Japan: Plutonium Fuel Escape at Reprocessing Plant
On 11th April 2006, about 40 litres of water containing plutonium and uranium leaked inside a concrete-lined cell at a plant for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel owned by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd in Rokkasho, northern Japan. The incident happened when an employee made an error with a remote-controlled robotic arm. The company said that no-one was injured and the leak did not involve radioactive material being released to the atmosphere. The reprocessing plant began its current series of trial operations on 31st March 2006, and the accident was the first at the facility since then. Previous trials at the facility since 2001 have involved other accidents and the plant has yet to go into full operation.
USA: Chemical Release Investigation Highlights Safety Management Failings
In April 2006, the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) published online its final report on a major release of toxic vapour from the MFG Chemical facility in Dalton, Georgia, in 2004. During that incident more than 200 families were forced to evacuate their homes and 154 people had to be decontaminated and treated for chemical exposure at a local hospital after toxic allyl alcohol and allyl chloride were released from a reactor at the facility. The accident occurred when a self-accelerating or 'runaway' chemical reaction rapidly pressurised a 4,000-gallon chemical reactor, activating an emergency vent and releasing allyl alcohol and allyl chloride directly into the atmosphere.
The CSB concluded that better process design, engineering, and hazard analysis would likely have prevented the runaway chemical reaction and toxic vapour cloud release, but commented that inadequate emergency planning by the facility, city and county contributed to the severity of the event.
The report notes that such reactive chemical accidents often occur when companies do not effectively research the available literature, conduct thorough process hazard analyses, examine possible accident scenarios, and implement appropriate safety controls. The 2004 accident in Dalton also draws attention to the vital role of communities in preparing for chemical accidents and minimising the harm to the public. Effective prevention and effective emergency planning go hand-in-hand.
The accident occurred during the company's first attempt to make a production-scale batch of triallyl cyanurate (TAC, a chemical used in rubber manufacturing); but they had not fully evaluated the hazards of the TAC-producing reaction, including a review of readily available technical literature. At that time there were published reports of two previous runaway reactions and fires which occurred during attempts to produce TAC. MFG did not adequately plan for scaling up the reaction from the laboratory to full production volume or evaluate how much heat the reaction would produce.
USA: Chevron Plant Releases One Tonne of Chemicals
On 15th April 2006, an equipment malfunction took place which, over a 14-hour period, resulted in the unintentional release to the atmosphere of around a tonne of organic chemicals at the Chevron Phillips Sweeny facility in Old Ocean, Texas. Ethylene Unit 22 in the plant experienced an unplanned shutdown when the ethylene refrigeration compressor was shut down, activating safety flares in response.
According to the emissions report, the substances released included 30 lbs of Benzene; 30 lbs of Butadiene 1-3; 60 lbs of Butane; 560 lbs of Ethane; 1,400 lbs of gaseous Ethylene; 795 lbs of Methane; 105 lbs of Propane; and 80 lbs of Propylene (Propene).
Canada: Company Fined over Forklift Maintenance Failures
Premier Pallet Repair Ltd, a Canadian pallet manufacturer, was fined $22,500 in court at Brampton, Ontario, in April 2006 on several counts of safety management failures in regard to maintenance and record-keeping of its forklift trucks.
In November 2004, a Ministry of Labour official asked to view the company forklift inspection logs, and when no records were available the official issued an order requiring the forklifts to be inspected within two weeks. On 23rd March 2005, the inspector found that this order had still not been complied with.
The company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that two forklifts were thoroughly examined by a competent person prior to initial deployment, and thereafter examined annually, as required by the Canadian Regulations for Industrial Establishments; and pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the order issued by the Ministry of Labour inspector on 9th November 2004. A director pleaded guilty to failing to take reasonable care to ensure that his company complied with the inspector's order.
International: 20 Years After Chernobyl
On 26th April 1986, an accident took place in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. It was the worst nuclear accident in global history in terms of human lives and ecological damage. A runaway nuclear reaction was triggered by a faulty safety test, exacerbated by a design flaw, which caused a catastrophic temperature rise in the reactor core. Around 6.7 tonnes of radioactive material was released to the air and spread for hundreds of kilometres around the site.
The two most hazardous elements in the isotope mixture were iodine and caesium-137, the latter having a half-life of 30 years. The most serious effects of the fallout were within a few tens of kilometres of the reactor, but in the ensuing confusion local people continued to graze and milk their cattle on contaminated land, and eat contaminated vegetables.
Official studies into the health effects of the accident concluded that no more than 4,000 excess cancer deaths were likely. This contentious figure was based on what was known about the survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, where exposure involved whole body radiation rather than inhalation or ingestion of radioactive particles. Also, far less is known about the health effects of lower doses of radiation. It is estimated that among the people who lived further from Chernobyl, another 5,000 will die prematurely.
So far the fallout has caused about 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer, mainly in children and adolescents. Among those highly exposed rescue workers who brought the reactor under control, 62 deaths have been attributed directly to the incident so far.
The 30-kilometre radioactive exclusion zone around Chernobyl is likely to remain off limits for centuries.
It has been suggested that the radioactive plume which spread across the whole of Europe is likely to cause 16,000 deaths among the 570 million people in Europe at the time, representing 0.01% of all cancer deaths; but it would be virtually impossible to assess the ultimate death toll.
Egypt: Red Sea Ferry Disaster Inquiry
An Egyptian parliamentary panel investigation into the sinking of the ferry "al-Salam Boccaccio 98", when more than 1,000 passengers died in the Red Sea on 3rd February 2006 (see the Spring 2006 e-Newsletter), has laid the blame for the incident on the owner of the ship, the maritime authorities and the government. The investigation found that the ship had not met minimum safety standards and the government agency responsible for maritime safety had allowed it to sail, despite being aware of its condition. The ferry did not have enough lifeboats, nor enough fire-fighting equipment on board. There was criticism of the government for allowing the owner of the ferry to leave the country before investigations were completed.
The ferry sank 70 km off the Egyptian coast. A fire broke out shortly after it left Saudi Arabia, but the captain refused to turn back. The crew tried to extinguish the fire but the ship started to list to one side and then sank.
USA: Coastguard Airlifts Construction Workers after Platform Explosion
On 18th April 2006, an explosion took place on an offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 45 miles south-east of New Orleans in Breton Sound Block 1. The US Coastguard launched three helicopters from Air Station New Orleans and a Falcon Jet from the Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Alabama. The helicopters airlifted six injured construction workers to three local hospitals along the Gulf Coast.
The construction workers were reportedly salvaging the platform after it was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The incident is currently under investigation.
USA: Bubonic Plague in Los Angeles
On 20th April 2006, the Acute Communicable Disease Control Unit for the county of Los Angeles, California, issued alerts in Los Angeles parks after a woman from the city fell ill with bubonic plague. It is suspected that she contracted the disease after visiting a large city park or in the area around her urban neighbourhood home in west-central Los Angeles.
Bubonic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis , is endemic among ground squirrels in parts of Los Angeles county, although it seldom spreads to humans. The transmitting agents are infected fleas, which pass on plague when they bite humans. It is the first human case of plague in the county since 1984. About ten to 15 people per year contract the disease in the US, usually in rural areas, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The disease, expressed in humans in its early stages by influenza-like symptoms, is rarely fatal if treated promptly with antibiotics. Later the illness is characterised by swollen, purple-black spots under the skin around the armpits and groin, called buboes, along with other symptoms such as fever and muscle aches.
Simple measures can protect a person against bubonic plague, such as guarding against fleas by using repellent when outdoors and in parks and eliminating rodent infestations. This applies in built-up city areas as well as out in the countryside.
Peru: Reckless Driving and Dangerous Buses
Legislative controls on the owners and operators of passenger-carrying road buses in Peru are weak. The government outlawed the dangerous practice of welding passenger compartments onto the chassis of flatbed trucks around four years ago, but there is little enforcement until after an accident takes place, often associated with reckless driving. It has been estimated that more than 10% of the 3,770 buses in Peru are these hybrid bus-trucks, and they account for 33% of passenger fatalities. A recent annual review of bus crashes stated that they accounted for 560 deaths and around 2,600 injuries.
In the latest reported bus crash on 20th April 2006, at least 25 bus passengers are thought to have died when their bus left the road and fell down into a gorge in the mountainous Juacan area, 190 miles south-east of Lima.
Tajikistan: Leptospirosis Outbreak Blamed On Renovations to Public Water System
In mid-April 2006, at least 15 people living in a district about 50 kilometres east of the Tajikistan capital, Dushanbe, were hospitalised with the bacterial disease Leptospirosis. The disease is generally transmitted through contact with animals or with water tainted by rat urine. The symptoms resemble influenza in humans, and may be fatal if not recognised and treated accordingly. About one in ten people contracting the disease are likely to suffer major organ damage, and the fatality rate is around 5%. The Tajik cases represent the first outbreak in this part of Central Asia since the early 1990s.
Health officials at the scene suspected the sudden infections might be the result of recent work carried out on the public water system. Old pipes were being replaced, but many of the new pipes were reconnected to existing old ones, allowing contamination and access by rats.
The disease is not communicable through human-to-human contact and may be avoided by boiling or otherwise treating suspect drinking water to kill the leptospiral bacteria. It is also essential to avoid skin contact with any stagnant water which may harbour rodents - there are very few lakes or ponds where this does not apply anywhere in the world.
