Azerbaijan: Managers Arrested After Fatal Explosion
On 29th December 2006, an explosion took place in the Synthesis Caoutchouc Plant of the Azerkimya State Company in Sumgayit, Azerbaijan, in which three workers were killed. The Sumgayit Fire-Fighting Department had previously made written representation to the company and senior management, advising them of the risk of explosion on restarting plant equipment that had been out of commission for some time. However, management ordered the restart of a failed pump in the Butadiene Workshop and a surge of high pressure led to an explosion.
In early January 2007, three senior staff of Azerkimya were arrested and charged under the Azeri Criminal Code.
Japan: Wind Power Generator Collapses
On 11th January 2007, a 70-metre-tall wind power generator toppled over at the Iwaya Wind Farm operated by Eurus Energy Iwaya in Higashidori, a village around 600 kilometres north-east of Tokyo. Nobody was injured, but power lines were severed by the collapse of the 1,300 kW structure, causing local power outages. Higashidori is also the site of a commercial light-water reactor nuclear power plant.
The incident is being investigated by the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. The structure was manufactured in Denmark and was designed to withstand wind speeds of up to 216 km per hour, but no high winds were reported at the time. The turbine, one of 25 at the wind farm, measured 3.6 metres in diameter at its thickest point and was set in a concrete base. The blades on the central pillar measure 29 metres long. The wind farm began operations in November 2001.
No abnormalities were found among the remaining 24 generators, but the company suspended their operation temporarily.
Bangladesh: Toxic Ship Barred from Chittagong Port
On 14th January 2007, the government Department of Shipping denied the ocean liner “MT Apsheron” entry to the Chittagong ship-breaking yards until it has been decontaminated somewhere outside the borders of the country. The vessel was being imported by Pakiza Enterprise for scrapping, and the company was ordered to remove hazardous and environmentally polluting materials from the ship outside Bangladesh territory to the satisfaction of the department before bringing it in.
The “Apsheron” and her sister ship “Gudermes” are on a list of 50 ships regarded as representing potential threats to biodiversity and environment. The hazardous waste materials onboard are believed to include asbestos, PCBs, toxic paint and heavy fuel residues. The Basel Convention affirmed in Geneva on 29th October 2004 that ships can be considered toxic waste under international law and that its 163 signatories must control export of ships under the terms of the Convention. The Basel Convention has banned since 1995 the export of hazardous wastes, including materials for recycling, from developed to developing countries.
Bangladesh lacks specific laws to regulate the import of ships for scrapping, and the Bangladesh Ship Breakers Association (BSBA) does not comply with the most basic minimum standards for safety and environmental protection.
International: Setback for Nuclear Waste Storage
High-level nuclear waste is put through a vitrification process by which it is combined with a liquefied borosilicate glass and allowed to solidify. Such a mixture is safer to handle and enclosure delays environmental leakage of radioactive material. The glass medium is far from ideal as it can be degraded by geothermal heat, pressure, circulating hot liquids and geological movement.
Research has continued for some years into more satisfactory immobilisation materials. Minerals such as zircon in the Earth’s crust are thought to have sequestered naturally occurring radioactive uranium and thorium for many billions of years, despite earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
However, a recent multinational study (Ian Farnan et al., Nature, Vol. 445, page 190) into the use of zircon, or similar synthetic ceramics, to trap radioactive isotope waste within their crystalline structures for the amount of time it takes plutonium-239 to decay (around 250,000 years) has suggested that this medium is unlikely to work, despite on-going research in Australia, Russia and the US.
Under laboratory conditions, the team added plutonium to zircon and used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to distinguish between crystalline zircon and its leaking damaged form. They found that alpha particles released by plutonium decay knock the atoms in zircon out of position five times faster than predicted by computer simulations, impairing the ability of the material to immobilise waste. Thus the zircon-trapped radioactive plutonium would start leaching out in just over 200 years and the material would lose its crystal structure entirely after 1,400 years.
The team suggest that it is still possible to develop synthetic ceramics that do not lose their crystalline structure as quickly as zircon.
Pakistan: Five Fire-Fighters Die in Factory Fire
On 14th January 2007, a fire in a garment factory in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi claimed the lives of five fire-fighters. At least 15 other people, including fire-fighters and workers, were injured when the roof of the burning factory collapsed and buried dozens of people. A rescue operation was underway to recover the bodies from the debris. The injured were taken to the main Abbasi Shaheed hospital.
The factory was located on the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate in Karachi, which houses major industries. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.
USA: Independent Panel Criticises BP over Safety
An independent panel appointed by the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) to investigate the health and safety record of BP America in the wake of a series of disastrous incidents in its American operations has found "material deficiencies" in BP process safety procedures at all five BP refineries, not just the Texas City facility; and that the company had failed to learn from mistakes at its Grangemouth refinery in Scotland. The panel was led by the former US Secretary of State, James A. Baker, and looked into the fatal explosion at the BP Texas City refinery in March 2005 which killed 15 people and injured a further 180.
The Baker panel did not set out to investigate the causes of the explosion, nor did it seek to lay blame; instead, its objective was to provide BP with specific and extensive recommendations to improve the company's corporate safety oversight and culture. The panel made ten recommendations in its 374-page critical report (available at Baker Panel Report ), published in Houston on 16th January 2007, including the suggestion that an independent monitor should report to the company's board of directors for five years.
The panel alleges systemic safety failures and finds that prior to the Texas City tragedy, BP emphasised personal safety but not process safety. The company mistakenly interpreted improving personal injury rates in safety statistics from their five US refineries as an indication of acceptable process safety performance.
The panel state that maintaining and improving a process safety management system requires the periodic evaluation of performance and the correction of identified deficiencies. They found that significant deficiencies existed in BP’s site and corporate systems for measuring process safety performance, investigating incidents and near misses, auditing system performance, addressing previously identified process safety-related action items, and ensuring sufficient management and board oversight. They note that many of the process safety deficiencies are not new but were identifiable to BP based on lessons from previous process safety incidents, including process incidents that occurred at the BP facility in Grangemouth, Scotland in 2000.
BP primarily used injury rates to measure process safety performance at its US refineries before the Texas City accident. Although BP was not alone in this practice, its reliance on injury rates significantly hindered perception of process risk. BP did track some statistics relevant to process safety at its US refineries, but apparently did not understand or accept what this data indicated about the risk of a major accident or the overall performance of its process safety management systems. As a result the BP corporate safety management system for its US refineries did not effectively measure and monitor process safety performance.
A few days earlier the Chief Executive of BP, Lord Browne, announced that he would be leaving the company early. The company's vice president for global refining is also leaving this year. Other senior executives are expected to depart in view of the report’s criticism of the BP directors.
Following publication of the Baker report, the CSB announced that it would release the final version of its own investigation into Texas City, which it described as the largest, costliest and most complex in the history of the agency, on 20th March 2007. [See “USA: CSB Final Report on the BP Texas City Disaster” later.]
In September 2005, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that BP had committed more than 300 wilful violations of OSHA rules and fined the company $21.3 million. Two workers had died at the plant just six months before the Texas City blast; and another explosion, this time without injuries, took place there less than six months later, in August 2005.
Domestic Microwave Oven Use in Sterilisation
A paper published in the January 2007 edition of the Journal of Environmental Health by a team of engineering researchers at the University of Florida reports that exposing a well-used kitchen sponge for two minutes inside a domestic microwave oven on full power killed or inactivated more than 99% of the bacteria, viruses or parasites, as well as spores, present on the sponge.
This previously overlooked and simple method of decontamination does not require the use of water or chemical agents. The researchers said they soaked sponges and scrubbing pads in raw wastewater containing faecal bacteria such as E. coli, viruses, protozoan parasites and bacterial spores. Then they used an ordinary kitchen microwave oven to heat the sponges. Ten minutes of exposure were necessary to kill all the spores present, but everything else was killed after two minutes.
Obviously the method cannot be used to sterilise unsuitable materials such as metals or low melting point polymers, but for many utensils and instruments it is ideal.
UAE: Major Fire in Dubai Tower Site
A fire which broke out on 18th January 2007 in the new 37-storey Fortune Tower site in Sheikh Zayed Road, opposite the Dubai Marina and part of the Jumeirah Lake Towers development, left dozens of construction workers trapped, two dead and more than 50 injured, some seriously. The dead are believed to have fallen from the tower while trying to escape. The fire was caused by a spark from electrical wiring that ignited plastic materials nearby, producing large volumes of black smoke. The seat of the fire was on the lower floors and it trapped dozens of labourers working on the unfinished upper floors. There were 280 workers on site at the time.
The tower is being developed by Fortune Group and the main contractor is IJM Construction (Middle East) of Malaysia. The project consultant is Dimensions Engineering.
Although Dubai Civil Defence is obliged to inspect and approve fire safety measures installed in finished buildings, towers under construction are not monitored and Fortune Tower was not ready to be cleared. The authority has now pledged to enforce stricter fire-fighting procedures, which could mean appointing fire safety officers on construction sites. There is also a need to review whether evacuation drills are sufficiently carried out and effectively communicated to workers.
UAE: Call for More Accountability in Construction
Following the Fortune Tower fire in Dubai on 18th January 2007, in which two workers were killed and more than 50 others injured, several speakers at an Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) conference in the Dubai World Trade Centre suggested that the health and safety standards of companies operating in the UAE are being compromised by a stark lack of statistics on work-related incidents and poor enforcement of government regulations; although the UAE has tough laws on health and safety, enforcement and prosecution is severely lacking.
The Middle East branch of IOSH called on senior management in construction to take more responsibility to ensure that local safety standards are met. IOSH said that the authorities have given more concern to worker welfare than to on-site safety.
IOSH also called for the establishment of an archive of good data on accidents, which could be used to provide official statistics and monitor progress.
Bahrain: Crane Death Prompts New Regulations
Following a fatal accident on the Bahrain City Centre project in the Seef District in December 2006, in which a seven-tonne segment of tower crane fell 20 metres during jacking and crashed through a concrete slab onto workers beneath, new regulations for the assembly and dismantling of tower cranes across Bahrain are being drawn up by the Labour Ministry and health and safety authorities.
