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orbemnews · 4 years ago

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E.P.A. to Review Attacks on Science Under Trump WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is taking the unusual step of making a public accounting of the Trump administration’s political interference in science, drawing up a list of dozens of regulatory decisions that may have been warped by political interference in objective research. The effort could buttress efforts to unwind pro-business regulations of the past four years, while uplifting science staff battered by four years of disregard. It is particularly explicit at the Environmental Protection Agency, where President Biden’s political appointees said they felt that an honest accounting of past problems was necessary to assure career scientists that their findings would no longer be buried or manipulated. In a blunt memo this month, one senior Biden appointee said political tampering under the Trump administration had “compromised the integrity” of some agency science. She cited specific examples, such as political leaders discounting studies that showed the harm of dicamba, a herbicide in popular weedkillers like Roundup that has been linked to cancer and subsequently ruling that its effectiveness outweighed its risks. The broader list of decisions where staff say scientific integrity was violated is expected to reach about 90 items, according to one person involved in the process. It currently includes well-known controversies like the ricochet of decisions around Pebble Mine, a proposed copper and gold mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region, as well as rulings around relatively obscure toxic chemicals. “Manipulating, suppressing, or otherwise impeding science has real-world consequences for human health and the environment,” the E.P.A. administrator, Michael Regan, said in an agencywide email message on Tuesday. “When politics drives science rather than science informing policy, we are more likely to make policy choices that sacrifice the health of the most vulnerable among us.” He asked employees to bring “any items of concern” to the agency’s scientific integrity officials or the independent inspector general and pledged to encourage “the open exchange of differing scientific and policy positions.” “I also promise you that retaliation, retribution, intimidation, bullying, or other reprisals will not be tolerated,” Mr. Regan wrote. The E.P.A. was the epicenter of some of the administration’s most questionable decisions. Mr. Trump’s first administrator, Scott Pruitt, removed the agency’s web page on climate change (which has since been replaced); fired and barred independent scientific advisers who had received grants from the E.P.A. (a policy that a court ultimately found to be illegal) and then replaced them with many industry representatives; and rolled back scientifically-supported policies such as limiting pollution from trucks with rebuilt engines after meetings with executives and lobbyists. Mr. Pruitt’s successor, Andrew Wheeler, faced accusations that he repeatedly ignored and shut out his own scientists in decisions such as issuing a rule curbing but not banning asbestos; declaring the health effects of chlorpyrifos, a widely-used pesticide, “unresolved” despite years of agency research proving its danger to infants; and pushing through a policy (which has since died in the courts) to limit the type of health and epidemiological studies that could be used to justify regulations. Former Trump administration officials said the effort by Mr. Biden’s E.P.A. to discredit their work, which they maintained was conducted with robust scientific discourse, was its own brand of politics. “Every decision we made in the Trump administration was rooted in science and was based on both advice and concurrence with the career scientific team,” said Mandy Gunasekara, who served as Mr. Wheeler’s chief of staff. “Not all of them agreed, but that’s with any team.” Jonathan H. Adler, director of the Center for Environmental Law at Case Western University, said he shared some of those concerns. Understanding how many people could die at a certain level of exposure to a chemical is science, he explained. Deciding whether that risk justifies lowering the threshold for that chemical’s use is a policy judgment. “The line between what’s science and what’s policy is not always well guarded,” Mr. Adler said. Michal Freedhoff, the E.P.A.’s new acting assistant administrator in the office of chemical safety, agreed in a recent interview that disagreements over how science should inform policy are common in every administration. But, Ms. Freedhoff said, what she discovered shortly after she joined the agency in January went well beyond that, and beyond what she was expecting to find. She said she has had briefings meetings in which scientists have hesitated to explain how and why certain decisions were made during the Trump years, only to learn of multiple instances in which the researchers were told to disregard data or certain studies or were shut out of decision-making altogether. Ms. Freedhoff also said career scientists and other employees had been forced to spend an “inordinate” amount of time helping politically connected companies obtain favorable classifications for their products. The E.P.A. declined to specify the companies involved or their political connections, saying that some of the decisions were under review. But officials said one decision related to the claims that a small company could make for its pesticide. That involved at least three meetings with Trump administration appointees — unusual for what should be a routine staff-level decision. In another instance, Biden administration officials said, career scientists were required to spend a significant amount of time helping a company that wanted to have its product classified in a way that required less E.P.A. oversight. Let Us Help You Understand Climate Change “The involvement and the direction that the career staff were being given really crossed a line,” Ms. Freedhoff said. Those smaller interventions, which she said she discovered only after taking her post, led her to write a March 10 memo to her staff outlining some of the more high-profile scientific integrity violations that had been made, she said. The memo urged employees to speak out “without fear of either retaliation or being denigrated” if they had scientific opinions that did not align with the new administration’s decisions. “Unless we very clearly change direction and reaffirm the agency’s commitment to scientific integrity, transparency and decision-making about the best available science,” the agency will face continued skepticism from the courts and the public, Ms. Freedhoff said. Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, who served as head of the chemical safety office under Mr. Wheeler, said she was hurt by Ms. Freedhoff’s memo. “When someone like me reads a memo like this there’s a little bit that feels a little personal,” she said, “because even though it’s not written about me, I believe many of us who were appointed to the administration worked really hard to value the staff and to value the science.” She said the examples Ms. Freedhoff cited involved differences in scientific opinion, not violations of scientific integrity. One such decision involved pulling back on an Obama-era plan to regulate the solvent trichloroethylene, or TCE, until a new assessment was conducted. Emails first reported by Reveal News showed that when the agency concluded in 2019, as it had in the past, that TCE was unsafe because, even at low levels, it could deform the hearts of fetuses, the White House directed major changes to override the findings. Ms. Dunn, however, said the changes to the report followed a robust discussion among scientists and peer reviewers about the cardiac study. Choosing to emphasize some opinions over others “doesn’t necessarily mean there is a lack of integrity in the process,” she said. “It means there are differences in opinion.” Mr. Adler said uncovering malfeasance and learning from past errors was important, but also cautioned against “endless recriminations” and the “environmental equivalent of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission” at the E.P.A. He was referring to the restorative justice body assembled in South Africa after the end of apartheid. William K. Reilly, the E.P.A. administrator under the first President George Bush and a critic of both Mr. Pruitt and Mr. Wheeler, said he disagreed. “There’s no precedent for the attack on science, the sweep of it, the blatancy of it that we saw in the last administration,” Mr. Reilly said. He said a public reckoning was precisely what the E.P.A. needed now. “Although it could look like politics, and probably does to the Trumpies, it’s a reasonable adjustment to what has to be a major transformation,” he said. “It’s a response both to the reality of the scientific abuse that occurred and also important to agency morale.” Source link Orbem News #Attacks #EPA #review #Science #Trump