Czech Republic: Police Discover Illegal Hazardous Chemicals Store
On 22nd April 2006, a raid by police and representatives from the Czech Environmental Inspectorate on a warehouse site in the town of Libcany, in the Hradec Kralove region of Central Bohemia, uncovered a very large illegal store containing unguarded drums of dangerous chemical substances, including mercury, cyanide and phenols. The country has a legacy of companies going bankrupt since the end of Communism and leaving behind unguarded or unregistered sites with no inventories, but in this case it does not appear to have been inappropriate or negligent disposal of industrial waste. Instead it was the actual production of hazardous chemicals on site for the black market. A full inventory was being made and decisions will have to be taken on how to dispose of the remaining substances. Three men were arrested and charged with illegal production and possession of hazardous chemicals.
India: Illegal Waste Pipelines Closed in Baruch
In mid-April 2006, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), working with the Notified Area Authority of Ankleshwar Industrial Estate, discovered illegal pipelines that were being used to dump untreated wastes into the underground drainage line in the area, which is designed to carry treated effluent waste. The GPCB served closure notices on the manufacturing units that were found to have violated the pollution-control norms.
The GPCB action came after an official environmental monitoring panel detected high levels of acidic contamination in ground water in the two areas. On the Ankleshwar Industrial Estate the main manufactures are chemical and pharmaceutical products; companies on the estate are notorious for their past violation of pollution control norms, even though there is a common effluent treatment plant and a solid chemical disposal plant provided in the area.
Denmark: Bridge Collapses On Construction Workers
On 19th April 2006, a road bridge undergoing repair and upgrading work collapsed onto the E45 highway near Aalborg, 140 miles north-west of Copenhagen, killing one construction worker and seriously injuring another; four others suffered lesser injuries. Several cars were trapped when the bridge fell shortly after 0800 GMT. The highway leads to a tunnel under the Limfjord waterway, which runs through Aalborg. A search continued for further victims among site staff and motorists passing underneath at the time of the accident.
UAE: New Report on Status of Migrant Workers
Around 95% of the private sector workforce in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is made up of migrant workers. A report published in Brussels on 20th April 2006 by the global trade union confederation ICFTU and dealing with labour standards in the UAE, states that such workers are widely exploited by their employers, including such practices as non-payment of wages, extended working hours without overtime pay and unsafe working conditions resulting in death and injury. The report also expresses serious concern about the persistence of child labour in the UAE and calls for the prosecution of those employing women and girls in hazardous jobs.
The UAE government, which has ratified six of the eight International Labour Organisation (ILO) core labour standards, has recently announced a new law allowing employees to join trade unions, including in the construction sector, which takes effect towards the end of 2006.
USA: Surprise Safety Inspection Saves Lives
In early April 2006, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) building inspector made an unannounced visit to carry out a safety inspection on a construction site for a new junior school being built in Normandy Park Road, Cleveland, Ohio. The exterior walls of the building were up and half the roof was on, but the inspector found that the structure was not properly braced. Some men were working on the high beams and others were inside the building. The inspector immediately issued a stop-work order and ordered the workers out of the site. Minutes later the roof fell in and the walls collapsed.
USA: BP Fined $2.4 Million for Health and Safety Violations
On 25th April 2006, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed $2.4 million in penalties to BP Products North America Inc. regarding 39 alleged safety and health violations, including 32 per-instance wilful citations, as a result of an inspection initiated under OSHA's Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP).
The OSHA inspection revealed similar violations to those found during an investigation of the fatal explosion at the BP Texas City refinery in March 2005 that claimed the lives of 15 people and injured more than 170 others.
In a strongly worded release, OSHA said that BP Products had failed to learn from the lessons of Texas City to assure their workers' safety and health. The EEP exists for such companies who, despite enforcement and outreach efforts, ignore their obligations under the law and continually place their employees at risk.
USA: Propylene Plant Explosion in Texas
On 29th April 2006, there was an explosion at a propylene refrigeration unit at the Huntsman Corporation olefins plant in Port Arthur, Texas. No injuries were reported, but the plant was shut down and fires continued to burn three days later.
The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is to carry out an investigation into the incident. The CSB commented that in 2004 they had investigated a peroxide explosion at the Huntsman Corporation facility in Port Neches, Texas, and issued a related safety bulletin entitled Removal of Hazardous Material from Piping Systems . The CSB is currently investigating another propylene leak and fire that occurred at the Formosa Plastics facility in Point Comfort, Texas, in October 2005.
Russia: Legacy of the Chinese Benzene Pollution Incident
In late April 2006, the summer thaw in northern China melted river ice and released a second wave of toxic pollution into waterways near a major Russian Far Eastern city. Residents in settlements up the Amur River from the city of Khabarovsk, population 580,000, had already started noticing a strong chemical smell coming from rivers and tributaries. The Russian Far Eastern water and weather monitoring service said that the presence of some toxins exceeded allowable limits by 30 times.
An explosion in a factory in Jilin, northern China, in November 2005 (see the Winter 2005 e-Newsletter) released benzene and other chemicals into the Songhua River, forcing Chinese authorities to cut off drinking water to millions of people. The spill flowed into the Amur several weeks later, threatening Khabarovsk and other Russian cities and towns.
The incident strained relations between Moscow and Beijing, and experts warned that the pollutant effects could be long lasting, with toxins settling on the river bottom, sticking to ice and accumulating in fish.
International: Limiting Air Travel Would Not Stop the Spread of an Influenza Pandemic
It might seem a logical step to ban air travel from cities affected by a dangerous new influenza strain in order to slow the subsequent global spread of the virus, but a new study has found that limiting air travel would have little effect on such an influenza pandemic. Earlier studies had suggested that once a pandemic starts, it would take at least six months to develop and mass-produce an effective vaccine against the offending strain of virus. Thus several recent modelling studies have compared strategies designed to buy more time. A paper published online by Nature on 26th April 2006 by Neil Ferguson of Imperial College, London and colleagues, considered various strategies which the United States and the United Kingdom could implement. They found that closing borders and limiting domestic travel were not very effective; but isolating patients, quarantining their household contacts, and prophylactic use of an antiviral drug were effective.
A paper published in the June issue of the online journal PLoS Medicine considered travel bans on a global perspective. Ben Cooper and colleagues at the Health Protection Agency in London used data from the International Air Transport Association about air travel between 105 major cities around the world to model a hypothetical influenza pandemic that started in Hong Kong on 1st June of a given year.
They found that banning travel from cities affected by 100 symptomatic cases of sickness had little effect on the overall spread of the pandemic. The virus simply reached cities elsewhere on the planet a couple of days later than it did without grounding aircraft. Only when a travel ban is implemented immediately after the first detection of the virus, and it is 99.9% effective, will it slow down the pandemic significantly. The research confirmed on the global scale what local scale modelling had suggested. Influenza spreads so explosively that only draconian measures would stop it. The published study adds to the evidence that international travel restrictions have little role in how health authorities should respond to a new influenza pandemic.
Australia: Company Fined for Not Having a Safe System of Work
In early May 2006, LOD Co-operative Haulage and Transport Ltd of Kembawarra, a chemicals manufacturer, pleaded guilty in court to breaching the New South Wales Occupational Health and Safety Act and was fined A$136,500 in respect of two workplace accidents which took place in 2003.
In one incident an employee's arm was broken when he attempted to clean a conveyor belt system while it was still operating; and in the second incident another employee had his arm severed at the elbow while trying to clean the same operating conveyor. The company had no written safe system of work for unblocking or cleaning the conveyor system at that time.
Spain: Schoolchildren Injured at Military Exhibition
On 4th May 2006, an army open day exhibition in the Aragon region of northern Spain was being attended by children and teachers from six neighbouring schools. During the event, a six-wheeled 15-tonne armoured vehicle overturned, killing a soldier and injuring 11 schoolchildren, one seriously. Pneumatic lifting gear was required to raise the vehicle to recover the body of the dead soldier. The open day event was being staged by the Pontoneros & Especialidades de Ingenieros Numero 12 unit at the Monzalbarba Barracks in Zaragoza.
USA: BP is the Nation's Worst Polluter
A report issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on 7th May 2006 revealed that the BP PLC Texas City refinery near Houston is the worst polluting plant in the USA in terms of toxic emissions. The Texas City refinery released three times as much pollution in 2004 as it did in 2003, according to the most recent data from the EPA. The increase at BP was so large that it accounted for the bulk of a 15% increase in refinery emissions nationwide in 2004, the highest level since 2000.
BP already faces a record US $21.3 million fine from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 300 safety and health violations found at the Texas City refinery after the fatal explosion in March 2005 which also injured 170 workers. The company reported that it released 10.25 million pounds (4,649,322 kg) of pollution in 2004, up from 3.3 million pounds (1,374,385 kg) the year before, according to the EPA Toxics Release Inventory, which tracks nearly 650 toxic chemicals released to the air, water and land. However, the company cautioned that its latest pollution estimates might not be correct because of a recent change in how the plant calculates emissions.
