Document 15ao6Le6znGMkoG6kr4bGV4Qa

< Industrial Hygiene Digest February, I Q6~ 7. IT,, of inhabitants over 40. Studies covering the whole of Yokkaichi reveal that the average value of sulfur dioxide by the lead-peroxide method in 13 districts was directly proportional to the prevalence of bronchial asthma. The results of skin tests (house dust) showed positive reactions for only 6. 4% of the asthmatic patients in contrast to classical asthma, in which positivity is 50%-90% in Japan. These results suggest that Yokkaichi asthma differs from classical asthma. As for chronic bronchitis, increasing numbers of cases were found by mass screening techniques in polluted districts. There were two to six times as many as in nonpolluted districts. Judging by FEVj q, the number of cases of obstructive impairment among the inhabitants was also increased two to six times. There are six references. -- Authors summary 205 Status of Committee Work on Air Pollution Control Equipment. K. J. Caplan. Am. Ind. Hyg. Assn. J. 27, 567-570 fNov.-Dec. 1 966). A number of professional societies and trade groups are highly interested in various aspects of the application, performance, and testing of air pollution control equipment. An AJHA manual on the subject is nearing publication. As a matter of current interest, and perhaps leading toward better coordination of effort, all such organizations and committees having a probable interest in this field have been contacted. Their activities are reported, with some detail as to scope and status of highly active groups. An analysis is presented of overlap in individual committee membership. Especially bothersome roadblocks to progress are discussed. | MANAGEMENT ASPECTS | 206 Making Off-the-Job Safety Pay-- With Interest. M.J. Caserio. J. Occ. Med. 8, 589-592 (Nov. 1966). The problem of off-the-job safety is a great responsibility and challenge, a matter which should be of great personal concern to all. The industrial physician can help to make the homes and communities of the employees whom they serve better and safer places in which to live. Not only are in-plant programs needed, but community-wide and individual efforts as well. The contri butions which the industrial physician can make will produce valuable dividends -- life instead of death, health instead of injury, and happiness instead of misery. Off-the-job safety can pay -- with interest. -- Author's conclusion | ACCIDENTS AND PREVENTION 1 207 Barehand Live Line Working on High Voltage. A. C. Chapman. Elec. Eng. 42, 1 8 - 1 9, 2 1, 23, 25, 27 (Nov. 1 965). Problems in barehand live line working are discussed, including insulation requirements of a suitable platform, the availability and type of suitable equipment, operating controls, safety precautions, hydraulic rams, training of aerial work platform operators and electrical testing of mobile work platforms; also types of jobs which can be carried out barehand. There are 15 references. --J. Am. Soc.Safety Eng. Absts. MISCELLANEOUS | 208 Environmental Hazards. Urban Solid-Waste Management. M.W. First. New Engl. J. Med. 275, 1478-1485 (Dec. 29, 1966). Solid wastes, often called refuse, include a wide variety of discarded, and generally useless, materials, resulting from normal community activities. Garbage and rubbish from households, institutions and commercial establishments comprise the largest fraction of municipal waste collections, but bulky objects, such as stoves and refrigerators and, especially, abandoned auto mobiles, represent more difficult municipal collection and disposal problems. Industrial refuse from factories, power plants and food-processing plants may contain waste materials not usually found in municipal collections, but more often the difference is quantitative rather than qualitative since industrial processes, by their very nature, generate large amounts of one, or a few, kinds of waste products. By contrast, ordinary municipal collections tend to be extremely diverse. An urgent need for better methods of solid-waste management in all sectors of the economy, combined with the powerful stimulus provided by Solid Waste Act funds, is opening up a period of active development and experimentation in solid-waste technology that will result in the rapid introduction of the modern systems now needed. The need will be even more urgent by the end of the century. A most hopeful sign is the current interest among universities and research institutions in tackling solid-waste problems as an interdisciplinary study involving the special skills of urban planners, sociologists and economists, with those of sanitary engineers, public-health administrators and public-works specialists. 03122426