Salmonella Tainted Peanut Butter

Georgia - A processing plant in Blakely, Georgia, which has produced salmonella tainted peanut butter, has had a poor history of citations due to a lack of sanitation. The state health inspections show these citations for dirty walls and surfaces, grease residue, and dirt build-up all over the plant. This plant owned by the Peanut Corporation of America of Lynchburg, Virginia has been shut down after more inspections done by the state agricultural department. These inspectors found areas of rust near the food, large gaps in the warehouse doors, unmarked spray bottles, and many other violations against regulations protecting food from contamination. The gaps in the doors were large enough for rodents to come through, and the rust was in a place where it could flake off into the food. Just about every room in this plant was not properly cleansed and sanitized. Hundreds have become sick due to the salmonella outbreak and seven have died. Over 125 products from this plant have been recalled. Due to the ongoing investigations of the plant, the two most recent reports cannot be released. Tony Corbo, a lobbyist with the Food & Water Watch, stated, “this company needed more scrutiny. If this plant was in fact so dirty, they were asking for trouble.” Thankfully peanut butter from this plant was not sold in individual jars at supermarkets.

E.Coli in Ohio River

Cincinnati - The Environmental Protection Agency will be joined by six states neighboring the Ohio River to initiate a study to identify and treat the high levels of bacteria in the river. Dangerous levels of E. Coli have been found in over half of the 981-mile river. Besides causing swimmers and people in close contact with the water to be sick, it poses a potential threat to residents in nearby states who get their drinking water from this river. The study will determine how much bacteria is actually being dumped in the river within the safety standards limit by sewage plants, farms and factories. The study will mainly be to discover the problems and come up with a hopeful plan to rid of the bacteria. Though bacterial removal has been successful in other river, the cleansing of the Ohio River will be much more difficult and costly considering it stretches over 200, 000 miles through seven states.

Tennessee Large Flood of Coal Ash

East Tennessee - Last month there was a large flood of coal ash in Tennessee. The coal burning power plant operated by the chief executive of the Tennessee Valley Authority is the cause of the flood. The TVA has experienced leaks before, but chose the most inexpensive ways to patch them. It is believed that this poor fix may have added to the toxic spill on December 22nd. Each of their containment ponds holds millions of cubic yards of toxic coal ash and water. Even though the leak occurred in a different place than the previous two, the TVA’s official, Tom Kilgore, says that “the most expensive solution wasn’t chosen” and “obviously that doesn’t look good for us.” He believes that the recent heavy rains and the extreme cold temperatures may have caused this spill. In this flood of toxic ash, three homes were destroyed and dozens damaged, but thankfully, there were no deaths. A closer watch will be put over the TVA and a hope for new regulations of toxic coal ash. In the U.S. there are over a thousand dumps such as this holding the fly ash that contains great amoo9unts of heavy metals like arsenic, chromium, lead, and mercury, etc. Many residents of the area were not happy with Kilgore’s explanation for the spill and are curious of the long-term effects of it.

New York Worker Crushed by Conveyor Belt

New York- A worker from a wastewater treatment plant was crushed beneath the steel support beams of a conveyor belt after it collapsed on January 9th. The accident occurred early that morning as the workers at Owl’s Head Wastewater Treatment Plant were moving the conveyor belt outdoors, part of their daily routine to make room for construction. While transporting the belt, it buckled in the middle, falling on Gennaro Montello. Montello had been a worker of the Department of Environmental Protection for about seven years. After the collapse, a forklift was used to free him since the belt was too heavy for his fellow workers to lift, despite how hard they tried. Emergency workers arrived quickly after the accident and he was transferred to Lutheran Medical Center where, unfortunately, he died. Investigators from the Department of Labor will be looking into what could have caused this buckle such as flaw or faulty operation.

More ways to cut Gas Costs

Though gas prices may have come down tremendously, why not find ways to save even more money? Carpooling seems to be the most effective way to cut your gas spending by almost half.

Jeremy Chrysler, the vice president of business development in Florida, has been carpooling his 37 mile ride to work for months and saving about $300 each month. Besides saving money, there are many other benefits to carpools. First less time driving reduces stress and gives you time to do other things. Other benefits include a faster travel in areas with carpool lanes, reduce fuel usage, traffic, and wear and tear, and cutting pollution and dependency on foreign oil supplies.

