Tag: eS

  • CDC Concerned Over Growth In Legionnaires Cases

    environmental Strategist, between the lines:  Legionnaires Disease is a bacteria that can create an environmental liability for those using central air conditioning systems, fountains, room-air humidifiers, ice-making machines, whirlpool spas, water heating systems, showers, misting systems typically found in grocery-store produce sections, cooling towers used in industrial cooling systems, evaporative coolers, nebulizers, humidifiers, windshield washers….

    A little background:  Legionnaires is a bacteria that got its name after a 1976 outbreak at an American Legion Convention in Philadelphia.  221 people contracted the bacteria and 34 died.

    What risk management strategy are you implementing to address exposure to Legionnaires Disease for your client’s?  Pollution liability insurance can protect property owners or those with an insurable interest for their exposure to Legionnaires.

    CDC officials said this new study was prompted by two factors: First, the public notoriety of cases over the last three years that included, first, the Pittsburgh VA, then a cooling tower outbreak in New York City, and, last year, the outbreak in Flint, Mich.
    CDC officials said this new study was prompted by two factors: First, the public notoriety of cases over the last three years that included, first, the Pittsburgh VA, then a cooling tower outbreak in New York City, and, last year, the outbreak in Flint, Mich.
    By Sean D. Hamill / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    Legionnaires’ cases in the United States quadrupled from 2000 to 2014, with about 5,000 people a year — and probably many more — now being infected by the deadly form of pneumonia, but the exact reason for the growth is unclear, officials with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

    And too many of those cases occur during an outbreak, CDC Director Tom Frieden said Tuesday in a phone call with reporters to announce the publication of a comprehensive study on outbreaks published on the CDC’s Vital Signs webpage.

    “I’ll give you the bottom line [of the study] right off the top: Almost all Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks are preventable with improvements in water system management,” he told reporters.

    During that 15-year period of 2000 to 2014, the CDC investigated 27 confirmed, land-based — as opposed to ship-based — Legionnaires’ outbreaks.

    Those outbreaks included the 2011 and 2012 Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System that the CDC determined infected 22 people and led to the deaths of six of them. Overall, 415 people were infected in the 27 outbreaks, and 65 of them died, the CDC said.

    PG chart: Legionnaires’ cases increasing
    (Click image for larger version)

    The CDC study found that in 23 of the 27 outbreaks it investigated there were “gaps in maintenance that could be addressed with a water management program to prevent Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks…”

    There were many more people sickened and killed during other outbreaks the CDC was unable to investigate during that timeframe. It noted in the study that from just 2000 to 2012, it had requests to investigate about 160 outbreaks.

    CDC officials said this new study was prompted by two factors: First, the public notoriety of cases over the last three years that included, first, the Pittsburgh VA, then a cooling tower outbreak in New York City, and, last year, the outbreak in Flint, Mich.

    In addition, last summer, after nearly a decade of work, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers — known as ASHRAE — completed its recommendations for dealing with the water-borne disease of Legionella in building water systems. ASHRAE’s recommendations are expected to eventually find their way into many of the country’s state or local building codes, carrying the power of law.

    Since last summer, though, the CDC “heard the ASHRAE standards weren’t easy to understand unless you were a building engineer,” Dr. Frieden said.

    As a result, the CDC on Tuesday also released an online “Toolkit” that it hopes will make adopting the ASHRAE standards easier for building owners and managers.

    The Toolkit was piloted in Flint, where the CDC took it to building owners and managers who were impacted by the outbreak there that infected 91 people — including 50 cases in a local hospital.

    In addition to the few, widely publicized outbreaks that occur annually, the CDC said it is equally concerned about the overall rise in Legionnaires’ cases, with more than 5,000 annually, nearly all of which occur without little to no publicity.

    “And we think [the number of people infected] is much higher,” said Cynthia Whitney, co-author of the Vital Signs study, “not because we don’t hear about the cases, but because we believe they’re never diagnosed.”

    The number of cases may be rising steadily for a variety of reasons, she said, including: More healthcare professionals know to look for it; better testing; a larger, more vulnerable and aging population; and a warmer climate that makes it easier for Legionella — the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease — to grow.

    Victor Yu and Janet Stout, two Pittsburgh-based Legionnaires’ experts who were not involved in the CDC study, noticed in the Vital Signs report, however, that the CDC said nothing about regularly testing a building’s water for Legionella, something they have recommended for 30 years.

    “The CDC has a long history of recommending not looking for Legionella as a prospective element to assess risk,” Dr. Stout said.

    The CDC has said for decades that it believed testing regularly for Legionella would give building owners a false sense of security since people have contracted the disease when there were no signs of the bacteria in the water system.

    Dr. Whitney said there is no testing recommendation in the Vital Signs study because “we didn’t want to get into it.”

    But she said because the ASHRAE standards now recommend testing water, the CDC has now changed its position on testing since last summer.

    “We are not against testing” water for the presence of Legionella, she said. “We think it has its place, particularly in healthcare facilities.”

    Sean D. Hamill: shamill@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2579 or Twitter: @SeanDHamill.

    First Published June 8, 2016 12:00 AM

  • Dairy Farm Turning Waste Into Energy

    environmental Strategist, between the lines:  Studies have stated agriculture accounts for 80% of the worldwide fresh water consumption and contaminates 70% of our waterways.  However, each and every one of us depend upon agriculture.  Understanding that just by their very existence agricultural operations are polluters, the question becomes how can agricultural operations pollute in a way that has the least amount of impact upon human health and the environment?

    The article below highlights a growing trend in the livestock industry.  As you go through the article, I have highlighted in red the pollution insurance coverage appropriate for the various environmental exposures.

