Weekly E-Newsbrief

Implications for Safety and Health Training in a Green Economy Report

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Worker Education and Training Program (WETP) held its third annual Fall Technical Workshop on October 16-17, 2008. The conference, "Implications for Safety and Health Training in a Green Economy," focused on WETP's course of action, which is developing training that prepares workers for green-collar jobs. This report highlights the importance of "green job" training and provides the proceedings from the conference.

Fall Workshop Report (http://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/newsbriefs/Ja n09/WETPFallmeeting08.pdf)  (481k)

Call for Abstracts for Spring 2009 Conference

The Worker Education and Training Program's (WETP) spring workshop will share knowledge, materials, and resources for chemical and all-hazards preparedness. The Planning Committee invites abstracts for podium and poster presentations during this meeting. Abstracts will be accepted through February 13, 2009. Registration is also now online.

Conference website (http://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/events.cfm?id =2474)

Abstract information and instructions (http://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/events.cfm?id =2476)

Online registration (http://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/public/regist ration_spring09/registration_form.cfm)

Cleanup Continues Despite Transition at Hanford

Each year, the federal government spends roughly $2 billion to rid the nation's most contaminated nuclear site of toxic and radioactive waste. Now, winds of change are blowing across southeast Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation.

New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/01/24/us /AP-Hanford-in-Transition.html?_r=1) [Author Associated Press]

Uranium Mining's Legacy

Data reviewed by an independent team of scientists and engineers contracted by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to evaluate the remediation system at Homestake Mining Co.'s uranium mill site has raised a number of issues.

Gallup Independent (http://www.gallupindependent.com/2009/01Janua ry/012309uranium.html) [Author Kathy Helms]

Environmental Protections Take Hit in Fiscal Crunch

The state of Virginia has eliminated more than one-fifth of its air-pollution inspectors -who police everything from massive power plants to neighborhood dry cleaners - as part of its attempt to make up a budget shortfall estimated at $3 billion or more, officials said.

Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ story/2009/01/25/ST2009012502024.html) [Author David A. Fahrenthold]

After Katrina, New Orleans Is Going Green

The city known more for French Quarter trash than recycling or renewable energy is going green. In rebuilding since Hurricane Katrina, homes are being fitted with solar panels, organic farming is catching on and the city's got a new fleet of hybrid buses.

The Houston Chronicle (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation /6232147.html) [Author Cain Burdeau]

CDC's Preparedness Chief Named Acting Director

Richard E. Besser, MD, who formerly directed terrorism preparedness and emergency response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was named as the agency's acting director.

Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/bt/b ioprep/news/jan2709besser-jw.html) [Author Robert Roos]

'Green' Energy a Tiny Share of Stimulus Plan

For all the hope and hoopla surrounding the largest public works program since the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s, the share spent on long-term "green" investments is surprisingly small. Most of the stimulus package goes to temporary measures, such as tax cuts, emergency aid to the states, and the extension of unemployment benefits.

The Christian Science Monitor (http://features.csmonitor.com/economyrebuild/ 2009/01/27/%E2%80%98green%E2%80%99-energy-a-t iny-share-of-stimulus-plan/) [Author Mark Clayton]

Nearly 2,000 People Warned Of Possible Beryllium Exposure

Los Alamos National Laboratory announced it is notifying nearly 2,000 current and former employees and visitors that they may have been exposed to beryllium in the lab and may be at risk of disease.

CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/29/los.alam os.beryllium/index.html)

Healthy Aging for Workers: Anticipating the Occupational Safety and Health Needs of an Increasingly Aging Workforce

The Healthy Aging for Workers: Anticipating the Occupational Safety and Health Needs of an Increasingly Aging Workforce will be held February 17-18, 2009 at the National Labor College. The conference aims to refine the research agenda proposed in the 2004 National Academy of Science (NAS) Report on the Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers and to develop near-term intervention strategies for preventing work-related injury and illness associated with a growing workforce of aging workers. Since older workers may be increasingly vulnerable to age-related job discrimination, efforts to uncover new work-related injury and illness among an aging population must be done with care. The meeting agenda is now available online.

Healthy Aging for Workers: Anticipating the Occupational Safety and Health Needs of an Increasingly Aging Workforce (http://www.soeh.org/meeting/meeting.html)

Meeting agenda (http://www.soeh.org/meeting/HealthyAgingWorke rs_Agenda_v4.pdf)  

NAHB National Green Building Conference

Get contacts, tools and ideas that are good for both the environment and your bottom line. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) National Green Building Conference is the only national conference targeted to green building for the mainstream residential building industry. Network with designers and suppliers, attend exceptional education sessions and develop the skills you need for profitable green building.

Conference Website (http://www.nahb.org/conference_details.aspx?c onferenceID=59)

Submit an event

If you have an event that you would like to see listed in a Newsbrief issue, please send it to the Clearinghouse staff.

Submit an event (http://tools.niehs.nih.gov/mailto:ideas@wetp. org)

View Calendar of Events (http://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/index.cfm?fus eaction=calendar)

Release of Report and Recommendations: Market Barriers to Green Development

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5, the Delta Institute and the Northeast-Midwest Institute released Market Barriers to Green Development, a report on market based approaches to increase green redevelopment projects. The report describes six principles for removing market barriers to green development, and recommends action projects and next steps to address these barriers and further promote green development practices. Throughout the report, case studies illustrate how different organizations or communities have tackled these barriers.

