Document B5Mw0a4b0OymYBMY0vdJzr6Do

I 1966 Notional Safely Congress HOW TO CONTROL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH HAZARDS By W. G. HAZARD Industrial Hygiene Engr., Owens-Illinois Glass Co., Inc., Toledo, Ohio Wc have learned wliat the potentially harmful materials and energies in industry are; we've seen how they come to be re leased in the plant environment; we've heard how their harmfulncss is gaged or measured. Now wc must figure out how to control them--to make the workplace safe. Even more, how to make those people in the work place as free from discomfort, annoyance, and fatigue as practicable. Some years ago, an industrial hygienist put it this way: "To have discovered critical hazardous areas, and to have measured the degree of damaging exposure is excellent; but then to do nothing more, is foolhardy." In general, any unhcalthful in-plant en vironment can be made healthful by follow ing the sound principles of industrial hygiene or environmental health engineering. These principles are not new. Some 40 years ago, a handful of practical minded researchers under the guidance of Professor Drinker at Harvard demonstrated that dusts, fumes, mists, gases, and vapors could successfully be controlled or brought to safe levels. Proof of this was early established through pioneer studies of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, U. S. Public Health Service, Saranac Laboratory (New York), and by many others through succeeding years who convincingly showed that in such controlled environments occu pational disease no longer developed. Attack on workroom conditions that might endanger a man's health is straightforward and logical: you rid the plant of tire danger by substituting materials or operations that arc inherently safe, or you trap the badacting agent so it doesn't get out into the work area, or you dilute its effects (through time or distance or otherwise lowering its concentration where the workman is), or you give the workman his own safe personal environment through use of personal pro tective devices. These fundamentals have been preached for two generations. They are tested and proven. In theory they apply to control of exposures to dusts, fumes and gases; even to control of such things as heat, noise and vibration. Of course, through the years, advancing industrial hygiene know-how has led to many refinements and improvements. Wc need not go into details of design, which would not be the responsibility of a safety engineer. However, if he has an overall understanding of what the appro priate control methods arc, he can often save his management money. Through diplomatic suggestion he can guide--often wth real reward--his engineering department, his plant maintenance man, machine designer, process engineer, and the people themselves toward the achievement of a safe and healthful workplace, at a minimum of cost. Since details arc out of place here, it is comforting--and mUy sometime be a facesaver, if not a lifesaver--to know where to lay your hands on engineering reference data. Some good sources arc: The National Safety Council's Occident Prevention Manual1 (a new and revised 6th edition will soon be forthcoming). Six chap ters (chapter 28, and chapters 39 through 43) arc loaded with industrial hygiene know how. National Safety Data Sheets, which now number in the hundreds, have scores of solutions to industrial hygiene problems. National Safety News carries frequent articles on current developments in industrial hygiene and occupational disease control. The American Industrial Hygiene Asso ciation1 has several publications that may be of value to a safety engineer confronted by specific new problems. Among these are: AIHA Industrial Noise Manual. AIHA Air Pollution Manual. AIHA Hygienic Guides--a series of 2- to 4-page leaflets, each devoted to the effects, measurement and control of some 100 chem icals used in industry such as, sand (free silica), asbestos, carbon monoxide, carbon tetrachloride, sulfur dioxide, etc. 144