    Cows
    Cows eat at Scenic View Dairy in Fennville on Tuesday, April 19, 2016. The farm produces its own electricity with an anaerobic digester which runs on methane from manure. (Neil Blake | MLive.com)

    Dairy Farm Produces Electricity From Manure

    FENNVILLE, MI – Brian Geerlings estimates his 2,000 cows produce enough milk (milk has been classified as a pollutant so Environmental Impairment Liability (EIL) site pollution coverage for the dairy farm and transportation pollution insurance to get the milk to the producer / consumer) each day to supply each resident of Grand Rapids with an 8-ounce glass of milk.

    But that’s not all his cows produce. Thanks to three “anaerobic digesters” that process the manure on the “back end” of the farm, the Scenic View Dairy also generates enough electricity to power more than 700 homes.

    “We’re able to produce our milk with a negative carbon footprint,” says Geerlings, a 36-year-old farmer who moved his Scenic View Dairy to Allegan County from the Zeeland area in 2000 to escape the urban sprawl that inhibited expansion.

    The cows are milked three times a day (Before a cow can be milked they must be washed which produces contaminated waste water.  Washing consumes approximately 40 gallons per cow per day.  Waste water from washing cows accounts for the majority of waste in manure lagoons.  EIL coverage will address these exposures) eating from a carefully blended mix of silage designed to give them the optimal amount of protein, fiber and nutrients. “It’s calculated to produce milk,” says Geerlings, who estimates each cow eats about 110 pounds each day.

    Housed in open-air barns (Air emissions from cows methane, which makes up 10 – 15% of global methane emissions.  EIL coverage for this exposure) designed to keep them comfortable and out of the weather, each cow’s milk output is individually weighed and recorded.

    “We have records from the day she’s born until the day she dies,” said Geerlings, who said the herd produces about 18,000 gallons of milk each day – about 75 pounds per cow.

    After it leaves the cow, the milk is piped into a chiller (Many agricultural products, like milk, need to be kept cold which involves refrigerant chemicals that can release air emissions or spill fluids.  EIL coverage.) and transported within 24 hours by truck to a milk processing plant in Reed City, where it is converted into Yoplait yogurt, or Coopersville, where it dried and used in the food processing industry or sent overseas.  (Products pollution exposure.  Generally, the environmental liability insurance market does not like to offer this coverage on consumable products.)

    That’s on the front end. What makes Geerlings’ farm unusual is his handling of the cows’ manure, which has historically been treated as a smelly nuisance (EIL coverage).

    At Scenic View Dairy, the manure is treated like gold. While the cows are in the milking parlor, their manure is scraped into holding tanks and sent to one of three large green silos (EIL coverage for the storage), where it is heated over a 22-day period.

    The heating process causes the slurry to emit methane gases that are captured by the large cones. As a bonus, capturing the methane gas also eliminates much of the smell associated with the farm. (EIL coverage for air emissions)

    The captured methane is used to fuel two 12-cylinder Caterpillar motors that run round-the-clock (EIL for air emissions) to drive electrical co-generators that supply electricity for the farm and are fed back into the grid operated by Consumers Energy.

    Besides eliminating an electrical bill that could reach up to $15,000 a month, Geerlings estimates he sells about two-thirds of the electricity generated by the farm back to Consumers Energy. “We just renewed our 20-year contract with Consumers,” he said.

    The farm’s negative carbon footprint also allows Geerlings to sell “carbon credits” to companies who need to offset their carbon consumption. While the market price of carbon credits fluctuates, Geerlings estimated he pockets about $50,000 a year from their sale.

    After the methane is extracted, liquid is expelled from the manure and returned to the barns for bedding. Some of the “bio-mulch” also is sold to landscape companies for mulch or soil conditioners. (Depending upon how the bio-mulch is stored you can have a storm water runoff exposure along with the transportation pollution liability exposure to get mulch to landscape companies and consumers.  EIL and transportation pollution liability coverage.  Potential products pollution exposure.)

    The liquid from the manure is stored in lagoons (EIL coverage) and injected back into the 3,200 acres (EIL coverage) which Geerlings owns or rents (Depending upon the rental agreement this could be site pollution coverage or Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL).) in the area to raise corn, soybeans, wheat and rye (EIL coverage for the storage and application of other agricultural chemicals used in order to grow these crops.). Much of those crops are fed back to the herd.

    The digesters not only add cash to Geerlings’ bottom line, but also stabilizes his balance sheet when dairy prices fluctuate.

    “There are times in the past year when the digester has made more than the cows,” says Geerlings, who employs 35 full-time workers. “It takes dedication and it takes focus to make it pay.”

    Jim Harger covers business for Mlive Media Group. Email him at jharger@mlive.com 

    *Link To The Article and Video* 

     

  • What Happens After The Fire…..

     

    BusinessFire
    Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at Gene’s Auto Parts in Traverse City, MI ~ Record Eagle/Tessa Lighlty

    What You Need To Be Discussing With Your Clients About The Aftermath Of A Fire and How Pollution Insurance Can Play A Role

    The Article and related links below highlight a simple fire that took place at Gene’s Auto Parts near Traverse City Michigan.  Gene’s does auto salvage and parts sales.  Some of the contaminants that were probably released during the fire would be air emissions from burning tires, plastic, inventory…, cadmium, lead, asbestos, petroleum products, anti-freeze, mercury….  Are these contaminants covered under the fire policies you sell?  What is your strategy to fill in this gap?

    Businesses that can have similar environmental exposures as Gene’s Auto Parts due to a fire would be auto manufacturers & dealers, commercial truck manufacturers & dealers, agricultural equipment manufacturers & dealers, trucking companies, marina’s & ports….etc

    If your client purchases fire insurance and experiences as loss, what happens after the fire department puts out the fire? The water and chemicals used to put out the fire mix with anything which melted or was released during the fire including the charred remains. Often times this leaves behind a toxic goo creating a pollution liability for the property owner. The fire department is immune.

    If the property owner does not have a pollution policy and they experience a fire, there are a lot of costs the insured is self-insuring.  As your client’s professional risk manager have you informed them of the potential pollution exposures they are self-insuring? What about third party bodily injury from neighbors inhaling fumes?  What about third part property damage to neighbors when the goo migrates on to their property, cost for emergency response crews, defense costs, investigation costs, business interruption…?