According to the EPA, the Texas City plant had more than three times the toxic pollutants of the nation's second most-polluting plant, an Exxon Mobil Corporation refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Most of the increase in pollution was from formaldehyde and ammonia, which can form smog and soot and irritate the eyes, nose and throat. Before last year's explosion, the refinery processed up to 460,000 barrels of crude oil a day and 3% of the US gasoline.
BP still faces criticism for management lapses that may have contributed to last year's explosion. The company faces a possible Justice Department investigation and is dealing with victims' lawsuits.
China: Workplace Deaths Continue during National Holiday
On 7th May 2006, a dam burst at a gold mine near Miliang township in Shaanxi Province, triggering landslides and sending waters laced with potassium cyanide into the Huashui River. Seventeen people were reported missing after the accident and the toxic spill contaminated the drinking water supplies of people living downstream.
A holding pond behind the dam held polluted water and other mining waste, and its release triggered landslides in the mountainous region which destroyed 20 homes. The provincial government ordered residents living on both banks of the river not to drink the water, while five towns below the spill were ordered to monitor water quality.
This incident and three other accidents in coal mines left 63 people dead in the space of three days, during part of the Chinese seven-day Labour Day holiday. A gas explosion in a privately-run coal mine in Shaanxi Province took the lives of 32 miners the day before the dam burst incident; and 14 workers were killed in another blast in an illegal coal mine in the south-western Guizhou Province.
China: Nationwide Mine Safety Drive Launched
On 8th May 2006, a national energy programme was unveiled in Beijing to better equip large-scale coal mines to improve safety and ensure ample fuel supplies. The National Development and Reform Commission said that 13 designated national coal production bases are being planned for coal-rich autonomous regions and provinces such as Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia. The production capacities of the areas, which have about 500 mines, are expected to eventually reach 1.3 billion tonnes, nearly 60% of total Chinese production last year.
The bases include the Shenfu-Dongsheng coal zone, located along the boundary between Shaanxi Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China. It became China's first 100 million tonne coal production base last year.
The China Coal Information Institute announced that the country intends to streamline its coal industry and close down small, dangerous pits by setting up large-scale bases to relieve the economic pressure. The programme aims to improve the technical standards of the mines and their efficiency in utilising resources. It was proposed that foreign investors should be allowed to enter the coal mining industry to help improve mining safety in the country, as foreign companies in the field of mining were rich in safety management, which would help reduce the number of accidents.
By the middle of 2005, China had 24,000 small coal mines with annual production capacities ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 tonnes. They account for 70% of the total number of coal mines in the country. China plans to shut down 12,900 small pits before 2007 to improve the safety record of the industry.
Nigeria: Oil Services Employee Killed in Port Harcourt
An expatriate employee of US oil services company Baker Hughes Inc. was shot and killed in Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria on 10th May 2006. This was the first death of a foreign oil worker since the latest wave of militant unrest broke out in Nigeria six months earlier. The man was shot dead by attackers who pursued him on a motorcycle as he travelled to work by car.
The death comes after months of unrest in the Niger Delta, where most Nigerian oil is produced, in which militants fighting for control of the oil resources have attacked foreign oil companies' facilities and kidnapped several foreign oil workers, all of whom were later released unharmed. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta is a coalition of disparate groups which has been behind nearly all of the attacks in recent months. The group warned that it would launch new assaults targeting oil facilities and individuals.
The killing followed two car bomb attacks and protests at the Qua Iboe oil export terminal run by ExxonMobil, the world's biggest oil company. Several Nigerian troops and some civilians have been killed in recent attacks, which have cut about a fifth of Nigeria's typical production of 2.4 million barrels a day.
Shell, which has borne the brunt of the attacks on oil facilities, said it will not restart its shut-in oil production until it is safe to do so. The company's direct share of the shut-in production is about 165,000 barrels a day.
Australia: Three Killed in Munitions Factory Blast
On 10th May 2006, a munitions factory owned by Quin's Investments near Gladstone in mid-north South Australia was destroyed in a massive explosion which levelled everything within a 100-metre radius of the plant. The blast was heard 70 kilometres away. All three employees in the plant at the time were killed.
Emergency services were kept a kilometre away from the blast site until bomb experts from Adelaide gave the all clear to enter the immediate vicinity of the factory. The factory and surrounding area were declared a danger zone and access by both road and air was restricted.
Police said the explosion was being treated as an industrial accident and an investigation would be carried out by Safe Work SA.
South Africa: Ammonia Leak Triggers Mass Evacuation
Three factories were evacuated and 210 people taken to hospital after an ammonia cloud polluted the industrial area in Lansdowne, Cape Town, on 10th May 2006. Emergency services rushed to the area at about 07:30 hrs after ammonia gas was released to the air at an ice cream factory through a broken seal in one of the factory's cooling chambers.
The police had to cordon off a progressively larger area as the gas spread wider, evacuating workers and then local residents and children from neighbouring schools.
Ammonia is commonly used in industrial cooling chambers where a temperature of minus 30°C has to be maintained. The gas is lethal if inhaled in large amounts, and causes severe eye, throat and lung irritation. Fortunately it has a distinctive and easily recognisable smell at low concentrations.
USA: Sulphuric Acid Leak Contaminates Drains
In southern California on 10th May 2006, about 200 gallons (1,000 litres) of concentrated sulphuric acid leaked from a tank at a West Ventura linen and uniform service and ended up in a storm drain. The city fire-fighters cordoned off part of North Olive Street after responding to a call from Mission Linen employees who had found the acid leaking from an above-ground container. There were no reported injuries or detectable fumes, but fire-fighters evacuated about a dozen people from adjacent buildings after several complained of headaches.
Concentrated sulphuric acid can pose a significant threat to people or wildlife directly exposed to the liquid or its vapours, including burns and damage to the lungs and eyes. Mission Linen representatives told authorities they had a chemical delivery overnight and a 400 gallon (2,000 litre) container of sulphuric acid was found half-empty and spilled over the ground when employees returned to work in the morning. The liquid ran down a driveway and into a nearby storm drain, causing 18 fire-fighting units to respond to the emergency call. The crews stopped the spill from spreading further in the drains and then unsuccessfully tried to fix the leak from the damaged tank. The tank had to be purged and vacuumed before the clean-up could be finished.
UAE: Government Switch to CNG Vehicle Fuel
The burning of Clean Natural Gas (CNG) produces no particulates and releases 90% less carbon monoxide in vehicle exhaust emissions. With a specific gravity of 0.587 it is lighter than air, so leakages rise and disperse into the upper atmosphere rather than pooling on the ground like petrol and presenting a flammability risk. CNG extends the life of the lubricating oil and spark plugs and eliminates frequent vehicle maintenance. It is stored in seamless pressure-resistant cylinders, alleged to be fire- and bullet-proof.
In 2005, a Sustainable Development Technical Committee formed by the Abu Dhabi Executive Council reached the decision that at least 20% of the most polluting vehicles in Abu Dhabi will have to switch to CNG as an alternative fuel by 2012. The most polluting and frequently used vehicles in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi are government-owned vehicles, taxis, buses and driver training vehicles.
The Committee expects significant improvements in Abu Dhabi's air quality, particularly in urban areas, if there is a move towards using CNG. The Committee intends to draft the standards and guidelines for the implementation of the decree.
USA: McWane Industries Found Guilty of Multiple Health and Safety Violations
Four company officials of Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, a division of McWane Industries Inc., were found guilty in mid-May 2006 of committing flagrant abuses of environmental and worker safety laws by the US Justice Department and Environmental Agency. The charges included, among others, an eight-year conspiracy to pollute the air and Delaware River in violation of the federal Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, concealing serious worker injuries from health and safety inspectors, and maintaining a dangerous workplace that contributed to multiple severe injuries and the death of one employee at their Phillipsburg plant. This was the fifth health and safety prosecution of McWane Industries Divisions in two years. The company is amongst the largest manufacturers in the world of ductile iron pipe, with more than a dozen plants in the United States and Canada. McWane's products are used primarily for municipal and commercial water and sewer installations.
Apart from violations of clean air and water regulations, the company was found guilty of multiple offences which included ignoring lockout/tagout procedures that ensure machines are not turned on by mistake, a charge which arose from an accident in 2002 in which an employee suffered an amputation of three fingers while helping another worker clean a cement mixer. The company did not conduct a periodic review of lockout/tagout procedures or verify that the procedures were being followed.
Other repeat violations include uncovered floor holes, standards surrounding the safe operation of forklift trucks, and lack of training for employees exposed to silica and formaldehyde. The company also failed to provide locks or other hardware to isolate energy sources, protect employees from welding rays, and splice flexible cords properly. They did not provide sanitary washing facilities and hand towels, failed to provide and maintain required personal protective equipment, and did not deal with wet floors that expose employees to slipping hazards.
All these charges were defined as representing a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and the employer should have known of the hazard.
Ireland: Illness and Accidents at Work on the Increase
Once a largely rural economy, Ireland is undergoing a shift in the nature of employment and there has been a large increase in the incidence of work-related illnesses. According to statistics published recently by the Irish Central Statistics Office (CSO), almost 60,000 people suffered work-related illnesses in the first quarter of 2005, an increase of 29% over the same period for 2004. Over the same period, employment increased from 1,835,900 in 2004 to 1,908,300 in 2005, but this still gives a net rate of increase of 24%. Measured over an eight-year period of 1998-2005, the number of people reporting work-related illnesses increased by 129%.