The Labour Ministry said there is a need to set up supervised uniform procedures for all companies to follow. The incident in question involved a procedural lapse, either in the dismantling or the earlier assembly of the crane, and it may have been due to the lack of guidelines on how to go about it. Another possible cause for the accident may have been faulty construction of the crane.
Bahrain: UN Initiative to Protect Water Resources
An initiative to protect critical water resources from industrial pollution was urged by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) at the Water Middle East 2007 conference held at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre. UNIDO announced that it is ready to help transfer environmentally-sound technology to prevent discharges of industrial effluents into international waters to any community that needs it.
Adequate response to international co-operation on water issues must address lack of fresh water, frequent droughts and resultant desertification, as well as pollution of surface and underground water. Water resources are limited and in the past have been badly managed. The Middle East region has growing needs for fresh and industrial water, water purification and recycling, as well as wastewater management.
UNIDO programmes are aimed at achieving a sustainable usage of water resources and minimising the generation of effluents by:
- Increasing water productivity by reducing leakages in delivery networks, and at the same time increasing water reuse and recycling.
- Ensuring sustainable use of the resources of river basins, coastal and marine areas through a comprehensive ecosystem approach.
- Introducing technologies and policy reforms to minimise the use of water and to prevent water contamination from industries.
- Providing adequate quality drinking water through the introduction of technologies to remove metals, organic and toxic substances from water supply sources.
Ghana: River Pollution Kills 11 People
On 23rd January 2007, the Western Regional Office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed the deaths by chemical poisoning of 11 people from Tumantu, a village in the Nzema East District. All the victims died after drinking water from the Ankobra River and consuming fish, suspected to have been infected with bacteria or poisoned by chemicals. Four other persons were admitted to the Simpa Hospital in the Wassa West District with symptoms of severe vomiting and diarrhoea.
The EPA had taken samples and sediments from the river for analysis but had not yet received results. The contamination is suspected to have been chemical as the River Ankobra waters had turned red.
Last year the EPA investigated reports of the spillage of sodium cyanide solution by Bogoso Gold Limited into the Apepra Stream, one of the tributaries of the Ankobra near Dumasi, in the Wassa West District. The source of the cyanide discharge was traced to a newly-constructed tailings storage facility.
UAE: Fatal Scaffold Collapse in Dubai
One worker was killed and two others were injured on 24th January 2007 when the scaffolding structure they were standing on collapsed at the Beijing Emirates Enterprise Group residential construction site in Al Nahda, Dubai. Both the workers who survived are believed to have been wearing safety harnesses. The area is undergoing extensive construction works, with Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) engaged in cable-laying excavations.
Beijing Emirates Enterprise Group said that the collapse was probably caused by vibrations from digging and drilling operations being carried out in the area in order to lay cables for DEWA. The company had received a notice from DEWA asking it to relocate all on-site labour accommodation, project name boards and other materials from the approved cable-corridor, but had not mentioned removal of scaffolding.
China: The Western World Sends its Waste East
The UK is now exporting 1.9 million tonnes of unwanted waste to China every year. Waste paper accounts for around 1.5 million tonnes and the remainder comprises plastics and metals, including copper, nickel, aluminium, zinc, lead, tin and tungsten, all of which could poison water supplies if allowed to leak to the environment. The waste is supposed to be recycled, but instead vast amounts are entering illegal landfill sites.
Last year the China Council for International Co-operation on Environment and Development published its Report on Status and Trend of Solid Waste in China, in which it was demonstrated that waste imports have grown steadily since 1996, when the country completed legislation on the practice. In theory the imports fill the gap between raw material shortages and increasing domestic demand. Waste imports have exceeded 20 million tonnes every year since 2001, and in 2004 the volume reached 33 million tonnes.
According to the government report, 70% of the electronic waste produced around the world every year illegally finds its way into China, and 90% of such waste is broken down for recycling in small workshops. Because those workshops are poorly equipped, large amounts of dangerous materials end up being released to the local environment. The town of Guiyu in the South Chinese Guangdong Province is representative of the situation. There the speciality is extracting gold and copper from electronic boards. Environmental inspections have shown that the town has no potable water, more than 80% of the town's children are suffering from lead poisoning, and the cancer rate is above normal.
China: Crackdown on Illegal Waste Imports
On 25th January 2007, the Chinese State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) announced that they were co-ordinating with their counterparts in the European Union and customs officials to control the importation of illegal waste into China. The importation of waste that cannot be recycled as raw materials is strictly banned. The comments came in response to a recent UK television news item in which it was reported that plastic waste from the UK was ending up in Lianjiao, a remote village in Foshan in the South Chinese Guangdong Province, which now handles more than 200,000 tonnes of waste plastic every year without official approval to import it.
SEPA officials called on other countries to abide by the Basel Convention, an agreement aimed at controlling the illegal transmission of hazardous materials between countries.
In another development, SEPA fined the Jilin Petrochemical Company, owned by the China National Petroleum Corporation, 1 million yuan (US $128,700) for a spill that heavily polluted the Songhua River in 2005 with around 100 tonnes of benzene. The incident forced cities along the river to temporarily suspend water supplies to their residents and led to the resignation of the former head of SEPA.
Indonesia: Disaster Management of the Javanese Mud Volcano
In the Summer 2006 and Autumn 2006 Newsletters we reported on the Javanese gas well that caused an environmental disaster. In January 2007, a joint British and US geological study of the mud volcano, now named “Lusi”, which erupted last year in the Porong subdistrict of Sidoarjo in Eastern Java and forced the evacuation of thousands of villagers, published the first scientific report into the causes and impact of the phenomenon. The reference is Richard J. Davies et al., 2007, “Birth of a Mud Volcano: East Java (29 May 2006)”, GSA Today, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp 4-9, published by the Geological Society of America.
The team analysed satellite images of the area for their study. They suggest that a local region around the central volcano vent will collapse to form a crater, and a surrounding area of at least the dimensions of the present flow will probably sag over the next few months and years.
The researchers state that the 2006 eruption appears to have been triggered by the drilling of a wildcat exploration borehole by the Indonesian gas company, PT Lapindo Brantas, into overpressured porous and permeable limestones at a depth of around 2,830 metres below the surface. It will continue to erupt and spew out between 7,000 and 150,000 cubic metres of mud per day for months, if not years to come, leaving at least 10 km2 around the volcano vent uninhabitable for many years. Around 12,000 people will be permanently displaced.
The mud volcano has been erupting continuously since last June, destroying infrastructure, four village settlements and 25 factories. Thirteen people died as a result of a rupture in a natural gas pipeline that lay underneath one of the holding dams built to retain the mud.
Mud and water seepages represent a known and preventable hazard in oil and gas exploration. It is standard industry procedure to use steel casing to support the borehole and protect against the pressure of environmental fluids such as water, oil or gas. But in the present man-made disaster the well was drilled into a pressured limestone water aquifer while the lower part of the borehole was exposed and not protected by any casing, allowing a mixture of mud and water to work its way to the surface.
A team of Indonesian Government geophysicists proposed a novel method to stem the flow of the mud volcano by dropping 1,000 steel chains of concrete balls into its mouth. Each chain weighs around 300 kg and is 1.5 metres long, linking together four 40 cm concrete balls. The cost of the project will be underwritten by PT Lapindo Brantas. The idea is to plug the conduit that has been feeding the hot mud to the surface at a depth of about 100 metres.
Critics said that cutting the size of the channel might reduce the mud flow, but force the mud to take a more tortuous path around the balls; and reducing the size of the channel is likely to increase the pressure, forcing the mud to seek other outlets.
In mid-March the Indonesian authorities announced that the massive mud flow halted briefly for the first time in ten months, following initial plugging action with several hundred concrete balls dropped into the mouth of the main feeder vent. It was hoped to establish an equilibrium between the concrete balls and the mud pressure, although overseas experts continued to express doubt as to whether such an untried plan would work.
A similar blowout that took place offshore from Brunei in 1979 was also caused by uncased drilling and it took almost 30 years and 20 relief wells before the eruption stopped.
Ukraine: The Toxic Legacy of Central Planning
According to United Nations estimates there are in the former Soviet state of Ukraine around 4,000 dumps containing nearly 20,000 tonnes of obsolete pesticides. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies these substances as persistent organic pesticides, similar to the insecticide DDT which was banned in many countries 30 years ago. Such substances take a long time to break down and are particularly harmful to animals and people when they enter the food chain.
In the Soviet era the central economic planners sent out far more pesticides than were required for rural areas. When the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine gained its independence in 1991, the management of the unwanted toxic pesticide dumps was left unsupervised.
The risk posed by such dumps is not understood by local people, who regularly remove fences, bricks, doors and windows from the derelict storage warehouses to burn as fuel or sell for scrap. They are also known to steal the pesticides, pack them into cheap plastic bags and sell them at outdoor markets, often with incorrect identifying labels.
The EPA is spearheading a project to help clean up the waste legacy, along with Ukrainians working on behalf of universities, institutes and local agencies. Cleaning the sites requires placing all the chemicals into thick plastic barrels which are then shipped to incineration sites, at a cost equivalent to $3,500 per tonne, which the government in Kiev is reluctant to pay.
Lebanon: Massive Oil Spillage Contained
Last year the Lebanese authorities raised the issue of oil damage to Lebanon’s coastline shortly after Israeli forces bombed the Jiyyeh oil-fired power station, releasing about 15,000 tonnes of oil and creating a slick which eventually stretched for 120 km along the coastline. An international task force was assembled to contain the spill and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) reported in late January 2007 that it had in essence been successful. [Refer to Autumn 2006 Newsletter, item headed “Lebanon: War Sparks Environmental Crisis”.]
However, the report indicates that the conflict has left other significant environment problems, some of which pose a threat to human health and welfare. A number of bombed sites, including Jiyyeh, are contaminated with toxic substances which may compromise water supplies. UN inspectors found a high level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), compounds present in oil which are known carcinogens. The agency recommended that the local population be given long-term health monitoring to detect any problems.