    Insurance professionals that sell fire insurance and do not educate their insureds on the value pollution insurance offers, are opening themselves up to an E&O suit.  Not to mention this creates a professional reputational risk exposure as well.

    Environmental Risk Managers is here to assist you with all things environmental! Including the aftermath of a fire like this.

     

    BusinessFire2
    Megan Woods, Reporter – 9&10 News

    Blair Township fire destroys business, closes busy road

    • By ERIN SLOAN esloan@record-eagle.com and TESSA LIGHTY tlighty@record-eagle.com

    TRAVERSE CITY — Clouds of heavy smoke billowed into the sky over Blair Township when an auto parts shop caught fire, triggering the closure of a major roadway. Fire crews on Friday responded to Gene’s Auto Parts on M-37 shortly before noon, said Blair Township Fire Chief Jim Carroll.

    The blaze started in a back building where cars are deconstructed and salvaged, he said.”The building is really hard to get around in inside and we tried to hold it to the back building as long as we could and then it went over our heads into the next building forward,” Carroll said. “We’ve gotten it away from the office.” Chris White, an office employee at the shop, was working in the front office when flames erupted.”We didn’t think that it was going to affect us, but it started spreading so they said ‘get out,’” she said. “Very sad. Very sad how people are going to be out of a job. It’s just scary.” White said she was able to save some files from the office before being evacuated. “We couldn’t get the water into the back part but then things started to get really heavy — smoke and heat so we decided we had to come out,” Carroll said.

    The building, which is most likely a total loss, was difficult to maneuver around, especially with the heavy, black smoke that enveloped the property, Carroll said. “It’s one of the biggest I’ve seen,” Carroll said. Crews battled the flames from ladder trucks and the ground outside of the building, but the thick smoke became a concern after one firefighter was sent to a local hospital for observation, he said.No one else was injured before or during the blaze. Carroll was unsure what caused the fire as of Friday afternoon.”It’s all car parts. All the little bangs and beeps and explosions you hear are actually mostly airbags,” he said. “Everything else in there is OK, but there is metal.”

    Jack Akers, a resident who lives across the street from the shop, and was a longtime friend to the company’s founder, the late Gene Denman.”It almost makes me cry because I’ve seen (Gene) start it,” Akers said. “I thought they had it under control and it’s just gone, it’s gone. I’m just wondering what in the world the dollar amount is going to come out to.”Akers has watched his friend’s business grow for years from its Acme location to the one between Nimrod and Blair Town Hall roads. The business celebrated 50 years in 2014.”I feel closer to it than anyone else because of the friendship, and we were friends. I’ve seen him grow this business from Acme to here and then see it grown into a million-dollar business. That’s the part that really hurts,” Akers said.American Red Cross Disaster Services arrived on scene as soon as they could to help keep emergency crews fed and hydrated, said Bud Ingram who serves on the organization’s action team.

    “We were paged by dispatch to offer assistance,” Ingram said. “We scrambled out to get coffee and pizza for everyone.”Ingram made a stop at a Holiday gas station for donated coffee, and picked up pizza, crackers, sports drinks and bottled water for the crews. M-37 was closed for at least five hours Friday as Blair Township Fire, Grand Traverse Metro Emergency Services and Grand Traverse Rural Fire battled the flames and Grand Traverse County sheriff’s deputies diverted traffic.

    Gene’s Auto Parts Fire Additional Links:

    http://www.record-eagle.com/news/local_news/update-blair-township-fire-destroys-business-closes-busy-road/article_378a70ba-9725-5412-af65-b29b74ab200b.html

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bovjrWvXU0s Video

    http://photos.record-eagle.com/Genes-Auto-Parts-Fire-April-8/ Photos

    http://www.9and10news.com/story/31684591/genes-auto-parts-begins-clean-up-after-devastating-fire

  • Environmental Liabilities Create Reputational Risks

    environmental Strategist, between the lines:  The reputational risk associated with pollution liabilities is often overlooked or not even considered.  One reason for this is environmental liabilities tend to be a severity versus frequency issue.

    Volkswagen with their emissions scandal, Flint Michigan and most municipalities with their lead pipes for potable water and the below link updating Lumber Liquidators and the increased risk of cancer for consumers who have used some of their products.

    Whataretheysaying

    Let’s drill down and look at the small businesses that operate in your community that are exposed to reputational risk due to environmental liabilities such as auto dealers, manufacturers, agricultural, aviation, contractors, golf courses, health care facilities, marinas, gas stations, real estate owners and developers, resorts, schools… all have exposure to reputational risk from environmental liabilities.  What is their strategy to deal with this exposure.

    As Will Rogers once said “It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but you can lose it in a minute.”  That certainly holds true for environmental liabilities.

    Lumber Liquidators Set To Slump After Revised Cancer-Risk Report

    Lumber Liquidators shares were set to tumble on Monday after a revised U.S. federal agency report showed people exposed to some types of the company’s laminate flooring were three times more likely to get cancer than previously estimated.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Feb. 18 it estimated the risk of cancer was six-30 cases per 100,000 people, compared with the two-nine cases it had estimated in a Feb. 10 report. The CDC said the revised results were preliminary.

    Lumber Liquidators’ shares were set to open more than 15 percent lower on Monday, which would be the stock’s biggest intraday percentage drop in six months. (Get the latest quote here.)

    The CDC said it had used an incorrect value to calculate ceiling height, which meant its estimates of the airborne concentration of cancer-causing formaldehyde were about three times lower than they should have been.

    CBS “60 Minutes” reported on Sunday it was alerted to the possibility that scientists had not converted feet to meters in some calculations.

    Lumber Liquidators was not available for comment outside regular business hours. It had supported the recommendations of the CDC’s previous report on the safety of flooring made in China between 2012 and 2014.

    The company’s’ shares and sales have been in a tailspin since March last year when CBS “60 Minutes” reported the retailer’s laminates from China contained excessive levels of formaldehyde.

