Future Environment Designs Training Center's Blog

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

ADAO to Livestream the film “Breathtaking”

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) recognizing the global and negative impact of the Canadian asbestos industry, has partnered with Ontario filmaker Kathleen Mullen, the directer of Breathtaking, to hold a first-ever, international livestreaming of Breathtaking on September 26^th, 2011 at 6:30 pm EST from the ADAO website. The 45 minute screening will begin with a short introduction from Mullen and conclude with a fifteen minute question and answer session via Twitter with the filmmaker and ADAO President and Co-Founder, Linda Reinstein.
Breathtaking addresses the asbestos industry through a moving and personal investigation into the death of Mullen’s father, and the baffling present-day use, pubic mining, and incessant export of asbestos in spite of decades of scientific evidence that asbestos kills people. Commercially mined since the Industrial Revolution, asbestos was nicknamed the ‘magic mineral’ for its fabric-like, and fire retardant properties and has been used in everything from brake pads to oven mitts. Although it has been discovered to be carcinogenic, and asbestos use has been banned in many countries and limited in others. However, Canada, Russia and several other countries, still mine asbestos and export it for use in developing nations.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

CDC Hurricane Website Has Helpful Hints

Image via Wikipedia

As the east coast prepares for Hurricane Irene, it is important to remember that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a Hurricane Helpful Hints website. The current topic is "What You Need to Know When the Power Goes Out Unexpectedly." This topic covers food safety, safe drinking water, extreme heat or cold, first aid for electrical shock, powerline hazards and cars, avoid carbon monoxide, safety at work during power recovery, be prepared for an emergency, and the impact of power outage on vaccine storage.
If your looking for a list of emergency supplies you should have on hand, the CDC and Red Cross put together a list at the CDC website for Emergency Preparedness and Response - Get a Kit. From that website is the following list of items you should assemble:

Water—one gallon per person, per day (3day supply for evacuation, 2week supply for home)
Food—nonperishable, easytoprepare items (3day supply for evacuation, 2week supply for home)
Flashlight
Batterypowered or handcrank radio (NOAA Weather Radio, if possible)
Extra batteries
First aid kit
Medications (7day supply) and medical items
Multipurpose tool
Sanitation and personal hygiene items
Copies of personal documents (medication list and pertinent medical information, proof of address, deed/lease to home, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies)
Cell phone with chargers
Family and emergency contact information
Extra cash
Emergency blanket
Map(s) of the area

Hope this helps everyone prepare. Remember be safe, careful, and cautious.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Future Environment Designs Sponsors Sewage Contamination Danger Video

Image via Wikipedia

Future Environment Designs is proud to sponsor a new informational video on Sewage Contamination Dangers. This video is designed as a public service awareness video on the dangers of sewage contamination.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

OSHA Focuses on Tortilla Companies

Image via WikipediaThe Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Tortilleria Chinantla factory in Brooklyn (a tortilla company) for violations carrying fines totaling over $62,000 after an investigation into the death of a worker, Juan Baten, a 22-year-old Guatemalan immigrant who was married and had a 7-month-old daughter, who fell into an industrial mixing machine at its factory. The death occurred Jan. 24. The most serious violation involved the failure of Tortilleria Chinantla to install a guard barrier on the mixer to prevent employees from coming into contact with its fast-moving machinery. The infraction was classified as “willful,” the most severe category of violation issued by OSHA, and carries a penalty of $42,000. The company was also cited for seven other violations, six of which are labeled “serious.” Among those was the lack of a program to prevent the unintended start-up of machinery.

OSHA also said that after the death of Mr. Baten, investigators inspected the factories of two other Brooklyn tortilla makers and issued a total of 26 violations to those companies. One, Buena Vista Tortillas Corporation, was cited with having 14 violations, 13 of them deemed “serious,” carrying $39,000 in fines. The other, La Tortilleria Mexicana Los Tres Hermanos Corporation, was cited with having 12 serious violations carrying a total of $33,600 in fines.

Related articles

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Asbestos Found At Plattsburgh, NY Site

An article titled "Asbestos Found At Nikki's Site; Tear Down Can Start" in the Press Republican Newspaper on August 9, 2011 discusses the condemned bar and rooming house at the corner of Main and Academy streets that partially collapsed on July 25 and damaged the adjacent property, known as the Faubert Building in Plattsburgh, New York. Testing confirmed that the debris from the collapse of Nikki's Place contains asbestos.

According to the article, Dilshad Perera, on-site coordinator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said that as soon as the estimated funding needed for the cleanup is in place, a certified asbestos-abatement contractor can be hired to safely haul the material away.

We assume this project is using the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) Industrial Code Rule 56 section on controlled demolition with asbestos in place. Though it does surprise me that the EPA is on-site versus NYSDOL.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Future Environment Designs Sponsors Mycobacterium tuberculosis: TB Video.

Image by Microbe World via FlickrFuture Environment Designs is proud to sponsor a new informational video on Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This video is designed as a public service awareness video on the topic of Tuberculosis (TB) which is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Friday, August 12, 2011

White House and EPA Misled Public on Air Quality After 9/11 Attack.

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 08: Construction continue...

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeBased on a New York Times article "Public Misled on Air Quality After 9/11 Attack, Judge Says" - Federal judge Deborah A. Batts of Federal District Court in Manhattan, found that Christine Whitman, when she led the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), made "misleading statements of safety" about the air quality near the World Trade Center in the days after the Sept. 11 attack. These statements may have put the public in danger. This pointed criticism of Mrs. Whitman came in a ruling by the judge in a 2004 class action lawsuit on behalf of residents and schoolchildren from downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn who say they were exposed to air contamination inside buildings near the trade center. The suit, against Mrs. Whitman, other former and current EPA officials and the agency itself, charges that they failed to warn people of dangerous materials in the air and then failed to carry out an adequate cleanup. The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages and want the judge to order a thorough cleaning. In her ruling, Judge Batts decided not to dismiss the case against Mrs. Whitman, who is being sued both as former administrator of the EPA and as an individual.

In a separate but similar article by CBS News titled "W. House Molded EPA's 9/11 Reports", the EPA's internal watchdog found that the White House influenced the statements released by the EPA and that the data did not support the statements that were released. Making the 9/11 tragedy even deeper considering the amount of harm we did to ourselves by these actions.