Importance of Including Construction Worker Safety and Health in Green Building

Karla Armenti, ScD. American Public Health AssociationAnnual Meeting 2004

Sustainable Building PracticesThe topic of sustainable building practices is a large

one. It is becoming a topic of increasing concern for several reasons.

First, our planet is comprised of finite resources and there is growing consensus that we must begin to use them more wisely.

Second, many of the products that are currently used in the building industry are toxic to human health, and there are alternatives.

Source: Patrick Miller, The Jordan Institute

Green Buildings Green buildings are intended to reduce energy usage,

minimize indoor air quality problems, recycle water and waste, and provide a comfortable indoor environment for its occupants.

Green buildings are designed to interact with the surrounding environment.

It is assumed that by using environmentally friendly materials, these buildings are safe for everyone. But, are they really?

What about the construction workers building these buildings?

Are we “shifting risk” from the general environment to the work environment?

RISK SHIFTINGRISK SHIFTING….unintended consequences when fixing an environmental problem inadvertently increases the risks faced by workers (or vice versa)

toxic to ergonomic?? toxic to physical (noise, safety)?? Inhalation to dermal ?? Known to less known?? VOC to non-VOC??

Background – let’s start with general

industrial activity Pollution Prevention Act of 1990: A Model for

Sustainable Economic Growth and Development

Reduction or elimination of pollution at the source Substitute with less harmful chemicals and processes Use resources and energy more efficiently Protect natural resources

Many environmental programs do not include worker safety and health

Many existing P2 case studies and programs do not address worker impacts.

Environmental measurement methods (e.g. emission inventories) do not allow a sensitive prediction of the impact on worker exposures.

Why is it important to link P2 and occupational health? Allows for full participation by all

stakeholders – government agencies, industry, labor, community.

Provides an integrated approach to establish interventions that decrease or eliminate potential harm to workers and the environment.

Benefits of Integrating Both Disciplines

Provides opportunity to practice primary prevention - avoids reliance on “end-of-pipe” solutions.

Prevents risk shifting between and among workplace and environment by evaluating more than one media at a time.

Occupational and Environmental Practitioners Need to work together to comprehensively and

simultaneously address toxics in the workplace and the environment in order to prevent risk shifting and to take advantage of opportunities for simultaneous improvements.

What are some of the projects and programs “out there” that are already doing this important work?

Summary of Literature and Projects Promoting the Integration of

Occupational and Environmental Health

Pioneering Activities

1989 Passage of the Toxics Use Reduction Act in Massachusetts

“Toxics use reduction means in-plant changes in production processes or raw materials that reduce, avoid, or eliminate the use of toxic or hazardous substances or generation of hazardous by-products per unit of product, so as to reduce risks to the health of workers, consumers, or the environment without shifting risks between workers, consumers or parts of the environment.”

Pioneering Activities 1995 Rafael Moure-Eraso. OSHA’s Senior

Policy Advisor on Chemical Exposure Prevention (SPACEP) Six month study of P2/OHS. EPA/OPPT support (ONE Committee).

1999 “COMMON SENSE APPROACHES TO PROTECTING WORKERS AND THE ENVIRONMENT” Interagency Cooperation towards Comprehensive Solutions -A Workshop sponsored by OSHA, NIOSH, and EPA, Washington, DC.

Conference Presentations 1995 to Present. Sessions on the integration of

occupational and environmental health at NPPR, APHA and AIHA.

D. Sivin, Johns Hopkins University. “Pollution Prevention and Worker Toxic Exposures: A Method.”

K. Armenti. UMASS Lowell. “Primary Prevention for Occupational Health. How Pollution Prevention has affected Worker Safety and Health at four Printed Wire Board (PWB) facilities in Massachusetts.”

Conference Presentations, Cont’d

M. Flum. UMASS Lowell. Worker Participation in Pollution Prevention -- From Here to the Future.

M. Wilson, UC Berkeley. “When Environmental Policy Leads to Occupational Disease: A Case Study in the California Vehicle Repair Industry”

B. Rosenberg. Tufts University. “Riding the Green Wave: Can We Use Environmental Laws to Regulate Occupational Hazards?”

Conference Presentations, Cont’d

J. Tessler. UMASS Lowell. “Capturing Ergonomic Risk Shifting in Pollution Prevention Initiatives: Conceptual Challenges and Proposed Solutions.”

M. Gillen. EPA OPPT. “What occupational health and environmental specialists need to know to protect workers and the environment.”

S. Lee, UMASS Lowell. “Successful Implementation Strategies for Environmental Management Systems in Public Organizations.”

Integrated Programs/Projects

P2 Training Program for Workers (Occupational Training & Education Consortium, Rutgers University)

Sustainable Hospitals Project (Lowell Center for Sustainable Production) and Hospitals for a Healthy Environment: “Green Cleaning in Hospitals”

Integrated Programs/ProjectsJanitorial Products

Pollution Prevention Project Project Partners: US EPA, Cal/EPA Department of Toxic Substance

Control Santa Clara County Pollution Prevention Program City of Los Angeles City of Richmond City of Santa Barbara Local Government Commission

Integrated Programs/Projects

Canadian Labour Congress "A Workers’ Manual on Pollution

Prevention - How to Clean Up Your Workplace and the Environment at the Same Time"

Integrated Programs/Projects

EPA’s Design for the Environment “Integrated Environmental Management Systems”

EPA’s Green Engineering Program “Sustainable Design of Processes and Products”

Textbook, Green Engineering: Environmentally Conscious Design of Chemical Processes

Integrated Programs/Projects

Small Business Safety Officer (SBSO) – A computer program that integrates occupational

and environmental risk assessment in one tool. Encourages toxics use reduction and provides

technical assistance to find cleaner, safer, and cheaper alternatives to hazardous materials and chemicals.

Under development.  

Discussion Groups

How do issues about integrating OHS and P2 relate to your work?

Are you or your colleagues doing anything in this area?

If yes, what tools or resources have you used to consider both OHS and EHS risks together?

If no, what tools or resources do you see are needed to allow for better integration of OHS and P2?

More Discussion Questions

What barriers do you see are in the way to adopting this approach more fully?

What are ways of disseminating this approach, and sharing successes of projects integrating OHS and P2?