China: Road Tanker Accident Releases Toxic Spillage
On 29th January 2007, a truck owned by a chemical plant in Zibo City, Shandong Province, was transporting dimethyl sulphate across Xiaogan City in Hubei Province when the tank container began to leak after being ruptured in a traffic accident. The substance, (CH3O)2SO2 , is a methylating agent used in the manufacture of industrial dyes and pesticides. It is classed as corrosive and is poisonous by absorption through the skin, eyes and upper respiratory tract. Many local people were exposed to the spillage, which hospitalised 110 casualties, including one dead and two in a serious condition. The driver fled the scene in his damaged truck and was being sought by police. A major environmental cleanup operation was launched by the authorities.
Such road tanker chemical spillages are a frequent occurrence in China, a selection of more recent incidents including:
- March 2005, when a tanker truck carrying 35 tonnes of chlorine suffered a tyre burst and collided with a cargo truck on the Huai'an section of the Beijing-Shanghai expressway. The accident resulted in the deaths of 28 people and hospitalised another 350.
- January 2006, when nearly 10,000 residents were forced to evacuate their homes after a tanker truck overturned in Zhengzhou, capital city of Henan Province, and released 19 tonnes of liquefied natural gas.
- May 2006, when a multiple vehicle collision involving a chemical tanker killed five people on a Hubei Province expressway, with more than 50 poisoned by the escape of toxic fumes.
- September 2006, when a chemical truck overturned on an expressway between Wuhan and Hefei, releasing a benzene spillage that forced 5,000 people to evacuate their homes.
Malaysia: Oil Worker Lost after Helicopter Crash
On 30th January 2007, a twin-engined Super Puma L2 helicopter operated by Malaysian Helicopter Services Sdn Bhd (MHS) with a crew of two and eight passengers crashed into the sea approaching the Petronas Carigali B18 platform in the Bayan Balingian oilfield in the China Sea 70 km offshore from Bintulu, south-western Sarawak. Nine people were rescued from the sea by a Petronas tugboat and one passenger was missing; his body was recovered two days later.
This was the fourth recent crash of an MHS helicopter, the last being in November 2006, and involved passengers working for ExxonMobil Exploration. [See item headed “Malaysia: Workers Rescued after Offshore Helicopter Crash” in the Winter 2006-2007 Newsletter.]
USA: Fatal Propane Gas Explosion
On 30th January 2007, a propane gas fuel tank explosion took place at the Flat Top Little General Store and Service Station in Ghent, West Virginia, around 90 km south-east of Charleston. The blast was felt over a mile away. The accident occurred when a technician was transferring propane service from an old tank to a new one. At some point there was an uncontrollable gas flow release and the technician summoned emergency assistance. By the time fire department personnel arrived, an unconfined vapour cloud had surrounded the premises and evacuation procedures began. An explosion took place which killed two technicians and two fire-fighters, and seriously injured five people inside the building.
The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) began an immediate investigation in view of the devastation caused. They reported that an initial examination did not show any cracks or ruptures in the storage tanks, and an inspection and testing of the tank components would be undertaken.
UAE: Indian Consulate Reviews Migrant Worker Welfare
Following recent criticism of Indian authorities in the UAE by the US organisation, Human Rights Watch, over lack of action to protect the rights of migrant workers, the Indian Consulate in Dubai announced in early February 2007 that it would now become more proactive in identifying the welfare problems of migrant Indian workers in Dubai and the Northern Emirates. The consulate proposes to look at problems and find best solutions. There will also be a review of the Crisis Prevention Programme, a body set up to assist in social difficulties.
The government of Dubai has already created a Permanent Committee for Labour Affairs, which deals with unpaid wages, and Dubai Municipality introduced a follow-up Committee for Environment and Health of Labourers, which deals with workers' housing and labour camp standards.
The announcement came after a series of recent fatal accidents on construction sites, including the fire at Fortune Tower. [See item above headed “UAE: Major Fire in Dubai Tower Site”.]
South Africa: Gold Mine Fatalities Soar
A report to the Parliamentary Minerals and Energy Affairs Committee by the Mining Health and Safety Council in Capetown has revealed that fatalities in the gold-mining industry have worsened as mining houses seek to cash in on the robust price of gold by reopening disused parts of their mines. The stimulus for the report was the October 2006 disaster at the AngloGold Ashanti Tau Tona mine near Carletonville, in which five mine workers died in a rockfall.
The Mining Health and Safety Council told the Committee that while there was a 26% fall in mining fatalities in the platinum sector in 2005-06, in gold mining the figures had worsened. While the gold-mining sector employed 35% of all mine workers (155,165 individuals), it was responsible for 51% of fatalities (104 out of a total of 202) in 2005-06, and 56% of all injuries (2,324 of 3,966). The same regressive trend was evident again in 2006-07, and the steady deterioration in gold-mining safety performance was undermining the effort to bring South Africa's safety record in line with international standards set by Canada, Australia and America.
The aim of the government was to eliminate all gold-mining deaths by 2013, but this would require a 20% reduction in the fatality rate each year. All other mining sectors, such as platinum, diamond and coal, had shown an improvement.
The escalating injury rates were also associated with increased mechanisation and the loss of trained safety management by the mines inspectorate to the private sector; around 75% of its top managers had left government employment in the space of a year.
International: Authoritative Assessment of Global Climate Change
On 2nd February 2007, the Geneva-based Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published the first part of its most recent assessment of the state of climate change around the world. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis, Summary for Policymakers, Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is available in the form of a downloadable PDF document at www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf
The report, a consensus document put together by 600 scientists and agreed by representatives of 113 countries, predicts continued global warming of 0.2°C per decade for the coming few decades. Over the 21st century it predicts a range of 1.1 to 2.9°C warming in a scenario with low emissions of greenhouse gases; and 2.4 to 6.4 °C in a high emissions scenario. The warming is expected to be greatest over land masses and in the northern hemisphere, with the probability of heatwaves increasing in frequency put at greater than 90%.
This fourth report by Working Group I of the IPCC, which is concerned with the physical science of climate change, strengthens the conclusion of previous reports in that the main driving force behind current climate change is human greenhouse gas emissions, with a confidence probability of greater than 90%. Estimates of the role played by the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth, another factor in world climate change, have been halved. The report states that changes in solar insolation since 1750 have amounted to an increase of around 0.1 watts per square metre of the Earth's surface. In contrast, the equivalent radiative forcing due to man-made greenhouse gas emissions has increased by between 0.6 and 2.4 watts per square metre over the same period.
The report concludes that increased temperatures will lead to sea-level rises and a likely increase in flooding. The magnitude of those rises is still uncertain, given difficulties in modelling the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. It is thought that the amount of global warming necessary to destabilise the Greenland ice cap is between 1.9 and 4.6°C over pre-industrial temperatures. When that threshold is breached, much greater rises in sea level become likely in centuries to come. Antarctica is expected to increase its cover of snow and ice, although the present trend for vast masses of ice to slip into the sea could reverse the anticipated process.
The report stresses that some level of further warming and sea-level rise would be inevitable even if greenhouse gas emissions were to stop increasing, and that these effects will last for centuries. There is also a greater than 66% probability that more areas will be affected by drought, and there will be an increase in cyclone activity.
The United Nations Environment Programme responded by stating that there is no longer any doubt as to whether human activity has anything to do with climate change. The focus and attention will now shift to what on Earth we are going to do about it.
The IPCC released the second section of their Fourth Assessment Report in April 2007, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability [see item headed “International: IPCC Second Report on Global Climate Change Assessment” below]; and a third on ways to reduce emissions or their impacts is expected to be released in May 2007. A final synthesis will be published in late 2007.
The IPCC projections use data to chart possible climate trends starting from 1990. Another team of researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany have studied the 16 years of subsequent data for atmospheric carbon dioxide, global temperatures and sea level (from 1990 to 2006) to see whether the IPCC climate predictions are coming true. The results have been published recently (Rahmstorf S., et al., 2007, Science, doi:10.1126/science.1136843).
The researchers calculate that carbon dioxide levels are rising in line with predictions, but temperatures are rising in line with the upper limit predicted by the IPCC, and that sea-level rises are on the very edge of the worst-case predictions of climate models. They calculate that sea-level rise over the past 20 years has been 25% faster than for any other 20-year period for more than a century, although this could be due to natural variations over ten-year timescales.
Another study published in January 2007 (Holgate S. J., et al., 2007, Geophys. Res. Lett., doi:10.1029/2006GL028492) suggests that sea-level rises during the 20th century were indeed very variable. According to the calculations by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory in Liverpool, UK, sea levels rose by an average of more than 2 millimetres per year in the first half of the century, but by less than 1.5 millimetres per year on average in the latter half.
Nigeria: Contract Oil Worker Killed by Kidnappers
An employee of Petrostuff Nigeria Limited, a third-party manpower service provider to Addax Petroleum, was murdered a few days after being abducted on 30th January 2007 from the Akam oil production platform in OML123, approximately 20 kilometres offshore from Cross River State in south-eastern Nigeria. Addax Petroleum announced that it had put in place additional security measures to ensure the safety of its workforce, contractors and continued operations.
USA: Progress on Alaska Pipeline Construction
In early February 2007, BP America announced that the BP plc construction project to replace much of its Alaskan pipeline network would be almost finished by the first half of 2008. The company described the construction as a two-year project with only a few months of the year allowing for work, because only during the winter months is the tundra on the Alaskan North Slope frozen hard enough for heavy trucks and equipment to operate without damaging the environment.
BP partially shut its giant Prudhoe Bay oil field in August 2006 after finding severely corroded pipelines. The replacement project will cost between $150 million and $200 million, and full production is expected to be restored by October 2008, employing a patchwork of bypass pipelines which require some new construction.
Of the 16 miles of pipe being replaced, BP continues to pump oil through about 10 miles of the transit lines. The company has permanently shut down about three miles of pipeline on each side of the field because of severe corrosion, according to BP and state regulators.
Colombia: Miners Die after Coal Mine Explosions
On 3rd February 2007, 32 miners were suffocated by methane after a gas explosion sealed them some 400 metres underground at the La Preciosa coal mine near the town of San Roque in Norte de Santander province, about 580 km north of the capital, Bogota.
Three days later, eight people died at another illegal mine near Gámeza, Boyacá state, the casualties including a 13-year-old boy who was killed with three others by an initial blast some 160 metres underground. Four others were either killed by a second explosion, or asphyxia, when they entered the mineshaft in a rescue attempt. They were the proprietor of the mine and three others, including the wife of one trapped miner and the brother of another.
