Quantifying wind-driven firebrand production from roofing assembly combustion - Manzello SL, Suzuki S, Naruse T.
Large outdoor fires present a risk to the built environment. Examples often in the international media reports are wildfires that spread into communities, referred to as Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fires. Other examples are large urban fires including t...
Source: SafetyLit - April 22, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Burns, Electricity, Explosions, Fire, Scalds Source Type: news

Initial study on thatched roofing assembly ignition vulnerabilities to firebrand showers - Suzuki S, Manzello SL.
Structures fitted with thatched roofing assemblies are prone to ignition during the course of large outdoor fires. Experiments with thatched roofing assemblies were performed by using a reduced-scale continuous-feed firebrand generator in a wind facility t...
Source: SafetyLit - April 20, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Burns, Electricity, Explosions, Fire, Scalds Source Type: news

EPA ’s Latest Asbestos Regulation Falls Short of Full Ban
The Environmental Protection Agency issued a new regulation on Wednesday that will make it tougher to domestically manufacture, import or sell products made with asbestos, the toxic mineral that causes mesothelioma and other diseases. The regulation closes a loophole in the partial ban of asbestos that was legislated almost 30 years ago. It will strengthen the EPA’s ability to review and prohibit the use of a long list of asbestos products that are not banned but have been long abandoned by the industry. The ruling is part of a legislative process that requires the EPA to review its regulation of asbestos under the Tox...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - April 18, 2019 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Matt Mauney Source Type: news

Southern Africa: Now Comes the Cholera - Mozambique's Waters of Death
[Daily Maverick] Two weeks after Cyclone Idai ripped through Beira, Mozambique, it continues to kill. Now comes cholera. They are some of the unluckiest, saddest, and grisliest stories of death you'll ever have to hear: the father killed by a flying plate; the husband decapitated by corrugated iron roofing; the daughter killed by a tree hurtling across the water.
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - March 29, 2019 Category: African Health Source Type: news

California Jury Awards $29 Million to Woman Who Says She Got Cancer from Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder
A woman who claims asbestos in Johnson & Johnson products caused her deadly cancer was awarded $29.4 million by a California jury on Wednesday, Reuters reports. A jury in a California Superior Court in Oakland determined that defective Baby Powder was a “substantial contributing factor” to Terry Leavitt’s mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer that affects the tissue that coats internal organs, the Associated Press reports. Leavitt said she often used two talcum-powder-based Johnson & Johnson products — Baby Powder and Shower to Shower powder — in the 1960s and 1970s, and claims they contr...
Source: TIME: Health - March 14, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme Tags: Uncategorized Cancer onetime Source Type: news

U.S. Asbestos Imports Surge in August, Report Finds
The amount of raw chrysotile asbestos imported into the United States increased significantly between July and August, according to a recent analysis from the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization and the Environmental Working Group. The U.S. International Trade Commission and Department of Commerce provided the two advocacy organizations the data for their report. According to the investigation, the U.S. imported 272 metric tons (approximately 600,000 pounds) of asbestos in August — an increase of nearly 2,000 percent from the 13 metric tons in July. EWG and ADAO on Tuesday attributed the alarming spike to the gover...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - October 24, 2018 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Matt Mauney Source Type: news

What ’s Included in the EPA’s New Asbestos Use Rule?
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving forward with a proposed rule critics fear will expand the commercial use of asbestos — a toxic mineral known to cause mesothelioma and other diseases. The EPA received nearly 6,000 comments about its significant new use rule (SNUR) as of Aug. 10, the last day for public commenting. In June, the agency proposed SNUR under the reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). It would allow companies to manufacture, import and process more than a dozen asbestos-containing products no longer in use as long as the EPA approves them first. The EPA’s summary of SN...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - August 24, 2018 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Daniel King Source Type: news

Roofing slates stand up to the weather
A study of the properties of roofing slates by an EU-funded project has resulted in an anti-weathering paint coating and a new system for classifying this natural roofing material.
Source: EUROPA - Research Information Centre - July 5, 2018 Category: Research Source Type: news

Ghana:500-Bed Military Hospital Project Progresses
[Ghanaian Times] Work on the 500-bed capacity hospital for the Ghana Armed Forces at Afari, near Kumasi in the Ashanti Region is steadily progressing with roofing, internal fittings to the building.
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - May 2, 2018 Category: African Health Source Type: news

