Final Blog!

This class was really tough in a lot of ways, but also very informative. I enjoyed learning about the status of our environmental and occupational health. I feel it was important to understand the risks out there and their impact on public health. Unfortunately, was also very depressing to be exposed to how many risks there are and how unprepared we are to overcome them. So many are integrated into the ways of our country, it seems insurmountable to overcome. That said, there are small avenues in if I keep my eye focused on singular issues rather than the status as a whole. Blogging and sharing our depressions was helpful so I know I'm not alone! It was a unique way to stay engaged with the course content as well, especially in the online weeks.

12.9 Blog: Climate Change

1. What do you personally find most troubling about climate change?

I find the irreparable change of our world to be the most troubling about climate change. The fact that species who are not contributing to this at all are being wiped extinct is so troubling to grapple with. This and the destruction of the world for our future generations that I want to contribute to creating is really troubling. 

2. As a public health professional, what do you think needs the greatest attention right now?

Fossil fuels fossil fuels fossil fuels. I think we need to stop fracking, participating in processes that endorse and include big oil, reduce plastic use, and take steps to preserve and reverse the damage on the environment. 

3. If you were visiting with a long-lost relative who had never heard about climate change, how would you describe it and its attendant human health and ecological threats?

With the increase in gas emissions from industrialized countries and processes, we are disrupting the earth's ability to breath fully. The gasses are trapped in the atmosphere with the chemical byproducts we put on our plants in them. The gasses trap heat in the atmosphere and melt our icecaps, raise temperatures all over the world and altering our ecosystem. The chemicals in the atmosphere also recirculate into the ecosystem, covering our food products and entering our bodies to disrupt our own biological health. Ultimately, it destroys habitats for animals and our own hormonal systems in our bodies. 

11.5 Blog about a Zero Waste Life

Lauren Singer is very inspiring. It's a bold move to aim for zero waste and she's likely gotten closer than most. I appreciated her approach to making her own home care products as she ran out of others. I think I might adopt that as this class has taught me how little we know about what we buy. I hope to use her blog to find ways to do this and make this more of a lifelong process. Could be good holiday gifts too...maybe.

Watch M10.1 Video!

1) Consider your workplace or a workplace of one of your family members. Are there chemical, biological, radiological or ergonomic issues? Using the industrial hygiene hierarchy of controls, how might you address the issues? How are they being addressed in reality?

My dad works as an electrical engineer and is overall accident prone. For him, these occupational health and safety regulations are very important and also often ignored. He is likely often exposed to chemical and ergonomic issues, among other things. He is often working in people's homes or industrial areas where there are a lot of particles in the air due to his work as well as cleaning supplies with strong chemical agents. Under the industrial hygiene hierarchy of controls, I do not believe elimination or substitution will occur as he is an independent contractor who takes odd jobs that put himself in those perilous conditions larger companies would turn down. I would try for the engineering controls to isolate others from the area, though that wouldn't protect him. For him, I would mandate a HEPA air filter and face mask. This is an important factor for larger companies to implement, though in reality I don't see this being adhered to by my dad.

2) What might be the barriers to workers exercising their rights to a healthy and safe workplace?

Barriers to workers exercising their rights to a healthy and safe workplace can be quite varied. The first that comes to mind is losing their job should their employer find them to be a liability or a nuisance. Another might be they are not put up for promotion since they are deemed a nuisance as mentioned before. Another barrier, which I think may be most common, is not being aware of the rights they have. For example, the tobacco farmers mention no restroom or water and 12 hour days (and a 9 year old working there!) which is illegal. However when in poverty, who wants to shut down the one source of income? These rights should be posted in more readily available areas.

10.8 Blog about an occupationally-related disease

I looked up Pneumoconiosis (Black Lung) as the occupational-related disease to research. This disease is caused by inhaling certain dusts, commonly asbestos fibers, silica dust and coal mine dust (hence the term "black lung", from the coal). This is typically a slow progressing disease over many years, though can occasionally progress rapidly and lead to impaired lung function and eventually death. The way to avoid this commonly work-exposure based illness is proper ventilation and dust control in the work place.

NIOSH has published recommended exposure limits (RELs) over the years, starting in 1995, and updated in 2011. They produced several reports illuminating the dangers associated with coal mine dust exposure on one's health and continue to do so. They currently operate the B Reader Program to identify and recruit physicians capable of detecting pneumoconiosis in coal mine workers. They also run the Coal Worker's Health Surveillance Program for workers to monitor the their health in underground coal mines in the US. The program was initiated in 1969 in response to the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act to increase early detection and treatment. The current "Enhanced" version of this program, also run through NIOSH, includes a mobile health unit that travels to workers in various locations and performs exams.

10.5 Blog about an occupational safety and health organization

I looked up CAL/OSHA's Safe Patient Handling Safety Program. It was a byproduct of The Hospital Patient and Health Care Worker Injury Protection Act (AB 1136), effective January 1, 2012. This law and subsequent program are very useful in the workplace, even for clinical research. Patients will come in for a research visit and sometimes insist on walking even when they are unstable. There was one patient at my first study I remember who routinely did this. If we didn't have the work safety training to know not to lunge after him as he fell, we could've thrown our backs out trying to help him. This used to happen a lot at hospitals, but thanks to this program workplace injuries related to patient care shouldn't be so prevalent. It's just up to the employer and training programs to make sure employees know how to protect themselves.

10.2 Blog about MSDS and ToxNet

I searched for lead within UCSF's Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) in an effort to continue our conversation from the last class lecture. Below are the findings: 

• What are the health risks associated with this chemical? 
• Acute Ingestion: may cause headache, nausea, abdominal pains, fatigue, muscle/joint pain, kidney disjunction, wrist drop
• Acute Inhalation: CNS damage, which may result in fatigue, tremors, hallucinations, convulsions, delirium, weight loss, sleep disturbance
• Chronic Exposure: possible anemia, CNS and kidney damage
• Skin Contact: may cause local irritation
• Skin Absorption: not pertinent
• Is the chemical a carcinogen? 
• Yes
• What personal protective equipment or special precautions should be taken when working with this chemical?
• Personal Protective Equipment: gloves (cotton or other cloth), eye protection (safety glasses, goggles, and face shield if molten), clothing (heat resistant leggings and gloves if pouring molten lead)
• Special Precautions: 
• Handling/Storing: "wash hands and arms well after handling and/or before eating or smoking. Adequate ventilation and respiratory protection should be provided when handling dross from solder bath."
• Disposal Methods: "Do not dispose of into municipal garbage. Do not dispose of into sewers or any body of water. Do not dispose of in a landfill site. Follow local or Federal guidelines for disposal. Take to a recycle or scrap dealer, or secondary smelter."
• If this is a chemical found in your workplace, what training/education were you given about any risks associated with this chemical?
• Personally, I was not given and training/education about this chemical which is at my workplace. My role does not directly work with lead, though if it is used on campus perhaps there is a slight exposure risk. I would hope UCSF manages this as we are a hospital treating already sick patients. 

While this was informative, the process to get to this information was very confusing. I think this needs to be covered in orientation and be posted in a more transparent way. I understand UCSF has over 4 million chemicals in its database so they can't share all at once. But the process of finding the website, transferring to the single sign on account, then picking which database to search within and learning how to navigate that system is tedious and discouraging. And not friendly to the average audience.