Page 26 - Occupational Health & Safety, January 2018

YEAR IN REVIEW: 2017
A Year of Disasters, Delays, and Debate
BY JERRY LAWS
It’s easy to identify the biggest safety stories of 2017—they involve the year’s repeated disasters. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria were devas- tating, especially in south Texas and Puerto Rico;
a June fire at a London residential high-rise building killed at least 80 people; and California wildfires in the fall killed 42 people and burned more than 8,000 structures.
Beyond these, however, there were many other big events during the year:
Nov. 13: Drug testing panel expands
The U.S. Department of Transportation publishes a final rule to expand its drug testing panel to include hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone, and oxycodone, a move the agency describes as “a direct effort to enhance safety, prevent opioid abuse and combat the nation’s growing opioid epidemic.”
The rule makes a significant change in the DOT testing scheme that has been in place since it was cre- ated in 1988: DOT is removing the requirements for blind specimen testing in order to relieve employers and others of the cost and burden of doing this.
The rule says DOT will allow oral fluid drug test- ing and/or hair testing if either is added to the HHS Mandatory Guidelines, and it means DOT-regulated employers must test for the four opioids starting on Jan. 1, 2018.
“The opioid crisis is a threat to public safety when it involves safety-sensitive employees involved in the operation of any kind of vehicle or transport,” says Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. “The ability to test for a broader range of opioids will advance trans- portation safety significantly and provide another de- terrence to opioid abuse, which will better protect the public and ultimately save lives.”
Nov. 2: Fire extinguisher recall
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Kidde announce the recall of about 40 million Kidde fire extinguishers due to reports they may not func- tion properly in an emergency. The recall applies to 134 models of Kidde fire extinguishers manufactured between January 1, 1973, and August 15, 2017, includ- ing models that had been previously recalled in March 2009 and February 2015; the recall involves both plastic handle and push-button Pindicator fire extin- guishers. There had been approximately 391 reports of failed or limited activation or nozzle detachment, including a 2014 death in which emergency respond- ers could not get the recalled Kidde fire extinguishers to work in a car fire following a crash, according to the agency.
20 Occupational Health & Safety | JANUARY 2018
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Oct. 26: Opioids public health emergency
President Donald J. Trump declares a public health emergency and outlines several actions his adminis- tration is taking and will take to address the opioids crisis, including new requirements from the Food and Drug Administration on the manufacturers of prescription opioids to help reverse over-prescribing. The White House’s description of the actions notes that drug overdoses are now the leading cause of in- jury death in the United States, outnumbering both traffic crashes and gun-related deaths, and the esti- mated 64,000 drug overdose deaths in 2016 represent a rate of 175 deaths per day and exceed the number of Americans killed during the Vietnam War.
His declaration of a Nationwide Public Health Emergency allows for expanded access to telemedi- cine services, including services involving remote pre- scribing of medicine commonly used for substance abuse or mental health treatment, and allows HHS to more quickly make temporary appointments of spe- cialists with the tools and talent needed to respond effectively to the emergency and the Department of Labor to issue dislocated worker grants to help work- ers who have been displaced from the workforce be- cause of the opioid crisis, subject to available funding. Trump says he is awaiting the final report from the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addic- tion and the Opioid Crisis, which the president estab- lished in March 2017.
Oct. 21: Wildfire cleanup in California
California Gov. Jerry Brown issues an executive order allowing EPA officials to help with the initial removal of hazardous waste that poses an imminent threat to public health and safety following major wildfires this month in the state. The order allows qualified profes- sionals at the federal agency to assist state and local officials in immediately removing visible hazardous debris such as batteries, flammable liquids, asbestos siding, paint, and pipe insulation from burned homes.
Initial removal of these hazards will help to pro- tect public health and the environment, and it lets residents and cleanup crews more safely enter proper- ties and continue long-term recovery efforts. Brown earlier declared a state of emergency for the counties of Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Yuba, Butte, Lake, Men- docino, Nevada, and Orange because of the fires and also issued an executive order to cut red tape and help streamline recovery efforts.
The wildfires destroyed more than 6,000 homes and other structures, “creating extraordinary amounts of hazardous debris,” his order says. It says local health officers of Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, So-