Health
Fawaz Bitar, BP's senior vice president for HSE and carbon, spoke at a recent health, safety, and environment conference in Aberdeen about the importance of health in the industry. Here is a transcript of his speech.
The report presents data from 35 participating member companies.
New Mexico is the second-largest oil producer in the US behind Texas. Drawing immense wealth from the Permian Basin, the state relies on a workforce—often Latino men—who are subjected to harrowing conditions that lead to death, injury, disease, and terrible tolls on mental health and family life.
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Local officials are calling on Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker to require studies of health and safety risks before approving new natural-gas infrastructure. In separate letters, boards of health representing 100 communities raise concerns about the state's reliance on natural gas as a fuel source. -
About a third of claims for medical or sickness benefits are related to mental health issues, often resulting from stress. And with the oil sector downturn, mental health claims have increased, a director of an Aberdeen-based financial advisory firm said.
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Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has asked the state Department of Health to determine how best to spur additional academic and science-based studies of the potential public health effects of shale gas development in the state.
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Although OSHA does not have a specific standard that covers working in hot environments, the Occupational Safety and Health Act requires places of employment that are "free from recognizable hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious harm." This includes heat-related hazards.
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Obstetrics are disappearing from rural counties across America, but not in the oil patch. In McKenzie County, North Dakota, Whiting Oil and Gas has donated to build a new wing of the McKenzie County Health Care Center devoted to labor and delivery.
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Carlsbad, New Mexico, residents are experiencing health effects, but the science behind their woes lags behind the pace of drilling.
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The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has developed an evidence-based method that uses the criteria of "burden," "need," and "impact" to identify research priorities.
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An examination of studies on air pollutants associated with oil and gas extraction finds that measurements near operational sites have generally failed to mark levels above standard health benchmarks; yet, many studies find poor health outcomes increasing as distance from these operations decreases.
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In both developed and developing countries, noise is regarded as the most common occupational hazard in various industries. The present study aimed to examine the effect of sound pressure level on serum cortisol concentration in three different times during the night shift.
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"I have some patients whose symptoms I can’t explain," physician Ulrike Meyer said, describing nosebleeds, rare cancers, and respiratory illness among a dearth of data.
