Environmental Health and Safety

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Researchers studying a small sampling of workers who’d helped clean up the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill found significantly altered blood profiles that could indicate an increased risk of certain kinds of cancer.

Every day, we experience sound in our environment, such as the sounds from television and radio, household appliances, and traffic. Normally, we hear these sounds at safe levels that do not affect our hearing. However, when we are exposed to harmful noise—sounds that are too loud or loud sounds that last a long time—sensitive structures in our inner ear can be damaged, causing noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).

At a Tuesday session at the 2013 NSC Congress & Expo, former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, OSHA boss Dr. David Michaels, and NIOSH director Dr. John Howard discussed the “future of safety.” Who’s to say what the future holds, right? And predictions about the future are soon forgotten. Here are some of ISHN’s predictions for the future of safety:

Hearing loss happens for many reasons. Some people lose their hearing slowly as they age. This condition is known as presbycusis (prez-buh-KYOO-sis). Doctors do not know why presbycusis happens, but it seems to run in families.

In week 2 of the NFL season, fans at CenturyLink Field in Seattle broke the Guinness World Record for the highest peak decibel level — 136.6 decibels — ever recorded at a stadium.

OSHA is urging workers, residents and businesses engaged in flood cleanup in Colorado to protect themselves against hazards as cleanup efforts continue and rebuilding activities begin.