Pushing for Asbestos Bans in Southeast Asia
Dr. Ken Takahashi is doing more than just talking about a global ban on asbestos products and the eventual end of asbestos-related diseases. He is traveling the world to help make it happen — one small step at a time. Takahashi, who is the director of the Asbestos Diseases Research Institute (ADRI) and consultant for the World Health Organization (WHO), met recently with government officials in Laos, currently one of the highest per capita consumers of asbestos. And he liked what he heard. “I am optimistic there, but with caution,” Takahashi told Asbestos.com. “Ultimately, it is a battle for the cause, whether to p...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - March 19, 2018 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Walter Pacheco Source Type: news

Audit Reveals Most Australian Schools Contain Asbestos
For millions of Australian parents, the biggest concern when sending their children off to school is what to pack in their lunchbox. This is hardly surprising, given their perception that schools are a safe place for children. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth. Many children are at risk of exposure to asbestos in aging school buildings. A recent audit of Australian schools revealed most contain some form of asbestos. In the southeastern state of Victoria alone, only 39 of the 1,440 state schools audited — or 3 percent — passed the test. Hundreds of schools in North South Wales contain asbestos, fo...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - January 8, 2018 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Daniel King Tags: asbestos abatement Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act asbestos in schools Australia Committee on Carcinogenicity Environmental Working Group Action Fund Health and Safety Act 2011 North South Wales Occupational Health and Safety Vict Source Type: news

Jury Awards $22M in Asbestos-Contaminated Paint Case
A California jury recently awarded $22 million to the estate of a man exposed to asbestos-containing talc that was used in paint manufacturing, expanding the liability of those supplying the toxic ingredient. Plaintiff Richard Booker, who worked as a paint maker throughout his career, died of mesothelioma in 2016. The lawsuit claimed Booker was exposed to asbestos while working for Dexter Midland Chemical Co. and Walter N. Boysen Paint Co. The lucrative award includes $4.6 million in punitive damages, along with the initial judgement of $17.57 million for malice on the part of Vanderbilt Minerals and Imerys Talc America In...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - January 2, 2018 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Daniel King Tags: Alameda County asbestos exposure asbestos-contaminated talc Cashmere Bouquet Colgate-Palmolive Dexter Midland Chemical Imerys Talc America mesothelioma lawsuit Richard Booker Vanderbilt Minerals Walter N. Boysen Paint Source Type: news

Review of the campaign to prevent falls in construction - O'Donnell K.
Roofing is one of the most dangerous activities in the construction industry according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although injuries are manifold in this industry element, the vast majority of them occur as a result of falls from elevation (1, 2)...
Source: SafetyLit - November 28, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Falls Source Type: news

Senate Introduces Latest Attempt to Ban Asbestos
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced legislation in Congress this week that would effectively ban all use of asbestos. The Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act of 2017 is the sixth legislative attempt to ban the toxic substance in the last 20 years. All previous bills failed to gain enough support. While the 2016 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) already includes asbestos on its top ten chemicals for risk review by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Merkley’s legislation could speed the process considerably. What Would the Bill to Ban Asbestos Do? According to Merkley’s congressional office, the legislat...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - November 8, 2017 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Daniel King Tags: Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act asbestos ban Cory Booker environmental protection agency EPA Jeff Merkley Jon Tester Raja Flores Steve Daines Toxic Substances Control Act TSCA u.s. congress Source Type: news

Hurricane Maria Aims for Puerto Rico After Slamming Dominica
(SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico) — Hurricane Maria barreled toward Puerto Rico on Tuesday night after wreaking widespread devastation on Dominica and leaving the small Caribbean island virtually incommunicado. As rains began to lash Puerto Rico, Gov. Ricardo Rossello warned that Maria could hit “with a force and violence that we haven’t seen for several generations.” “We’re going to lose a lot of infrastructure in Puerto Rico,” Rossello said, adding that a likely island wide power outage and communication blackout could last for days. “We’re going to have to rebuild.” Auth...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - September 20, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Danica Coto and Carlisle Jno Baptiste / AP Tags: Uncategorized Dominica Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico weather Source Type: news

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