Conditions in Colombian mines are poorly regulated by the federal authorities. In 1997, 16 miners were buried alive after a mine explosion in the same region, and in 2001, 15 miners died in another gas explosion. In the central Colombian Boyacá state there are an estimated 100 coal mines operating illegally. In many, children between the ages of 10 and 18 are employed to dig or carry coal to the surface. Colombia is the largest coal producer in Latin America and its output is exported to Europe, including the UK, where the coal-mining industry is in terminal decay due to competition from such low-cost sources.
India: Water Treatment and Public Health in the Ganges Basin
For Hindus the Ganges is a holy river in which millions bathe for purification during a festival held in February. This year some 70 million people were expected to attend the six-yearly Ardh Kumbh Mela, or Half Grand Pitcher Festival, held where the Ganges and Yamuna rivers join. The waters are, however, less than pure and the government has done little to clean the chronic sewage pollution that has contaminated the 1,550-mile river, which flows from a Himalayan glacier through the Indian plains before reaching the Bay of Bengal. The faecal bacteria count in water samples is reported to be nearly 4,000 times in excess of the World Health Organisation standard for bathing.
The pollution is symptomatic of rapid urban population growth and lack of investment in water treatment facilities. The authorities do not have a proper sewage strategy, leading to millions of cases of waterborne diseases, including amoebic dysentery and hepatitis. It has been estimated that the mortality rate from waterborne diseases in the Ganges basin is greater than 80,000 per day.
So far, government response to protest has been the short-term measure of opening dams to increase the water flow rate, which temporarily flushes a surge of pollution further downstream.
Spain: Six Tourists Die in Confined Space Incident
The dangers of encountering an odourless asphyxiating gas in a confined space were illustrated when a 30-strong group of academic scientists and naturalists on an excursion tour of a complex of artificial tunnels in the Canary Islands were overcome by carbon dioxide around two kilometres underground, and six of them died of suffocation. The incident took place on 10th February 2007. The party were members of the Instituto Astrofisica de Canarias and the Asociacion Tinerfena de Amigos de la Naturaleza. Although they were accompanied by three guides, the most experienced guide available was unable to attend and his colleagues took an incorrect route and led the party into a water gallery known as Piedra de los Cochinos, where they were overcome. One of the party managed to escape, apparently by following a stray dog, and raised the alarm. A major rescue operation was launched by the Civil Guard, fire services, Red Cross and a helicopter from the Government Emergency Services. Underwater teams with oxygen supplies managed to reach the survivors.
The tunnels were originally carved out around 200 years ago to extract water. They underlie the Monte del Agua, a large subtropical cloud forest, between the towns of Erjos and Los Silos. The Piedra de los Cochinos water gallery, now part of the Teno Rural Park, was closed in 1964 and access to it is discouraged following numerous previous accidents, but the area is remote, scenic and difficult to police.
France: Total Prosecuted for Oil Pollution Disaster
The trial of the oil company Total began in France on 13th February 2007, Total being one of 15 parties charged with endangering lives or failing to prevent pollution. The prosecution concerns an oil spill from the tanker “Erika”, which sank off the coast of Brittany in December 1999, spilling 20,000 tonnes of oil into the sea and polluting 400 km of coastline. It was one of the worst environmental disasters to hit France. If convicted, Total could face damages amounting to several million dollars. The company has rejected the charges.
The Maltese-registered tanker “Erika” was built in 1974 and was in poor condition when it broke in two in heavy seas in the Bay of Biscay. Its crew were rescued by helicopter, but two weeks later its cargo of heavy fuel oil began to wash ashore, killing tens of thousands of seabirds.
Total and two of the company's affiliates are charged with chartering a tanker of dubious seaworthiness in order to deliver fuel to Italy on time. Several French maritime officials, the ship's Indian captain and the Italian maritime certification company which approved the ship as safe are also on trial.
There are 74 plaintiffs involved, including the French government, local councils and environmental groups.
Ivory Coast: Dutch Oil Trader Makes Clean-Up Offer
In February 2007, the Dutch-based oil trading group Trafigura offered to pay the Ivorian government $198 million (£102 million) for a clean-up and inquiry after the toxic waste dumping incident involving its tanker “Probo Koala” in Abidjan in August 2006, which caused multiple fatalities and hospitalised thousands. [See item in the Autumn 2006 Newsletter, “Ivory Coast: Dumped Toxic Sludge Poisons 9,000 People”.]
Trafigura said the payment was not "damages" and there is no admission of liability on their part. In return, the Ivory Coast will drop any prosecutions or claims, now or in the future, against the company. The Trafigura senior employees held in custody by the Ivory Coast authorities in connection with the incident would now be released.
However, the controversial agreement will not stop a group legal action against the Dutch company by the British law firm Leigh Day and Company on behalf of 4,000 of the victims.
International: Are Prions a Cause of Disease or an Effect?
The hypothesis that deformed proteins called prions are the cause of such infectious diseases as vCJD (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans), scrapie (essentially a sheep disease) and BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or ‘mad cow disease’) has always been open to question as it has not been definitively proven, and thus preventative measures for dealing with associated occupational health risks may or may not be adequate.
A recent paper by Laura Manuelidis and colleagues at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 104, page 1965, suggests that viruses, not prions, may be the root cause of these transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).
Manuelidis has insisted for years that tiny virus-like particles observed in TSE-infected brains may be the causative agents, but since such brains are degenerating, the particles have been dismissed as general debris. The research team studied cultures of neural cells infected with two particular strains of scrapie and CJD, and found that the virus-like particles were clustered in regular arrays within the cells in a pattern characteristic of viruses, and there were no apparent prions in the cells.
Cells with more virus-particles were better at infecting other cell cultures with the scrapie and CJD, while boosting mutant prions in the culture did not appear to increase their infectiousness or particle numbers. Agents that disrupt viruses stopped the cells infecting other cultures. Taken together, it appeared that the virus-like particles were responsible for passing on the infection, and the number of prions present was largely irrelevant to disease transmission.
However, the paper does not report the argument as having been proven by isolating the proposed virus and demonstrating that it causes TSE.
Bahrain: Worker Killed by Falling Gypsum Blocks
On 13th February 2007, a fatal accident took place in Sitra involving an Indian worker employed by the Jaffer Ali Al Mabad Establishment in Muharraq. The man was unloading concrete blocks from the trailer of a truck when they fell on him. Contrary to standard practice, the trailer had been raised on its jacks before offloading, causing the blocks to slip from their containers.
The Labour Ministry Occupational Health and Safety Department said that an official investigation would be made into the circumstances of the accident.
USA: Two Die in Production Platform Helicopter Crash
Era Helicopters LLC and the United States Coast Guard reported the recovery of two persons killed in a helicopter accident on 12th February 2007, approximately 90 km south of Intracoastal City, Louisiana. The bodies of the pilot and his passenger were recovered along with the helicopter wreckage following an extensive search of the accident area. The passenger was employed as a production operator by Wood Group Production Services Inc., of Houma, Louisiana.
The Eurocopter EC120 was attempting a landing on an oil and gas production platform in Vermilion block 200. There were no witnesses to the accident, but it was suggested that the helicopter may have come into inadvertent contact with the platform while attempting a landing. No cause for the accident has yet been determined.
Era Helicopters is owned by the Florida-based SEACOR Holdings Inc., a provider of transportation services for the offshore oil and gas industry.
Ireland: Notifying the HSA on New Construction Projects
In the Republic of Ireland, all projects covered by the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2006 and which last longer than 30 days or 500 'person' days must be notified to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).
In February 2007, the HSA announced an easier method for project supervisors (Construction stage) to notify the Authority of new construction projects, using a new AF2 form available at www.hsa.ie for easier and more comprehensive reporting.
USA: Workers Injured in Refinery Explosion
On 16th February 2007, an unconfined vapour cloud explosion took place associated with a suspected release from a propane deasphalting unit at the Valero McKee refinery near Dumas, north of Amarillo, Texas. Although no fatalities were reported, a number of workers were injured and the facility was forced to evacuate and shut down. A propane deasphalting unit uses propane, which is liquefied under high pressure of several hundred pounds per square inch, to extract refinable materials from the tarry residue generated by the refinery's crude oil unit. At atmospheric pressure, liquid propane rapidly vaporises and expands to form a vapour cloud.
The United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) sent an investigation team to the site to conduct enquiries into the circumstances of the incident. Their initial report stated that there were also three one-tonne chlorine cylinders nearby that were exposed to the fire and some of the contents of the cylinders were likely released.
In November 2006, the CSB completed a one-year investigation into the deaths by asphyxiation of two workers at the Valero Delaware City refinery; and in May 2006 a CSB team carried out an assessment of a fire in the diesel hydrotreater unit at the Valero St Charles refinery in Louisiana.
International: Large-Scale Carbon Burial Project Under Way
Carbon burial, or geosequestration, is one of several techniques being developed to reduce the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels by capturing carbon dioxide from power plants and then storing it underground. Recent changes in international law have promoted the idea of burying CO2 beneath the sea floor. [Refer to Winter 2006-2007 Newsletter, item headed “International: New Law Permits Burial of Carbon Dioxide”.]
The largest-scale carbon burial experiment yet attempted began on 15th February 2007 with the spudding-in of a 2,100-metre-deep well in the Otway Basin on the coast of southern Australia. The project was initiated by the International Energy Agency, and if drilling goes according to schedule, the Canberra-based Co-operative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies will start injecting carbon dioxide into the well in July. Carbon dioxide will be extracted from a nearby natural geological reservoir and compressed into a "supercritical fluid" or gas-liquid hybrid, which will be injected via the new well into a sandstone reservoir.
The reservoir is already partially filled with methane gas, and the team propose to inject 100,000 tonnes of supercritical CO2 over a period of three months. It is intended to demonstrate that the CO2 will move into the reservoir as predicted, so the project will be subject to intensive monitoring for leakage. Tracers will be added to the injected gas to enable researchers to identify whether any suspected leakage detected is from soil and vegetation, natural underground sources or from the CO2 store.