The number of work-related deaths, mostly in construction, was 73 in 2005, an increase of 46% over the previous year.
France: Toxic Hulk Returned to its Former Owner
The decommissioned and obsolete aircraft carrier "Clemenceau", built in 1955 and once a flagship of the French navy, returned in mid-May 2006 to its home port of Brest, five months after heading to India to be scrapped. The French government was forced to recall the warship because Indian workers in a Gujarat scrapyard were prevented from dealing with the hazardous asbestos in its hulk. The vessel was taken out of service in 1997 and sold to a Spanish company, which discovered that under EU health and safety law it could not remove the very large quantity of hazardous asbestos waste present before breaking up the ship. The ship was sent to Turkey, which rejected it and sent it back. A German company then bought the hulk and sent her to India for decontamination late last year. The Egyptian authorities stopped the ship from passing through the Suez Canal for some time due to safety concerns, but eventually she arrived in India to great controversy. The Indian Supreme Court would not allow a business transaction which exposed Indian workers to a task deemed too dangerous for Europeans to touch. France now has to find other means to deal with its asbestos waste.
International: Asbestos Exposure Risk in Automobile Parts Reprocessing
Asbestos is a widely used material which, although now banned, is much in evidence in many workplaces. Its most common use is in insulation and fire-resistant material, and it is also a friction lining in machinery (brakes, clutch plates, etc.). The risk of contracting lung cancer to those working with asbestos is ten times greater than that of the general population.
A paper by Kiyoshi Sakai, et al, published in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health , Volume 12, Number 2, April - June 2006, deals with "Asbestos Exposures during Reprocessing of Automobile Brakes and Clutches".
Asbestos exposures of workers in three small factories in Japan reprocessing automobile brakes and clutches were investigated over a seven-year observation period from 1982 to 1989 (the use of asbestos in brake pads, linings and facings was banned in Japan in 2004). Airborne asbestos was collected on a membrane filter using an air sampler and asbestos counting was performed on 295 samples (198 personal and 97 stationary), using phase contrast microscopy. Only chrysotile (white asbestos, the most common form) was detected.
Workers who reprocessed automobile brakes and clutches were exposed to asbestos concentrations of 0.025-76.4 fibres per cm3. Geometric mean asbestos concentrations during attaching linings to brake shoes and attaching facings to clutch disks were 0.859 fibres per cm3 and 0.780 fibres per cm3 respectively. Concentrations during stripping worn brake linings and clutch facings were 0.484 fibres per cm3 and 0.382 fibres per cm3 respectively.
The researchers conclude that machine grinding and levelling of new brake lining surfaces represent potential sources of heavy asbestos exposures, unless work enclosures and local ventilation are efficient.
Nigeria: Kidnapped Oil Workers Release
The working environment for the foreign employees of oil contractors in Nigeria is especially hazardous. On 11th May 2006, unidentified gunmen kidnapped three foreigners at gunpoint from a bus as they travelled to work in the southern oil industry centre of Port Harcourt. They were released unharmed the next day. One of the contract workers was employed by a subsidiary of the Italian energy company, Eni SPA(E). It was the second attack in a week on foreigners in Port Harcourt, where many oil services companies base their main Nigerian operations.
Crude oil futures have risen in part because of the attacks in Nigeria, the fifth largest source of US oil imports. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which claims to be the leading militant group, told the Associated Press agency that they were not responsible for recent incidents around Port Harcourt.
USA: Persistent Effects of the Exxon Valdez Disaster
A recent study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology has found that oil from the "Exxon Valdez" disaster of 1989 still lingers throughout the tidal zone in the region of south-eastern Alaska first affected by the spillage. The Knight Island region of Prince William Sound was one of the first areas to be inundated with oil when the "Exxon Valdez" began to leak 11 million gallons of crude into the sea, killing thousands of sea otters, seals, birds and other marine life. Oil from the "Exxon Valdez" persisted in the area over the next decade, but researchers believed it was confined mainly to the high tidal regions, where the shore is only covered with water at high tide. In a report dated 2001 by the National Marine Fisheries Service of Alaska, it was stated that the middle tidal shore seemed to retain a substantial amount of oil below the surface.
The survey continued along shorelines of the northern Knight Island region in 2003, when it was found that oil was widely distributed subsurface over the lower, middle, and higher tidal zones. The lower tidal zone is the most important for wildlife foraging and lenses of buried oil are the most likely cause of the environmental stress which still prevents sea otters and sea ducks from reproducing successfully in the area.
Other researchers at the University of North Carolina have noted that recent studies have shown elevated levels of detoxification enzymes in ducks and otters in the Knight Island area.
UAE: New Renewable Energy Project Announced
An Abu Dhabi initiative known as the Al Masdar Renewable Energy Initiative intends to develop and commercialise renewable energy, carbon management, water usage and desalination. The body will operate closely with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority, the Abu Dhabi Environmental Agency and the Abu Dhabi Education Council. The project partners include BP, Shell, Mitsubishi, GE, Mitsui and Rolls-Royce. Academic partners include Imperial College, London and Aachen University. The project is expected to begin by 2009 and demonstrate results by 2015. The government of Abu Dhabi has granted four square kilometres of land for the building of an institute, a special economic zone and an innovation centre, as well as $100 million for the creation of a clean technology fund, which will be co-invested with the private sector.
The project raised interest in some quarters of the UK government when the First Minister of Wales commended the UAE for its efforts in providing sources for renewable energy. He said that Wales is prepared to provide Abu Dhabi with requirements of energy plants that operate with wind or solar energy to minimise dependence on gas-propelled plants.
China: 56 Coal Miners Trapped by Underground Flood
On 18th May 2006, 56 coal miners were trapped underground by a sudden surge of floodwater at Xinjing Coal Mine, a legal township coal-producing entity in Zuoyun County in the northern province of Shanxi. The mine has an annual production capacity of 90,000 tonnes. There were 157 miners working underground when the flooding incident took place; 101 managed to escape but the others were cut off by the rising water level with little hope of escape. It was estimated that 200,000 cubic metres of water filled the mine when miners accidentally dug into a disused water-filled section and flooded the shaft in which they were working.
As rescue teams brought in extra pumping equipment, police detained nine management personnel and two officials from the Zuoyun County branch of the Agricultural Bank of China, following an attempt by them to cover up the accident by grossly underestimating the number of miners trapped in the flood. Three water detection engineers were also detained. The State Administration of Work Safety said that the miners were working in an area beyond the approved limits when the accident happened. The miners had warned managers of rising water levels six days before the mass flooding, but were ordered to continue work. The State Council ordered a special inquiry into the accident.
China: Small Coal Mines Closed Down in Safety Drive
The Chinese State Administration of Coal Mine Safety announced on 18th May 2006 that it had so far closed down 10,957 small coal mines since the beginning of 2005. A total of 5,931 small coal mines had been closed in the first four months of this year. The main objective is to reduce the very high accident rate in the coal mining industry, as such mines use backward equipment and are poorly managed. Many of them are unlicensed and illegal operations.
In the year 2005, small coal mines recorded 5.53 deaths per million tonnes of coal produced, which is 5.8 times greater than in the major state-owned mines. In the first four months of 2006, Chinese small coal mines reported 763 deaths in 483 accidents, an annual fall of 33.5% and 22.3% respectively.
Although the small mines produce only one third of total coal output, they account for two thirds of all fatalities.
USA: Second Serious Incident at Valero Energy Corporation
Valero Energy is the largest oil refiner in the USA, processing 3.3 million barrels per day. The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is currently undertaking an investigation into a nitrogen asphyxiation incident at Valero's Delaware City refinery which killed two workers in November 2005.
On 20th May 2006, there was an explosion and fire at the Valero St Charles refinery in Norco, Louisiana, 15 miles from New Orleans. A 12-inch overhead pipe ruptured in the refinery's Distillate Hydrotreater, a unit that uses hydrogen to remove sulphur from a hydrocarbon feedstock. The pipe normally operates at a pressure of approximately 600 pounds per square inch. The rupture of the pipe released flammable gaseous hydrocarbons at a temperature high enough to cause spontaneous ignition. No personnel were present in the unit when the pipe rupture occurred, but a large part of the 250,000-barrel-per-day refinery was shut down. An immediate CSB investigation failed to identify the cause of the incident but noted there have been a number of past instances of corrosion-related failures in refinery hydrotreater units. The team emphasised the importance of carefully maintaining the integrity of piping that contains hazardous substances through rigorous inspection and testing.
Japan: Three Tanker Crewmen Killed by Benzene Vapour
The Japanese chemical tanker, "Shuho Maru", which is operated by a shipping firm in Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, had unloaded 500 tonnes of benzene at a Sumitomo Chemical Co. factory in Sodegaura, Chiba Prefecture, and was on its way back across Tokyo Bay on 22nd May 2006, when three crew members collapsed and died from cardiopulmonary arrest after inhaling benzene vapour whilst cleaning a storage tank. One man managed to get back on deck before collapsing; the others died inside the tank. The vessel had a total crew of four and the ship had to be rescued by Japan Coast Guard.
It is not clear why the men had entered a confined space that had contained a toxic agent without purging the tank and without breathing apparatus or rescue equipment.
