CSI: BATFE Stooges Unit

Dec 12, 2003 43 Replies

Actually, this is no longer true since the days of Clintons' first years in office, at least for the general military. I was a HAZMAT manager for a few years at the unit level. I remember when the changes went down the chain. Now-days a military person can be held civilly accountable for the way he/she handles any HAZMAT. That is when I found better things to do, and changed my job. I had too hard of a time getting multiple organizations and workcenters to stop "doing it the way it had always been done", and I didn't feel like going to jail for things that were beyond my control, and which garbage would still get stuck to me if it came rolling downhill. Once upon a time I could quote many a MSDS's. What still sucks, is there is no statute of limitations when it comes to HAZMAT handling. I could be 80, and if they find something wrong, "they" can still come after me. Hence, job change.

transmission

~ Duane Phillips.

Fred Walace wants to bring that benefit to me asap. So does TRA. One solution is to simply not ship stuff to people who are actively looking for trouble in a system designed to trip you upon as many little details as possible.

It's not like the hazmast system is designed to meet the original goal of identifying hazards and not impeding commerce. If that were the case every shipment would go brown box with a UN number and a common name on it, unless over 2000 lb then maybe a sticker on the shipment, but not for most items.

Jerry

Agreed. Here in Kalifornia, there was a law passed a few years ago (Proposition 65). It was 'designed' to 'warn' people of the hazards of chemicals. The only tangible benefit it has had is to the sign-makers, as now EVERY business establishment has a sign that says 'chemicals on the premises might be dangerous to you'. Since EVERYONE has the sign, nobody takes it seriously...

David Erbas-White

Thank god we are safe now, eh?

Jerry

And it's an example of the general "warning label inflation" that I find scary - when common screwdrivers come with stickers that say "use safety glasses", it's more likely that the one on the mag wheel cleaner that says "contains hydrofluoric acid" will get overlooked.

-dave w

my Logitech wireles keyboard has a prominent label that says

WARNING: Some experts believe that the user of any keyboard may cause serious injury. Consult statement on the back of this keyboard.

the back contains about 150 words of further warnings.

- iz

David We> David Erbas-White wrote:

This needs to be fixed. Laws either apply to everyone, including the government, or to noone if not including the government. "what's good for the goose..."

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Those that did so are guilty of manslaughter at a minimum, and perhaps first degree murder. Being "the government" should not be an immunity suit for such actions.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

There's a lot more to the story than this brief synopsis. There were conflicting reports about the toxicity levels in the early/mid-1940s, and there were several deaths. The data wasn't kept secret, however...it was published. It was only after seeing some rare diseases in fluorescent light manufacturing workers that some correlations stated really being made.

See

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for a lot of good info about this, and why the correlation with beryllium was so hard to initially see (hint: levels in tissues had no bearing on the incidence of the disease).

David Weinshenker wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net:

Pretty soon, even safety glasses will come with a warning that says, "Warning, wear eye protection before using this device."

That was 1994.

Here's from 1999.

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Only 20 years ago, the U.S. Energy Dept. (DOE) entered into a secret agreement with Brush Wellman Corp., a Cleveland-based firm, to become the sole source supplier of beryllium to the U.S. government. DOE agreed to oppose efforts by OSHA to strengthen the federal beryllium standard to protect workers? lives. A recent series of reports, "Deadly Alliance: How Government and Industry Chose Weapons Over Workers," by investigative reporter Sam Roe exposed the deal. The series ran in the Toledo Blade.

I can't find the series on the web, but I remember reading it. Shortly after the series ran

Here's what happened after that series ran in 1999:

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Admitting that workers have for years been exposed to unsafe levels, the U.S. Department of Energy is to set a standard 10 times more stringent than that currently in place. The existing standard was instituted in 1949.

The Department of Evil////Energy "entered into a secret agreement to oppose efforts by OSHA to strengthen the federal beryllium standard to protect workers' lives."

Even if the data were ambiguous, the agreement says a lot, doesn't it?

I stand by my summary. It may not be complete, but it describes things pretty well.

Zooty

Ah... I thought that your initial post was about the much earlier findings (from the early/mid-1940s), and not something that had happened so recently. I stand corrected.

Thanks for the clarification.

Maybe for the general military, but Clinton also sign Presidential Determination No. 99-37 which made the Air Force base at Groom Lake exempts from all Federal Hazmat laws. It a matter of national security, we can't be bother by Federal Law, they just for the common folks.

No problem.

Recent...1979....recent...1979...That does not compute! Danger Will Robinson!

Zooty

"Danger Will Robinson does not compute", talk to the hand, not to the face.

David Weinshenker wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net:

My new digital camera has a diopter adjustment for the viewfinder. Sure enough, the instructions warn you not to poke yourself in the eye while adjusting the eyepiece correction...

len.

Oh, man, I just _barely_ got my coffee away from the keyboard in time for that one!

-dave w

We should add street sign proliferation, too. When we learn to drive, we're taught to read all the signs. But there's so many of them nowadays that reading them all, especially near some intersections, would surely cause more problems than they prevent.

BTW: The DFW airport had some electronic signs with gate and airline info on them. Apparentlty, too many folks were colliding while trying to read them that the airport had to take them down and put the old style back up. But the innovator moved on; he developed the scrolling text on car radios :)

Doug

According to the disclaimer, "if accidental" :)

Lawsuit for endorsing suicide. :)

Jerry

Oh great, now we're gonna have people driving down the road staring at their radios instead of looking ahead. All in an effort to read the scrolling text.

Bob

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