    Up to Friday’s close of $14.21, Lumber Liquidators’ shares had risen 17.5 percent since the CDC’s initial report. But they are still down 79 percent since the company had in late February last year warned of the CBS report.

  • Example Of Environmental Economics

     

    In this May 1, 2014 photo, irrigation water runs along the dried-up ditch between the rice farms to provide water for the rice fields in Richvale, Calif. California’s drought-ravaged reservoirs are running so low that state water deliveries to some metropolitan areas have all but stopped, and cutbacks are forcing growers to fallow fields. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
    Irrigation water runs along the dried-up ditch between the rice farms to provide water for the rice fields in Richvale, Calif. California’s drought-ravaged reservoirs are running so low that state water deliveries to some metropolitan areas have all but stopped, and cutbacks are forcing growers to fallow fields. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

    Environmental Strategist, between the lines:  The article below offers an excellent example of why we are transitioning away from our current slash and trash economic platform to an environmental economic platform.

    The basic difference is, under our current slash and trash economic platform our environment is a subset under the economy.  Operating under an environmental economic platform the opposite is true, our economy is a subset under the environment. 

    This article highlights how businesses operating in our past slash and trash economy decided they would bring the environment to where they wanted to grow food, which happens to be in a desert.  Under environmental economics, you grow food where there are already sufficient natural resources to support the business. 

    When mother nature removes or reduces a resource it has a tremendous negative impact upon a slash and trash economy. 

    Playing Dirty in the War for Water

    • January 26, 2016

    I am a farmer’s daughter. I grew up checking sprinklers and changing irrigation with my dad in a pair of muddy boots. The experience afforded me an intimate awareness of the importance of having affordable water to nourish one’s crops. My family still farms in California, and as my last name indicates, our heritage is Hispanic. Which is why I find this story especially upsetting.

    With poignant slogans and gripping imagery, an organization called “El Agua Es Asunto de Todos”—Water is Everybody’s Business—has demanded more water for the San Joaquin Valley. In video testimonials on the group’s website, Hispanic community members share stories of the valley’s once-productive fields as well as the suffering they experience now from lack of work. They discuss school closures, poverty, and loss of homes. The organization’s website reads: “No water. No work. No economy,” and, “Water is the key to our future. And the future is in our hands.”

    The group’s message is a valid one. Without water there are no fields and therefore fewer jobs. But its message also strikes me as disingenuous. While El Agua operates under the guise of a grassroots Latino community effort, as the New York Times reported in December, it is funded entirely by Westlands Water District.

    To be clear, nowhere on El Agua’s website could I find mention that the organization is bankrolled by Westlands. Nor could I find any statistic or reference to water availability and usage. Instead, its pages are filled with emotionally charged language and victimized pleas. “It’s a disaster,” one testimonial reads. “We’re going to lose everything we have.” But the fact is, that the group’s participants—presumably innocent, well-meaning people—are being played. And their heart-wrenching village campaign is, in reality, a thirsty wolf in sheep’s clothing.

    Westlands Water District is not your average water district. According to the New York Timesarticle, it supports about 600 large-scale farmers within a 600,000-acre stretch of land in California’s San Joaquin Valley. As the Times reports, it’s a $100 million-a-year agency and a powerful political force, with a litigious past and five lobbying firms under contract in Washington and Sacramento, all with one objective: to get its hands on inexpensive water.

    The New York Times reports that for decades a federal water management organization called the Central Valley Project offered farmers in California’s San Joaquin Valley an abundance of affordable water that it gathered in northern California and piped south via 500 miles of canals. Farmers within the district received a triple subsidy—cheap water, USDA crop subsidies, and below-market electricity. However, in the 1970s, the State Water Project created a second canal system and diverted some of the same water from the northern Californian source rivers.

    As you can imagine, devastating environmental problems emerged. Commercial salmon fisheries collapsed. At the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, fish populations declined dramatically. Congress’s solution was a law reserving at least a minimum amount of water for wildlife. Not surprisingly, it hit a nerve with farmers in the San Joaquin Valley. El Agua represents one facet of Westlands’ many efforts to access more federal water.

    Since then, Westlands has lobbied for new reservoirs to augment Central Valley Project reserves, according the New York Times. It has pleaded that water scarcity will ruin the lives of the district’s Latino population. Purchasing water at inflated prices from other sources would reduce agricultural profits and threaten farmers’ bottom line with ruinous results. The New York Times reports that Westlands is currently working to persuade Congress to loosen the rules that set aside Sacramento basin water for fisheries. And it will stop at nothing to get the federal tap turned back on.

    In a heartfelt message on El Agua’s website, general director Martha Elvia Rosas writes, “When we suffer water restrictions, all of us are affected. However the Hispanic community is especially vulnerable. We lose our jobs and our businesses. Furthermore, we lose educational opportunities for our children and, in general, our entire future is put at risk.” This statement, while partially true, leaves out the fact that Westlands has the power to change the current circumstances, or any role in the issue’s resolution for that matter.

    El agua es absolutamente asunto de todos. I couldn’t agree more. Water rights are indeed everyone’s business. And I wholeheartedly support an honest discussion of facts between farmers, politicians, and the Hispanic community. But manipulative tactics and self-serving slogans? That just seems sinister.

    I welcome your thoughts.

     

  • Silica – The Workplace Killer

    environmental Strategist, between the lines:  If you are not familiar with the pollutant Silica, please keep reading. Some of the businesses impacted by exposure to Silica are agriculture, real estate developers, excavators, road builders, manufacturers, mining operations, and municipalities with dirt roads…. Pollution liability insurance can protect you for silica exposure.

     

    Silica: Setting a Standard

    After decades of fighting for better worker protections against silica, new standards finally are within reach.

    Aug 5, 2015 | EHS Today

    Two years ago, Alan White of the United Steelworkers Local 593 testified in support of new silica standards during public hearings held by the U.S. Department of Labor.