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rgwilbreyltd · 6 years ago

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Construction company fined after undertaking unlicensed asbestos work

A Bristol-based construction company has today been sentenced for carrying out unlicensed asbestos work.

Bristol Magistrates’ Court heard how, during July 2017, a project was undertaken to refurbish The Cherry Tree pub at Oldland Common, Bristol, into eight flats. T.W. Parker (Building & Groundworks) Ltd was commissioned to conduct the works.

A survey of the site on 13 July found waste materials, including asbestos insulation board, were left lying outside the building. Asbestos containing materials, which would require a licence to remove, were also found to be present amongst the debris and in the building structure.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the removal work was initiated under the control of T.W. Parker (Building & Groundworks) Ltd and was done prior to the refurbishment survey. Mr Parker had been advised that a refurbishment survey was to be undertaken before works commenced. He failed to request information from the client with regards to the potential presence of asbestos containing materials, despite some material being marked as containing asbestos, and failed to use a licensed contractor to undertake the removal works.

T.W. Parker (Building & Groundworks) Ltd of Hicks Common Road, Winterbourne pleaded guilty to breaching Section 5, 8(1) and 16 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. The company has been fined £7,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,264.60.

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cdmscotland · 6 years ago

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Construction company fined after undertaking unlicensed asbestos work

A Bristol-based construction company has today been sentenced for carrying out unlicensed asbestos work.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Ian Whittles said: “The dangers associated with asbestos are well-known and a wealth of advice and guidance is freely available from the HSE website.

“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

#HSE

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acornshealthandsafety-blog · 7 years ago

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Asbestos Awareness Training Bristol

Asbestos Awareness Training in Bristol by Acorn Health and Safety

Worried about the risks of asbestos? Are you tradesmen working on older premises? Perhaps you are a building manager or facilities manager of a building built before 2000? Acorn Health and Safety offer training specifically for you on “Asbestos Awareness“. For more information please telephone 0117 958 2070

What is asbestos?

Asbestos is resistant to heat, fire, electricity and most chemical reactions and they are microscopic, naturally occurring fibrous minerals.

Asbestos was used for many years in different commercial and industrial environments, as well as in a wide range of consumer products. Its use has significantly diminished over the decades due to its dangers, however, older homes, schools, and public buildings can still contain asbestos and are still commonly found.

