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Mark your calendar for May 7, 2012; the Site Remediation Reform Act (SRRA) is changing the way contaminated sites in New Jersey are being remediated. Starting on this date, if you are a remediating party in New Jersey, you will be required to hire a Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) to work on your site. Here is a handy table we recently created for our clients — a gentle reminder to get organized! Even if you miss a deadline, it’s better to start playing catchup as soon as you find out that you are not in compliance. Recently the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) commissioned a survey of the Occupational Safety and Health workforce and published their findings in a document called the National Assessment of the Occupational Safety and Health Workforce. NIOSH reports that the need for OSH professionals will greatly outweigh the supply in the very near future. Whether you are considering a new career in Occupational Health and Safety or you are looking for a next step in your H&S career, there are many options available for all levels of health and safety professionals from technicians in the field to researchers developing new technologies. If you work at a site with corrosive materials present, how available are emergency flushing stations? Can these stations be accessed within 10 seconds? Has anyone ever showed you how to use it…blindfolded? Like a fire extinguisher on the wall, you hope you never need an emergency eyewash station, but you’d better be able to get to it and it had better work when there is a need. It’s important to know that chemical burns and damage start immediately upon contact. The sooner the rinsing starts, the less damage will occur. If you have a giant stack of the best personal protective equipment (PPE), but don’t use it, or just as important, don’t use it properly, are you trying to become an OSHA statistic? Knowing how to protect yourself from occupational hazards is a critical part of your job. When providing guidance on the selection and use of PPE, it is critical for occupational safety and health experts to understand not only the technical issues surrounding the use of PPE as an exposure control method, but also the regulatory compliance burden placed on the employer. I recognize that “just” complying with OSHA standards is not equivalent to meeting industry best practices, but is important to understand the what might be considered the ‘back-bone’ of PPE programs in the US. This blog lists who buys what and which standards the required PPE is to meet. When are hard hats required to be worn? The Simple Answer: If you are working where ANYTHING MIGHT fall, drop, fly, splash, or land on your head OR your head could come into contact with ANYTHING that MIGHT injure you, like moving equipment, chemicals or electricity, you need to be correctly wearing a properly fitting, ANSI-approved hardhat. Learn more about hard hats and the rules that protect your head on the job! A construction and renovation project within any facility creates a range of situations which can release debris, pollutants and contaminants that can impact the indoor air quality. These contaminants may be transported to other areas via HVAC systems, personnel coming and going through encapsulation barriers, and other factors that can subsequently affect people beyond the project area. Consideration of the effect upon indoor air quality is particularly important in healthcare settings when performing construction or renovation projects. What is the plan? With the departure of Hurricane Irene, many buildings throughout NJ and NY have sustained a wide range of water damage and require action to remediate or otherwise mitigate the impacts of water intrusion: mold, fungus and structural damage. Timing is a key element in this response; immediate action is necessary to minimize the potential for mold growth within the building envelope. As in medicine, early detection leads to an early (and usually less expensive) cure. Time and water combined can grow to be an expensive and time-consuming enemy. Failure to respond promptly will very likely result in mold growth requiring significantly more demolition than if the condition is handled in a timely manner. What is the definition of “timely”? As soon as mold is discovered! “In our society and legal system it seems that, yes, someone (or many) has to tragically die before change and regulation are considered.” In this case, the tragedy was 343+2. 343 firefighters perished in the September 11, 2001 tragedy. Less than six years later, the lives of two additional NY firefighters were claimed during the demolition of the 9/11-damaged Deutsche Bank Building. These contributing conditions created by the asbestos abatement project have been recognized by several authorities, and in an effort to maximize safety, New York City enacted a number of new laws to ensure that asbestos abatement projects are conducted safely. |
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