Airlines Taking Necessary Precautions

Southwest Airlines taking Off

American and Southwest Airlines have begun to completely revamp their maintenance procedures after a long list of safety problems was brought about by the Federal Aviation Administration this past year. They have begun to make the necessary changes in hopes of minimizing their fines from the FAA.
Back in 2007, Southwest airlines was caught flying thousands of passengers on a ton of jets, which had not received their mandatory checks for possible fuselage cracks. The FAA’s air safety official, Nicholas Sabatini, was completely outraged with the thought of missed inspections. The airlines is now in the process of rewriting and updating the maintenance manuals, as well as create a maintenance compliance team to alert for new safety problems. The FAA and Southwest airlines are still battling about the 10.2 million dollar penalty issued last March.
American Airlines is also having some issues with safety compliance. Last summer, American airlines were forced to stop a whole fleet due to the failure to completely fix electrical wiring, which inspectors said proposed a fire and explosion hazard. Due to the fines and criticism, the airlines has replaced its senior official and stated that the maintenance workers must follow the maintenance guides exactly. The airline has also ordered several mechanics to attend sessions to train them and show the importance of following the federal maintenance laws exactly, and they have even suspended the licenses of two mechanics. Like Southwestern, American airlines is also battling with the FAA over fines and may possibly end up with over 20 million dollars in fines.

Updated Safety Standards for Construction

The U.S. Department of Labor has recently updated their safety standards for construction work (Chapter 296-155 WAC). The rules relating to cranes has received the most updates after the legislature passed a bill in 2007 due to a catastrophic crane accident in Bellvue back in 2006. The first step on the updates will be for the construction crane certification program and operator qualifications. This will require the industry to establish a crane certification program and requirements to become a crane certifier or a crane operator.

Updates and their date of effect:
WAC 296-155-531 through 296-155-53112 took effect the first of this month.
WAC 296-155-529 through 296-155-52902 takes effect on January 1, 2010.
WAC 296-155-53214 and WAC 296-155-53300 will both be effective next January in 2010.

SafetyCertified keeps you up to date on all changes like this. Make your life a little easier and purchase our Tracker Plus. rcowman@safetycertified.com

OSHA sides with Pilots

Kansas City, MO- American Airlines has been ordered by the U.S. Department of Labor to repay two pilots for their sick time after the alleged retaliation due to calling in sick. OSHA, the party responsible for the investigation, found that the airlines rejected the medical documents given by the pilots and also illegally took the sick pay already given to the pilots. OSHA’s administrator in Kansas, Charles Adkins, states that “a policy that forces pilots to make a choice between flying when they are too sick to do so or being retaliated against violates the law.” The investigation was done under the provisions, which protect the employees who report federal aviation violations. For detailed information about these “whistleblower” rights, go to: http://www.osha.gov/dep/oia/whistleblower/index.html

These whistleblower provisions make it illegal for companies to retaliate against employees who report concerns.

UH-60 Black Hawk Crashes to the Ground at A/M

College Station, TX- Monday, January 12, 2009, an army helicopter crashed on a field at Texas A&M University. The helicopter was one of several helicopters participating in training exercises that day. This Black Hawk was carrying four members of the National Guard and one member of A&M’s ROTC staff.
The helicopter is said to have crashed straight to the ground shortly after take-off on the Duncan Field. The witnesses said the helicopter lifted off, and then seemed to lose control and start spinning. The University believes that the crash was caused by a rudder failure. After the crash. All five crewmembers were rushed to hospitals, where unfortunately, one of them died.

Congratulations to Dell Children's Hospital for Receiving Environmental Award

Austin, TX- Yesterday, the Dell Children’s Hospital received great news. They were named one of the greenest hospitals in the world. The hospital is actually the very first hospital to receive the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest award, making them the first to receive a platinum rating. Previously, only office buildings received such awards. Usually hospitals are big energy wasters due to the ways they contain waste and their equipment needs. The architects for Dell Children’s obviously had a great plan to deal with some of the energy waste.
These are the main features that helped make this hospital so environmentally friendly:
Natural Light: This hospital was built in a way to allow as much natural light as possible; this is said to help patients in the healing process.
Recycled Building Material: The hospital was almost completely built out of recycled brick from the former Mueller airport.
Green Travel benefits: The parking lot actually has special parking spaces for hybrid vehicles and lots of bicycle racks.
Special Lights: Many of the lights have motion and natural light sensors, which allows them to shut off automatically when not needed. This will conserve a great deal of energy.
Special Toilets: All of the toilets in the hospital are dual flushing, which conserve water.

