Giles Occupational Safety & Health (GOSH), LLC Chicago Western Suburbs - Giles Safety & Health Blog

More frequent blogs are on my FaceBook page using Giles OSH LLC

Thu, 28 Mar 2019 02:59:29 GMT

If you want to see more frequent and informal web logs, please feel free to follow me on my Giles Occupational Safety & Health, LLC Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/Giles-Occupational-Safety-Health-GOSH-LLC-151599298293905/

Announced from EHS Today: Colorado Releases Marijuana Workplace Health and Safety Guide

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 04:39:00 GMT

The URL for the article is http://ehstoday.com/osha/colorado-releases-marijuana-workplace-health-and-safety-guide
The URL for the Colorado guide is https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/marijuana-occupational-safety-and-health

Not surprisingly, indoor marijuana growing has many of the same hazards as other green house operations. The hazards range from biological to chemical to physical. Specifically, skin and respiratory allergens and potential for hypersensitivity, molds, increase in some atmospheric gases, pesticides, falls, and electrical hazards.

All work operations (not just marijuana growing) should be assessed for hazards. Then, the hierarchy of controls should be applied. These include eliminating or substituting out the hazard, engineering controls like ventilation, changing work schedules, or wearing personal protective equipment.

After reading the article and the guide, if you still have questions on applying the recommendations, contact a qualified professional in the health or safety field. OSHA has a consultation service you can call. If there is a growers' association, they might be able to help.

Or contact me by email: gilesosh1@outlook.com or cell phone: (703) 343-5798 for assistance.

Eastland Ship Disaster Chicago July 1915--100 years ago

Sat, 25 Jul 2015 18:06:17 GMT

Newly discovered photographs of the Eastland disaster in Chicago 100 years ago. The Eastland was the first of 5 boats chartered for a 2-hour cruise across the tip of Lake Michigan to Indiana for a company picnic sponsored by Western Electric. 7000 employees of the W. E. Hawthorne plant descended on Chicago to partake in this rare outing. The Eastland was unstable as a vessel and had had trouble before. It flipped over so quickly, people had little warning, and 844 of them died, mostly from suffocation rather than drowning.

More details are at the Eastland Disaster website at http://www.eastlanddisaster.org/.

Credit for the photo and details goes to the Eastland Disaster Historical Society.

Commemorating the Eastland Disaster: 100 Year AnniversaryOne hundred years ago this week, the SS Eastland sank in the Chicago River. Nearly 100 newly found photos from the Chicago Tribune offer a new look at...chicagotonight.wttw.com

Snowy 2015

Wed, 04 Feb 2015 17:23:15 GMT

Snow has come to the Midwest and Northeast US with a vengeance. Suburban Chicago totals have come in at 14-16 inches from this past weekend with 19 inches officially recorded at O'Hare. The Boston area was hit with record-breaking 22 and 16 inches over the week.

Please remember to allow plenty of time to brush off snow from your car or truck, including the roof, hood, all windows, wipers, windshield washer jets, and lights. Allow plenty of stopping room between cars on snow and stop well before icy (or wet patches which wind up being ice) patches. It would be great if trucks (and SUV's) could have the snow removed from their tops before it turns into ice plates which land onto cars driving behind them.

The weather has been quite nice in the central Pennsylvania area of Harrisburg/Mechanicsburg. We did not get hit with as much snow as forecast. For this former Chicago-area native, the weather isn't even that cold!

Snow Storm Totals from 3/5/2013

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:35:52 GMT

Snow totals for the western suburbs of Chicago
averaged 9" or more. You can check your snow accumulation at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/view/prodsByState.php?state=IL&prodtype=public

Vehicles take longer to stop on snow and wet surfaces. Make sure they come to a complete stop before entering an intersection on foot or in a vehicle so you don't meet them by accident!

October is National Children's Health Month

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 23:35:04 GMT

The US EPA is noting National Children's Health Month by focusing on children's
environmental exposures.

From the EPA's website:
"Children may be more vulnerable to environmental exposures than adults because:
EPA views childhood as a sequence of life stages from conception through
fetal development, infancy, and adolescence.

Protecting children’s health from environmental risks is fundamental to EPA’s
mission. Get the facts about children’s environmental health.

