Future Environment Designs Training Center specializes in asbestos, indoor air quality, industrial hygiene, and occupational safety training programs. We offer New York State asbestos and mold certification courses. We design, develop, and maintain the various indoor air quality, asbestos, and safety programs that are Keeping Your Employees Safe.
CDC NIOSH Science Blog: Mad as a Hatter: Mercury and Other Occupational Hazards at the Movies
I recently saw the movie at the Deer Park IMAX theather in 3D, with my family. It was a visually stunning movie and the storyline was excellant and very different from the one most of us are familar with. The CDC NIOSH science blog discusses the occupational issues that led to the term Mad as a hatter hence leading to Johnny Depp's character in the movie. What was the occupational safety and health issue? Well most people probably know by now that it was mercury exposure or mercury poisoning. Hatters used mercury to change fur into felt. Since these areas were poorly ventilated the exposure levels must have been tremendous.
Its amazing that the OSHA investigation found no violations. However, the Manhattan DA found enough evidence to bring manslaughter charges against J. Lomma, T. Varganyi, JF Lomma Inc, and NY Crane. Key quote from the article was "Equipment owners may be held personally liable—even if safety regulators in their official investigation are unable to find code violations." Will the threat of criminal charges actually start CEOs thinking about safety first.
On the ride down from the PACNY conference, we caught up on reading an article written by Dr. Robert C. Brandys in Indoor Environment Connections. The title of the article was “Assessing the Cancer Risk of Indoor Environments.” We thought it was an interesting and informative article. We also note the coincidence that we were recently having a conversation, with one of our clients, regarding this very issue. The article is an excellent reference for the various chemical risk assessment standards that are available and goes into an excellent discussion of the pros and cons of conducting a chemical risk assessment. We strongly recommend those of you who are struggling with indoor air quality testing and interpreting the results of volatile organic compounds and such, read this article and incorporate the references into your indoor air quality investigations and reports.
This Thursday, February 25, 2010 opens the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York's (PACNY) 14th Annual Environmental Conference at Turning Stone Casino, in Verona, New York. This is the premier event in New York State regarding the abatement field. Between the Vendor Exhibit Hall (recently spoke with Mr John Hill of Grayling Industries, they will be exhibiting) and the industry speakers (including Chris Alonge from New York State Department of Labor (DOL)) this is THE event to attend. This year marks the return of Craig Benedict from the US Attorney's Office, he will be discussing "Recent Criminial Prosecutions: Remediation, Laboratory, and Project Monitoring Fraud." Considering recent press releases this should be an interesting discussion. With new Environmental Protection Agency regulations going to effect on renovators Mr. Andrew McClellen's presentation should be informative. Of course on the last day of the event; will Mr. Chris Alonge be dropping any bombshells on the attendees this year. Based on previous presentations by Mr. Alonge (see our entry on 11/25/09 on the Metro-Section of the AIHA's meeting http://futureenv.blogspot.com/2009/11/results-of-metro-ny-aihas-ehs-global.html) could the long anticipated revision of Industrial Code Rule 56 be available? We shall see. I will be attending as I usually do, remember Turning Stone is a dry casino so BYOB, and I hope to see you there.
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