Market Barriers to Green Development report (http://www.delta-institute.org/marketbarriers /)

Exposed to Solvent, Worker Faces Hurdles

When the University of Kentucky published new research in 2008 suggesting that exposure to a common industrial solvent might increase the risk for Parkinson's disease, the moment was a source of satisfaction to Ed Abney, a 53-year-old former tool-and-die worker.

New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/us/25toxic. html?pagewanted=2) [Author Felicity Barringer]

Research abstract (http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/11 7870842/abstract)

In New Video Safety Message, Chairman Bresland Urges OSHA Coverage for All Public Employees

Citing a fatal explosion in Daytona Beach, FL, in 2006, U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) Chairman John Bresland issued a new video safety message urging the state to move forward promptly with recommendations to extend Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) coverage to all its public workers.

CSB (http://www.csb.gov/index.cfm?folder=news_rele ases&page=news&NEWS_ID=455)

Safety message (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19HSiiTu86s)

Study Finds MRSA in Midwestern Swine Workers

The first study documenting methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in swine and swine workers in the United States has been published by University of Iowa researchers. The investigators found a strain of MRSA known as ST398 in a swine production system in the Midwest.

EHS Today (http://ehstoday.com/industrial_hygiene/news/m rsa-midwestern-swine-workers-1104/) [Author Laura Walter]

Study abstract (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10. 1371/journal.pone.0004258) [Author Tara Smith et al]

MSHA Proposes Dust Monitor Rule

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would revise requirements that MSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) apply to approve sampling devices that monitor miner exposure to respirable coal mine dust.

WOWK-TV (http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&st oryid=50583)

Proposed rule (http://www.msha.gov/REGS/FEDREG/PROPOSED/2009 PROP/E9-534.PDF)  

Measurement of Airborne Influenza Virus in a Hospital Emergency Department

For the first time, a new study by National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) researchers has demonstrated the detection of respirable size influenza viruses in a hospital emergency department. Using stationary and personal size selective samplers, the researchers detected evidence of the airborne influenza in the emergency department and found that 53% of the virus particles were in the respirable aerosol fraction! These findings say a great deal about the necessity of providing respiratory protection to health care workers potentially exposed to patients infected with influenza virus, especially a pandemic virus.

Study Abstract (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1 086/596478)

The National Emergency Management Association: Celebrating 35 Years of Service

EMForum.org marked the occasion of the National Emergency Management Association's (NEMA) 35th Anniversary. Our guest was Nancy J. Dragani, current NEMA President and Executive Director of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency since January 2005. Ms. Dragani previously served as the Director of Operations at Ohio EMA where she was responsible for emergency preparedness training, exercises, planning, homeland security and preparedness grants and response operations in the State Emergency Operations Center during disasters.

Interactive meeting background and transcript (http://www.emforum.org/vforum/090128.htm)

Children with Elevated Blood Lead Levels Related to Home Renovation, Repair, and Painting Activities

This report updates a 1997 analysis conducted by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) that indicated that home renovation, repair and painting (RRP) were important sources of lead exposure among children with high blood lead levels. The analysis is updated with data from the environmental investigations conducted during the 2006-2007 in New York State (Except New York City). RRP activities were identified as the probable source of lead exposure in 139 (14%) of the 972 children.

CDC report (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm58 03a3.htm?s_cid=mm5803a3_e)

EPA a Failure on Chemicals, Audit Finds

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ability to assess toxic chemicals is as broken as the nation's financial markets and needs a total overhaul, a congressional audit has found.

Milwakee Journal Sentinel (http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/38260974.htm l) [Author Meg Kissinger]

Government Accountability Office (GAO) report summary (http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-271)

Secretary Napolitano Issues Action Directives on First Responder Health Surge Capacity and Hurricane Katrina

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced two action directives, on first responder health surge capacity and Hurricane Katrina. The directives require specific department offices and components to work with state and local partners to review and assess current plans to respond to significant medical emergencies and address Hurricane Katrinas lingering impacts.

Department of Homeland Security (http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_12331587 24611.shtm)

Lessons Learned From the Field of Emergency Preparedness

In the event of a natural or man-made disaster, health care facilities may have a sudden surge of patients with diverse medical needs. This influx may cause them to reach capacity quickly and, in some cases, deplete available resources. In order to effectively manage mass medical care, communities must identify additional treatment sites and allocate resources appropriately. To support community emergency preparedness planning, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has developed a range of tools. To help communities use these tools, AHRQ hosted a Webcast entitled, Lessons from the Field of Emergency Preparedness. This event featured stories from three communities representing different regions with distinct populations, geographies, and threats.

Webcast website (http://www.ahrq.gov/prep/fieldemprep/)

Environmental Health Sciences

Trainer Jonathan M. Links, PhD introduces the basic concepts and principles of environmental health science that are applicable to terror preparedness.

Online training (http://www.jhsph.edu/preparedness/training/on line/eh.html)

Job Openings

To view our job openings (http://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/index.cfm?fus eaction=jobopenings)

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