Recycling Reality: Humans Set to Trash most of Elements of the Periodic Table (Not much metallic or plastic is recycled)

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 02:02:47 GMT

From Scientific American article 8/9/12 by David Biello:

...In principle, all metals are infinitely recycleable and could exist in a closed
loop system, note the authors of a survey of the metals recycling field published in
Science on August 10. There’s a benefit too, because recycling is
typically more energy-efficient than mining and refining raw
ore for virgin materials. Estimates vary but mining and refining can require as
much as 20 times the amount of energy as recycling a given material. Think about
it: a vast amount of energy, technology, human labor and
time are expended to get various elements out of the ground—and then that
element is often discarded after a single use. ...[Aluminum recycling vs. bauxite mining comes to mind--CG]
...industrial ecologists Barbara Reck and T.E. Graedel of Yale University compare
the fates of nickel versus neodymium. Nickel is ubiquitous, particularly as an
alloy for steel. Of the 650,000 metric tons of the silvery-white metal that
reached the end of its useful life in one product in 2005, roughly two-thirds
were recycled. And that recycled nickel then supplied about one-third of the
demand for new nickel-containing products. That means the overall efficiency of
human use of nickel approaches 52 percent. ...

Nearly 16,000 metric tons of neodymium—a so-called rare earth metal—were employed in 2007, mostly for permanent magnets in everything from hybrid cars to wind turbines. Roughly 1,000 metric tons of the element reached the end of its useful life in one product or another—and “little to none of that material is currently being recycled,” the
survey authors note. This despite the fact that a “rare earth crisis” stems from China’s near monopoly of the neodymium trade.

Mining for neodymium is not benign (which is why the
world lets China monopolize its production). And it’s not just neodymium. Mining
waste—or tailings, leach ponds, slurries and the like—are among the
world’s largest chronic waste problems. North America alone produces 10 times as
much mining waste as it does the municipal solid waste (as it’s known) from all
the neighborhoods in the U.S. Much of that is just rock, sand and dust—the
mountaintop in mountaintop removal mining. And mined products also cause waste
further down the product line, such as the ash leftover after the coal is burned (the U.S.’s
largest single form of waste)....
More of this article at http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/08/09/recycling-reality-humans-set-to-trash-most-elements-on-the-periodic-table/?WT_mc_id=SA_CAT_BS_20120810

[On trips to Colorado, I have seen piles of tailings from lead and other mining operations. Water from some of the rivers is not potable due to metal poisoning leftover from mining. We need to recycle more diligently to avoid trashing our own land and water.

We also need to curb our appetites for new gadgets just because the latest version is available. So what if your cell phone company "allows" you to get a new phone every 2 years? Is the new one that different? How much effort is it to transfer all of your contact info? Can we insist on a different way of doing business from our carriers?

I kept my dear Palm Treo for several years, despite snide looks from some techno geeks. I still like it better than my new iPhone for entering calendar and contacts--much faster and logical on the Treo! Sadly, Palm itself did not provide much support.)--CG]

Post Title.

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 03:20:58 GMT

Interesting research from the Lancet via Medscape Hematology-Oncology > Markman on Oncology
Kill Infection, Prevent Cancer
Maurie Markman, MD
Authors and Disclosures

Posted: 07/18/2012 on Medscape News--Public Health & Prevention http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/767412?src=mp&spon=38 Copywritten, Use with credit to them.

By Dr. Maurie Markman from Cancer Treatment Centers of America in
Philadelphia. "I wanted to briefly discuss a very interesting -- and what I
believe to be a very important -- paper that appeared in a recent issue of
Lancet Oncology. (subscription needed to read it)

The paper, entitled "Global Burden of Cancers Attributable to Infections in
2008: A Review and Synthetic Analysis," was a rather comprehensive review of the
13 million new cases of cancer that occurred worldwide in 2008, with the
specific idea of determining or estimating the percentage of these cases that
might have been caused initially by viral infections, bacteria, or parasites. Of
course, the major goal of such an effort would be to identify factors that, if
treated successfully, could have prevented such cancers.

This review identified, in the opinion of the authors, approximately 2
million cases of cancers caused by these varieties of infections worldwide. As
one might anticipate, in certain areas of the world, particularly the less
developed areas, a higher percentage of cancer cases were felt to be
attributable to such infections -- as many as a third. But even in North
America, it was estimated that approximately 4% of cancers were caused by these
infectious diseases. I think this is a very important paper. It is very well
done and clearly identifies a very important public health issue.

Prevention of cancer is clearly a very cost-effective way of dealing with the
enormous global burden that we see currently and are certainly going to see in
the future. If cancers can be prevented by vaccination and by treatment of
infectious diseases, this is a very important strategy. I think the paper that
appeared in Lancet Oncology really addresses this question and should be
read by oncologists, general physicians, and certainly those involved in making
public-policy decisions regarding funding for cancer and cancer prevention. I
encourage you to read this important paper."

