Workforce hazards

An educated workforce that can recognize a variety of hazards... 

Responsibility for the safe transportation of chemicals rests with the chemical producers and their workforce, any haulier used and, to some extent, the customer (e.g. during offloading), as summarized in Figure 12.2. Effective communication is crucial between all relevant parties. Various regulations, codes of practice and guidelines cover the labelling of containers and vehicles to identify the substances and their hazards in an emergency. 

Ratcliffe JM, Schrader SM, Turner TW, et al. 1986. The use of new field methods of semen analysis in the study of occupational hazards to reproduction The example of ethylene dibromide. The Changing Nature of Work and Workforces, Proceedings of the Third Joint US-Finnish Science Symposium, Frankfort, Kentucky October 22-24, 1986. Cincinnati, OFI National Institute for Occupational Safety and Flealth (NIOSFI), 103-106. 

Before you begin to design the product, you need to focus your attention on the customer and their needs, but you also need to focus your attention on the potential hazards that the product poses to the safety and health of your workforces and the neighbors, and to the environment. You need some familiarity with the history of past mistakes, with the current government regulations, and with methods to deal with these potential problems. 

The complexity of the plant design, the degree of sophistication, and the quality requirements of the fine chemicals to be produced the necessity to process hazardous chemicals the sensitivity of product specifications to changes of reaction parameters and the availability of a skilled workforce all determine the degree of automation that is advisable. 

The system consists of two parts. The first part involves using either available information from the drug development process or making reasonable speculations to characterize the potential hazards to the workforce from exposure to the compounds. The second step involves using that information to assess the risk of exposure and recommend controls that prevent exposure. There is more than one suitable control method that can control most exposure points, and several examples have been provided. Finally, case studies have been provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of some of these control methods. 

A low severity hazard might, for example, be one that is most likely to cause an interruption to production, or inconvenience to the workforce or people living near the plant. A medium level of severity could be a hazard likely to cause injuries to people. A high level of severity is one where the outcome of the hazard is probably one or more fatalities. A hazard may also be measured in financial terms from low severity (small financial implications) to high severity (crippling financial loss to an organisation). 

All adhesives, solvents, chemical treatments, and like materials must be handled in a manner preventing toxic exposure to the workforce. Methods and facilities must be provided to ensure that the maximum acceptable concentrations of hazardous materials are never exceeded. These values are prominently displayed on the material s Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), which must be maintained and available for the workforce. 

These standards also target highly hazardous chemicals and radioactive substances that have the potential to cause catastrophic incidents. This standard as a whole is to help employees in their efforts to prevent or mitigate the episodic chemical releases that could lead to a catastrophe in the workplace, and the possibility of the surrovmding community to control these types of hazards. Employers must develop the necessary expertise, experience, judgment, and proactive initiative within their workforce to properly implement and maintain an... 

In the event that an incident develops into a more serious accident, the resources required will be beyond those available on the plant or site. Local community emergency response providers will be brought into the site, and injured members of the workforce and local population will need treatment at local hospitals. The local community must be able to plan for such events and local emergency responders must be trained to cope with the hazards associated with the plant. The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) ensures that the local community has access to the necessary information. 

The MSDS contains the information needed to begin analyzing materials and process hazards, to understand the hazards to which the workforce is exposed, and to respond to a release of the material or other major incident where emergency response personnel may be exposed to the material. 

Labor activist Tony Mazzocchi of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers organized a series of public forums, giving workers a platform for testifying about hazardous conditions in the industrial workplace. Mazzocchi compiled a formal record of the forums, to pressure Congress to enact the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). In 1970, OSHA became the first federal law aimed at protecting the health of the nation s workforce. 

Exposure Levels in Humans. A population exists that is potentially exposed to creosote through contact with contaminated media at hazardous waste sites and with treated wood products. A second potentially exposed workforce population exists at wood treatment facilities and in other industries in which creosote-derived products are produced or used. Currently, no information exists that demonstrates tissue levels of any components of the mixture in these populations. Although exposure is now estimated in occupationally exposed workers using urinary concentrations of biomarkers, such as 1 -hydroxypyrcnc, actual exposure levels are harder to determine. Estimates of human exposure to creosote constituents, or body burdens of creosote components, are complicated by the lack of information on exposure to creosote constituents and levels of creosote-derived components in the environment. Collecting information on tissue levels of creosote components in humans would be necessary to examine the relationship between levels of creosote-derived compounds in the environment, human tissue levels, and subsequent development of health effects. This information is necessary for assessing the need to conduct health studies on these populations. 

Keeping a production program covert forces other tradeoffs. Some of the simplest production pathways might have to be avoided since they use known precursors or involve known production processes. Purchasing equipment from multiple suppliers to avoid detection, or jury-rigging facilities from used equipment, might increase hazards to the workforce and nearby populations. 

Notwithstanding the fact on whether or not a work area is exempted ftom exposure measurements, other obligations of the employer according to the Ordinance of Hazardous Susbstances remain in force like its obligation to use less hazardous substitutes if available, to respect the hierarchy of protective measures, to eqip every workplace with an operating instructions and to perform regular trainings for the workforce. 

Requirements for transportation packaging and transporter training vary based on the degree of the hazard and the travel route and distance. Sandia s ES H Manual provides a detailed description of these requirements for the members of the SNL workforce. When on non-Sandia controlled premises, the requirements and practices of the host facility apply. 

Figure 1 illustrates a general public health approach for improving the safety and health of the workforce (HHS 1989). It begins with surveillance. We have to know what the hazards are and their safety and health consequences before we can establish priorities on where to apply our limited resources and develop intervention strategies. At the nation level, there are statistics on occupational... 

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