Canada: Niagara Chemical Plant Explosion
On 19th February 2007, an early morning explosion took place in subzero temperatures in the storage area of Clean Harbours Canada Inc. in Niagara, Ontario. The plant is a chemical waste treatment facility that stores and processes chemical and industrial waste.
The chemical fire which followed released a plume of black smoke and the emergency services concentrated on evacuating the surrounding two-kilometre area rather than controlling the fire. It was known to fire crews that some chemical substances stored in the facility would react to water, and so the fire was left to burn. Three or four buildings on the site were badly damaged, but no serious injuries were reported.
The Ministry of Environment and Public Health were unable to clarify whether any contaminants had been released to air, but confirmed that a large quantity of lithium batteries were involved in the blaze.
Clean Harbours Inc. operates landfills, wastewater treatment and incinerator facilities at dozens of locations in the USA and in six Canadian provinces.
International: Agenda for EU Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions
At the first meeting of the European Commission Environment Council, held on 20th February 2007, ministers agreed to adopt binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020.
The decision still requires approval by the governments of European Union member states, but reflects European Commission determination to enforce an international agreement to replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012. Binding targets which force countries to limit their emissions of greenhouse gases are seen as crucial to such a post-Kyoto treaty. The overall reduction would be shared among member states, allowing some new eastern European member states to make smaller overall emissions cuts.
The 15 states that were members of the EU before its recent expansion are already collectively bound by the Kyoto protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8% by 2012, compared to 1990 levels.
International: UN Pollution Warning to Arab Countries
In February 2007, the Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife, the Arab League and the Islamic branch of UNESCO held a conference in Manama, Bahrain, to raise awareness on the relationship between public health and the environment.
Dr Habib El Habr, director of the UN Environment Programme, said at the Human Health and Environment Conference that Arab countries must do more to protect the environment or face an escalating number of pollution-related illnesses. He pointed out that the number of diseases related to pollution is increasing and the consequent deterioration of human health will affect the economy. Governments will have to spend more money on disease treatments if no action is taken to curb the problem.
The example was cited of Iran, where Iranian officials estimate that 3,600 people died in October 2006 from heart attacks and respiratory illnesses caused by smog and air pollution.
UAE: New Safety Law Announced
In the last week of February 2007, a new federal labour law was introduced in the UAE. Following two workplace accidents in January 2007 in which, according to official records, three people were killed and 39 were injured, the UAE Government announced a new federal labour law and a Dubai Municipality Code of Practice, designed to improve safety as well as accommodation facilities for workers.
Last year, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the UAE, ordered the Ministry of Labour to increase its force of health and safety inspectors in order to curb on-site health and safety violations.
Canada: Workplace Violence a National Problem
A report published in February 2007 in the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics Profile Series, Criminal Victimisation in the Workplace 2004, available online at www.statcan.ca/english/research/85F0033MIE/85F0033MIE2007013.pdf reveals that in the year 2004, the latest for which figures are available, nearly one in five violent incidents in Canada, including physical assault, sexual assault and robbery, occurred in the victim's workplace. The government study states that there were more than 356,000 violent incidents in the workplace in Canada in 2004 and 71% were classified as physical assaults.
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety commented that this report greatly underestimates the real extent of the problem as it covers only physical assault, sexual assault and robbery, and not violence in terms of verbal abuse or psychological harassment.
The study found men and women were equally likely to have experienced workplace violence, but men were more likely to be injured. Workplace violence was more common in certain employment sectors, such as social assistance and health care services, including hospitals, nursing or residential care facilities, and among those working in accommodation or food services, retail or wholesale trade, and the educational services sectors.
Ireland: Greenhouse Gas Emissions More than Double
A report published by the European Environment Agency in late February 2007 shows that emissions of greenhouse gases in Ireland increased by 140% between 1990 and 2004, well above the growth rates of other EU countries, with the average across 32 European states being 25%. The Irish Republic was surpassed only by Luxembourg, which saw growth of 156% during the period. The figures exclude emissions from aviation and marine traffic.
The report also noted that between €270 billion and €290 billion is spent annually in Europe in transport subsidies, with almost half of those subsidies for road transport. Almost 25% of the population of the European Union live less than 500 metres from a road carrying more than three million vehicles per year, and in consequence almost four million life years are lost each year due to high pollution levels.
In response, opposition political parties in Ireland called for better planning, greater investment in public transport and a greener approach to taxation in order to control the increase in transport emissions.
USA: Safety Agency Inspections Reveal Hundreds of Unsafe Mine Seals
The US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA, the federal mine safety regulator) reported in February 2007 that hundreds of unsafe seals have been found in underground coal mines across the country. Their inspectors cited operators for seals with integrity problems, improper or non-existent mortar and damaged methane-testing pipes.
The MSHA ordered operators to fix the problems, which were uncovered during an inspection sweep prompted by two seal-related explosions that killed 17 miners last year at the Sago Mine in West Virginia and the Kentucky Darby Mine in eastern Kentucky. In January 2006, 12 miners died at the Sago Mine when lightweight foam block seals failed to contain an explosion inside a sealed-off part of the International Coal Group mine. In May 2006, five miners died at the Kentucky Darby Mine when a cutting torch ignited methane that had leaked from behind a poorly constructed seal.
The MSHA ordered a temporary moratorium on the use of “alternative” seals, or those built using materials other than standard concrete blocks. Agency officials later more than doubled the strength requirements for any new “alternative” seals. The MSHA then inspected existing alternative seals to verify that correct construction practices were followed and to assess seal integrity. They found alarming numbers of seals with integrity problems, and the agency is reportedly still pondering on what to do about the estimated 14,000 “alternative” seals already in underground mines.
Saudi Arabia: French Expatriates Murdered by Militants
On 26th February 2007, militant gunmen fired at a group of nine French nationals who were working in Saudi Arabia and resident in Riyadh. Their tourist group, thought to number 26 in total and including men, women and children, had split into two parties after visiting historical sites and spending a night in the desert near Medina. Some returned to Riyadh and the nine French nationals stayed behind because a few were Muslims who hoped to make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. Three men were killed on the spot, a schoolteacher and two employees of the French company Schneider Electric. The fourth victim of the attack, a teenager, died in hospital the following day.
This was the first militant attack on foreigners since 2004, when a French national was shot dead in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah by suspected al Qaeda militants.
The last major attack was in February 2006 when militants attempted to storm a major oil facility at Abqaiq in the east of Saudi Arabia.
Some of the estimated 100,000 Western residents in Saudi Arabia left after the earlier attacks, reducing the number to around 60,000, but many have since returned.
On 7th March, the Saudi Interior Ministry stated that four men had been arrested in connection with the killings, and two others were being sought.
USA: CSB Report on Chlorine Gas Release
At the end of February 2007, the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) published its final report on a chlorine release at DPC Enterprises in Glendale, Arizona, and concludes that the incident was caused by the company's lack of engineering safeguards. The report describes insufficient safety margins, a lack of engineering safeguards, unclear procedures and training, and an absence of published guidance as being among the causes of the release of up to 873 kg of chlorine from the facility in November 2003.
On the day of the accident, excess chlorine vented to a scrubber where it completely depleted the active scrubbing material (caustic soda) and over-chlorinated the scrubber. The resulting decomposition reaction vented chlorine vapour to the atmosphere. Hazardous emissions continued for about six hours and led to the medical evaluation of five residents and 11 police officers, and the evacuation of three square kilometres of Glendale and Phoenix.
One of the root causes was that DPC's single administrative safeguard, an operating procedure, did not adequately address the risk of over-chlorinating the scrubber. The CSB stated that it is necessary to integrate appropriate layers of protection into all processes handling hazardous chemicals. In this case, the recommendation would have been the adoption of such safety features as additional interlocks, automatic shutdowns, and mitigation measures to prevent the release of chlorine to the atmosphere due to over-chlorination.
The CSB had previously investigated an incident in August 2002 at the DPC Enterprises facility in Festus, Missouri, which led to the release of 22 tonnes of chlorine, causing three workers and 63 residents to seek medical treatment.
Norway: Oil Workers Evacuated from North Sea Accommodation Rig
On 28th February 2007, the Port Reval accommodation rig in the North Sea lost two of its12 anchor chains when they broke in a hurricane-force storm, causing Total Norge to initiate a controlled evacuation of nearly 300 workers. The Port Reval is operating on the Frigg field on the border between the Norwegian and British sectors of the North Sea. The accommodation rig was being used to house workers engaged in dismantling facilities at the field.
Total Norge chartered eight helicopters for the evacuation operation to Sola airport near Stavanger. A minimum staff of 38 were to remain on the rig as they were not considered to be in danger.
The Port Reval was built in 1976 and is owned by Awilco Offshore ASA.
USA: Four Workers Injured in Oklahoma Oil Field Explosion
In late February 2007, a crew working in an oil field were perforating a gas well about ten kilometres south-west of Cashion, Oklahoma, when they triggered two pressure release explosions that resulted in the hospitalisation of four rig workers. They had been sent to pressure test the well, but someone in the crew forgot to turn the shutoff valve before they unscrewed the plug to carry out the pressure test. The oil well is owned by Titan Partners Corp. and the rig is owned by RDT.
Nigeria: Shell Nigeria Reports Oil Spillage Shutdown
Royal Dutch Shell announced on 6th March 2007 that a major oil spill in a production facility in southern Nigeria had reduced output by 187,000 barrels per day. The spillage was in the Nembe Creek Trunk Line. The cause of the spill was unknown, but it led to an operations shutdown in the eastern zone. Ten flowstations were closed down to enable the company to effect necessary repairs.
Shell is the largest Nigerian oil operator, accounting for around half of the country's daily output of some 2.6 million barrels, and was already losing some 477,000 barrels because of unrest in the Niger Delta. Violence against oil companies, their employees and related business interests in the region has escalated this year. So far, a total of 58 foreigners have been abducted, almost as many as for the whole of 2006.
Algeria: Russian Employees Killed in Bus Bomb Attack
In an Internet message, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), a subsidiary of Al Qaeda in North Africa, claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on Russian gas workers, allegedly in revenge for Russian action in Chechnya. A Russian engineer and three Algerians working for the Russian company Stroytransgaz were killed and five other people wounded when the bus in which they were travelling was blown up on 10th March 2007 at Hayoun, near Ain Defla in southern Algeria.