India: Fumigation of Imports with Banned Chemical
The Plant Quarantine (Regulation of Import into India) Order 2003 stipulates that all imports of agricultural produce into India must be fumigated with methyl bromide. However, methyl bromide has been banned since January 2005 in developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol, a UN framework convention on climate change which binds nations to undertake measures to prevent global warming and greenhouse gas emissions.
Methyl bromide is a broad spectrum pesticide used to control insects, weeds, rodents, and pathogens. It is a colourless, odourless gas at normal temperature and is usually applied as a liquid under pressure which vaporises upon release at the point of application. To exposed humans it is a neurotoxin and a respiratory irritant.
India is still committed to using the substance as it is claimed to be the most effective way of killing all pests, insects and nematodes. It is maintained that substitutes are more costly and the use of, for example, aluminium phosphide as a fumigant takes five times as long to apply. India has been able to ignore the ban on methyl bromide on the grounds that it is a developing nation, although it is obliged to find a replacement by 2015.
When challenged as to why India cannot seek a certification from its suppliers that an import consignment is free from any pathogen, the response is that it is one way of imposing a non-tariff barrier on the developed nations.
Turkey: Three Injured in Airport Fire
A cargo area at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul was severely damaged by fire toward the end of May 2006, injuring three people and sending plumes of black smoke into the air. Aircraft normally employed to bring forest fires under control had to be used to extinguish the flames.
Official sources blamed a likely electrical fault for the blaze. A Kurdish separatist group claimed responsibility but this could not be independently verified.
The cargo area is situated about 1 km from the passenger terminals, where some flights were delayed.
Canada: New Syncrude Plant Ordered to Shut Down
The Canadian government organisation, Alberta Environment, issued an order on 25th May 2006, calling on the joint-venture oilsands group, Syncrude, to shut down immediately its new flue gas desulphurisation unit and attached equipment related to the Mildred Lake plant, which is located 40 kilometres north of Fort McMurray. The new multibillion-dollar plant is part of expansion plans in Northern Alberta. The order followed numerous complaints about unpleasant odours and emissions from residents of Fort McMurray and the nearby hamlet of Fort McKay, where people reported foul-smelling emissions which caused eye and skin irritations.
The shutdown will involve Syncrude's new Coker 8-3, one of three massive cokers used at the giant Syncrude site. The new coker is an integral part of Syncrude's $8.4-billion Stage 3 expansion, which began coming online earlier in May after several years of construction and billions of dollars in cost overruns.
The cokers are a key part of processing the natural bitumen, using high temperatures to remove some of the carbon molecules and by-products such as petroleum coke.
Syncrude is Canada's largest oilsands producer, averaging about 205,000 barrels per day. The Stage 3 expansion is designed to boost production by more than 50% to 350,000 barrels per day.
Three weeks before the present shutdown, five children from Fort McKay were taken to hospital after an ammonia leak at the same plant drifted over their nearby community.
Syncrude is controlled by a group of energy companies including Canadian Oil Sands Trust, Imperial Oil Ltd, Petro-Canada and Nexen Inc., along with Houston-based ConocoPhillips, Mocal Energy and Murphy Oil.
International: Indian Ocean Virus Outbreak
An outbreak of unprecedented magnitude of a little-known alphavirus called Chikungunya is currently taking place in Indian Ocean territories. In Réunion Island about one-third of the human population (770,000 people) have already been infected. The disease is rarely fatal but causes fever, rashes and severe joint pains. A small proportion of those infected also present neurological symptoms or fulminant hepatitis. The virus is endemic to Africa, India and South-East Asia. Early last year it appeared on islands in the Indian Ocean, including the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and the Seychelles.
The outbreak caused the French government to sponsor research initiatives into the disease. A large research team at the Pasteur Institute in Paris undertook a gene sequencing study of viruses isolated from Chikungunya patients since March 2005. They then compared these sequences to those of known isolates. The study (Isabelle Schuffenecker, et al, 2006, "Genome Microevolution of Chikungunya Viruses Causing the Indian Ocean Outbreak", PLoS Medicine online, Vol. 3, Issue 7) revealed that the virus reached the archipelago via East Africa. Since its arrival it has undergone mutations that have enabled it to become more infectious, via a mosquito vector.
Australia: Fireworks Manufacturer Had No Safe System of Work
At the end of May 2006, the Australian fireworks manufacturer, Foti, was fined a total of $231,000 by the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission following explosions at the company facilities in Sydney, which left a worker severely burned and unable to return to work.
In June 2003, a static electrical discharge caused the ignition of 4 kg of fireworks, which in turn caused the explosion of 2 kg of gunpowder. An employee working close by was left with third-degree burns to most of his body.
The Commission ruled that no safe system of work was in place and fined the company $210,000 and its managing director $21,000.
Serbia: Chemical Plant Explosion Kills Four Workers
A large explosion on 29th May 2006 at the Prva Iskra chemicals plant in Baric, near the Serbian capital of Belgrade, left four workers dead and injured at least three others. The plant produces explosives as well as hydrofluoric acid, which is used in household detergents. The detonation took place in the part of the factory that produces explosives. Emergency services had to evacuate the area and seal off the plant as fire crews attempted to control a post-explosion spillage of nitric acid.
The factory lies on the bank of the Sava River, where it was targeted by NATO air strikes in April 1999.
China: Yangtze River Seriously Polluted
At a time when China is short of supplies of drinking water for its population of 1.3 billion people, the Yangtze River is becoming increasingly polluted by the 10 billion tonnes of waste water discharged into it each year. Industrial waste, sewage, agricultural pollution and discharges from shipping are to blame with more than 80% of the discharges reaching the river untreated.
The Yangtze is the only source of drinking water for the city of Shanghai. China also has an ambitious project to pump 45 billion cubic metres of water per year from the south of the country to the north by 2050, but environmentalists fear that most of the water to be conveyed north will not be fit to drink, unless industry and local government make serious efforts to cut pollution.
A further problem is the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze, where large amounts of rubbish have built up in the reservoir. The level of the reservoir is expected to fall by about 40 metres each summer, exposing large areas of land which pose a threat of pollution and disease.
UAE: New Drilling Rig Safety Record
The National Drilling Company (NDC), a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, and the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Operations (ADCO) announced in late May 2006 that a drilling rig has achieved an internationally significant safety record. The ND-01 onshore rig was built in 1973 and can drill wells to a depth of 16,000 feet; it is owned and operated by NDC under a contract with ADCO.
The rig has worked for ten years without anybody on the rig having a lost time injury and nobody has missed the next day working shift due to an accident. The rig has a total staff complement of around 100 personnel, who over the ten years worked nearly five million man-hours without serious injury to anyone.
Operation of the rig involves the continuous moving and lifting of heavy equipment (the rig derrick can lift pipe up to one million pounds). Twenty-ton cranes move pipe around the drilling site. Oilfield trucks, bulldozers and wheeldozers move the rig across desert terrain.
The company reports that strong health, safety and environment leadership is an important factor in this success. The strict application of an HSE Management System encourages staff to provide a safe working environment and gives assurance that all aspects of HSE are covered. This includes risk assessment, permits-to-work and job safety discussions before each operation and task. Reporting HSE incidents allows corrective action to prevent future problems. All personnel on the rig participate actively in behaviour-based safety initiatives and are committed to keeping their workplace accident-free.
HSE statistics shared through the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) indicate that only one rig out of 250 working rigs is likely to achieve such a zero lost time record, whilst in NDC it has been achieved by two out of 26 rigs.
Nigeria: Eight More Workers Kidnapped from Rig
At 03.00 hours local time on 2nd June 2006, eight foreign oil workers were kidnapped at gunpoint from an offshore rig in the Niger delta. The workers, six British, one American and one Canadian, were onboard the drilling rig Bulford Dolphin at a location near the town of Warri when the raid took place. Dolphin Drilling is based in Aberdeen, but is owned by the Norwegian company, Fred Olsen Energy ASA and operated for the Nigerian oil company, Peak Petroleum. The rig sent out a distress call saying it was under attack from between 20 and 30 men in speedboats. There were between 40 and 50 people working on the rig at the time of the incident, but the others were reported safe.
After negotiations the hostages were released unharmed a few days later, but drilling operations on the rig were suspended and the Nigerian authorities suffered some embarrassment. At the time the entire Nigerian Navy was preoccupied with staging an international fleet revue off Lagos.
It was the latest in a spate of attacks in the region by militants, who want more local control of oil wealth. The upsurge of attacks on foreign oil interests has cut Nigerian oil production by 25%, a key factor in the high world price of crude oil.
India: Asbestos-Contaminated Ship Allowed In for Inspection
On 5th June 2006, the Indian Supreme Court allowed the 46,000-tonne "Blue Lady", formerly a cruise liner named the "SS France", to enter the country's territorial waters. The vessel contains more than 900 tonnes of hazardous materials, including asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls, heavy metals and other toxic waste, and is due to be dismantled in India. The court accepted the recommendations of an expert committee that the ship be anchored at the Alang breaking yard in the state of Gujarat so that it could be inspected. A decision would then be made over whether or not work on scrapping the vessel could be carried out safely. The ship was banned from Bangladeshi breaking yards in February for safety reasons. It is thought that the Alang shipbreaking yard does not have sufficient technology to handle such toxic waste safely, and that the health of workers there would be put at risk.