What are the risks of asbestos?

Asbestos can cause serious health issues and life-threatening diseases. It is known most for causing mesothelioma, which is a rare and deadly cancer that develops in the lining of the lungs, abdomen, or heart.

Why is asbestos so dangerous?

Asbestos microscopic fibres easily become airborne and are subsequently inhaled. The asbestos particles then cling to tissues in the lungs and other areas of the respiratory system.

Over time, the fibres cause inflammation and can be the cause of very serious health problems and diseases:

Mesothelioma – The mesothelium protects the vital organs in the chest and abdomen, and this aggressive cancer forms in the thin membrane of the mesothelium. The only medical reason known for the cause of Mesothelioma disease is from exposure to asbestos.

Lung Cancer – Lung cancer is known to be exacerbated by exposure to asbestos however is not necessarily the main cause.

Asbestosis -The formation of scar tissue plaques on the surface of the lung linings (pleura) is the cause of this degenerative respiratory condition. Asbestosis can be the start to the onset of mesothelioma.

Where is asbestos found most common?

Asbestos can be found in any industrial or residential building built or refurbished before the year 2000. It was heavily used between the 1930's to the 1970's in roofs, floorings, walls, industrial and commercial buildings. It is still commonly found in older homes, schools, and public buildings so it is always important to get a qualified asbestos business to come and check an old site, building, office or home you may be moving into or developing.

Some roofing and siding shingles are made of asbestos cement. Houses built between 1930 and 1950 may have asbestos as insulation. At one time is was used so much that it can be present in many of the common materials used in the building trade between these times.

Who is most at risk of being exposed to asbestos?

There were hundreds of occupations affected by asbestos exposure as it was used in thousands of commercial products and industrial settings. If you worked in these industries then you were potentially exposed to asbestos during that time. No amount of asbestos exposure is safe, however, the longer and more intense the exposure, the more likely an individual is to develop mesothelioma cancer or another asbestos disease.

Exposure to asbestos increases the likelihood of other types of lung cancer. Smoking can also exacerbate asbestos-related diseases.

Industries in which asbestos use was particularly prevalent included shipbuilding, commercial product manufacturing, power plants, and construction prior to 2000.

How can you identify if there is asbestos?

Identify when the building was constructed – If it was constructed before the 1980's and it hasn't been refurbished since around 2000 then it is likely to have materials with asbestos in.

Identify what materials were used in constructing the building – Is the building constructed from timber, brick, steel, cement sheet or another material? If there is cement, there's a chance it could contain asbestos fibres bonded to cement particles. For example, a roof made from corrugated cement sheeting would probably contain asbestos.

Because of the qualities of asbestos, making is waterproof and hardy, areas of the building prone to wet conditions like bathrooms, toilets and kitchens may have asbestos sheeting or asbestos vinyl tiles in the walls, floors and ceilings. Pipes throughout the building that carry water and sewage may also contain asbestos.

What you should do if you suspect you have asbestos present?

Get a specialist and certified asbestos company in. Do a walkthrough inspection with them as asbestos specialists know exactly what they are looking for. They can advise you on the probability of asbestos being present just by the age of the building and the materials used. They should be Certified and Licensed in Asbestos and Asbestos Removals in accordance with HSE Guidance. A good asbestos specialist will tailor their service to each customer's requirements and needs and will always use highly skilled staff and surveyors.

Asbestos Management Responsibilities

Tradespersons, developers, owners, managers and employees of any businesses that might be in contact with, or have a responsibility to manage asbestos as part of their work or role should go through accredited asbestos awareness training.

It is a shocking statistic but every week, 20 tradesmen die from asbestos-related disease, demonstrating that training is a must to anyone working on buildings built or refurbished before the year 2000.

So, we have explained what asbestos is and the dangers but what should you do now?

Acorn Health & Safety offer iatp Accredited Asbestos Awareness Training – HS11 which is recommended for anyone or any employee that may encounter, or manage a team which may encounter asbestos at any time.

Participation of our Accredited Asbestos Awareness Training helps your organisation to demonstrate compliance with their statutory duties and provides evidence towards SSIP accreditations. It is currently recommended by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that asbestos awareness training is repeated on an annual basis.

Our courses are delivered by our knowledgeable and enthusiastic consultants and trainers, all of whom hold adult teaching qualifications supported by professional qualifications, as well as considerable hands on practical experience. All of this is reflected in our grounded, pragmatic training approach which will leave the delegates knowing all they need to know about specialist subject matters as well as Health & Safety legislation.

