Occupational Safety and Health Administration Logs

BPs response to not allowing workers to wear respirators! peole are already sick! how do you feel about BPs?

cover up? and lack of care for the workers? this is their response letter stating why they believe respirators should not be given out The Unified Area Command is committed to stopping the oil spill, cleaning the gulf and restoring normal business in the area affected. Our highest priority is worker safety. The Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have assessed the risk and provided information on workplace safety and health for these responders; the guidelines can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/oilspillresponse/protecting/ The primary means of controlling airborne exposures to harmful dusts, fogs, fumes, mists, gases, smokes, sprays, or vapors is always to prevent, control, or remove the atmospheric contamination. In situations when exposures cannot be otherwise controlled, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including respiratory protection, may be needed. Based on air monitoring data collected to date, exposures to hydrocarbons, dispersants and other hazardous chemicals are below established occupational exposure limits. In most situations that have been examined to date, mandatory wearing of respirators is not required. That said, respirators will be provided to response workers engaged in the source control activities and for vessels involved in burning crude oil. These respirators are provided as part of a comprehensive respiratory protection program. Respirators only need to be worn when air-monitoring results indicate an elevated level of air contaminants, or when professional judgment determines there is potential exposure, or when workers are reporting health effects or symptoms. Even when comprehensive and routine air monitoring indicates that no inhalational hazard exists, an employer may permit respiratory protection to be worn voluntarily by employees provided it will not in itself create a hazard. At this time, where air monitoring does not indicate a need, respirator use is voluntary and not recommended. The only situation where voluntary use may be helpful is when an individual is bothered by non-hazardous levels of hydrocarbon odor and cannot be relocated to another work area. In that case, a carbon-impregnated odor-reduction filtering facepiece respirator may provide some odor reduction potential—and can be worn voluntarily without the employer having to implement a respiratory protection program. These types of respirators do not provide health protective effects; they only provide odor reduction. Wearing any respirator will have adverse effects on breathing, vision and communication, will result in some discomfort, and may cause additional physiological stress. Wearing respirators, protective clothing, and other forms of PPE in hot environments can accelerate the onset of heat stress and exhaustion. Responders using any form of PPE, particularly dermal PPE, should be monitored for signs of heat stress, and take heat stress precautions (i.e., water, shade, rest) as needed. When workers have concerns about environmental conditions, they are instructed to stop the job and call an occupational safety and health professional to evaluate the environment. If the occupational safety and health professional determines that there is a potentially hazardous exposure or if workers are reporting health effects or symptoms, workers are instructed to move out of the area until the workplace is judged to be acceptable, or they may be instructed to utilize approved respiratory protection. For more information on health risks associated with oil spill response cleaning efforts, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/oilspillresponse/. Regards, Joint Information Center Deepwater Horizon Response

Public Comments

1. I boycotted BP as soon as the oil spill started. Hated them then for what they did, hate them not for what they did. Nothing will ever change my opinion. Even when I am 70 years old I will still not use their gas. There is no excuse for what they did. Those new commercials out there with them saying they are trying to best to fix everything and how much hey care about the spill makes me even sicker. They don't care. The only thing they care about is the money going into their pockets. They couldn't care less about the people without jobs because of their avoidable mistake. They aren't sorry about the spill, they're sorry they're losing business.
2. BP Oil Spill: Clean-Up .. CREWS CANT FIND CRUDE IN THE GULF ! ! "[It's] mother nature doing her job," said Ed Overton : Professor of environmental studies at Louisiana State University. ref. link : http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bp-oil-spill-crude-mother-nature-breaks-slick/story?id=11254252 Deepwater Horizon alarms were switched off 'to help workers sleep Williams took the matter with a TRANSOCEAN supervisor, Mark Hay, who eventually rejected concerns. Hay responded: "Damn thing been in bypass for five years. Matter of fact, the entire [Transocean] fleet runs them in bypass. Williams further revealed that a crucial safety device, designed to shut down the drill shack in the case of dangerous gas levels being detected, had been SWITCHED OFF ! Deepwater Horizon alarms were switched off 'to help WORKERS SLEEP!! ref http://www.timesnewsline.com/news/Deepwater-Horizon-alarms-were-switched-off-to-help-workers-sleep-1279931596/ Tony Hayward,scape goat for INCOMPETENT AMERICAN CONTRACTORS ...
3. There's a wicked garage around the corner from us and it sells sausage rolls, that's one good thing bp is held responsible for.
4. any one with a car is responsible for the spill..
5. Be interesting to see the full story. Confused cut and paste means the facts are obfuscated.
6. i feel bad about it.