Archive for July, 2009
While it’s impossible to make a factory blasting at full output TV studio quiet, steps can be taken to reduce noise as much as possible – which translates into high productivity and fewer worker’s comp claims for hearing loss. – By Isaac Rudik at Compliance Solutions Canada – A Nimonik Affiliate
In a world where workplace and outside noise can seem like an unyielding din, it is easy to take hearing for granted. Moreover, symptoms of hearing loss can be overlooked since they appear gradually and are seldom associated with pain. As a result, increasing deafness remains unnoticed often for years until it’s too late.
In fact, among all occupational hazards, noise is the biggest cause of permanent disability claims settled by Ontario’s Worker’s Compensation Board. According to WSIB, hearing loss due to high workplace noise levels resulted in roughly $100-million in claims paid out over a recent 10 year period.
As a result, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour introduced strict limits for workplace noise exposure. Among other things, the government reduced the allowable exposure time to noise by workers in half. The Environment Ministry deals with preventing excessive noise in Ontario, and sounds produced by human activity is controlled by the laws in the Ontario Environmental Protection Act (EPA), which holds that noise is a contaminant with adverse effects on workers.
Why? Because researchers proved that an individual exposed to 85dba for eight hours a day, week after week, will suffer hearing loss. The louder the sound, the less time it takes. Thus, the noisier the workplace, the fewer exposures and time it takes to produce significant – and, for employers, costly – hearing loss.
The British Columbia Utilities Commission is telling Premier Gordon Campbell that the province must rethink its energy plan to acquire new sources of clean, alternative energy, by relying on the development of new independent power projects. In its ruling this week, the Commission stated that parts of B.C. Hydro’s long-term acquisition plan were “not in the public interest”.
BC Hydro has been mandated by the government to make the province self-sufficient in electricity by 2016.
Though the Commission did approve some of the utility’s spending plans, the ruling is welcome news to critics who charge that the province is handing too much control to private firms over run-of-the-river and wind-power projects.
Overfishing and the depletion of our oceans is often described as a case of the tragedy of the commons. Brandon Keim explains why bluefish tuna “is headed for oblivion”. Don’t blame the fishing industry, he argues. It’s simply responding to supply and demand. The real culprits are consumers eager to show that they can afford to order a mouthful of really expensive rare fish :
“And this is the brutal truth: bluefin, which beyond their intrinsic value as living creatures happen to be one of the universe’s more majestic species, a Platonic ideal of oceanic speed and grace, aren’t being extinguished by our greed. They’re being sacrificed to our vanity, pretension, and ostentation — the most pathetic of our vices.”
Conor Friedersdorf comments on the article and states that “a global ban on bottom trawling, one of the most destructive kinds of commercial fishing, is a no brainer.” Nice idea, but who would enforce it?
Sorry, this entry is only available in Français.
Institutional practices waste far more water than other countries thanks to a series of bad choices. As important as is conserving water, a sound water use policy brings significant savings.
– By Isaac Rudik at Compliance Solutions Canada – A Nimonik Affiliate Partner
When you think of it, no one should really be surprised that hospitals, nursing homes, extended care facilities and other health care providers are among the country’s largest users of water.
Beyond the obvious such as a significant number of people simply drinking water there is – hopefully – frequent hand washing by doctors, nurses and other employees, washing enormous quantities of bed linens and patient gowns or pyjamas every day as well as cleaning floors, walls and rooms in large buildings, preparing meals and cleaning dishes, and using water in various lab tests and other procedures.