Waterford in Trouble

London- Waterford Wedgwood, the crystal maker, may be having financial troubles as their expensive crystals and ceramics have become harder to sell. This Dublin based company dates back about 250 years, making crystal glasses, vases, and kitchenware and figurines made of ceramic. This company is also responsible for making the large crystal ball that drops every New Year’s Eve in Times Square. The company has stated that they have been put under administration, which is similar to bankruptcy protection due to the loss of money and inability to find buyers recently. Deloitte, the auditor, has been put in place of the business locations having trouble, which includes over half of the company’s employees. It will be up to Deloitte whether or not the company is sold, reorganized, or closed. The financial struggles are said to have come from their high manufacturing costs, the weak dollar, and ultimately the slow in the demand for expensive luxury goods because of the economy. It is estimated in October that Waterford has about 625 million dollars in debt, and sales have decreased by almost 10 percent.

Manslaughter Charges Expected after Tower Crane Incident

Manhattan, N.Y. – Today, an indictment against William Rapetti, a crane rigger, will be unsealed. Rapetti is expected to be charged with manslaughter for the death of seven workers in a crane accident last March. It is said that five of the seven deaths were friends of Mr. Rapetti who were working with him that day. Mr. Rapetti is also being charged with homicide, reckless endangerment, and a second-degree assault in the crane incident. His lawyer, Mr. Aidala, says that his client did nothing wrong and was very sure of his expertise in the operation of tower cranes. Whether or not Mr. Rapetti operated the crane wrong, it seems as though he will still be charged.

This indictment began after an investigation was made by Robert M. Morgenthau, a Manhattan district attorney. It is said that Rapetti had “reckless and negligent rigging practices” which ended up causing the four nylon slings to break, and he did not follow the manufacturer’s instructions to use eight slings. The federal regulations require the crane operators to inspect the cranes before they are to be used, so Rapetti should have known that one sling was damaged and that there needed to be four more on it. When these slings failed, certain components fell causing the crane to become unstable and tear the tower down. Due to this incident OSHA issued its most severe citation to Rapetti Rigging Services totaling in $220,000 in fines for three willful violations by Rapetti.

Med copter deaths intensify calls to enforce safety rules

By Brian Hedger, AMNews

Minutes before midnight on Oct. 15, a medical helicopter was flying 1-year-old Kirstian Blockinger to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. The baby was having seizures, and there was no room at a hospital closer to her home in rural Leland, Ill.
The helicopter crashed, killing the infant and all three crew members.
Investigators say preliminary evidence suggests the Air Angels Inc. craft hit the ground after clipping a radio tower support wire.

These fatalities raise to 28 the number of victims from seven fatal medical helicopter crashes in 2008. This surpasses the previous high of 18 deaths in 2004.

As a result of the tragedies, federal officials and the medical community are reexamining the issue of EMS helicopter safety -- pondering the same questions: Why is this happening? What can be done?

"It's absolutely heartbreaking," said Robert Sumwalt, a board member of the NTSB. "Our mission is to try and improve safety in transportation, and here we've found an area where lives are needlessly being lost."

In October, the NTSB questioned why the Federal Aviation Administration had not implemented four recommendations that the board made in 2006. The NTSB has placed improving the safety of EMS flights on its annual "Most Wanted" list of safety improvements.

The NTSB recommends all medevac operators:
· Use increased weather-minimum and pilot-rest duty requirements on all medically staffed flights.
· Use formalized dispatch and flight-following procedures that include up-to-date weather information and assistance in flight-risk assessment decisions.
· Install helicopter terrain awareness and warning systems and train flight crews to use them. · Develop and implement flight-risk evaluation programs and training procedures, and consult with others trained in EMS flight operations when weather risks reach a predefined level.

FAA spokesman Les Dorr cited the rule-making process as a big reason why no regulations have been put in place. The agency has opted to encourage voluntary changes by flight operators to adhere to the recommendations. It also urges use of other safety measures, such as night-vision goggles.

"Certainly, we don't disagree with the need to improve safety," Dorr said. "We feel like rule making that would result in mandates is one way to do things, but certainly not the only way, and seldom is it the fastest way."

The agency hopes to unveil technical standards for helicopter terrain awareness and warning systems this month, January 2009 -- a key step toward mandating use of the devices, according to Dorr.

The FAA hosted a meeting about medevac safety in October, trying to seek immediate measures that can be taken voluntarily. The NTSB will conduct a public hearing on the issue Feb. 3-5, 2009, in Washington, D.C.