Balancing Risks: Hazardous Waste Work May Protect Not Jeopardize Workers. M. Gochfeld, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation
Several papers have demonstrated that the risks faced by hazardous waste remediation workers may be greater than the public health risks averted by cleanup, implying that overall health might be better served by leaving contamination in place. This inference is flawed since the analyses have not taken into account the risks faced by a worker who takes non-hazardous waste site job. For example, a construction or building-trades worker would be engaged in their normal type of work, that might involve the decommissioning/demolition of a contaminated building on a Department of Energy site or the demolition and reconstruction of a long-abandoned, but non-toxic warehouse. Or they might be building a new retail mall or an urban housing development. Or they might become an unemployed couch potato. Since most of the hazards encountered at hazardous waste sites, involve physical or traumatic factors rather than toxic exposures, it is necessary to determine whether these risks would be lower at alternative work sites. Surprisingly, the answer is probably "no". Most hazardous waste remediation projects have oversight by a responsible party or a governmental agency and most bidders must submit elaborate health and safety plans (HASPs) which are not required in most "non-hazardous-waste" construction. Indeed data from the Department of Energy shows accident, injury and mortality rates lower than those in general construction or industry. Unemployment carries with it a separate set of risks, both health and social. Data will be presented showing that one might reasonably conclude that assignment to a hazardous waste site is a way of protecting workers rather than jeopardizing their well-being.
Supported by a Department of Energy grant to the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation.
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