About Acorn Health & Safety

Acorn Health and Safety train around 18,000 delegates a year, offering training to individuals, groups and entire teams. We are committed to providing excellent training which is delivered in a relaxed, yet informative style.

Acorn has been providing consultancy and training to wide and varied groups of clients from international blue chip companies through to local businesses for over sixteen years.

We understand that health and safety legislation is challenging and confusing for many businesses with varying requirements amongst insurers, regulators and purchasers, so we offer specialist or consultancy services for individual business topics. Our specialist trainers will come in and learn about your business and create bespoke training on any subjects from fire, construction, noise, manual handling and legionella to help you and your business understand what is required by law, and to keep your teams safe.

As well as tailored training courses, we also run a rolling programme of 'open courses' which are particularly suited for individuals or organisations that only have a few delegates, as well as for those who are only looking to release small groups of staff at one time so your operation is not impacted. You can see our full list of courses and dates for 2018 here.

So how do we approach asbestos awareness training?

Trainers use a wide range of teaching techniques to meet the needs of individual delegates attending courses and the business itself. The course programme, accredited by iatp follows a set syllabus and contains the most up to date information available including:

What is asbestos

The health effects

To provide delegates with an awareness of the risks associated with exposure to asbestos and how they should manage this

Identification of asbestos

Key legislation of duty to manage client and contractor's responsibility

An overview of asbestos surveys and registers

Procedure to follow discovering asbestos

Hygiene and PPE

This course is of 3 hours (half day) duration.

We'll provide delegates with a variety of printed course materials, including workbooks and handouts, allowing them to refresh themselves whenever they need to. On successful completion of the course delegates will receive a printed iatp accredited course certificate.

After the training course, our team of consultants and trainers are available to answer any questions you may have and you will receive an automatic reminder prior to the course expiry.

Our 'asbestos awareness' course is just one of over 60 courses we offer. Acorn Health & Safety provides training and consultancy in first aid, fire safety, food safety, manual handling, healthcare training and health and safety.

We can provide a wide variety of accredited or tailor-made courses and these can be 'in-house' or 'open' programmes.

Our 'in-house' course programmes are the most cost effective option if you have a few staff requiring training, these can be adapted to include reference to your local policies, practices and documentations. These courses can be delivered at any venue suitable to you, or you can hire our purpose-built training centre in Warmley, Bristol.

Please contact us on 0117 958 2070 to discuss any of your training needs and we can answer any questions you may have and advise the most suitable and cost effective training solution for you. For the best asbestos awareness training in Bristol, think Acorn.

The post Asbestos Awareness Training Bristol appeared first on Acorn Health and Safety Training and Consultancy.

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a4asbestos-blog · 7 years ago

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Asbestos Disposal Bristol

A4 Asbestos specialises in the asbestos testing & removal in Bristol. For more information about our Asbestos Disposal Bristol service, visit our website today.

The term asbestos permeates throughout society still to this day, as it health effects linger from its abundant use back in the last century. You may have heard that asbestos may be present in your home if you live in an older home or perhaps work in an old building that is being renovated, with signs stuck up on the walls warning you of the potential effects of asbestos. It's a bitter realisation paired with painful hindsight that such a harmful material was so widely used not only in the UK but throughout the world. How was a harmful substance like asbestos even used in our day to day lives? Why was it so quickly adopted and used by domestic and commercial entities?

Large-scale asbestos mining dates back as far as the mid 19th century, with companies in London and Scotland becoming the first companies to adopt this material to use it commercially. Asbestos was first commercially used for Yarn, with its fibres being ideal for making long lengths of yarn. Asbestos slowly become a more abundant material as people found more uses for it, like with any material. Asbestos had many attractive qualities such as great tensile strength, thermal abilities as well as electrical resistance and flame retardance. It was used in everything from roofing, tiling, boilers, water pipes, paints, towels, plastics, wire insulation, cigarette filters, brake pads, water filters and even toys and crayons. Its use was so abundant that it was even used in gas filters. With large mines popping up in Canada to capitalise on this newly found material, the world was using asbestos faster than it could be produced. It wasn't until 1899 that a Dr Montague Murray starting noting the negative health effects that asbestos had on humans. In the early 1900's, researchers in the UK began seeing a rising number of young deaths and lung complications in towns that were known for asbestos mining. The first study to be released was conducted by Dr Montague Murray in London, carrying out a postmortem on a young man who died from pulmonary fibrosis. The man worked in a textile factory that heavily used asbestos, and it was apparent that asbestos had a large part to play in his death as traces of asbestos were found in his lungs.

