COMPUTER simulation is helping to protect astronauts on board the International Space Station from carbon dioxide buildup when the crew quarters ventilation system is out of service.
MOLD problems and reports of suspected mold-related illness and injury are quickly becoming a health issue for many safety professionals. When excessive moisture accumulates indoors, mold growth often occurs, bringing with it health complaints ranging from asthma to severe allergic reactions.
TODAY there are a variety of sensors used to detect flammable gases. There are also many different flammable conditions, each requiring a specific type of sensor to be accurately measured.
INDUSTRIAL hygiene gas surveys play a key role in helping industrial hygienists evaluate and determine whether workers are being exposed to hazardous conditions within their workplace environment. Portable gas monitoring instruments can be a valuable tool used in these surveys to provide data that is vital to the success of the mission.
WHAT is your company's agenda when an employee cuts himself while handling a knife (or any other incident that induces bleeding)? What happens if an employee contracts Hepatitis B (HBV) or the HIV virus while rendering first aid or CPR to a critically injured employee?
THE attack on the World Trade Center and the anthrax scare have forced the government and private industry to increase safety and security precautions. The anthrax scare, in particular, has prompted greater safety controls in the mailroom.
DURING the past 45 years, the metalworking production capacity of the United States has increased dramatically because of innovative changes in equipment technology. Machining, tools, and measuring instrumentation deliver lower tolerances that create finer lines of acceptance or rejection between profit and waste.
THROUGHOUT industry, from chemical and petrochemical processing to wastewater utilities and pulp and paper mills, workplaces have the potential to be exposed to toxic gases, combustible gases and vapors, and oxygen deficiency.
DEVELOPING and implementing a comprehensive industrial hygiene strategy can be daunting even under the best circumstances. Ensuring proper characterization, prioritizing actions, performing monitoring, and interpreting the results requires process knowledge, technical skills, sufficient personnel, and of course, money.
HOW often do we as health and safety professionals ask ourselves, "I wonder if there is a psychosocial component to these indoor air quality complaints?" In fact, environmental health & safety professionals are not qualified to make judgment calls regarding the psychological basis of reported or displayed symptoms among employees.
WHEN I first became an EHS manager, I thought I knew most of what I needed to know as a professional (during the years since then, I have found out just how much I didn't know), but I would, somewhat infrequently, seek help from an external consultant either to confirm my thoughts or to provide creative solutions for the "opportunities" I had identified.
REDUCING air pollution emissions from vehicles in urban areas, combined with the desire to reduce dependence upon imported oil, resulted in several new regulations by federal, state, and local regulatory agencies in the 1990s.
INDOOR air quality (IAQ) typically refers to the quality of air inside buildings where people work or live. Indoor air quality issues and specific building-related health concerns may result from a complex combination of physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, and behavioral risk factors.
PERHAPS before discussing first aid kits, we should consider the question, "What is first aid?" Does it refer to treatment delivered prior to more definitive medical care available at a clinic or hospital? Is it simply the placing an adhesive bandage over a small cut?