The employees of Stroytransgaz were engaged in work to lay gas mains between Ain Defla, in the region of Medea, and Tiaret, 340 kilometres south-west of the capital, Algiers.
The attack was the second claimed by the GSPC in recent months against foreign workers based in Algeria. In December 2006, one person was killed and nine injured in an attack on a bus carrying staff of the Brown and Root Condor (BRC) company, a subsidiary of the Algerian Sonatrach oil company and of US construction firm Halliburton.
Middle East: Use of CFD Modelling for High-Rise Buildings Criticised
The Middle East has some spectacular high-rise towers and there is a trend for the use of computational flow dynamics (CFD) when modelling wind loads on such structures. The traditional method of smaller-scale analysis is by wind-tunnel testing, and it has been argued that a greater reliance on CFD is not yet justified, as the technique is still relatively undeveloped and is inappropriate for testing wind speed or behaviour applied to structural design. One of the problems is modelling turbulence parameters, which does not work well using CFD. Turbulence is normally measured by traditional wind-tunnel testing. Both techniques originated in aeronautical engineering, but so far as CFD is concerned there is a problem in that the behaviour of a non-aerodynamic building is more complex than that of a streamlined body. CFD is best used as a complementary tool rather than the main technique.
Tall slender skyscrapers have an increased sensitivity to wind action, so it is critical for architects and developers to consult with wind engineers when developing such structures. When there is a high density of tall structures, neighbouring buildings can increase the load on adjacent structures. The architectural design or aerodynamic shape of a tall building also has an effect on its wind resistance, on its load and on its response to wind gusts. All these factors were in the past modelled in wind tunnels, where modifications may be tested regarding shape, orientation, mass, damping and internal structure.
In the Gulf states there is no wind loading code specific to the region, so engineers apply a variety of international codes to their building designs, running the risk of utilising an incorrect mix of pressure coefficients without considering all the factors.
A 20-year statistical analysis of local wind data used by engineers has been demonstrated to be imperfect. The Gulf is subject to several wind conditions, which include the Shamal, when a strong north-westerly wind is funnelled down the Gulf producing a steady flow, particularly in summer. Wind data is collected at around ten metres above ground level at airfields, but wind speeds during a Shamal are known to peak at elevations between 500 metres and 1,000 metres above ground level.
Canada: Government Permits Use of Asbestos in Children’s Toys
Canada is one of the largest producers and exporters of asbestos, output running at around 220,000 tonnes per year, much of which is sent to developing nations and Third World countries. Most of the mining takes place in the Quebec area where, according to a study conducted last year by the Centre for Study of Living Standards, a non-profit organisation based in Ottawa, one-third of all work-related deaths are attributed to asbestos exposure.
In a recent update to the Hazardous Products Act, the Canadian Government introduced new federal legislation which permits a person “...to advertise, sell, or import an asbestos product... that is used by a child in learning or play”. In other words, the Government is permitting the use of a proven carcinogen in children’s toys.
The Government pointed out that the use of crocidolite asbestos in such products is still banned, but they do not regard the chrysotile form as constituting a health risk if it is used as a binding agent in some plastic or wax-like toys.
The legislation is part of an official drive to seek out new markets and applications for a dangerous substance the use of which is now banned or heavily regulated in most developed countries.
International: Occupational and Environmental Health in the Construction Industry
The January/March 2007 edition of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (IJOEH), Volume 13, No. 1, is a special issue entitled “The International Construction Industry”. All papers are free access and downloadable individually as PDF documents from www.ijoeh.com .
An introductory article by Andrew Watterson draws attention to the marginalisation of construction workers, which makes them especially vulnerable in terms of poor occupational health and safety standards and lax enforcement, with resulting disabilities. The phenomenon of migrant rural workers moving to poorly regulated urban building sites is not restricted to Africa and Asia but is also present in Northern Europe, where many Central and Eastern European workers have migrated to take up building work; and in North America.
Such workers may be subject to exploitation in terms of low wages, as well as weak health and safety standards, social and physical isolation; payment in kind rather than currency; and poor health linked to poor accommodation, inadequate diet, and exposure to illegal drugs and infectious diseases. Relatively little has been published in the mainstream scientific literature on the occupational health and safety of Chinese, Indian, other Asian, and Central and Eastern European construction workers.
International health and safety standards to protect construction workers are already in place, but are often ignored by management. A paper by Fiona Murie, “Building Safety - an International Perspective”, IJOEH 2007, 13:5-11, describes how conforming to these standards and implementing other measures could substantially reduce the high incidences of injuries, illnesses and fatalities arising from work in this industry.
UAE: Hazardous Waste Illegally Imported by Briton
The UAE environment law bans the importation of any kind of waste for any purpose. It was reported on 16th March 2007 that following a complaint by the Ajman Ports and Customs Authority to the police against a British expatriate, investigations revealed 25 containers containing 319 tonnes of illegally imported hazardous waste at the port. The waste was planned to be recycled at a recycling plant owned by the man in Ajman.
The accused managed to send back two containers to the UK and then tried to flee the country through Dubai airport, where he was caught and arrested by Dubai police. The Briton was freed on bail after signing an undertaking that he will return the waste to the UK from where he imported it. The EU, however, prohibits accepting back exported waste.
Thailand: Atmospheric Pollution Reaches Danger Level
In early March 2007, the haze of air pollution caused by forest fires in northern Thailand reached a level considered dangerous to health, according to medical authorities. The concentration of PM10 dust particles reached as high as 383 micrograms per cubic metre, well above the danger level.
The haze in Chiang Mai province was caused by forest fires as well as intentional burning of fields for cultivation and waste disposal. Fire-fighting aeroplanes and attempts to induce rain by cloud-seeding failed to extinguish fires in the area, where the haze turned from an annoyance into a crisis. The country's northernmost province of Chiang Rai, adjoining Chiang Mai, was declared a disaster zone by the provincial governor.
The Government warned that the haze could persist until April and instructed officials to monitor the situation closely until June. Volunteers working for the public health ministry distributed 300,000 masks to people suffering from allergies, asthma, lung and heart diseases.
Colombia: Oil Workers Disappear in North-East Colombia
Four oil company technicians employed by the Argentinian company Techint who were working on a project in north-eastern Colombia were reported missing on 16th March 2007. The Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol had contracted Techint to carry out exploration work for their Gibraltar project in a rural jungle region near Cubara, at the far eastern end of Boyaca province.
The employees were the head of the exploration team, a field co-ordinator, a welding team supervisor and a wholesaler. The Gibraltar project is operating in a part of the territory of the U'wa Indian tribe, whose members oppose petroleum exploration and exploitation because they believe that crude oil is the blood of the Earth.
In the past, the concession area was awarded to the US company Occidental Petroleum, which returned it due to opposition and a solidarity campaign mounted abroad by the indigenous natives. Also operating in the region are insurgents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
International: Research Study Supports Global Asbestos Ban
The potential for a global epidemic of asbestos-related diseases is a growing concern. A recent paper by an international research team published in the medical journal The Lancet assesses the ecological association between national death rates from diseases associated with asbestos and historical consumption of asbestos. The reference is: Ro-Ting Lin et al., “Ecological association between asbestos-related diseases and historical asbestos consumption: an international analysis”, The Lancet 2007; 369:844-849, DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60412-7.
For 33 countries with data available, accounting for 63% of all asbestos consumption in the period from 1960 to 1969, the researchers calculated mean per head asbestos consumption levels per person per year in the period 1960 to 1969, and compared the results with yearly age-adjusted mortality rates by gender (deaths per million population per year) for each disease associated with asbestos (pleural, peritoneal, all mesothelioma, and asbestosis) in the period 2000 to 2004. The time lag of 31 to 44 years corresponds to the typical latency periods of diseases related to asbestos. They analysed statistically regressed death rates for the specified diseases against historical asbestos consumption, weighted by the size of gender-specific national populations.
The report finds that country-specific data revealed clear and plausible associations between deaths from diseases associated with asbestos and historical asbestos consumption, especially for all mesothelioma in both sexes and asbestosis in men. The relations were most apparent in men, but were also apparent in women.
The authors conclude that historical asbestos consumption alone explained the bulk of the statistical variance in subsequent death rates from such diseases. They state that their results strongly support the recommendation that all countries should move towards eliminating the use of asbestos.
Russia: Miners Killed in Methane Explosion in Siberia
On 19th March 2007, a methane gas explosion took place at a depth of 270 metres in the Ulyanovskaya coal mine in the city of Novokuznetsk, south-central Russia, when a work shift of around 200 people was present underground. At least 106 workers were killed in the blast and others trapped. The local emergency affairs ministry said that rescue teams had pulled some 93 survivors from the mine, several of whom were injured. Virtually the whole of the mine's management, some 20 people, died in the blast, including the facility chief engineer and chief mechanic. A visiting British national was also among the dead.
Rescuers described a scene of utter devastation, with collapsed and flooded mineshafts and bodies ripped apart. According to initial reports the explosion occurred after the collapse of the mine’s main roof and the spread of methane through its inner corridors. Detector systems had indicated an unexpected increase in the volume of methane, but it was unclear whether officials had taken any action.
The mine is run by Yuzhkuzbassugol, an affiliate of the Russian coal and steel company Evraz Group SA. It lies in the Kuzbass coal area in the Kemerovo region, nearly 3,000 km east of Moscow. It is one of the newest in the region, having begun operations in October 2002, and was equipped with state-of-the-art technology. In addition, the mine was to have been equipped on the day of the explosion with a new British-made hazard monitoring safety system, which is why the managers and a British engineer were underground for the system launch.
There have been several mine accidents in the Kemerovo region in recent years. In 2004, an explosion in the Taizhina mine killed 47 people; and in 2005, another 21 died in a methane explosion. In Russia in 2006, there were 21 mine accidents in which 84 people died, according to the Russian coal-mining journal Ugol. The most recent incident was in February 2007, when the Dzerzhinsky mine collapsed with 220 people inside, but only one person was killed.