Spain: Legionnaires' Disease Outbreak in Pamplona
On 5th June 2006, the public health authorities in Navarra, northern Spain, announced that they are awaiting the results of sample tests being undertaken in the Instituto de Toxicologia de Majadahonda in Madrid to confirm the status of a suspected outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Pamplona. The local Instituto de Salud Publica tested 30 cooling towers in the city and discovered the presence of Legionella bacteria in four of them. The contamination of evaporative condensers is always the result of poor health and safety management and lack of suitable maintenance.
The present outbreak is centred on the largely residential Il Ensanche district of the city adjacent to the old quarter and most of the victims either live or work in the area. It is reported that 61 people are known to have contracted the disease and 31 have been hospitalised, with one person in a serious condition.
USA: Pressure Vessel Explosion Caused by Lack of Safety Enforcement
On 6th June 2006, the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) published its final investigation report on a chemical plant explosion which took place in December 2004 in south-west Houston, Texas. The report called on the City of Houston to adopt new safety regulations governing the construction and modification of pressure vessels, specifically industrial process and storage containers that hold pressurised gases or liquids.
The incident in question involved the violent explosion of a 50,000-pound steel pressure vessel at the Marcus Oil and Chemical facility on Minetta Street, Houston. The explosion was felt over a wide area of the city and ignited a fire that burned for seven hours. Three fire-fighters were slightly injured during the response to the blaze and several local residents sustained cuts from flying glass. Steel fragments from the explosion were thrown up to a quarter-mile from the plant. Building and car windows were shattered and nearby buildings experienced significant structural and interior damage.
The Marcus Oil plant, which was established in 1987, refines polyethylene waxes for industrial use. The crude waxes, which are obtained as a by-product from the petrochemical industry, contain flammable hydrocarbons such as hexane. At Marcus Oil the waxes are processed and purified inside a variety of steel process vessels. The vessel that exploded was a horizontal tank, 12 feet in diameter, 50 feet long, and operated at a pressure of approximately 67 pounds per square inch.
CSB investigators found that the failed vessel had been modified to install internal heating coils, as were several other pressure vessels at the facility. Following installation of the coils, each vessel was resealed by welding a steel plate over the two-foot diameter temporary opening. The repair welds did not meet accepted ndustry quality standards for pressure vessels. Marcus Oil did not use a qualified welder or proper welding procedure to reseal the vessels and did not pressure-test the vessels after the welding was completed.
When the repair weld on Tank No. 7 failed under pressure, it ejected molten wax and flammable hydrocarbons. The company used air instead of nitrogen to boost the pressure of the vessel, and the oxygen inside the tank allowed the ignition of the flammable material. The material was probably ignited by sparks from the metal fragments. The fire spread back into the damaged tank causing a violent explosion, which propelled the 25-ton vessel more than 150 feet, where it came to rest against a warehouse on an adjacent property. The debris field extended in a 900-foot circle into the surrounding community.
Marcus Oil could not provide investigators with any documentation concerning the design, construction, or safe operating pressure of the vessels. The CSB estimated that the defective welds had decreased the strength of the vessels by more than 75%. It is likely that the welds were further weakened by metal fatigue from hundreds of operating cycles over many years. The weld on the tank failed catastrophically during a routine production run.
The state of Texas has not adopted national safety standards for pressure vessels, first developed in 1915 by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code provides rules for pressure vessel design, fabrication, weld procedures, welder qualifications, and pressure testing. The CSB notes that if the provisions of internationally recognised pressure vessel safety codes had been required and enforced, this accident would almost certainly not have occurred.
International: New Treatment for Toxic Manganese Exposure
High-level exposure to the toxic metal, manganese, has been known to cause neurological damage since the 1800s. Exposed workers often exhibit tremors, rigidity and co-ordination problems strikingly similar to those observed in Parkinson's disease.
More recently (Gerd Multhaup et al, Biochemistry , 13th June edition) manganese has been implicated in causing the body proteins called prions to distort into an abnormal conformation, causing the degenerative and transmissible brain condition Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).
However, drugs developed to treat Parkinson's disease, such as Levodopa, have little effect in people poisoned with manganism.
A paper published in the June 2006 edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine by Wei Zheng and colleagues reports a case study in which they followed the clinical history of a Chinese woman who worked for 19 years at a manganese milling facility. She was hospitalised several times in the 1980s. In videos taken in 1987 her movements are unsteady and halting, and she struggles to touch a finger to the tip of her nose and perform other simple tasks. Then, over three months, she received an experimental treatment of 15 intravenous infusions of para-aminosalicylic acid (PAS), a relative of aspirin that is used to treat tuberculosis. Nearly all of her symptoms disappeared and she has remained healthy ever since. The researchers tried PAS in 85 additional patients in China and found that the drug seems to help about two-thirds of them, but so far those results have only appeared in Chinese-language journals.
If similar results are found in larger-scale trials, the drug PAS could provide the first effective treatment for thousands of workers exposed to high levels of manganese through mining, steel production, and other occupations.
UAE: Construction Workers' Heat Break Reduced
Following negotiations between the Ministry of Labour and the UAE Contractors' Association, the ministry reduced the length of construction workers' midday break by 90 minutes. The break was implemented last year as a safety measure to give labourers a rest during the hottest part of the day in July and August. The break duration has now been cut from 12.30 pm-4.30 pm to 12.30 pm-3.00 pm. The labourers complained that the original four-hour break was too short, whilst the contractors said that even the shortened break is still too long and costs them money.
The ministry announced that a company found violating the order for the first time will face a fine of Dh10,000, escalating for subsequent offences, and its applications for new labour permits will be suspended for three months. If workers are essential during the break hours because work cannot be stopped for technical reasons, employers must provide desalinated water, first-aid, cooling systems and sheds to protect the workers from direct sunlight. The new shift schedule should be written in Arabic and a language understood by workers, and should be posted clearly for all to see.
Last year, 12 companies violated the heat break regulation and faced a fine of Dh3,000 for each worker made to work in uncovered sites during the break.
International: Fraudulent Chrome Cancer Study Exposed
(See USA: CONTROVERSY OVER NEW CHROMIUM EXPOSURE LIMIT in the Spring 2006 issue.)
The July issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine , the official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, carries a retraction of a 1997 article published under the names of two Chinese scientists. The fraudulent paper dealt with the risks posed by exposure to hexavalent chromium, or chromium (VI), and contradicted earlier work which had linked chromium pollution to certain cancers. It was revealed that the paper was not written by the scientists credited but by ChemRisk, a San Francisco-based consulting firm which has chromium industry clients.
The fraudulent paper had been cited by the US Environmental Protection Agency in its decision to allow continued use of chromium in a wood preservative, and by the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in a report that discounted chromium (VI) as an oral carcinogen.
Chrome-6 compounds are classed as Group 1 human carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the highest risk category.
USA: Construction Company Accused of Faking Safety Records
A large building contractor named Kiewit FCI Manson (KFM), currently building the new California Bay Bridge eastern span, which publicised itself as having a safety record five times better than average, was cited by the California State Occupational Safety and Health Authority for concealing workplace accidents and wilful violation of regulations for the reporting of injuries.
Of 13 injuries not reported on the company's annual injury logs, 11 were found to have occurred in 2004, more than doubling the contractor's reported injuries rate that year.
More than 20 welders who worked on the bridge project said the company pressured them to conceal injuries for fear of retribution or the loss of their job. The company also used a system whereby crews received cash bonuses for posting clean safety records, a practice which discourages workers from reporting accidents. The company concealed an outbreak of metal fume fever and employed a public relations consultant to deal with criticism of its health and safety practices.
Canada: Employer Fined for Confined Space Accident
The industrial cleaning company, Prokleen Washing Services (Oakville) Inc. of Aurora, Ontario, was prosecuted under the Canadian Industrial Establishments Act and fined $60,000 in respect of a confined space accident in May 2005 in which two workers sustained chemical burns whilst cleaning a road tanker. The two employees were working outside the tank when one decided to enter to apply a chemical cleaner. He was not wearing appropriate protective equipment and had no respiratory or breathing equipment or harness and lifeline. The man soon lost consciousness and a rescue attempt by his co-worker failed when he too collapsed inside the tank. Fortunately they were both rescued and revived by properly equipped colleagues and fire-fighters.
Their employer pleaded guilty to failing to provide information, instruction and supervision to the first worker on the cleaning of a confined space with a chemical stripper; and failing to provide current information, instruction and supervision to a second worker on the removal from a confined space of a worker requiring assistance.
USA: Oilfield Tank Explosions Cause Multiple Deaths
The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is to conduct a full investigation of a fatal incident at the Partridge-Raleigh Oilfield in Raleigh, Mississippi, 60 miles south-east of Jackson, which took place on 5th June 2006. Three workers died and one worker suffered broken bones while attempting to install new piping to connect two 400-barrel capacity oil production tanks and one salt-water tank to a 500-barrel capacity power oil tank. All four workers were employed by Stringer Oilfield Services.