    White, who had worked at a foundry in Buffalo, N.Y. for nearly two decades, found out six years ago that he would die from exposure to silica in his workplace.

    Despite his smoke-free, alcohol-free lifestyle, simple activities like walking the mile home from work became too difficult as a result of the onset of silicosis – a chronic lung disease caused by the inhalation of silica particles.

    “When I got my first job at the foundry, I made more than $60,000 the first year and thought I was set. I was ready and willing to give my all to work. But I never realized that that included my life,” White said during his testimony. “Now I know that my lifestyle probably won’t benefit my long-term health because of the devastating effects of silica exposure.”

    Today, White still is working, still fighting a battle he knows he can’t win against a disease brought on by unsafe work conditions.

    He is not alone.

    The American Lung Association estimates that 2 million U.S. workers, particularly those in mining, quarrying, sandblasting, pottery making, rock drilling, road construction, stone masonry and tunneling, are exposed to free crystalline silica dust and thus are at risk for developing silicosis.

    About 100 people die from silicosis each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And, while that number has decreased dramatically (85 percent) in the past 50 years, deaths among younger people (those aged 15-44) are still occurring, a trend the CDC attributes to new jobs that place workers at risk for silicosis like hydraulic fracturing, sandblasting denim and engineered stone countertop fabrication and installation.

    The effects of silica dust have been known for centuries, yet it continues to be a workplace killer.

    That’s because the silica standards in place by OSHA were set 40 years ago and attempts to delay updates to those standards have stalled the process, said Peg Seminario, safety and health director for the AFL-CIO.

    “It’s still a problem because it’s not controlled and it’s not controlled both because the standards are out of date and aren’t sufficiently protective and also are hard to oversee and enforce. It’s still a problem because too many employers aren’t installing safeguards,” Seminario said.

    However, after years and multiple attempts to set new standards, change could finally be on the horizon. OSHA as soon as early 2016 could pass new standards for worker protection from silica.

    A Time for Change

    The new standards proposed by OSHA – one for general industry and maritime and one for the construction industry – would set a new universal permissible exposure limit: an 8-hour time-weighted average of 50 micrograms of respirable crystalline silica per cubic meter of air. The standards, which also suggest control measures and precautions, would replace the existing standard set in 1971 that is based on calculations and differs by industry.

    “It’s not just limiting the amount, it’s really putting in a different approach that actually helps you get controls in place,” Seminario said.

    With the new standards in effect, nearly 700 lives could be saved each year, OSHA estimates. And another 1,600 new cases of silicosis per year could be prevented.

    “My health will not improve, but as OSHA moves forward with this silica standard other workers will be able to enjoy their time with their grandchildren,” White said.

    The new standards would align OSHA with the recommended exposure limit (REL) that NIOSH proposed in 1974, said Stephanie Stevens, a health communication specialist for NIOSH.

    Despite the lack of formal protections, however, some industries are taking steps of their own to manage the hazard.

    The Silica/Asphalt Milling Machine Partnership, for example, developed the Best Practice Engineering Control Guidelines to Control Worker Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica during Asphalt. The document established recommendations for the use of ventilation controls and of water sprays to help industry lower silica exposures.

    The effort, led by the National Asphalt Pavement Association, was 10 years in the making and involved collaboration between labor, industry and government groups.

    “It’s not as though there haven’t been efforts made by some employers; there have. The voluntary efforts haven’t been sufficient,” Seminario said. “It’s not become a widespread practice.”

    Instead, companies and foundries like the one from which White developed silicosis focus on “obvious safety hazards” like trips and falls, lifting, heat exposure and plant traffic.

    “But they did not tell us about the unseen dangers. They never told me about silica and the health effects that breathing it can cause,” White said.

    Some industry groups are arguing that the new standards proposed by OSHA are too restrictive.

    The Construction Industry Safety Coalition, a group of 25 national trade associations, in March said that the new standards would cost the industry $5 billion per year – 4.5 billion more than OSHA estimated – and would cut 52,700 jobs from the national economy.

    Jeff Buczkiewicz, president of the Mason Contractors Association of America, said that “the current silica rule has done a fantastic job of reducing related illnesses.”

    “Our industry needs a rule that is based on real-world construction site scenarios that is not technologically and economically infeasible to implement,” he said.

    But Seminario said the AFL-CIO doesn’t believe the current standards are protective and partially attributes the decline in the number of silica-related deaths to the nature of work and how workers are more transient, thus less likely to have health problems identified as silica-related.

    “The [fact] that we still have so many in industry saying the current standard is fine, that we just need more enforcement, that to me is just criminal and so dishonest. It just demonstrates that there really is no interest in protecting workers,” she said.

     

    RELATED

    Working with Silicosis: Alan White’s Story

    President Obama Should Veto Safety Cuts, ‘Poison Pills,’ Safety Groups Say

    OSHA and NIOSH: Protect Workers from Silica Exposure during Countertop Installation

  • Legionnaires Outbreak – Are your clients properly insured?

    environmental Strategist, between the lines:  Legionnaires Disease is a bacteria that can create an environmental liability for those using central air conditioning systems, fountains, room-air humidifiers, ice-making machines, whirlpool spas, water heating systems, showers, misting systems typically found in grocery-store produce sections, cooling towers used in industrial cooling systems, evaporative coolers, nebulizers, humidifiers, windshield washers….As you can see, Legionnares disease has the potential to be a very large exposure for businesses. Are you clients properly insured in the event of an outbreak?

    A little background:  Legionnaires is a bacteria that got its name after a 1976 outbreak at an American Legion Convention in Philadelphia.  221 people contracted the bacteria and 34 died.

    Below is information on a recent Legionnaires outbreak in New York City which sickened more than 120 people and killed 12. What risk management strategy are you implementing to address exposure to Legionnaires Disease for your client’s?  Pollution liability insurance can protect property owners or those with an insurable interest for their exposure to Legionnaires and any 3rd parties that might be impacted.

    legionnaires-disease

    New York to deploy teams to test cooling towers amid deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak

    Associated Press
    By JONATHAN LEMIRE, Associated Press

    NEW YORK (AP) — State health teams will deploy to the Bronx to help collect and test samples from cooling towers amid a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease as the number of those sickened grew by one to 101, officials said Friday.