References

Heat Exhaustion

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 03:58:45 GMT

Please take it easy in this dangerous heat, drink lots of
water, rest in cool areas, be alert for signs of heat stress, heat exhaustion,
and even heat stroke. See http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat/heat_guide-page-3.asp for more details. The Chicago area is in its 3rd day of 100+ degree heat.

From the CDC:
Heat exhaustion is a milder form of heat-related illness that
can develop after several days of exposure to high temperatures and inadequate
or unbalanced replacement of fluids. Those most prone to heat exhaustion are
elderly people, people with high blood pressure, and people working or
exercising in a hot environment.
Warning signs of heat exhaustion include the following:
    The skin may be cool and moist, pulse rate will be fast and weak,
    and breathing will be fast and shallow.

If heat exhaustion is untreated, it may progress to heat stroke.
Seek medical attention immediately if any of the following occurs:
    Symptoms are severe or the victim has heart problems or high blood pressure
Otherwise, help the victim to cool off, and seek medical attention if symptoms worsen or last longer than 1 hour.

Drowning and Water Deaths

Sat, 26 May 2012 04:48:17 GMT

Recent drowning tragedies in the Chicago area remind us that:
1. Water is powerful and can kill.
2. People need to respect water more and learn how to live with it and other forces of nature.
3. Learning to swim is a survival skill.
4. Wearing a life jacket is a good practice.

Chicago was built on a swamp.  Lake Michigan is large, much like the oceans. The Chicago River, Salt Creek and the DesPlaines River run through the area. There are swimming pools in many areas, including apartment complexes where kids who cannot swim hang out unsupervised in the water, and hotel pools where parents don't stay close to their children. I have seen them and tried teaching some of the children how to float and swim.

I want to encourage you and your children to learn how to swim this year.

Two teenage, black girls--one in Chicago in Lake Michigan last night and one in Bolingbrook, IL a couple of weeks ago--died playing in water. They did not know how to swim. News reports said the 15-year old last night was playing with two friends in Lake Michigan when 40 mph winds had been blowing all day. The water was rough--not appropriate for swimmers, let alone non-swimmers.

Newscasts interviewed friends and the fathers of both girls who had effusive praise for them. Sadly, the deaths of these young women likely could have been prevented.  Others have died or become paralyzed by diving into water headfirst. The US Center for Disease Control reports nonfatal drownings can cause brain damage that may result in long-term disabilities including memory problems, learning disabilities, and permanent loss of basic functioning (e.g., permanent vegetative state). It is a lack of oxygen to the brain.

The CDC has a website on recreational safety with a webpage devoted to water safety and drowning prevention at http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Water-Safety/waterinjuries-factsheet.html

The Chicago Defender in a June 30, 2010 article discussed Mr. Cullen Jones, an Olympic gold medalist and American record holder in the 50-meter freestyle, joining forces with the USA Swimming Foundation, ConocoPhillips and the “Make a Splash” program to bring water safety to youth throughout the country. "Make a Splash" has been around for several years and has helped thousands of kids take swimming lessons nationwide. http://www.chicagodefender.com/article-8130-olympic-swimmer-cullen-jones-brings-water-safety-message-to-chicago.html

The Defender said "Make a Splash" focuses on African-American and Hispanic children, who both have low levels of swimming proficiency. 70% of African-American and 58% of Hispanic children reported no or low swimming ability in a 2010 study.
The study found three primary reason why Blacks and Hispanics don’t swim:
1. Lack of parental encouragement
2. Personal appearance such as ashy skin and wet hair.
3. Fear of drowning

Cullen Jones, who is black, began swimming at an early age after he nearly died in a water park incident. The incident fueled his desire to use his swimming success to benefit others, in water safety. I was impressed when I heard him interviewed on National Public Radio July 19, 2010.  He was on a speaking tour to encourage youth to learn how to swim. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128622285

Jones recommends between 8 and 10 swimming lessons. He and "Make a Splash"
aren’t trying to create champion swimmers – they just want to keep kids from drowning while having a great time swimming. So do I.

Sign up for swimming lessons through your local park district, YMCA, pool, Red Cross, school, gym, club, etc.
YMCA at http://register.ymcachicago.org/program-category/health-and-fitness/aquatics/swim-lessons
Red Cross Water Safety and Swimming and Lifeguarding at:
http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.86f46a12f382290517a8f210b80f78a0/?vgnextoid=9e7bf837443d0210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default