OSHA turns on the heat

 

It’s finally here.

 

After quite a few weeks of below-average temperatures, forecasters believe we’re in for a decent stretch of warm weather beginning Mother’s Day and lasting a week or longer. Temperatures in WNY will see a few days in the upper-70s -- summer-like weather.

 

So, there’s no better time for employers and employees to start preparing for a new era in workplace safety: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced last month a National Emphasis Program that focuses on heat injuries and illnesses.

 

It follows a study released by National Public Radio (NPR) and Columbia Journalism School last summer that found 384 works had died from heat stresses in the previous decade, with the three-year average doubling since the early-1990s. As heartbreaking as those numbers are, it is believed by NPR, Columbia, and even OSHA itself that OSHA greatly undercounts heat-related deaths.

 

The high-profile study was a wake-up call for OSHA, as it was cited for failing to adopt a national heat standard to safeguard workers against high temperatures, which many say are rising and will continue to rise at dramatic rates under climate change, putting even more workers at risk. It is especially an issue in the west, where 90 to 110 degree days are common in the summer months, the intense summer sun punishing workers who work in agriculture, construction, or landscaping.

 

In 2011, OSHA was pressured to develop a heat standard, but the assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health at the time said that workers weren't dying from heat at a rate that would justify a legal standard.

 

Times have changed, as has leadership and the heat is now being put on the heat. It has been said heat exposure will become the second-greatest workplace safety focus of the Biden Administration, right behind Covid mitigation.   

 

Employers should prepare accordingly if they haven’t already been in the game.

 

We’ve actually had a heat plan at Confer Plastics going back to the mid-1990s. People work their tails off in the production department, so we’ve long recognized the illnesses and injuries that could occur on hot days in our brief summers. Our plan has kicked-in when the air temperature or heat index is 85 degrees. The multi-faceted response involves: roving relief personnel who provide extra breaks; adequate hydration of the team; the issuance of electrolytes and other key amenities; spending on roof, wall, and portable fans; and even the ability of my coworkers to choose not to come to work when high outside air temperatures and/or stifling humidity makes work taxing.

 

What we’ve been doing mirrors what OSHA is looking for employers to provide going forward. They distilled it to a simple yet effective three-word message: Water, Rest, Shade. They say that it’s paramount that employers with workers exposed to high temperatures provide extra hydration and breaks; allow new or returning workers to gradually increase workloads and acclimatize; train workers on prevention; and monitor workers for signs of illness.

OSHA’s emphasis places the threshold at 80 degrees, meaning many workplaces, not just factories like ours, will fall under protocols for long stretches of the summer. OSHA’s sample list of target indoor industries also includes warehouses and distribution centers, bakeries and restaurants, and laundries. Outdoor work environments under scrutiny include construction and infrastructure, agriculture, mail and package delivery, theme parks, and landscaping.

 

OSHA’s National Emphasis Program isn’t considered a series of standards (they’re likely coming…and should be) but they should be treated as such, not only for legal purposes but also for reasons of protecting workers. You’d be surprised by how many businesses do not have defined heat protocols in place.

 

It should be understood, too, that while this may not be Arizona and our hottest days may be 20 to 30 degrees cooler than theirs, heat is a significant issue in this region. Our summers are too brief and our winters too long – so many WNYers really aren’t built to beat the heat, no matter where it reads on the thermometer. It takes hours, days, even weeks to adjust to any sort of heat and some folks never do.  

 

So, I encourage all businesses that may be at risk of heat exposure to sharpen their pencils, develop some policies, train your personnel, and make necessary investments. You can find plenty of info at OSHA’s website (https://www.osha.gov/heat-exposure), you could reach out to New York State Department of Labor’s on-site consultation program, or you could network with other employers to discover their best practices.

 

Summer heat, as welcome as it may be, can bring its own problems. In a warming world, it’s time to overcome those obstacles and protect workers.  

 

From the 02 May 2022 Greater Niagara Newspapers, Batavia Daily News, and Wellsville Sun 

Exploring the Western NY Wilds – false hellebore, a toxic plant of Allegany County’s lowlands

 

Every May, Allegany County hikers are caught off guard by a rather gigantic flowering plant that is unlike any other to be found this time of year. With its large leaves and impressive height reaching up to 5 feet, it is always a conversation starter.

The plant is commonly called false hellebore, but it also goes by any number of names such as Indian poke, veratrum, and devil’s bite.

The false hellebore can be found in damp areas with rich soils, such as meadows, stream beds, and woodland springs. In this county, it can be common in some valleys.

It starts to sprout from the ground in late-April and grows quickly, hitting 3 feet in height by the second week of May. It starts to blossom weeks later, each branch producing dozens of small, green, rather unattractive flowers.

Hellebore probably gets its name because this plant truly can unleash Hell on any livestock or people that consume it. It is chocked full of steroidal alkaloids (especially in the roots) which can kill painfully and slowly by causing shortness of breath, convulsions, coma, and death from respiratory failure.

Deadly poisonings of humans are rare.

 

For starters, most people will puke it up before poisoning sets in.

 

And, not many people will indiscriminately eat a plant, especially one this large.