    Teams will begin work Saturday, and state officials have said they’ll pay for the testing. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio earlier this week ordered that within the next 14 days, all buildings with cooling towers that haven’t been tested in the last 30 days be tested and any towers found contaminated be disinfected. Failure to comply is a misdemeanor. The bacteria were found in five buildings within a few blocks of one another in the South Bronx, but there is no indication that Legionella has contaminated water systems in buildings.

    “A situation like this requires a great deal of detective work. Clearly this is a sleuth mission to find out where this is happening,” said State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker.

    So far, 10 people have died since the outbreak surfaced last month, making it the deadliest in city history, health officials said. The victims were adults with underlying medical conditions. The disease is a form of pneumonia caused by breathing in mist contaminated with the Legionella bacteria.

    City Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said officials have a good handle on the outbreak, and the frequency of diagnoses is decreasing.

    “We have fewer new cases. People are seeking care promptly and getting treatment promptly. We’re optimistic that we’ve seen the worst of this outbreak, and that our remediation efforts are having an impact,” she said in a statement.

    Gov. Andrew Cuomo had asked representatives from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to come help, and he ordered a long-term review on how the outbreak is being handled.

    Dr. Claressa Lucas of the CDC defended the city’s response.

    “The timing of it (the response) has been very typical,” she said. “I think that they have done a very good job to mobilize their resources. I think they are taking this very seriously, and I am encourages by this response.”

    In a television interview Friday, Cuomo touted the state’s response to prevent future outbreaks, declaring, “We can’t go through this again.”

    When asked to weigh in on de Blasio’s response to the outbreak, Cuomo demurred, saying only that the “situation became critical” and warranted state assistance.

    On Friday, a homeless man who contracted Legionnaires’ disease in the Bronx filed notice with the city that he intended to file a $10 million lawsuit. Marvin Montgomery, 36, remains hospitalized and says he contracted the disease last month while passing out fliers in front of a hospital.

    His attorney, Adam Slater, said he believes the city was negligent by “failing to adequately test and monitor to look for Legionella.”

    “What you see going on right now is very reactive, which is great and hopefully prevents future outbreaks, but it shouldn’t let their past negligence off the hook for the injured people, like my client,” Slater said. “He has constant headaches, dizziness, he can barely walk and his muscles have deteriorated so much that he can’t even pick up a fork by himself.”

    A spokesman for New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said his office closely reviews all claims.

    On average, there are about 540 cases of Legionnaires’ disease a year in New York state. The CDC estimates that 8,000 to 18,000 people are hospitalized annually with the disease in the U.S. Officials at a Cleveland hospital said Friday that a 53-year-old Ohio woman had died from the disease a day earlier.

    Source of Deadly NYC Legionnaires’ Outbreak Identified

     Marc Santia reports ~ Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015

    Updated at 8:06 PM EDT on Thursday, Aug 20, 2015

    Health officials have identified a cooling tower at the Opera House Hotel as the source of the Legionnaires’ spike that has sickened more than 120 people in the Bronx, killing 12 of them, since July, marking the largest outbreak of the disease in New York City history.

    The tower at the Opera House Hotel was disinfected Aug. 1, authorities said. The last case reported in connection with the outbreak was reported two days later. Local, state and federal officials tested samples from 25 patients linked to the outbreak, including some who died, and in each case found a match to the strain of Legionella found in the cooling tower at the Opera House Hotel.

    Health Commissioner Mary Bassett made the announcement at an afternoon news briefing Thursday as she declared the outbreak was “over.”

    Since July 10, 128 cases of Legionnaires’ have been reported. No new cases have been reported in nearly three weeks.

    “We have not seen anyone become sick in the area of the outbreak since Aug. 3 and we are now well past the incubation period of the disease,” Bassett said.

    City, state and federal officials canvassed more than 700 sites in the south Bronx, where the outbreak was focused, in their search for the source. In total, 14 of 39 buildings with the type of cooling towers that lend themselves to Legionella growth were found to be contaminated.

    The Opera House Hotel said in a statement that it was disappointed to learn its cooling tower was the source of the outbreak.

    “It’s particularly disappointing because our system is 2 years old, has the most up-to-date technology available and our maintenance plan has been consistent with the regulations that both the city and the state are putting in place,” the statement said. “We have worked closely with both the city and the state since this issue first arose and have done everything requested to address the situation.”

    Concerns about prevention and safety prompted the city to develop and pass new legislation to regulate cooling towers, one of the locations where Legionella, the bacteria that causes the potentially severe pneumonia-like disease in people who are exposed to it, is likely to grow.

    Under the new legislation, cooling towers across the city must be tested regularly for Legionella bacteria; any found to be contaminated must be disinfected immediately. The regulations specify penalties for violations, and the legislation makes New York City the first major city in the United States to regulate cooling towers.

    Prior to the recent outbreak, no city records were kept as to which buildings had cooling towers.

    New York is now requiring the testing and inspection of building cooling towers across the state to combat Legionnaires’ disease following an outbreak in New York City that killed 12 people, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday. Ida Siegal reports (Published Monday, Aug. 17, 2015)

    The Opera House Hotel said it fully supports the new regulations.

    “We believe they are appropriate and will enhance the protection of public health. That said, we intend to go beyond the requirement to test our cooling tower every 90 days by testing every 30 days when the tower is in operation,” the statement said. “Given recent evens, we have decided to be especially cautious going forward.”

    Legionnaires’ disease usually sets in two to 10 days after exposure to the bacteria and has symptoms similar to pneumonia, including shortness of breath, high fever, chills and chest pains. People with Legionnaires’ also experience appetite loss, confusion, fatigue and muscle aches.