The incident occurred when the four workers were standing on top of the production tanks, preparing for the new piping installation. As one worker lit a welding torch, explosive vapours in two of the tanks ignited, causing two rapid explosions that threw one man over 25 feet from the tank and scattered debris as far as 130 feet away. Emergency crews found the welder, the sole survivor of the blast, hanging from one of the oil tanks. He had put on fall protection equipment prior to starting work.
The CSB said that it has investigated similar incidents involving flammable vapours in above ground storage tanks and welding tool use at a wastewater disposal facility in Daytona Beach, Florida, where two workers died earlier this year; and in 2001 at an oil refinery in Delaware City, Delaware, where one worker died. The agency also mentioned an incident in Palestine, Texas, in 2003, in which three teenagers were killed while standing on top of an oil tank that exploded. They were using a cigarette lighter to see inside an oil tank filled with flammable oil distillate. In all these cases a lack of hazard recognition played a role in the worker deaths.
Failure to recognise the hazards posed by the use of welding tools in a flammable vapour environment is believed to have contributed to the incident at Partridge-Raleigh. Failure to manage those hazards with well-established, safe work practices could also have contributed to the incident.
Stringer and Partridge-Raleigh employees told investigators that they regularly tested for flammability in oil tanks by lighting torches and inserting them into open hatches on tanks prior to welding, which is definitely not considered an appropriate flammability testing procedure.
The CSB said that there is a serious need for thorough written safety procedures and worker training at oilfields and all facilities where flammable vapours and welding activities may coexist. To ensure worker safety and protect the integrity of plant, companies must be vigilant about using safe testing procedures and equipment.
The US oil and gas industry experiences one of the highest fatality rates of all major industries, according to a March 2005 paper, Upstream Oil and Gas Fatalities: A Review of OSHA's Database and Strategic Direction for Reducing Fatal Incidents , written by government and industry authorities and presented at a Society of Petroleum Engineers conference. In 2004, the oil and gas industry recorded 43.9 fatalities for every 100,000 workers. This equates to approximately one fatality every four days. This rate is over eight and a half times higher than the average fatality rate for all industries in the United States. In comparison, the coal mining industry had a fatality rate of 29.9 fatalities for every 100,000 workers in 2004.
China: Chemical Plant Explosions Destroy Two Factories
On 15th June 2006, two people were reported missing after a series of explosions ripped through the Longxin Chemical Plant in Zhejiang Province in east China. The explosions started fires that destroyed two factories and released very large quantities of toxic fumes. The plant is located in the city of Longquan in the mountainous Lishui region and produces hydrogen peroxide for bleaching, antiseptics and deodorants. Industrial hydrogen peroxide contains arsenic, heavy metals and other toxic substances. Fire-fighters from adjacent regions were called in to the site to help extinguish the fires. An investigation into the cause is underway.
USA: Another Surprise Safety Inspection Saves Lives
On 6th June 2006, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) compliance officer visited an excavation site in Brooklyn, New York. He immediately ordered six construction employees to be removed from a 22-foot (six-metre) deep excavation due to a hazardous 10-tonne concrete abutment hanging above it. Fifteen minutes later the overhang collapsed and fell, landing in the exact spot in which the employees had been working.
China: Coal Tar Truck Loses its Load into a River
On 12th June 2006, an overloaded truck carrying 60 tonnes of coal tar crashed and spilled its load into the Dasha River in Shanxi Province in northern China. An immediate environmental cleanup operation was put into action before the pollution reached the Wangkuai Reservoir, which supplies drinking water to ten million people in the city of Baoding, lying 70 kilometres away in neighbouring Hebei Province. About 10,000 people recruited by local authorities were onsite using cotton batting, sponge, straw and activated carbon to try to absorb the coal tar, whilst 100 trucks and earth movers dumped earth into the river to form dams and slow its flow. Measurements taken three days later showed levels of phenol in the river at 100 times higher than the safe limit, but after seven days water quality was described as acceptable. Some 4,470 tonnes of contaminated water were piped out and dammed, but with heavy rain and possible floods forecast, emergency plans were drafted by the authorities to ensure water safety.
Most Chinese canals, rivers and lakes are severely tainted by industrial, agricultural and household pollution. The government has said that since the major chemical spill on the Songhua River last November that halted water supplies to tens of millions in China and Russia, there have been at least 76 more water pollution accidents.
USA: Explosion in Steel Plant Furnace Room
An explosion occurred in the furnace room of the Pennsylvania Precision Cast Parts Inc. steel plant in the town of Lebanon on 13th June 2006, when a bucket containing 1,000 pounds of molten steel overheated and the steel broke through the container. The explosion took place when the hot steel came into contact with water lines around the bucket. Employees had warning of an imminent explosion and were able to evacuate and avoid being badly burned by the molten steel that splattered around the room. However, the fumes released caused severe respiratory distress to eight employees. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration plans to investigate the fire as more than three persons were injured.
Because it was a chemical fire, fire-fighters used a product called Purple K compound to extinguish the flames. Using water on the fire could have caused further explosions and created noxious gases. Air from the plant was filtered through the company's scrubbers before being vented to the atmosphere.
Indonesia: Uncontrolled Gas Well Causes Environmental Disaster
In the first two weeks of June 2006, at least 538 people were hospitalised in the Porong district of the Indonesian East Java Province after inhaling hydrogen sulphide. Another 200 were evacuated by local police to protect them from gas and mud spewing from cracks in an exploration gas well being drilled by PT Medco E&P Brantas, a subsidiary of PT Lapindo Brantas. Lapindo is part of the publicly listed oil and gas company PT Energi Mega Persada.
The company was accused of negligence by failing to implement prudent operating measures in that it did not set casing at a depth of 8,500 feet for the well, which is necessary to anticipate potential problems in the drilling process.
Local television reports showed some parts of a major road in Surabaya covered with overflows of mud, forcing its closure by local authorities, causing serious traffic jams and disrupting the distribution of goods and export activities. In the first few days the mud covered 45 hectares of paddy fields and fish ponds, flooded three villages and paralysed activities in seven factories in Sidoarjo Regency, which covers Porong.
A month later the continuous hot mud leakage had still not been plugged and 16 local health posts were set up to treat 11,000 villagers affected by gas. Lapindo stated that they expected to stop the mud flow by the end of July. In the worsening environmental disaster some 726 houses, 17 school buildings and 15 factories located near the leaking well were buried by mud. Around 6,800 people fled their homes to safer areas and at least 1,736 workers became unemployed with the loss of the factories.
USA: Visitor Killed in Factory Solvent Tank Explosion
On 14th June 2006, there was an explosion and fire in a mixing room at the Universal Form Clamp Co. factory in Bellwood, Illinois. The company is a manufacturer and supplier of construction products and chemicals. One person, a visiting delivery driver who was not employed by the company, was killed and five other employees were injured. The incident took place as workers were heating and mixing flammable solvents in an open tank containing approximately 5,000 kg of a mixture of heptane and mineral spirits. Heptane is a highly flammable and volatile liquid and is a component of gasoline. During the heating process there was a sudden evolution of flammable vapour from the tank which ignited, causing an explosion and fire. Combustible chemicals stored nearby also caught fire and burned for two hours until the blaze was extinguished by local fire-fighters.
The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is attempting to establish why appropriate safeguards were not in place in regard to the practice of mixing and heating flammable liquids in open tanks.
USA: Gas Cylinder Pressure-Relief Valve Standards and Good Safety Practice
On 15th June 2006, the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) issued a safety bulletin on the agency's investigation into the fire and explosions that swept through the Praxair Distribution Inc. gas cylinder filling and distribution centre in St Louis, Missouri, in June 2005. The accident occurred when gas released by a pressure relief valve on a propylene cylinder ignited and in the following fire, dozens of exploding cylinders were launched into the surrounding community and struck nearby homes, buildings and cars, causing extensive damage and several small fires. Workers and customers quickly evacuated the plant after the emergency alarm sounded and local residents managed to escape injury from falling fragments.
The accident occurred on a hot summer day with a temperature of 97°F in St Louis. The gas cylinders were stored in the open on asphalt, which radiated heat from the direct sunlight, raising the temperature and pressure of the gas inside the cylinders. At approximately 3.20 pm a propylene cylinder pressure-relief valve began venting and static electricity, created by escaping vapour and liquid, ignited the leaking propylene. A company security camera video recorded the initial fire spreading quickly to other cylinders, mostly acetylene containers which exploded and flew up to 800 feet away. The fire could not be extinguished until most of the flammable gas cylinders were expended. An estimated 8,000 cylinders were destroyed in the fire, which took five hours to control.
The investigation found that the pressure relief set points, specified in industry standards, are too low for propylene and may allow the gas to begin venting during hot weather, that is well below the pressures that could damage the cylinders. Not only are the specified set points too low for propylene, but the CSB found some valves begin releasing gas even before the pressure reaches the set point. Each time a pressure relief valve opens its performance deteriorates, making it more likely to vent gas at too low a pressure in the future.
The key finding was that the combination of high ambient temperatures and relief valves that open at too low a pressure can increase the risk of catastrophic fires. The accident demonstrated the need for companies to follow best practices for outdoor cylinder storage and fire protection and employers should note the coming of summer and high ambient temperatures in cylinder storage yards.