For more on this informative article, visit our site on: https://www.a4asbestos.co.uk/news/asbestos-disposal-bristol/

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jaigeddes · 7 years ago

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Tonnes of toxic materials supplied to major warehouse site

A waste recycling company and two of its directors have been fined after supplying toxic materials to a major warehouse job.

Bristol Crown Court heard how Churngold Recycling Ltd illegally supplied thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste to a development site in Avonmouth.

Groundworkers at the site where VolkerFitzpatrick was main contractor said the materials gave them ‘runny and sore eyes’.

Another worker said it smelt like ‘faeces and bleach’ and ‘took his breath away.’ Others described the clay-like material as ‘smelling like a hospital’.

The sentencing followed a five year Environment Agency investigation into Churngold and two of its directors, John Barcham and Lee Phelan.

Churngold operated a waste transfer site on the Severn View Industrial Estate, Avonmouth, where it supplied soil and aggregate for the building industry.

Waste was collected from sites across the UK and stored and treated at Hallen Yard.

In June 2011, Churngold was awarded a contract to remove hazardous waste from a site in Oxford where the car company, BMW, discovered extensive contamination under a building while redeveloping its Cowley factory.

Trial pits and testing revealed high levels of heavy metals, hydrocarbons and asbestos contaminated materials.

Churngold was paid £750 per load to remove the hazardous waste to its yard for treatment prior to it being used as a building material.

Between July to September 2011, a total of 31,000 tonnes of waste was brought from Cowley to Churngold’s waste transfer station in Avonmouth.

Around the same time, Churngold was awarded a contract to supply 60,000 tonnes of aggregate to the site of a new Co-operative supermarket distribution centre at Cabot Park, Avonmouth.

The aggregate would be mixed with inert material that had gone through a ‘stabilisation process’ making it suitable for use as a building material.

On 7 September 2011 Churngold delivered the first load to the Co-op site.

Over the next fortnight it transported a total of 64,000 tonnes (2,751 loads) to the new distribution centre site.

Failure by Churngold to fully treat the waste, potentially exposed staff and visitors to Hallen Yard and ground-workers at the Co-op site to health risks. Churngold’s environment manager became concerned after discovering the hazardous nature of the BMW car plant waste.

She told Barcham and Phelan it was ‘untreatable’. They repeatedly ignored her warnings.

On 22 September 2011 a former Churngold employee notified the Co-op that contaminated material had been delivered to their site.

Subsequent analysis revealed the presence of asbestos in 47 of 60 samples, high levels of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) as well as significant levels of leachable lead, cyanide, copper, antimony and total sulphate concentrations.

Work on the Co-op site was suspended on 1 December 2011 following publication of the analysis report.

The Environment Agency confirmed the material was illegally deposited hazardous waste and that it should be removed to a suitable waste facility for safe disposal.

Adrian Evans, for the Environment Agency, said: “Churngold Recycling Ltd had a culture where commercial gain was given priority over environmental protection. We hope this prosecution sends out a strong deterrent message to others who flout the law.”

Judge James Patrick QC said “the treatment of the waste was unscientific and amateur” and that the defendants showed a “flagrant disregard for the law”.

Churngold Recycling Ltd was fined £22,450.

Barcham was given a six month suspended jail sentence, ordered to pay costs of £10,000 and carry out 75 hours of unpaid work.

Phelan was given an eight month suspended sentence and ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work.

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ndbasilica · 7 years ago

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Tonnes of toxic materials supplied to major warehouse site

A waste recycling company and two of its directors have been fined after supplying toxic materials to a major warehouse job.

Bristol Crown Court heard how Churngold Recycling Ltd illegally supplied thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste to a development site in Avonmouth.

Groundworkers at the site where VolkerFitzpatrick was main contractor said the materials gave them ‘runny and sore eyes’.

Another worker said it smelt like ‘faeces and bleach’ and ‘took his breath away.’ Others described the clay-like material as ‘smelling like a hospital’.

The sentencing followed a five year Environment Agency investigation into Churngold and two of its directors, John Barcham and Lee Phelan.

Churngold operated a waste transfer site on the Severn View Industrial Estate, Avonmouth, where it supplied soil and aggregate for the building industry.

Waste was collected from sites across the UK and stored and treated at Hallen Yard.

In June 2011, Churngold was awarded a contract to remove hazardous waste from a site in Oxford where the car company, BMW, discovered extensive contamination under a building during re-developing its Cowley factory.