ADVANCEMENTS IN THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Abstract
The safety movement in the United States has improved significantly since the beginning of the 1900s. During that time, industrial accidents were prevalent in the country; for instance, in 1907, more than 3,200 individuals lost their lives in quarrying. Laws, precedent, and public judgment all supported the administration. There were limited safety measures for employees. Improvements in safety up to date have been as a result of pressure for law to enhance security and health, the gradually rising costs linked with accidents and damages, and the professionalization of safety as a career. Improvements in the coming days are more likely to result from more consciousness of the cost-effectiveness and subsequent competitiveness attained from secure and healthy personnel.
The events of workplace disasters have intensified the stride of the safety and health movement in the United States. These calamities could have been avoided had proper safety and health protocols been adhered to. Regrettably, they were not. This paper explores some of the most significant workplace calamities; tragedies that have a permanent impact on the safety and health movement.
The first calamity is the 1984 Bhopal tragedy. In the wake of December 3, 1984, more than 40 tons of methyl isocyanate and other dangerous gases, comprising hydrogen cyanide, found their way into the end of Bhopal, claiming lives of more than 3, 000 individuals in its result (Lorin, & Kulling,1986). After the tragedy, it was unraveled that the protective equipment that could have stopped the looming tragedy was not operational. The refrigeration equipment that should have cooled the main tank was switched off, the scrubbing structure that should have absorbed the gas was not directly accessible, and the flare structure would have burned any gas that escaped beyond the scrubbing structure was not functional.
In February 1989, India’s Supreme Court directed the company (Union Carbide India Ltd.) to issue $470 million as compensation damages (Willey, Crowl, & Lepkowski,2005). The coffers were remitted to the Indian administration to be used to compensate for the losses. This tragedy offered the incentive for the passage of stringent safety legislation globally. In the United States, it resulted in the ratification of the (EPCRA), Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-know Act of 1986.
The second tragedy is the November 2012 factory fire in Bangladesh. A clothing-industry fire in Bangladesh claimed the lives of 112 workers (Ahmed, 2012). The extent of the disaster was heightened when it was unraveled that the industry manufactured clothing to trade in various retail shops in the United States. Disaster inspectors believe that an electrical short circuit triggered the fire, which spread rapidly because of the flammable state of the fabric used to manufacture T-shirts in the industry. There were allegations that famous vendors in the United States, and some parts of the Western world, were partly responsible for the disaster because there was an indication that they understood the hazardous conditions earlier.
The clothing industry in question had a working fire alarm, and the alarm was turned off correctly. Regrettably, managers required that all employees get back to their sewing machines and even locked an exit door that they could use to flee the inferno. It was observed in the successive investigation that the industry’s fire extinguishers were not operational and were only stationed to dupe inspectors. A supplementary investigation exposed that 100 employees had been burned to death within the industry, while another 12 jumped to their deaths to flee the consuming fire (Bajaj, 2012). This disaster added to the increasing pressure for the U.S. corporations that contract with offshore producers to force those producers to execute safe and conducive work practices.
Another tragedy is the April 2013 West Fertilizer Company explosion. A blast occurred on April 17, 2013, at the company’s storage and distribution headquarters in West, Texas. The blast befell when a fire burnt ammonium nitrate while the emergency team was fighting the fire. The explosion claimed the lives of 15 persons while leaving injuries to another 160 (Laboureur, Han, et al. 2016). More than 150 neighboring structures were destroyed. In the ensuing investigation, it was established that the blaze had been intentionally set. Before the fire and blast, OSHA had slapped the corporation with a fine for improper storage of anhydrous ammonia and accused the firm of contravening its respiratory safety standards. The corporation had also been penalized in 2006 by the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to outline a risk management program strategy at the right time (Willey, 2017). Moreover, the firm had been fined by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2012 for contraventions concerning the appropriate storage of anhydrous ammonia.
Certain health issues that have been associated with workplace dangers have played critical roles in the development of contemporary safety and health movement. These health issues contributed to the public consciousness of hazardous and unhealthy working standards that, as a result, contributed to the establishment of legislation, laws, improved work protocols, and improved working standards.
Lung disorders in coal miners were a primary concern in the 1800s, especially in Great Britain, where most of the Western countries’ coal was quarried at the time. Regular exposure to coal dust contributed to the widespread outburst of anthracosis among Great Britain’s coal drillers. Also considered as the black spit, this ailment lasted from the beginning of the 1800s, when it was first established, up to around 1875, when it was ultimately suppressed by such safety and health protocols as ventilation and reduced working hours (Frieden, Lerner, & Rutherford, 2000).
The problem was discussed in the U.S. until Congress ultimately ratified the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act in 1969. The occurrences that contributed to the ratification of the Act were disastrous. A blast in a social mine in 1968 in West Virginia claimed the lives of 78 drillers. This disaster shifted to focus on mining health and safety, and Congress reacted by ratifying the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. The Act was reviewed in 1977, and another amendment followed in 1978 to extend its coverage scope.
The most recent issue over the likely impacts of bloodborne pathogens in the workplace was a substantial implication for the safety and health movement. Ailments, (AIDS) acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and pathogens, for instance, (HBV) Hepatitis B, and human immunodeficiency virus has changed the approach on how safety and health practitioners respond to medical crises and damages in which blood and other bodily fluids may be involved. Issues over the likely impacts of bloodborne pathogens have established a whole new set of measures as well as anxieties, some reasonable and some unreasonable into the world of workplace safety.
References
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