USA: No Solution in Sight for CO2 Emissions from Coal
In March 2007, an interdisciplinary group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) released their report, The Future of Coal Consumption in a Carbon Constrained World, making recommendations about how the United States should use coal for energy.
The document is available online at McFarland et al, The Future of Coal.pdf.
In the United States in 2005, 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity made from coal produced about 1 kilogram of carbon dioxide emissions. The same amount of electricity made from natural gas emits half that amount, and nuclear, wind and solar energy emit no CO2.
The report considers that if some of the coal emissions could be captured and pumped underground then (ignoring the energy cost of so doing) coal might become a cleaner fuel. At present, coal provides a quarter of world energy and half of electrical power in the United States, making it difficult to replace. China completes on average two new 500-megawatt coal plants each week.
Carbon capture and sequestration might work with most conventional power plant, since CO2 can be passed out of such plant to the atmosphere through a tower in which a solution of amines is flowing downwards. The CO2 binds to the solvent, which flows out at the bottom. The CO2 is stripped from the solvent by heating with steam and the liquid reused. The steam utilised would otherwise be turning turbines and generating power, and so the efficiency of the power plant is reduced by the capture process. The CO2 then has to be compressed into a supercritical fluid and pumped into a secure subterranean reservoir for long-term storage, using more energy.
According to the MIT report the estimated cost of carbon capture, pressurisation, transport and storage would be around US $30 per tonne of CO2. Retrofitting existing plant with the necessary process technology is complicated and expensive, and therefore probably not economically feasible. Cost returns are available only when building entirely new plant utilising coal gasification, but any plant with carbon capture technology will always be less efficient than one without it. This means that power companies are unlikely to build more expensive plant producing less energy.
The MIT conclusion is that in the USA it would be necessary for the Government to introduce carbon emission regulation legislation, which it will not do until proven technology is available. Therefore more investment in carbon capture and storage technology is essential if global climate deterioration is to be checked.
Elsewhere, China and India both have coal-based fuel economies and are likely to account for 70% of new coal demand up to the year 2030, with little central government control of growth. Again, the economic feasibility argument would prevent current carbon capture technology being introduced.
UAE: Construction Site Fire in Dubai Tower
On 20th March 2007, a major fire broke out in the upper storeys of the Khalid Al Attar tower block under construction near Emirates Towers on Sheikh Zayed Road, bringing severe traffic disruption to the city. The fire was followed by an explosion. The building was designed by Adnan Saffarini and is being built by Transemirates Contracting. More than 50 workers were on site when the fire began, but there were no casualties. It was reported later that flammable building products were stored haphazardly on the 29th floor, where the fire began. The source of ignition may have been a malfunctioning air compressor. The fire was brought under control by fire crews.
The incident raised again the issue of fire safety practice on construction sites, following the deaths of two workers in a blaze in January at the nearby Fortune Tower building. [See earlier item, “UAE: Major Fire in Dubai Tower Site”.]
The Al Nasr Twin Towers construction site in Qatar was hit twice by fire last year, both incidents believed to have been caused by the use of flammable materials and a failure to store and handle them safely. Sprinkler systems were not operational.
Another fire was reported a day later at a paper recycling facility in the Dubai Al Quoz 3 industrial area. [See also later item, “UAE: Dubai Fire Safety Laws Updated”.]
Mexico: Mine Managers Arrested for Safety Violations
In February 2006, 65 workers employed by Grupo Mexico, the largest Mexican mining company, died in an underground explosion at the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in the state of Coahuila in northern Mexico. Only two bodies were recovered, the remainder being inaccessible due to a dangerous mix of methane, oxygen and high temperature in the collapsed shaft.
Following protests by the families of the dead miners at the lack of legal action, in March 2007 a judge ordered the arrest of five Grupo Mexico managers on charges of safety failures. State prosecutors allege that the company was aware of safety problems at the mine eight months before the blast, but took no remedial action.
UAE: Carbon Capture Project Announced
On 20th March 2007, the UAE announced plans for a national CO2 capture and storage (CCS) network as an initial part of a major carbon dioxide emission reduction programme. The aim is to reduce CO2 emissions in the UAE by nearly 40% and boost oil production by up to 10% from depleted fields.
Emission control involves separating CO2 in power generating plants, compressing it and pumping it underground as an aid to enhanced recovery from oil reservoirs. The CO2 would remain sequestered in depleted oilfields and unusable coal seams instead of being released to the atmosphere.
Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company regards CCS as the most promising technology for the reduction of energy-based CO2 emissions and a viable substitute for the natural gas which is currently reinjected into oil reservoirs to maintain falling pressure.
A CCS feasibility study is to be undertaken to identify and evaluate options for onshore and offshore CO2 capture from major sources in Abu Dhabi and to deliver it to oilfield operators for enhanced recovery. The programme falls under the Masdar Initiative, a UAE-based international advanced energy programme which focuses on sustainable energy and other clean technologies.
USA: CSB Final Report on the BP Texas City Disaster
The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Board (CSB) published their final report on the BP Texas City disaster on 20th March 2007. A webpage giving links to the full list of Texas City CSB investigation documents is at: CSB Texas City Explosion Documents.
The strongly critical final report concludes that organisational and safety deficiencies and a dysfunctional safety culture at all levels of the BP Corporation was the cause of the explosion on 23rd March 2005 at the BP Texas City refinery, the worst industrial accident in the United States since 1990. The report calls on the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to increase inspection and enforcement at US oil refineries and chemical plants, and to require the corporations to evaluate the safety impact of mergers, reorganisations, downsizing, and budget cuts.
The CSB insist that process safety programmes to protect the lives of workers and the public deserve the same level of attention, investment and scrutiny as companies now dedicate to maintaining their financial controls. The boards of directors of oil and chemical companies should examine every detail of their process safety programmes to ensure that no other tragedy like the one at Texas City occurs.
The report calls on BP to appoint an additional member to the board of directors with expertise in process safety, for BP senior executives to establish an improved incident reporting programme and use new indicators to measure safety performance.
The independent Baker panel issued its final report in January 2007. [Refer to earlier item, “USA: Independent Panel Criticises BP over Safety”.] It found material deficiencies in safety at the five BP US refineries in Texas, California, Indiana, Ohio and Washington. The panel issued ten safety recommendations, including calling on the BP corporate board to monitor closely safety performance at its facilities.
BP acquired the Texas City refinery when it merged with Amoco in 1999. The CSB found that cost-cutting in the 1990s by Amoco and then BP left the Texas City refinery vulnerable to a catastrophe. Shortly after acquiring Amoco, the BP Group Chief Executive ordered an across-the-budget 25% cut in fixed spending at the corporation's refineries. In Texas City, the cost considerations discouraged refinery officials from replacing the blowdown drum with a flare system, which would have prevented or greatly minimised the severity of the subsequent accident. The combination of cost-cutting, production pressures, and failure to invest caused a progressive deterioration of safety at the refinery. BP had commissioned a series of audits and studies in 2002 which revealed serious safety problems at the Texas City refinery, including a lack of necessary preventative maintenance and training. These audits and studies were shared with BP executives in London, and were provided to at least one member of the executive board. However, the company reacted too late and did not address the core problems in Texas City. In 2004, BP executives challenged their refineries to cut yet another 25% from their budgets for the following year.
The March 23rd accident occurred during the startup of the refinery's octane-boosting isomerisation (ISOM) unit, when a distillation tower and attached blowdown drum were overfilled with highly flammable liquid hydrocarbons. Because the blowdown drum vented directly to the atmosphere, there was a geyser-like release of highly flammable liquid and vapour onto the grounds of the refinery. A diesel pickup truck that was idling nearby ignited the vapour, initiating a series of explosions and fires that swept through the unit and the surrounding area. Fatalities and injuries occurred in and around occupied work trailers, which were placed too close to the ISOM unit and which were not evacuated prior to the startup.
Subsequent vapour and blast modelling demonstrated the vulnerability of the temporary trailers parked close to a sudden release of approximately 7,600 gallons of flammable liquid hydrocarbons, the high overpressures creating an unconfined vapour cloud which exploded and totally destroyed 13 trailers and damaged 27 others. People inside trailers were injured as far as 200 metres away from the blowdown drum, and trailers nearly 300 metres away sustained damage. The CSB said that occupied trailers have no place near hazardous process areas of refineries and chemical plants.
Using definitions developed by UK safety authorities, the CSB conducted a human factors analysis and found that operator fatigue, procedural errors and deviations, coupled with failure of automatic safety shutdown controls, contributed to the incident. [Refer to item in the Winter 2006-2007 edition, “USA: Organisational Factors in the BP Texas City Refinery Disaster”.] Previous abnormal startups were not investigated by BP, nor were operating procedures updated to reduce the likelihood or consequences of flooding the tower. Workers had created their own unofficial procedures that did not adequately address safety issues.
The report recommends that the American Petroleum Institute and other organisations work together to develop a new consensus standard for fatigue prevention in the oil and chemical industry.
USA: BP Response to the CSB Texas City Final Report
On the same day as the release of the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) final report on the Texas City disaster, BP Products North America Inc. issued a statement in which they accepted responsibility for the 23rd March 2005 explosion and fire at the refinery. They stated that on the recommendation of the CSB they had created an Independent Panel, led by James A. Baker, to assess process safety management and safety culture at their US refineries. BP is implementing the recommendations of the panel in full.
Notwithstanding the company’s strong disagreement with some of the content of the CSB report, particularly many of the findings and conclusions, BP promised to give full and careful consideration to the CSB recommendations, in conjunction with other activities already underway to improve process safety management.
The company stated that in the two years since the accident, BP had taken significant steps to identify and address the causes of the 23rd March Texas City explosion in order to reduce risk and improve process safety management and performance at its five US refineries. BP was committed to preventing such a tragedy from occurring again.
International: Deep Vein Thrombosis Threat to Office Workers
Workers who spend excessive amounts of time at their desk or computer are exposing themselves to the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a condition in which blood clots form in a deep vein, usually in the legs. Such blood clots may travel to the heart, lungs or brain, causing chest pain, breathlessness or even death from a heart attack or stroke.
