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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Website Updates - Electrical Safety Alert - Followup
Date: Monday, September 21, 2020 at 4:32:50 PM
Author: davivid <davivid**At_Symbol_Here**WELL.COM> 		Next by Date:
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Washington Post: The N95 shortage America canŐt seem to fix
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2020 09:20:40 -0400
Author: ILPI Support

From: Alan Hall <oldeddoc**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Odors and safety
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2020 15:57:40 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: CALDugaaquyFcHcrtApTTf0eutjqv3ktxkRmGCwXFv0FEKb9LXg**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To <3ABA8F01-70AF-49C4-97AE-68B901206963**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu>


Et al,

For sure.

In many areas, oil well workers can easily be exposed to toxic and/or fatal concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). The nose rapidly develops paralysis of the ability to detect the "rotten eggs" sulfur . In cases where exposure is to between 500-1,000 ppm, it only takes 1-2 breaths for a knockdown which may be fatal. With lower airborne concentrations, workers may think that when they can't smell the gas any longer may stay in exposure concentrations that can lead to serious lung and eye damage. On most oil rigs, workers are provided with personal monitors and area monitors. The old adage "Run uphill, upwind, and as far away from the sources as possible is a good one. Those exposed who have knockdown usually do well if they have arrived at the emergency department and regained consciousness by the. Those who have regained consciousness by ED arrival very often do poorly.

Alan
Alan H. Hall, M.D.
Medical Toxicologist

On Mon, Sep 21, 2020 at 5:18 AM Stuart, Ralph <Ralph.Stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu> wrote:
There's a safety podcast with an interesting connection to last week's discussion about masks in the laboratory at
Ep.45 Why do we need complex models to explain simple work?
https://safetyofwork.com/episodes/ep45-why-do-we-need-complex-models-to-explain-simple-work

In the course of a broader discussion about how "work as done" is documented for risk analysis purposes, the hosts discuss experiences in oil rigs with operators who notice odd smells (as well as noise and vibrations) in detecting process variations. The point the hosts highlight is that this part of the rig's operations is extremely unlikely to be documented as part of a SOP or risk assessment, because it is specific to the expertise and experience of the operators.

Their comments provide another example where the one size fits all approach of requiring infection control masks to improve social distancing could be problematic in situations with hazardous chemical processes going on.

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
Environmental Safety Manager
Keene State College
603 358-2859

ralph.stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu

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