February 2010 - The Pump Handle - The Network of Care

Introducing New Solutions: The Drawing Board

This is the first piece of a new series featured on The Pump Handle. New Solutions, A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy, is taking their work from the world of print to an online medium, posting once-monthly blogs about environmental...

Published Fri, Feb 26 2010 10:20 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Environmental Health, Chemicals Policy, New Solutions: The Drawing Board

“Sickened by Service”

The Salt Lake Tribune has published an excellent series, “Sickened Service” by Matthew D. LaPlante, telling the stories of veterans whose illnesses or deaths seem likely to be related to exposures during their military service: What doesn’t kill you:...

Published Thu, Feb 25 2010 11:50 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety

Lesson #1: Don’t hang up on Ken Ward Jr

The Charleston Gazette’s Ken Ward Jr. caused my jaw to drop several times this morning with his story ”Mine hailed as model of safety faces federal probe.” At the Patriot Coal company’s Federal No. 2 mine—the underground...

Published Tue, Feb 23 2010 12:28 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, MSHA

The Growing Global E-waste Problem

We’ve written before about the problem of e-waste (see here and here), and a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme underscores the urgency of the situation. In a nutshell, discarded electronics contain valuable substances that are worth...

Published Tue, Feb 23 2010 6:27 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Environmental Health

“Falls” lead the injury pack

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) has been conducted since 1957 and is one of the main instruments to get a glimpse at the health of the US population. The NHIS is a “multistage area probability...

Published Mon, Feb 22 2010 12:02 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Safety

Necessity is the Mother of Aquaponics

A few months ago, the New York Times hosted an op-ed about vertical farming, which stacks several floors of hydroponic crops into tall buildings; now, it features in article about another version of hydroponic farming, known as aquaponics. (They stuck...

Published Fri, Feb 19 2010 12:37 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Food

Health Insurance Premiums Jump – and Remind Us Why We Need Reform

Healthreform.gov has compiled examples of some insurers hiking their premiums by scary amounts (footnotes omitted): Anthem Blue Cross of California announced that its individual market premiums would rise by as much as 39 percent in the coming months...

Published Thu, Feb 18 2010 4:56 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Healthcare

North Carolina to get new State Lab. Hope it isn’t a public health hazard.

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure Congratulations, North Carolina. You are getting brand new $52 million facility for your State Public Health Laboratory and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, each in separate wings of a 220,000 square foot...

Published Wed, Feb 17 2010 6:23 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety

MSHA sets a low bar for mine operators

MSHA’s Assistant Secretary Joe Main announced at public events last week in Austin, TX and Charleston, WV his “Rules to Live By” campaign. It’s described as “a new outreach and enforcement program designed to strengthen efforts...

Published Mon, Feb 15 2010 10:21 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Mining, Safety

Faces of diacetyl danger

Reporter Anietra Hamper of Columbus (OH)’s WBNS puts names and faces to the serious health consequences linked with exposure to the butter-flavoring agent diacetyl. In part I of her six-month investigation, Common Food Flavoring Changed Lives Forever...

Published Fri, Feb 12 2010 10:27 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Flavoring Workers' Lung (Popcorn/Diacetyl), OSHA

When old folks get the shaft

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure Being over 65 I’m an older adult, according to the author’s definition (as reported in the press release, at least), and like everyone else I frequently take elevators. Maybe not as frequently as...

Published Thu, Feb 11 2010 7:10 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Safety

Diagnosing Shortfalls in the Diagnostic Manual

The American Psychiatric Association has just released draft revisions for the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) for a two-month comment period. (The DSM-5 will be published in May 2013.) Because mental...

Published Wed, Feb 10 2010 4:42 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Health

Is Middeltown Mayor speaking for OSHA?

Officials from state and federal agencies have begun investigating the cause of the deadly explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown, CT that took the lives of Peter Chetulis, Ronald J. Crabb, 42, Raymond Dobratz, 58, Chris Walters, 42, and Roy...

Published Tue, Feb 09 2010 1:16 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, OSHA, US Chem Safety Board

Your home is your (dangerous) castle

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure Most people feel safe at home, but statistically it’s not the safest place to be, at least in terms of being injured (here injury includes not only trauma but poisoning, but if we restrict it to trauma...

Published Tue, Feb 09 2010 8:38 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Safety

Energy Plant Explosion Kills Five

Yesterday afternoon, a massive explosion at an under-construction Connecticut power plant killed five workers and wounded several more. Workers at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown, CT were reportedly purging a natural gas line, and the explosion was...

Published Mon, Feb 08 2010 12:14 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH

February 2010 - The Pump Handle

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Introducing New Solutions: The Drawing Board

“Sickened by Service”

Lesson #1: Don’t hang up on Ken Ward Jr

The Growing Global E-waste Problem

“Falls” lead the injury pack

Necessity is the Mother of Aquaponics

Health Insurance Premiums Jump – and Remind Us Why We Need Reform

North Carolina to get new State Lab. Hope it isn’t a public health hazard.

MSHA sets a low bar for mine operators

Faces of diacetyl danger

When old folks get the shaft

Diagnosing Shortfalls in the Diagnostic Manual

Is Middeltown Mayor speaking for OSHA?

Your home is your (dangerous) castle

Energy Plant Explosion Kills Five