DVT first came to public notice under the name of 'economy class syndrome', because passengers on long-haul air flights without space to move or stretch out were considered to be most at risk. However, a recent study by the Medical Research Institute in New Zealand found that a third of patients admitted to hospital with deep vein thrombosis were in fact office workers who spent hours at a computer.
By occupation, managers were the worst affected, followed by information technology (IT) workers and taxi drivers. The study, to be published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, examined a sample of 62 people admitted to hospital with blood clots and found that one third, or 34%, had been sitting at their desks for long periods. The danger to health lies in not getting up or moving about for periods of three to four hours at a time. Extended sitting periods are now quite common in the IT industry and in call-centres. Very few organisations undertake relevant workplace health evaluations or provide workers with ergonomic advice.
In comparison, 21% of the patients had travelled recently on a long-distance flight. The researchers point out that many more people sit at their desk for long periods than travel on long-haul flights.
In the UK, DVT affects around 100,000 people each year and is the cause of death for up to 1,000 people a year.
UAE: Dubai Fire Safety Laws Updated
Currently there is no legal requirement in the UAE for fire safety to be considered in buildings under construction. On 26th March 2007, the director of Dubai Civil Defence announced that fire safety standards in buildings in Dubai will be updated to match international standards, and will apply to existing buildings as well as those under construction.
The implementation of new standards will mean the installation of the most advanced technological fire-fighting systems into buildings during the construction phase. Existing buildings will have to undergo renovation to comply with the new legislation.
The standards require an intelligent system linked to the Dubai Civil Defence main operations room, alerting them to a potential emergency. The Civil Defence will also be alerted if the facilities managers do not carry out maintenance checks on the building and its equipment. The objective is to plan the most effective and efficient evacuation policies and procedures.
An emergency evacuation plan must be prepared in advance, with mandatory fire drills; there must be proper handover of systems, fire safety training, employee induction, and appropriate operation and maintenance procedures.
Failure to comply with fire safety legislation will be an offence. Construction companies will face court action and losing their business if they fail to follow the new fire safety regulations. The measures will apply to contractors, consultants, property developers and MEP companies, all of whom must ensure that buildings under construction are kept safe from fire.
UAE: Labour Law Criticised by Human Rights Watch
Following a report critical of UAE employment policies by the Human Rights Watch organisation (see www.hrw.org/english/docs/2007/03/25/uae15547.htm), the Ministry of Labour defended its proposed new labour law, which Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed was in need of revision with regard to workers' rights. The UAE stated that the HRW report does not accurately reflect the reality of conditions on the ground and ignores the progress that has been made in addressing the issues.
The Ministry of Labour pointed out that in publishing their draft labour law online and soliciting public response, they were demonstrating transparency and the importance attached to consultation.
The HRW report condemned the lack of provisions on workers' rights to organise trade unions and to bargain collectively in the current UAE construction boom. The UAE responded that it is capable of setting a model in the region by offering adequate protection for labourers, by setting examples in such areas as economic development, and this included the protection of labourers' rights.
In a separate announcement, the Dubai Labour Ministry revealed that it is considering a submission in support of a minimum wage for expatriate manual labourers which, if established, could not be ignored by other cities and states in the Co-operation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.
International: Assessing Extraterrestrial Workplace Hazards
The US space agency NASA plans to return a manned mission to the Moon by 2020. NASA has set up a working group to look into the matter of prolonged exposure of astronauts to lunar dust, and the possible risks of fibrosis or lung scarring and other adverse respiratory health effects from its inhalation. Although remarkably few people have ever been exposed to this workplace hazard, the sheer cost of mounting an extraterrestrial mission justifies the assessment of effective protection measures for the essential human element.
One of the astronauts who took part in the Apollo 17 Moon mission complained of 'lunar dust hay fever' when his dirty space suit contaminated the habitation module after an exploration on the lunar surface. Subsequent studies of dust-related exposures and ill-health in normal terrestrial workplaces provide data for comparison to the possible threat posed by inhaling lunar dust.
In March 2007, details of the work were presented to the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas. The research suggests that it is possible for lunar dust to cause respiratory damage similar to that caused by asbestos or silica. Attention was focused on particles of less than three microns in size. Particle size determinations revealed that a significantly high portion of lunar soil is potentially dangerous, approximately 1% to 3% of the total soil by weight. There is also concern over the even smaller nano-sized particles which could pass directly from the lungs into the bloodstream if inhaled.
International: Manufacturers Warn of Counterfeit Products Risk
Several manufacturing companies have drawn attention to the dangers of counterfeit maintenance, repair and operations products finding their way onto the European market. Initiatives by SKF and Schaeffler Group have resulted in the recent seizure of 40 tonnes of counterfeit product, to the value of €8 million, discovered in the Franconia region of Germany. The bearings carried counterfeit logos for INA, FAG and SKF. Timken and NSK have also adopted anti-counterfeiting measures and technology to guard against fraud.
The consequences for manufacturers, their employees and customers from unwittingly using substandard counterfeit products can be serious, both in maintaining production line integrity and in lost production time due to breakdowns.
In mid-March 2007, the distributor Brammer drew attention to the potential risk of catastrophic failure, citing the case of a Norwegian aircraft which crashed during a flight from Oslo to Hamburg in 1989 killing all 55 passengers, due to use of counterfeit products.
Users of counterfeit products have no legal redress against the product manufacturers, and are liable themselves for all related consequential costs and liability claims. The use of counterfeit products places the safety of employees and customers at risk.
Nigeria: Multiple Casualties in Petrol Tanker Fire
On 27th March 2007, a petrol tanker exploded in the village of Kagarko in Kaduna State in north-western Nigeria. It was reported that 83 people were killed and 20 others critically injured. The dead and casualties were trying to scoop up fuel leaking from a 33,000-litre road tanker which had toppled over as the result of an accident. The leakage and vapour ignited in a fireball, burning many of the bodies beyond recognition.
Nigeria suffers a systemic structural problem with domestic fuel shortages due to corruption, poor management and infrastructure. Local communities often vandalise nearby oil pipelines to steal fuel, causing frequent fatalities.
Bahrain: Factories Closed for Chemical Waste Dumping
Acting on an order issued by the Commission President and Southern Governor, the Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife closed down several factories in the Muharraq and Central governorates for "continuous violations affecting the marine environment". The factory closures took place on 28th March 2007 and followed repeated warnings over creating chemical ponds which were considered dangerous to the adjacent marine environment.
UAE: Dubai Code of Health and Safety Practice to be Updated
Dubai Municipality announced at the end of March 2007 that it is to update its health and safety code of practice, the final draft of which will be released at the end of this year. On-site accidents can cost contractors thousands of dollars a day due to time lost through work stoppage, worker compensation and fines for violation. Compliance with construction site safety regulations can protect against both direct and indirect losses, as well as building the reputation of contractors.
The revised code is expected to address heat-related illnesses, first-aid requirements, electrical safety at work, and protective equipment to prevent falls from height. Measures would be included to stop a company from working if it is found to be violating health and safety regulations.
International: IOSH Online Occupational Health Toolkit
The UK Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has made available online a new and free resource in the form of an occupational health toolkit. It contains information, guidance, fact sheets, case studies, training materials and presentations to help tackle occupational health problems. The resource is still incomplete and under development, but will cover such key areas as stress, musculoskeletal disorders, inhalation and skin disorders.
The toolkit webpage is at: http://www.ohtoolkit.co.uk/.
China: UN Project on Safety in Small Mines
The appalling worker casualty figures in Chinese coal mines have often been highlighted in RRC newsletters. On average, 13 coal miners die every day at work in China in fires, floods, explosions and gas poisonings. In late March 2007, the United Nations Development Programme announced a project to improve safety for Chinese coal miners. The plan, which has a budget of US $14.4 million (or HK $112.3 million), involves the training and education of miners in the five main coal-producing provinces of Anhui, Guizhou, Henan, Liaoning and Shanxi.
The four-year project will focus on small-scale town and village mines, where the fatality rate is almost twice the national average, and will set up training centres for more than 1,000 miners and their families. In addition to safety training, new technologies will be taught for coal-mine methane capture.
In March 2007, at least 15 miners were confirmed dead in the flooded Shangjiuwu coal mine in Ruzhou city, Henan Province. Twenty-one miners were killed in a gas blast at Miaojiang coal mine in Jincheng City on 18th March, and shortly after 20 were trapped by an explosion in a small mine in Yaodu District in Linfen City. A gas explosion also killed 21 miners at a coal mine in Shanxi Province, northern China.
Total fatalities in Chinese coal mines amounted to 4,746 people dead in 2006, according to the State Administration of Work Safety.
USA: OSHA Case Study on Waste Treatment Facility Design
A case study describing how the Washington Group International incorporated its design for safety process into the construction of the US Department of Energy Advanced Mixed-Waste Treatment Facility in eastern Idaho has been published online on the OSHA website at: OSHA Waste Treatment Case Study.
The study, Washington Group International Designs and Builds a Mixed-Waste Treatment Facility, was developed through the OSHA and Washington Group International alliance. As a result of the Washington Group's efforts, the positive impact on the safety and health of the project employees and its bottom-line costs was significant, including 3.3 million hours without a lost time injury or one day away from work.
USA: Supreme Court Forces EPA Greenhouse Emissions Rethink
On 2nd April 2007, the US Supreme Court ruled that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refusal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars is "not in accordance with law". The ruling marks the first American high court decision in a case involving global warming, and was narrowly decided by a majority of five to four.
The EPA had been sued by 12 states and 13 environmental groups, who argued that the Clean Air Act gives the Agency the authority to regulate CO2 and other greenhouse gases emitted by road vehicles. The Federal Government had insisted that the EPA did not have that authority. The matter came to the Supreme Court after the US Court of Appeal ruled against Massachusetts in a landmark Massachusetts v. EPA case.
The Supreme Court ruled that the EPA had offered no reasoned explanation for its refusal to regulate CO2 and other vehicle emissions which contribute to climate change, and to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger the public health or welfare. The EPA attitude was described as arbitrary, capricious or otherwise not in accordance with law.
The Supreme Court ruled that the EPA had offered no reasoned explanation for its refusal to regulate CO2 and other vehicle emissions which contribute to climate change, and to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger the public health or welfare. The EPA attitude was described as arbitrary,