    It cannot be spread person-to-person and those at highest risk for contracting the illness include the elderly, cigarette smokers, people with chronic lung or immune system disease and those receiving immunosuppressive drugs. Most cases can be treated successfully with antibiotics.

    An outbreak last hit the Bronx in December. Between then and January, 12 people in Co-op City contracted the potentially deadly disease. Officials said a contaminated cooling tower was likely linked to at least 75 percent of those cases. No one died in that outbreak.

     

  • Are You A Property Owner? How Are You Managing Your Vapor Intrusion Exposure?

    environmental Strategist, between the lines:  Vapor intrusion is such a huge environmental exposure for property owners, that ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials ) the society that developed Phase I and Phase II site assessments has developed ASTM 2600 which deals specifically with vapor intrusion. If you are a property owner you must have a strategy in place to address your exposure to vapor intrusion which can result from both onsite or migrating offsite contamination. Relying on the at fault party/s to make you whole is a very weak strategy. Pollution liability insurance can protect property owners from vapor intrusion.

    What is Vapor Intrusion you ask? In Laymans terms, Vapor Intrusion occurs when volatile chemicals migrate from contamination in the soil or groundwater up into a building’s interior space. Vapor Intrusion can pose a potential health threat to the occupants of the building, especially to sensitive populations such as children. The diagram below is an excellent illustration of how vapor intrusion typically occurs.

    courtesy of www.epa.gov

    Vapor Intrusion: An Emerging Risk that Could Cost Property Owners

    Posted on March 4, 2015 by Eugene Wingert

    Years after property owners thought they had completed the clean-up and environmental remediation of old contaminated sites, vapor intrusion has emerged as a risk that could result in additional clean-up costs and liability exposures.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines vapor intrusion as the “migration of volatile chemicals from the groundwater or soil into an overlying building.”  Some building owners or managers may not be aware that they have a potential vapor intrusion problem at their property. In urban districts, many buildings are built in areas where soils or groundwater have elevated levels of contaminants.  However, even in areas with newer construction, the subsurface conditions could create bodily injury, remediation, or property damage exposures. In many situations, historical property uses may have impacted soils and groundwater. In a non-industrial setting, common sources of sources of volatile chemicals can include: dry cleaners, service stations or auto body shops, or leaking underground fuel storage tanks. Contaminants that are commonly found at impacted properties include:

    • Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH), including Benzene
    • Chlorinated Volatile Organic Compounds (CVOCs) such as Perchloroethylene (PCE), Trichloroethylene (TCE), 1,1,1 –Trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCA) and Vinyl Chloride
    • Landfill gas (methane)

    Volatile chemicals can diffuse and migrate through the subsurface. When the vapors reach an obstruction (such as pavement, concrete foundation, or slab) they can collect.  As cracks develop in these obstructions, the pressure difference between the building and the subsurface allows the vapors to migrate upward into the buildings.  The vapors may accumulate in work spaces or living areas within buildings to levels that pose hazards affecting properties,, acute health effects or odors. In some cases, such as residences with low concentrations of these vapors, chronic, long-term exposure may also present a risk.

    Vapor intrusion first became an issue because of several high profile Superfund cleanups.  While many of the thousands of contaminated sites in the United States have been cleaned up, vapor intrusion issues may emerge when these sites undergo post-remediation inspections. The EPA and state environmental regulatory agencies are required to perform post-remediation inspections on a regular basis to determine whether a site, which had been cleaned up and was granted a “No Further Action” decision, remains within acceptable state.

    In many cases, vapor intrusion was not considered in the original risk assessment and remediation planning. Most states have dozens if not hundreds of sites that will be re-examined.  To add to the concern, there is debate among regulators, including environmental and safety professionals, as to what can be considered safe concentrations of volatile chemicals in breathing spaces.  Inconsistent interpretation of the chemical exposures and response actions creates an uncertainty in a property owner’s risk management strategy.

    A recent development in the enforcement of levels to which a party must cleanup the contaminants highlights the regulatory inconsistency across the country.  For example, in 2014, the EPA in Region 9 (California) recently set strict guidelines for trichloroethylene (TCE) levels in buildings caused by vapor intrusion. The guidelines cover sites that are listed on the National Priorities List (Superfund list) and call for a tiered cleanup and response.  Depending on the concentration of TCE in the building, the stricter requirements could potentially require evacuation of buildings if TCE levels are deemed too high.  Under prior guidance, installation of a vapor instruction remediation system may have been sufficient.   The impact on safety concerns, as well as the costs from loss of use of a building, could have significant effect on property owners and insurers alike.

    In addition to those sites that are monitored by regulators, there are a significant number of properties that may still have undiscovered vapor intrusion conditions. This is common in many commercial buildings where occupants or neighboring properties (past and present) used volatile chemicals as part of their operations.  A common example would be dry cleaners.  Most dry cleaners use tetrachloroethene (PCE).  The PCE and some of its by-products (trichloroethene, dichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride) can contaminate soils and groundwater and accumulate beneath a building foundation.  This accumulation can occur over time, and may not be discovered until years after the dry cleaning operations ceased.

    A recent example of this occurred in a commercial building in New York.  There, a dry cleaner’s antiquated equipment had numerous releases and caused contamination to soil at the building.  Over time, the state regulator determined that the contamination from these releases had spread beneath multiple properties, and was migrating toward several additional commercial and residential properties.  As a result, the regulator is performing environmental studies to determine the extent of the contaminant plume.  The ultimate cleanup cost may become the responsibility of the owner of the property that leased the space to the dry cleaner, but property owners affected by the contaminant plume may also incur costs to ensure the vapors are not impacting their properties.

     

  • The Future of Doing Business and the Impact of Product Life Cycle

    environmental Risk Managers, between the lines:  Environmental Risk Managers assists businesses to manage and transfer their environmental exposures so they are better able to compete in today’s business environment. What is “today’s business environment”?

