Code Rule 56).  Joining Dr. Franko on Wednesday, will be other training regulators like Mr. Kevin Malone of NYS Department of Health (NYSDOH) updating us on asbestos training, Ms. Theresa Bourbon of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updating us on the Lead Renovator, Remodeling, & Painting (RRP) training, and Mr. Doug Miller from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Outreach Education Center updating us on OSHA education updates.

Thursday's technical session will include presentations on Vermiculite & Zonolite by Mr. Ed Cottingham of the Zonolite Trust Fund and Mr. Bryan Bandhi of RJ Lee Group; Silica presentations from Mr. Jeffrey Prebish of OSHA, Dr. Michael Lax MD, and Mr. Jim Sorel CIH; Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) from Dr. Daniel Leftkowitz; and Asbestos presentations from Ed Cahill of EMSL and Tom Laubenthal.  After the presentations, there will be the usual cocktail & networking party in the vendor hall.  Visit Future Environment Design's (FED's) booth and meet Ms. Kimberly Granmoe and Ms. Sheryl Esposito, who will be giving out glove-guard gifts to all those who sign up for our Safety Suzy Monthly Newsletter along with a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card.

Friday's session begins with Mr. Bob Krell of  IAQ Tech and Mr. Angelo Garcia, III of FED discussing the NYS Mold Training.  Then finishes with the NYSDOL panel discussion hosted by Dr. Eileen Franko, including Mr. James Meacham PE, and Kirk Fisher.  It should be quite an informative conference.  Hope to see you there!

Related articles

• Happy New Year! 2016 Brings New Regulations Merging With Annual Deadlines!(futureenv.blogspot.com)

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• NYSDOL Roundtable Highlight of PACNY Environmental Conference(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

Worker Exposure to Silica Significant During Hydraulic Fracturing

Silicosis (Photo credit: Mr. Ducke)

Just read the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health's (NIOSH's) blog regarding "Worker Exposure to Crystalline Silica during Hydraulic Fracturing".  Obviously, environmental concerns regarding this type of work are being fought in New York on what seems likely a daily or weekly basis.  Usually the arguement for hydraulic fracturing is, job creation and of course energy independence.  However, it is interesting how worker safety is rarely discussed when we talk about hydraulic fracturing.  This study done by NIOSH and discussed on their blog obviously discusses the need to ensure that workers are protected from being overexposed to respirable crystalline silica dust.  Overexposure to respirable crystalline silica dust can lead to the development of the uncurable respiratory disease silicosis, in addition to other diseases.    The typical view that filtering facepiece and half-mask respirators could protect the workers, according to the blog is not sufficient to protect the workers.  Meaning engineering, work practice controls, and administrative controls need to be implemented, making the process more complicated.
Since New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) is working on drafting regulations for hydraulic fracturing, we hope they also take into account what is needed to protect worker safety on these sites as well as what is needed to protect the environment.

Related articles

• Silica dust poses newly revealed health risks from fracking (switchboard.nrdc.org)
• Hydraulic Fracturing (environmentalhealthtoday.wordpress.com)
• Cool Job: Workers pleased to be part of area's hydraulic fracturing boom (newsok.com)
• Vermont bans hydraulic fracturing (newdayunderwriting.wordpress.com)
• What is Hydraulic Fracturing? (ecology.com)
• Bureau of Land Management proposing rule to regulate hydraulic fracturing on public land (bespacific.com)
• Long-term exposure to silica dust increases risk of death in industrial workers (eurekalert.org)
• More effort needed to prevent exposure to silica hazards as silicosis remains a major cause of illness, death worldwide (medicalxpress.com)