Dr. Scott Harris, PhD, Global Risk Manager for IESO, has been accepted to present at the 2010 ASSE Professional Development Conference in Baltimore, MD.  On June 14 Scott will present “Chalmette, LA: First Katrina, Then the Oil…”  Our web visitors can download an exclusive copy of Scott’s presentation paper with the first-hand story right from the front line.

So, what happened in Chalmette?  Following Hurricane Katrina, over one million gallons of crude oil from the Murphy Oil USA (MOUSA) Refinery in Meraux, LA released into a populated area.  Search and

Keith Spencer, IESOs Global Operations Manager, has received his PhD in Environmental Health Science with a focus area in Industrial Health and Safety.  Dr. Spencer graduated Magna Cum Laude in October 2009 with a 3.85 GPA from England’s Ridgewood University.  Degree coursework and research ranged from Atmospheric Chemistry to Advanced Industrial Hygiene.  Keith is looking forward to putting his new credential and the related skills to work for our clients.  Please join us in congratulating him on this achievement.

The 30th annual UNC Winter Institute in St. Petersburg, FL is scheduled for February 14-19, 2010.  The Institute is designed for industrial hygienists, safety and environmental managers, occupational physicians and nurses and anyone else involved in EHS management.  There are about 30 courses covering everything from regulations to healthcare hazmat to environmental health, all eligible for recertification points toward your CHMM, CIH, CSP or other professional certs.

IESO will be there instructing Fundamentals of Environmental Health, and co-teaching two new courses, Managing Hazmat Responses in Healthcare and Environmental Health and Safety Management Systems in Healthcare.

In May we published an article on EPA’s proposed Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Rule.  The final Rule was signed on September 22, 2009, and will go into effect 60 days after Federal Register publication.  It applies to an estimated 10,000 facilities in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. possessions and territories (i.e., Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, American Samoa).

The final Rule requires facilities and suppliers of fossil fuels or industrial GHGs that emit 25,000 metric tons or more per year of GHGs and manufacturers of vehicles and engines to submit annual reports to EPA.  The Agency equates 25,000 metric tons of CO₂-equivalent to the emissions from 131 rail cars of coal, 58,000 barrels of oil or 4,600 passenger vehicles or the annual energy use of 2,200 homes.

Do you have structures with lightning protection?  Is it properly installed?  How can you tell?  While conducting a recent mock VPP audit, IESO discovered that a lightning protection system being installed did not comply with NFPA 780, the Standard for the Installation of Lightning Protection Systems.

Down-conductors were exposed inside the structure and improperly bonded to surrounding ground systems, which could have caused a sideflash during a strike.  Anchor points were set in mortar joints,

Philips Lighting in Danville, KY will develop and implement their OHSAS 18001 program using in-part the first-ever Bluegrass State Skills (BSSC) grant awarded for a health and safety management system.  The $25,000 grant from the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development was the product of a cooperative effort between IESO and BSSC and their legal department.  Historically the grant program excluded health and safety from eligibility, but IESO successfully negotiated a great outcome for our client.

An article on Oil Spill Chemical Countermeasures recently published by Dr. Scott Harris, the Senior Risk Manager at IESO, LLC, appears in the July-August newsletter from the North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (NC OSHERC).  The NC OSHERC is one of 17 regional education centers established by NIOSH to develop and support safety and health professionals, and is part of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

IESO, LLC recently published an arc flash article (http://iesollc.com/wordpress/2009/06/22/arc-flash-safety-history-and-requirements/) on our website.  We continue to recommend the rigorous analysis proscribed by IEEE 1584, and warn against “quickie” or generic solutions.  This safety alert illustrates a real-world example of why that is.

An industrial facility recently asked IESO, LLC to evaluate arc flash results from another consultant who reportedly used a customized program developed in-house.  The facility management team was concerned about the lack of time that the consultant spent on-site (less than five hours), the minimal review of electrical components and the generic results.  Labels for all electrical components were identical whether for buss plugs, MCC panels or substation switchgears, and the facility staff had serious doubts that they got what they paid for.

The U.S. EPA has been reimbursing local governments for hazmat responses since 1986, but it seems that many LEPCs and other eligible groups are still unfamiliar with the program.  From the LGR website: “In the event of a release (or threatened release) of hazardous substances, EPA may reimburse local governments for expenses related to the release and associated emergency response measures.  The Local Governments Reimbursement (LGR) Program provides a ‘safety net’ of up to $25,000 per incident to local governments that do not have funds available to pay for response actions.”  So with over $3 million in reimbursements awarded to date, how do you get your money back?  It really is not all that complicated, but first we need a basic understanding of the relevant terms and requirements.

It seems the news these days often carries stories about viral, bacterial and related disease outbreaks.  We all hear and worry about the “usual suspects” such as Norwalk Virus on cruise ships (“cruise ship virus”) or whether we can catch TB, flu or other diseases on an airplane (yes).  Even hospitals are not safe from these threats.  Johns Hopkins Hospital had a Norwalk outbreak in 2004, described as “one of at least 24” in Maryland in just the first half of that year.  That incident lasted three months, sent 13 employees to the emergency room or the hospital, and cost JHH over $650,000.  Across the country hospitalized patients are contracting clostridium difficile (c. diff), with up to 438 patients dying every day.