Importance of Including Construction Worker Safety and Health in Green Building

1
Importance of Including Construction Worker
Safety and Health in Green Building

• Karla Armenti, ScD.
• American Public Health Association
• Annual Meeting 2004

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Sustainable Building Practices

• The topic of sustainable building practices is a
  large one. It is becoming a topic of increasing
  concern for several reasons.
• First, our planet is comprised of finite
  resources and there is growing consensus that we
  must begin to use them more wisely.
• Second, many of the products that are currently
  used in the building industry are toxic to human
  health, and there are alternatives.
• Source Patrick Miller, The Jordan Institute

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Green Buildings

• Green buildings are intended to reduce energy
  usage, minimize indoor air quality problems,
  recycle water and waste, and provide a
  comfortable indoor environment for its occupants.
  
• Green buildings are designed to interact with the
  surrounding environment.
• It is assumed that by using environmentally
  friendly materials, these buildings are safe for
  everyone. But, are they really?
• What about the construction workers building
  these buildings?
• Are we shifting risk from the general
  environment to the work environment?

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• RISK SHIFTING.unintended consequences when
  fixing an environmental problem inadvertently
  increases the risks faced by workers (or vice
  versa)
• toxic to ergonomic??
• toxic to physical (noise, safety)??
• Inhalation to dermal ??
• Known to less known??
• VOC to non-VOC??

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Background lets start with generalindustrial
activity

• Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 A Model for
  Sustainable Economic Growth and Development
• Reduction or elimination of pollution at the
  source
• Substitute with less harmful chemicals and
  processes
• Use resources and energy more efficiently
• Protect natural resources

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• Many environmental programs do not include worker
  safety and health
• Many existing P2 case studies and programs do not
  address worker impacts.
• Environmental measurement methods (e.g. emission
  inventories) do not allow a sensitive prediction
  of the impact on worker exposures.

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Why is it important to link P2 and occupational
health?

• Allows for full participation by all stakeholders
  government agencies, industry, labor,
  community.
• Provides an integrated approach to establish
  interventions that decrease or eliminate
  potential harm to workers and the environment.

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Benefits of Integrating Both Disciplines

• Provides opportunity to practice primary
  prevention - avoids reliance on end-of-pipe
  solutions.
• Prevents risk shifting between and among
  workplace and environment by evaluating more than
  one media at a time.

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Occupational and Environmental Practitioners

• Need to work together to comprehensively and
  simultaneously address toxics in the workplace
  and the environment in order to prevent risk
  shifting and to take advantage of opportunities
  for simultaneous improvements.
• What are some of the projects and programs out
  there that are already doing this important
  work?

10

• Summary of Literature and Projects Promoting the
  Integration of Occupational and Environmental
  Health

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Pioneering Activities

• 1989 Passage of the Toxics Use Reduction Act in
  Massachusetts
• Toxics use reduction means in-plant changes in
  production processes or raw materials that
  reduce, avoid, or eliminate the use of toxic or
  hazardous substances or generation of hazardous
  by-products per unit of product, so as to reduce
  risks to the health of workers, consumers, or the
  environment without shifting risks between
  workers, consumers or parts of the environment.

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Pioneering Activities

• 1995 Rafael Moure-Eraso. OSHAs Senior Policy
  Advisor on Chemical Exposure Prevention (SPACEP)
  Six month study of P2/OHS. EPA/OPPT support (ONE
  Committee).
• 1999 COMMON SENSE APPROACHES TO PROTECTING
  WORKERS AND THE ENVIRONMENT Interagency
  Cooperation towards Comprehensive Solutions -A
  Workshop sponsored by OSHA, NIOSH, and EPA,
  Washington, DC.

13
Conference Presentations

• 1995 to Present. Sessions on the integration of
  occupational and environmental health at NPPR,
  APHA and AIHA.
• D. Sivin, Johns Hopkins University. Pollution
  Prevention and Worker Toxic Exposures A Method.
• K. Armenti. UMASS Lowell. Primary Prevention
  for Occupational Health. How Pollution
  Prevention has affected Worker Safety and Health
  at four Printed Wire Board (PWB) facilities in
  Massachusetts.

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• Conference Presentations, Contd
• M. Flum. UMASS Lowell. Worker Participation in
  Pollution Prevention -- From Here to the Future.
• M. Wilson, UC Berkeley. When Environmental
  Policy Leads to Occupational Disease A Case
  Study in the California Vehicle Repair Industry
• B. Rosenberg. Tufts University. Riding the
  Green Wave Can We Use Environmental Laws to
  Regulate Occupational Hazards?

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• Conference Presentations, Contd
• J. Tessler. UMASS Lowell. Capturing Ergonomic
  Risk Shifting in Pollution Prevention
  Initiatives Conceptual Challenges and Proposed
  Solutions.
• M. Gillen. EPA OPPT. What occupational health
  and environmental specialists need to know to
  protect workers and the environment.
• S. Lee, UMASS Lowell. Successful Implementation
  Strategies for Environmental Management Systems
  in Public Organizations.

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Integrated Programs/Projects

• P2 Training Program for Workers (Occupational
  Training Education Consortium, Rutgers
  University)
• Sustainable Hospitals Project (Lowell Center for
  Sustainable Production) and Hospitals for a
  Healthy Environment Green Cleaning in
  Hospitals

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Integrated Programs/Projects

• Janitorial Products Pollution Prevention Project
  
• Project Partners
• US EPA, Cal/EPA Department of Toxic Substance
  Control
• Santa Clara County Pollution Prevention Program
• City of Los Angeles
• City of Richmond
• City of Santa Barbara
• Local Government Commission

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Integrated Programs/Projects

• Canadian Labour Congress
• "A Workers Manual on Pollution Prevention - How
  to Clean Up Your Workplace and the Environment at
  the Same Time"

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Integrated Programs/Projects

• EPAs Design for the Environment Integrated
  Environmental Management Systems
• EPAs Green Engineering Program Sustainable
  Design of Processes and Products
• Textbook, Green Engineering Environmentally
  Conscious Design of Chemical Processes

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Integrated Programs/Projects

• Small Business Safety Officer (SBSO)
• A computer program that integrates occupational
  and environmental risk assessment in one tool.
• Encourages toxics use reduction and provides
  technical assistance to find cleaner, safer, and
  cheaper alternatives to hazardous materials and
  chemicals.
• Under development.  

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Discussion Groups

• How do issues about integrating OHS and P2 relate
  to your work?
• Are you or your colleagues doing anything in this
  area?
• If yes, what tools or resources have you used to
  consider both OHS and EHS risks together?
• If no, what tools or resources do you see are
  needed to allow for better integration of OHS and
  P2?

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More Discussion Questions

• What barriers do you see are in the way to
  adopting this approach more fully?
• What are ways of disseminating this approach, and
  sharing successes of projects integrating OHS and
  P2?