Weekly E-Newsbrief

Validity Still in Question: BLS Data Show Gains in Workplace Injuries, Illness

Despite lingering concerns about underlying accuracy, 2007 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicate a continuing trend of reduced injury and illness in American workplaces.

Life Lines Online, Laborers Health and Safety Fund of North America (LHSFNA) (http://www.lhsfna.org/index.cfm?objectID=CFB6 5DD0-D56F-E6FA-94EB2EF95544AD56)

Underground Mess: Major Cleanup Ahead

An investigation into a plume of cancer-causing chemicals under 30 blocks of downtown Orlando shows it is one of the state's most serious toxic messes and probably the hardest to clean up.

Orlando Sentinel (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/ora nge/orl-toxic1508dec15,0,1827106.story) [Author Kevin Spear]

EPA Concerned Again about Once-Notorious KY Site

Federal environmental officials are raising new concerns about conditions at a Bullitt County site that raised national awareness of industrial negligence 30 years ago.

The Herald-Dispatch (http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x1 649869495/EPA-concerned-again-about-once-noto rious-Ky-site)

Panel Starts Groundwork on VA Uranium Mining Study

Virginia may be home to the largest untapped uranium deposit in the United States, but can it be mined and turned into nuclear fuel safely?

Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot (http://hamptonroads.com/2008/12/panel-starts- groundwork-va-uranium-mining-study) [Author Scott Harper]

Supreme Court Rejects Hanford Appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Hanford's contractors in the massive downwinders' lawsuit, raising hopes for a legal settlement for up to 2,000 radiation-exposed people.

Spokane Spokesman-Review (http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story .asp?ID=18260) [Author Karen Dorn Steele]

Sick Slap at WTC Heroes

It was bad enough that Bush administration officials persistently dodged responsibility to provide medical care to sickened 9/11 rescue and recovery workers. But now they appear to have plumbed new depths of callousness toward the heroes of Ground Zero. On the way out a door that could not hit them hard and fast enough in the rear, top Bush health officials reportedly hatched a plan that would have scuttled the city's two most effective 9/11 treatment programs.

New York Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/12/1 4/2008-12-14_paterson_must_reform_new_yorks_s ystem_fo.html?page=1)

Cooperation Helped Louisville Pull Off a Cleanup Coup

Louisville's Strategic Toxic Air Reduction program, launched in 2005 after years of squabbling and negotiations, has dramatically cut emissions of the city's most risky chemical and promises to curb others by the end of 2011.

USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environme nt/2008-12-16-toxic-louisville_N.htm) [Author James Bruggers]

Nuclear Weapons Complex Changes Approved

The Energy Department gave final approval to a program to limit the most dangerous nuclear material to five sites, improving safety and security, and consolidating management of the country's nuclear weapons.

Hanford News (http://www.hanfordnews.com/news/2008/story/12 579.html?mi_email=Tri-City%20Herald_Hanford+S tories)

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

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Burn Mass Casualties Conference

The Burn Mass Casualties Conference is sponsored by a grant through the NJ Department of Health & Senior Services and is designed to identify and coordinate the responsibilities of Trauma Centers for burn disaster response. People who should attend are physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and any hospital personnel who provide patient stabilization and care. The goals and objectives for conference attendees are to: (1) adhere to American Burn Association MCI guidelines for triage and transfer; (2) assess for a tiered facility transport; (3) establish primary care for up to 96 hours.

Burn Mass Casualties Conference (http://www.njburncenter.com)

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.

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

REM TEC 09: Remediation Technology Summit, The Future of Remediation Technology

REM TEC 09: Remediation Technology Summit, The Future of Remediation Technology will take place March 3-5, 2009 in Atlanta, GA. Participants will learn about the latest, cutting-edge developments within the environmental science and remediation field from the world's leading experts within the academia, regulatory, industry and environmental consulting communities.

REM TEC 09 (http://www.bnpevents.com/PE/RTS/index.htm)

Brownfields 2009 Call for Ideas is Open

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and ICMA-the International City/County Management Association recently announced the 13th National Brownfields Conference, which will be held November 16-18, 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The conference's Call for Ideas is open and accepting submissions for paper presentations, full sessions, training workshops, and mobile tours. If you have an idea for the conference, post your proposal for consideration by the conference's education review committee. The Call for Ideas will be open until May 2009.

Call for Ideas (http://www.brownfields2009.org/en/Article.4.a spx)

Worker Protection Following a Disaster is Focus of New OSHA QuickCard

Protecting Worker Safety and Health Under the National Response Framework is the subject of a new QuickCard posted to OSHA's Web site. Following a disaster, OSHA often serves as the coordinating agency when federal, state, tribal and local assets are overwhelmed and assistance is needed to protect employees during an emergency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency can activate OSHA to coordinate the federal worker safety and health resources and technical assistance. The card describes what these services can include.

