MPH 632 Environmental Health Blog

National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health: This website is a great tool that can be used to learn a lot about disaster preparedness and what to do when disasters strike. Out of curiosity, since it pertains to most Californians recently, I looked into the wildfire section on the website. Under this tab, one can find tons of resources and documents that talk about how to recover from wildfires, what can be done to prevent them, how to be prepared in advance for wildfires and so on. In terms of disaster preparedness, this website seems to be a one stop shop where you will be able to find a lot of information on all disasters. Disaster HealthCare Volunteer Website: This is another great tool for those who are looking to get involved and help out. If you're one of those people who want to help, but don't know where to start or who to reach out to, this website is perfect for you. Registration seems very easy, and once a disaster strikes, you will be contacted to help...

What I find most troubling about climate change in the short term is the severity of the storms we are seeing across the globe. Nobody is safe from these changes. We are seeing it all over the place with the intensity of the Hurricanes in the southeast and the raging fires across California. What is even more troubling to me is that our generations isn't the most vulnerable to Climate Change. Yes we will be and are currently being affected, but it's the future generations that may not ever live in the world as we know it.  I think what needs the most attention right now is focusing on reducing our emissions. We need to be voting people into office that actually believe Climate Change is a thing and people who will be implementing policies that will work to improve and revert the current path we are on.  I would tell my long lost friend that Climate Change is the single most important issue on this earth as it effects every single person on it. I would my friend of what ...

My initial thoughts about living a zero waste life are that it would take too much time to accomplish this goal. I feel like I would be spending the entire day and spending all of my energy trying to achieve a zero waste life. Then I began to think that it would become easier overtime. Sure, the first few weeks would be difficult, after all, I am changing my life completely. I'd be concerned about things I normally would not be concerned about. Therefore, my entire though process would completely change. Now, I couldn't jump straight into this. I would definitely have to gradually initiate change in my life to reduce the amount of trash I contribute to the planet. I would have to go beyond the current things I do. For example, I like to use things that are reusable like my water bottle and my storage containers. I think a logical next step would be DIY personal care products. This is something I had not really given a lot of thought about, but after watching the video, I feel l...

For the purpose of this blog post, I will consider my current job, but I will be blogging from the Housekeeping perspective. They come into contact more with exposure to chemicals than I do at the front desk. Ergonomics - Housekeeping is a very demanding job physically, and they are at risk to cause themselves physical harm if they are not practicing proper postures and lifts while preforming their job. Biological - Asbestos exposure is something I gave listed here because it is possible that they will be exposed to asbestos. The St. Francis Hotel is original and was built in 1904. It survived the earthquake, and the building definitely contains materials within it that would not be deemed suitable by current contraction standards. Another potential exposure is to blood. Although it isn't come across as often, one can only imagine the things that are found in a hotel room. Chemical - Housekeepers are consistently exposed to chemicals throughout the day with their job requirem...

NIOSH is involved in a range of occupational safety and health activities including surveillance, research and technology transfer. One sector they sponsored is involving Agriculture, Farming and Fishing. They have identified health risks and worked to minimize them by focusing on work safety, prevention, and education. The main goals of the sector  are reductions in illnesses, injuries and fatalities, as well as improvements to health and well-being. For example, a goal to reduce a workplace hazardous exposure might contribute to reducing both cancer and adverse reproductive outcomes. This wouldn't effect my line of work, but it could effect me though what I eat. This safety sector within NIOSH is helping to reduce health hazards in our food wether it is coming from the ocean or farm.  Specific details can be found by going to this website.   https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/programs/default.html

I currently work for Marriott Hotels and decided to look up the MSDS on Clorox bleach. This is the brand that housekeepers are using multiple times on a daily basis cleaning rooms. I was able to find the MSDS directly from the Clorox Company.  What are the health risks associated with this chemical? Some health risks include severe skin burns and eye damage and it was listed as a category 1.  Is the chemical a carcinogen? Under the MSDS, the product isn't listed as a carcinogen, but it is listed in the unknown category. I believe this means it could be carcinogenic, but there needs to be testing done.  What personal protective equipment or special precautions should be taken when working with this chemical? PPE required when working with this product include wearing protective gloves, clothing, face protection and eye protection.  If this is a chemical found in your workplace, what training/education were yo...