    Below is one example of “today’s business environment”.  It involves life cycle analysis (cradle to grave) where manufacturers are not just responsible for manufacturing a product, but also responsible for the disposal of the product at the end of its useful life, all designed to better protect human health and the environment.

    The auto industry is another example for life cycle analysis where some state laws mandate the auto manufacturer be responsible for the removal and disposal of mercury switches from their automobiles prior to demolition. Do any of your clients have potential life cycle exposures? Proactive engagement while addressing potential environmental exposures typically leads to the most favorable outcomes for all parties involved.

    The life cycle analysis strategy has been growing for years and will only continue to do so as we transition from our current slash and trash economy to environmental economics with a emphasis on sustainability. Why is the transition to environmental economics taking place?  Because it’s better for human health and the environment. How are your clients managing the life cycle of their waste and products?

    Peggy McQuaid, of Albany, dumps prescriptions into a collection bin during a prescription drug drop-off day event at the Albany Senior Center in Albany on Oct. 29, 2011. (Dean Coppola/Bay Area News Group)

     

    Supreme Court: Big Pharma must pay for prescription drug disposal in Alameda County

    By Doug Oakley

    OAKLAND — A groundbreaking law that forces the pharmaceutical industry to pay for collection and disposal of unused drugs passed its final court test Tuesday, and the Alameda County officials who originated the concept predicted it will now spread across the country.

    Without comment, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider the industry’s challenge of Alameda County’s law, which is intended to keep drugs out of the bay, the groundwater basin and the hands of abusers. A federal appeals court had earlier upheld the ordinance.

    “This was the pharmaceutical industry really trying to put the genie back in the bottle,” said Art Shartsis, an outside attorney who defended a lawsuit filed by the pharmaceutical industry against Alameda County. “This is an innovative ordinance where a county required a particular industry to take responsibility of a post-consumer use that is dangerous to dispose of. I don’t think there was another program like this in the country.”

    Shartsis and Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, who authored the law, said similar programs are expected soon in Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco counties and in King County in Washington state. The pharmaceutical industry estimated it will have to pay $1.2 million a year in Alameda County alone to follow the law. The county estimated the cost at about $330,000 a year.

    “But the cost is really insignificant,” Shartsis said. “It will cost one penny for every $10 in drugs they sell in the county. It’s about as minimal as you can get.”

    The plaintiffs in the case, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the Generic Pharmaceutical Association and the Biotechnology Industry Organization, argued that the law interfered with the free flow of goods guaranteed in the Constitution’s Interstate Commerce Clause.

    But they weren’t able to find a court to go along. “We won at every stage,” said Alameda County Counsel Donna Ziegler, who added that legal fees were over $500,000. “We’re ecstatic, and we are looking forward as additional jurisdictions follow the lead of Alameda County.”

    Ziegler said two plans already have been submitted by pharmaceutical industry groups to collect and destroy the drugs. Those plans are being reviewed by the county department of environmental health, which will oversee the program.

    The program run by the pharmaceutical industry in Alameda County will be rolled out over three years, and officials estimate there will be 110 sites for drug collection at police stations, pharmacies and hospitals, funded by the pharmaceutical industry. There are currently 30 drug take-back sites run by the county. For a list of the existing sites, go to http://.

    Miley said he wrote the law at the urging of a now defunct organization that focused on drug abuse. The law also is designed to prevent contamination of the environment when pills and elixirs are flushed down the drain or thrown into garbage cans whose contents end up in landfills. It was modeled on legislation governing the safe disposal of tires, batteries and other potentially harmful goods. It prohibits drug companies from charging fees to pass the costs to local consumers.

    “People hold on to drugs and they don’t know what to do with them,” Miley said. The responsibility to dispose of them should be on business, he said. “Taxpayers should not have to pay for this.”

    Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said the need in the county is great. In September, her office participated in a drug take-back event and collected 799 pounds of pills in one day.

    “I have talked to mothers and fathers of children who have become addicted to prescription drugs,” O’Malley said, “and when they run out, they turn to street drugs, and many of those children have died.”

    The plaintiffs in the case issued a joint statement Tuesday that said the industry would “continue to actively work to educate consumers on the appropriate use of medicines, including providing information about safeguarding medicines in the home and promoting safe, secure and effective methods for disposal.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Lumber Liquidators Troubles Deepen As A Result of Their Vendor Stream – Who Are You Doing Business With?

    297774-1425424110-wideenvironmental Strategist, between the lines: Financial business models rarely factor in “Who” a business is doing business with.  Vendors and client’s can create environmental liabilities that suck in unsuspecting businesses.  Lumber Liquidators, Wal-Mart & Home Depot to name a few have experienced multimillion dollar environmental losses from some of their vendors.

    What we know today is every business is impacted by environmental exposures and financial business models not factoring in environmental exposures may not be worth the paper they are written on.  As the chain of articles below points out, financial business models also do not factor in reputational risks associate with environmental liabilities.

    Risk Management Strategy:  environmental Strategist™ (eS) assist in developing and executing a business’s environmental Management Strategy (eMS).  The first question eS ask in developing an eMS is “Who are you doing business with?”

    For more on developing and executing a business’s environmental Management Strategy (eMS) go to www.estrategist.com.  Now available for CE online for insurance professionals through ABEN.

    Read More On This Issue – 

    Lumber Liquidators axing Chinese flooring products:      http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/05/07/lumber-liquidators-suspends-sales-of-chinese-made-flooring/70938868/

    Insurers Denying Coverage For Lumber Liquidators:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/102669337

    Lumber Liquidators CEO resigns ‘unexpectedly’:  http://usat.ly/1ShHvSR

    Lumber Liquidators Troubles Deepen:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/21/us-lumber-liquidate-ceo-idUSKBN0O62CG20150521

    Lumber Liquidators Has More Trouble:  http://www.4-traders.com/LUMBER-LIQUIDATORS-HOLDIN-66793/news/Lumber-Liquidators–has-more-troubles-20432527/

    Lumber Liquidators To Halt Sales Of Chinese Laminate:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/102656689