The CSB list several best practices for cylinder storage at gas repackaging facilities, including fire protection systems to cool cylinders and limit the spreading of fires, adding barriers to contain exploding propylene cylinders within the facility, and gas detection systems that can sound alarms and activate fire mitigation systems.
The CSB recommended that the US Compressed Gas Association (CGA) revise its standards for propylene relief valves to provide a greater margin of safety and improved reliability.
Australia: Company Fined for Port Death
In mid-June 2006, P & O Ports Ltd was fined Au$500,000 in a Victoria court after pleading guilty to charges of failing to provide a safe workplace, in that an employee was killed at the Appleton Dock in West Melbourne when he was struck by a container which fell from a crane. The incident took place three years ago. The worker was knocked over an edge by the container and he fell ten metres into a deck hold. The company faced one charge relating to the worker being struck by the container and another charge for his fall into the hold. The presiding judge expressed concern that safety policies and procedures were not being enforced and that available safety harnesses were not being worn.
International: European Week for Safety and Health at Work 2006
This year the European Week for Safety and Health at Work campaign, which runs from 23rd to 27th October, is called "Safe Start" and is dedicated to the occupational safety and health of young people. The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness on the topic of occupational safety and health of young people through the distribution of Action Packs; by providing links to key stakeholders' webpages (for example, the IOSH wiseup2work website, which is specifically aimed at young people); and through the production of other guidance, events and competitions. Details are given on the website of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work , which also gives information about the European Good Practice Awards 2006.
International: ILO Propose Global Ban on Asbestos
In June 2006, the 95th Annual Conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopted a series of standards and measures addressing the health and safety of workers, the employment relationship, and asbestos.
The new Promotional Framework Convention on Occupational Safety and Health and accompanying Recommendation incorporates measures based on the ILO Global Strategy on Occupational Safety and Health adopted by the 2003 ILO Conference, which concentrated on the importance of building and maintaining a national preventative safety and health culture, and a systems approach to safety and health.
The 2006 Conference also adopted a Resolution concerning exposure to asbestos, which causes some 100,000 deaths worldwide per year. The Resolution declares that the elimination of the future use of asbestos and the identification and proper management of asbestos currently in place are the most effective means to protect workers from asbestos exposure and to prevent future asbestos-related diseases and deaths. It also resolves that the ILO Asbestos Convention 1986 (No. 162) should not be used to provide a justification for, or endorsement of, the continued use of asbestos.
USA: Employer Found Guilty of Workplace Homicides
The former President of the Far West Water and Sewer Company was found guilty by an Arizona jury of two counts of negligent homicide and two counts of endangerment in causing the deaths in 2001 of two of his employees. He was acquitted of a charge of aggravated assault on a third employee involved who survived the incident but suffered lung damage from gas exposure.
The two men died in a confined space accident while working on an underground sewage tank near the Mesa Del Sol Golf Course. One worker entered the tank to remove a plug that was blocking a line into the tank. He was overcome by hydrogen sulphide fumes when a pump that ran raw sewage into the tank from a different line was turned on (hydrogen sulphide does not have its characteristic foul smell when present at high concentrations). One of his colleagues was also overcome and died whilst trying to rescue him. The air in the tank had not been tested on the day of the incident, the workers had not been properly trained, the required safety equipment was not available and safety and rescue procedures were not followed. The court trials began last year, when the prosecution convinced a jury to find the company Far West Water guilty on five of six felony charges filed against it. In January, a Yuma judge imposed US$1.77 million (£960,000) in criminal fines against the company.
International: Link Between Parkinson's Disease and Pesticides
A study by a team from Harvard School of Public Health in the USA has found new evidence that exposure to pesticides may be linked to the development of Parkinson's disease. Their study carries more weight because participants were asked about their exposure to pesticides long before they developed the disease, eliminating the possibility of answers coloured by awareness of a possible link.
The researchers used data from a study of the link between diet and cancer, begun in 1992, in which one of the questions asked was about exposure to pesticides. A follow-up questionnaire in 2001 was used to establish the incidence of Parkinson's disease among those who had answered the question on exposure to pesticides in the 1992 survey.
Analysing the results, the team found that those who had been exposed to pesticides were 70% more likely to have developed the disease, after taking age, sex and other risk factors into account.
The findings of the study, published in Annals of Neurology , lead the authors to conclude that the link between Parkinson's disease and pesticides is probably real and that further research is needed to establish which pesticide or class of pesticides is involved.
International: EU Ban on Use of Toxic Metals in Manufactured Goods
At the end of June 2006, the use of toxic metals such as lead, mercury, chromium and cadmium was banned from a wide range of electric and electronic equipment and components. The removal or reduction of hazardous substances applies to such equipment as televisions, computers, toys and lighting for any products sold on the European market. Although the legislation can be enforced only within the European Union, most major manufacturing countries have adopted the new regulations in order to be able to sell their products on the European market.
The new requirements are known as RoHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances) and were announced by the European Parliament in 2002; they came into force on 1st July 2006. The purpose is to protect human health and the environment.
Substances such as lead are, or were, used in soldering components on printed circuit boards in many electronic products. Although only small quantities of lead are used in these products, because of the enormous number of televisions and computers that are simply thrown away and end up in landfill sites, those small amounts soon add up to hazardous amounts in a throw-away society. Most electronic products have no repairable parts and the EU insists these hazardous substances be reduced. The directive has been supported by every major manufacturing country and companies have had to redesign their electronic products, for example by using nickel as a solder, which is inert and unlikely to contaminate groundwater.
The directive applies to lead, chrome, cadmium, mercury, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) used in household appliances, IT and telecommunications equipment, light bulbs, electric and electronic tools, toys, sports equipment and automatic dispensers. Spare parts used to repair equipment put on the market before 1st July are exempt from the regulations.
International: Deep Burial of CO2 Hits a Snag
Deep burial carbon dioxide sequestration has been promoted as a practical tool in the control of atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions and experimental disposal testing is under way in several parts of the world. Drillers have used CO2 injection to drive out more oil for some years and it seems a logical step to pump unwanted gas back into a depleted reservoir and then seal it in.
A recent research project sponsored by the US Department of Energy was the Frio Brine Pilot Experiment north-east of Houston, Texas, in which 1,600 tonnes of CO2 was pumped into the Frio Formation to see where the gas went and what it did.
The US Geological Survey monitored the experiment closely and found that the CO2 lowered the pH of the brine in the formation from a near-neutral pH 6.5 to pH 3.0, which is about as acid as vinegar. The acidification dissolved many minerals, releasing such metals as iron and manganese. Organic matter entered solution as well, and relatively large amounts of carbonate minerals dissolved. This unpleasant corrosive mixture did not leak out of the sandstone reservoir, but the loss of naturally occurring carbonates was a cause for concern. Carbonates seal the pores and fractures in the rock which, if opened, could release CO2 as well as fouled brine into the overlying aquifers that supply drinking and irrigation water. It is also possible that the acid mix could attack carbonate in the cement seals plugging abandoned oil or gas wells, of which there are around 2.5 million in the United States alone.
Although there have been no corrosion failures in sealed wells so far, with a sequestration site there is clearly a potential environmental risk that had not been considered before.
International: Warning on Trailer Parks on Hazardous Sites
In late June 2006, the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released information on blast damage to residential, catering and workshop trailers that were parked temporarily in the vicinity of the isomerisation unit at the BP Texas City refinery which exploded in March 2005. The accident killed 15 workers and injured about 180 others, when flammable liquid and vapour overfilled a blowdown drum during the startup of the isomerisation unit. All the fatalities and many of the injuries occurred in and around some 44 trailers that had been positioned near the isomerisation unit to support maintenance activities on adjacent refinery units. The 15 fatalities occurred in or near two trailers that were located 40 to 50 metres away from the blowdown drum. Occupants were injured in trailers as far away as 145 metres from the drum and damage was noted in trailers almost 300 metres away.
The CSB called on the oil and chemical industry to establish minimum safe distances for trailers away from hazardous process areas. For reasons of convenience, trailers are often placed close to refinery units during maintenance activities, and unlike permanent structures such as control rooms, trailers can easily be relocated to safer positions given advance notice. However, even modest explosion overpressures that would cause no significant harm to a modern blast-resistant refinery control room can devastate a trailer.
The American Petroleum Institute is working with the CSB to develop new guidance on the safe placement of trailers and similar temporary structures used in the oil and chemical industry in order to provide adequate protection for industry workers.
International: New European Health and Safety Initiative
In June 2006, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work launched a new drive to develop a preventive occupational safety and health (OSH) culture in Europe, particularly among the recently joined nations. The campaign is designed to raise awareness of OSH essentials, such as the need to conduct risk assessments and to involve the workforce in any prevention plans, as well as to share 'good practice' knowledge. Called "The Healthy Workplace Initiative", its purpose is to provide both employers and employees in small to medium enterprises with easy access to information on how to improve their business environment by becoming healthier and more productive.
A series of free seminars will be held across the participating countries, which include Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania.
In support of the initiative, the European Agency has launched a practical guide to risk assessment in business in the form of "Risk assessment tools" which enable employers and employees to analyse and assess their work environment according to their specific sector needs. The free guides are available via hyperlinks on a dedicated multilingual website at: http://hwi.osha.europa.eu.
The campaign is also being backed up by publications, media relations and advertising.
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