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Previous by Date: Subject: [DCHAS-L] radium dial painters Date: Tuesday, December 30, 2014 8:07:56 PM Author: terry.coggins**At_Symbol_Here**TLC-HP.COM |
Next by Date: Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (8 articles) Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 10:34:52 -0500 Author: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" |
That URL does not work. Try this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEMRJSu5vvI
Neil Edwards
Laboratory Manager
Adjunct Professor
Department of Chemistry
LIU Post
Brookville, NY 11548-1300
Email: neil.edwards**At_Symbol_Here**liu.edu
On 12/30/14 8:07 PM, "terry.coggins**At_Symbol_Here**TLC-HP.COM" >http://youtube/zLS6NCZPiSY
Previous post | Top of Page | Next post
wrote:
>
>There is a documentary on youtube about the dial painters that might be
>of interest.
>
>
>
>
>-------- Original Message --------
>Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] C&EN SafetyZone blog: 'Oops1 is never good
>occupational health policy
>From: Monona Rossol
>Date: Dec 30, 2014 6:27 PM
>To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
>CC:
>
>
>In the 60s in the University of Wisconsin Art Department we were still
>taught to lip point brushes for calligraphy and lettering assignments.
>Clearly the inks were not radioactive, but some metal pigments and many
>organic pigments were used. In calligraphy, Nigrosin was a common
>colorant. And the Aldrich SDS reveals that there is absolutely no acute
>or chronic data on the chemical whatever. So guess who the lab rats are.
>
>Just as "oops" is not a good safety health policy, neither is "no news is
>good news."
>
>
>
>Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist
>President: Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.
>Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE
>181 Thompson St., #23
>New York, NY 10012 212-777-0062
>actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com www.artscraftstheatersafety.org
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Ralph Stuart
>To: DCHAS-L
>Sent: Tue, Dec 30, 2014 8:26 am
>Subject: [DCHAS-L] C&EN SafetyZone blog: 'Oops1 is never good
>occupational health policy
>
>
>http://cenblog.org/the-safety-zone/2014/12/oops-is-never-good-occupational
>-health-policy/
>
>3?Oops1 is never good occupational health policy2
>by Jyllian Kemsley
>
>The headline is from Deborah Blum, author of "The Poisoner's Handbook,"
>as
>quoted in an NPR story about Mae Keane. Keane was briefly one of the
>"Radium
>Girls" who painted glow-in-the-dark wristwatches in the 1920s. Here's a
>bit more
>context, plus the full quote:
>
>In order to get the numbers small enough, new hires were taught to do
>something
>called "lip pointing." After painting each number [with radium paint],
>they were
>to put the tip of the paintbrush between their lips to sharpen it.
>
>Twelve numbers per watch, upwards of 200 watches per day ? and with every
>digit,
>the girls swallowed a little bit of radium.
>
>"Of course, no one thought it was dangerous in these first couple of
>years,"
>explains Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner's Handbook.
>
>...
>
>Deborah Blum says the radium girls had a profound impact on workplace
>regulations. By the time World War II came around, the federal government
>had
>set basic safety limits for handling radiation.
>
>And, she says, there are still lessons to be learned about how we protect
>people
>who work with new, untested substances.
>
>"We really don't want our factory workers to be the guinea pigs for
>discovery.
>'Oops' is never good occupational health policy."
>
>Searching C&EN archives, it seems that it took a while for people to
>embrace
>those basic radiation safety limits. From a 1951 story from the American
>Industrial Hygiene Association's 12th annual meeting:
>
>Unsafe working conditions were found in the handling of radium, x-ray,
>and
>fluoroscopic equipment in every one of 12 hospitals surveyed recently,
>William
>LaRocque, of the Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., told a mixed group of
>scientists
>and medical specialists at this meeting. In some cases, he said,
>radiation in
>excess of maximum permissable doses was detected in hospital offices as
>well as
>in laboratories and operating rooms.
>
>LaRocque found physicians handling radium sources with virtually no
>protection
>whatever. Between uses radium was stored in everything from water glasses
>to tin
>cans. Because of the value of the radium it was often stored in office
>safes
>which afforded little resistance to the radiation. Some dental x-ray
>equipment
>surveyed irradiated the operator to a maximum permissable dose after as
>few as
>five exposures had been made. Fluoroscopes and diagnostic x-ray apparatus
>were
>often inadequately shielded or were used in a dangerous manner. In one
>case
>reported, the lead glass on a fluoroscope screen had not been replaced
>although
>it had been cracked "for years."
>
>Contrary to experience reported by earlier investigators, LaRocque said
>that the
>medical men and roetgenologists involved seemed anxious to learn about
>these
>hazards and to take steps to correct the dangerous conditions. LaRocque
>attributed the situation to ignorance rather than lethargy. He said that
>in none
>of these cases had there ever been any planned system of health
>protection in
>connection with radiation hazards and he made a strong plea to the
>assembled
>industrial hygienists to take positive steps to overcome the present
>complacency
>about these hazards.
>
>Jyllian Kemsley | December 30, 2014 at 8:30 am |
>http://cenblog.org/the-safety-zone/2014/12/oops-is-never-good-occupational
>-health-policy/
>
>