Protecting Worker Safety and Health under the National Response Framework (http://www.osha.gov/Publications/quickcard/OS HA-working-safely-NRF-6.pdf)  

Study Looks at Health Problems of Immigrant Workers at WTC

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) process of generating risk assessments is bogged down by unprecedented challenges and should be streamlined. To improve its use as a decision-making tool, this should include ensuring that risk assessments make best use of appropriate available science, are technically accurate, and tailor the assessment to the specific needs of the problem, says a new report from the National Research Council (NRC).

EPA's Risk Assessment Process Should Be Expanded (http://www.nationalacademies.org/morenews/200 81203.html)

EPA Job Filled with Challenges

When Lisa Jackson takes the helm of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) next month, she will face some of the most pressing issues of our time: climate change, air pollution, Superfund. And that's just for starters.

Philadelphia Inquirer (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science /daily/20081212_EPA_job_filled_with_challenge s.html)

Philly Mayor Signs Nation's Toughest Crane Safety Regulations

Despite the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania having no crane safety requirements, Philadelphia is the first major U.S. city to implement tougher standards on construction projects involving tower cranes.

The Bulletin (http://www.thebulletin.us/articles/2008/12/11 /local%20news:%20%20jenny%20dehuff/20218739.t xt) [Author Jenny DeHuff]

Bush Sneaks through Host of Laws to Undermine Obama

The lame-duck Republican team is rushing through radical measures, from coal waste dumping to power stations in national parks, that will take months to overturn.

London Observer (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/14/g eorge-bush-midnight-regulations) [Author Paul Harris]

A Bush Legacy: Fixing the EPA

Among the many things on President-elect Barack Obama's growing to-do list is overhauling the emasculated Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Under the Bush administration, the EPA became overly politicized, sided with corporate polluters, and often ignored findings and recommendations by its own scientists. A four-part series in The Inquirer details many of the EPA's failings during the Bush years. Although some of the EPA's troubles have been touched on before, the series connects all the dots in one compelling compendium.

Philadelphia Enquirer (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/200812 10_Editorial__A_Bush_Legacy.html)

Full Series: The Subversion of the EPA (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/special/353628 79.html)

Seasoned Regulators to Lead Obama Environment Program

The Obama administration has ambitions for a radical change in U.S. environmental policy. But President-elect Barack Obama did not pick radicals to lead it.

Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ article/2008/12/11/AR2008121103669.html) [Author David A. Fahrenthold]

U.S. Senators Vow to Tighten Controls to Prevent the Release of Biological Pathogens

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME) said they would draft legislation to tighten oversight of high containment laboratories around the country that could handle deadly biological pathogens.

U.S. Senate Press Release (http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuse Action=PressReleases.Print&PressRelease_id=14 ddd32c-93e2-4963-9474-d0031e231fa3&suppressla youts=true)

$3 million in Environmental Community Grants to Be Awarded

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making nearly $3 million available in 2009 to reduce pollution at the local level through the Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program. CARE is a community-based program that builds partnerships to help the public understand and reduce toxic risks from numerous sources.

EPA Press Release (http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/eeff e922a687433c85257359003f5340/c71628d4b77eb2b7 8525752200586927!OpenDocument)

DOE Selects Savannah River Remediation, LLC for Liquid Waste Contract at Savannah River Site

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced the award to Savannah River Remediation, LLC as the liquid waste contractor for DOE's Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken, South Carolina. The contract is a cost-plus award-fee contract valued at approximately $3.3 billion over the entire contract, consisting of a base period of six years, plus an option to extend for up to two additional years. The base performance period of the contract will be from April 1, 2009 through March 31, 2015. A 90-day transition period will begin January 2, 2009.

Department of Energy Press Release (http://www.energy.gov/news/6773.htm)

Promising Practice for Pandemic Planning - Addressing Psychological Needs in Disaster Response

A training program under way through the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) aims to reduce the psychological impact of emergencies and disasters in a process that has similarities to delivering physical first aid. Since September 11, 2001, there has been a growing understanding of the psychological impact of terrorism and disasters. Thus more professional and lay responders have learned a range of ways to address the psychological needs of people affected by terrorism and disasters. One type of training, called psychological first aid (PFA), is increasingly used as a first step in assisting people caught in disasters. The training program offers basic courses for disaster behavioral health responders and addresses the needs of specific local audiences.

CIDRAP News (http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/infl uenza/panflu/news/dec0108pfapp.html) [Author Pingping Yang]

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