 

I say that, yet in 2020 -- when uninitiated hikers and newbie outdoorspeople ventured into the outdoors because of Covid lockdowns – Poison Control in Vermont alone received a record 25 calls for hellebore poisonings, some saying they confused the young leaves with leeks (In 2021, when the world started to get back to “normal”, Vermont had only 4 such calls).

 
While it rarely poisons people, it does, though, commonly poison farm animals.

The USDA routinely issues notices to ranchers about false hellebore with the biggest threat being to sheep. A poisoned sheep can be treated with epinephrine, but if a pregnant ewe eats it, even in small quantities which wouldn’t kill her, it can lead to serious health problems for her young and herself depending on when it occurs in the gestation period. Early in it, it can lead to “monkey-faced lambs," which have a protruding lower jaw, underdeveloped upper jaw, proboscis-like nose, and other deformities (Google it for some really disturbing sights). If it’s later in the gestation period, the baby sheep can grow at incredible rates before it is birthed and it will kill the ewe unless delivered by c-section.

Despite its destructive nature, Native Americans had uses for this deadly plant in very small amounts.

 

They used it as a means to show “who’s the boss.” If ever there was a problem with succession planning in certain tribes, groups of men would consume false hellebore and the last one to vomit was the leader because he showed he was the real man out of the bunch.

 

They also used it for medical purposes. Its primary purpose was to treat constipation and upset stomach – it was likely useful for both as it could quickly evacuate both ends.

If you see one of these beautiful, even exotic-looking, plants while exploring the Western NY wilds this spring, take the time to admire it and reflect on its histories and dangers. If you are a farmer, though, do what you can to remove it (roots and all) from your grazing areas.

 

It’s an interesting plant, for sure, but it can be a deadly one.

 

From the 02 May 2022 Wellsville Sun

Exploring the Western NY Wilds: The wood turtle – an Allegany County rarity

 

A few years ago, while driving on County Route 38, I saw a turtle crossing the road. Like any nature lover worth his salt, I got out of the truck and picked him up to put him in a safe spot.

I expected the slow-moving pedestrian to be a painted turtle which is, without a doubt, the most common turtle in Western New York. So, I was startled – and incredibly happy -- when I discovered it was a wood turtle!

 

My family and excitedly admired the turtle as we safely put it into Alma Pond.

It was especially rewarding to have our initial good deed magnified by protecting such a rare specimen.

Yes, rare.

I count myself as a good herpetologist. For years, I traipsed around Allegany in an effort to help the state with its amphibian and reptile atlas. I found many an interesting creature but never expected to ever see a wood turtle. They are incredibly uncommon in Western New York and the Department of Environmental Conservation counts them as a species of special concern. The atlas itself shows the turtles having been discovered in only 3 survey blocks in Allegany County during the decade-long study.

Their numbers are down in most every state and Canadian province because of predation (mostly by the overpopulated raccoons), habitat loss, illegal collection (they allegedly make great pets) and vehicular turtleslaughter.

That’s sad, because the wood turtle is one of the more interesting reptiles out there.

It got its name for two reasons: One, it’s deeply grooved shell looks like hardwood and, two, it can be found in the woods.

For a good portion of the year, the wood turtle will venture a considerable distance from water (up to a half mile). In the late-spring and summer they can be found in wet meadows, fields, and forests, foraging on insects, slugs and fungi. While hunting, it even does something one might consider a magical power: It stomps its front feet which mimics the sound of rain; those vibrations bring earthworms to the surface, making a good meal for the turtle.

They are excellent walkers and relative speedsters for the notoriously-slow turtle clan. In one study of wood turtles, it was found they averaged 354 feet of travel a day, pretty darn good for a small reptile no longer than 8 inches in length. When we released our friend to Alma Pond, my family and I were in stitches because he seemed to be in a full run and was actually moving quickly.

That ability to cover territory in a hurry aligns well with the turtle’s unique homing abilities. It was discovered in scientific experiments using mazes that the wood turtles had homing abilities comparable to those of rats, which is pretty extraordinary for a reptile. A follow-up to that had a biologist move specimens a mile and a half from home --- they made it back in less than 5 weeks!

Wood turtles are also attractive little buggers, which might account for their popularity with reptile collectors. Besides the woody shell, they have a bright orange neck and legs and their underbelly is yellow with black blotches. They are active, too; the one we played with kept his head out most of the time, was inquisitive, and even roared at us in his own way (it sounded like a whisper).

When not gallivanting in the wild during the warm months, wood turtles can be found underwater in the winter. They will go to the bottom of a river, stream or pond and bury themselves in brush or mud and stay there all season. Sometimes, that can account for their demise as it makes them susceptible to being really buried during flooding, a regular occurrence of springtime thaws in Allegany County.

  
That’s yet another thing makes them a marked animal – they are rare for a reason (actually, quite a few reasons), and they are creatures better left in the wild and not put in an aquarium.

If you see one in the wild appreciate it and take some pictures; never take it home.

And, if you see a turtle crossing the road, help it out --- you never know just what you might be saving.

 

From the 25 April 2022 Wellsville Sun