BP Oil May Be Disappearing, But Risks for Cleanup Workers and Fishermen Remain

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6372/bp_oil_may_be_disappearing_but_risks_for_cleanup_workers_and_fishermen/

Friday August 27 12:04 pm

By Kari Lydersen


A BP oil spill cleanup worker pulls along a plastic bag showing oily globs that he picked on July 1, 2010, in Gulfport, Miss. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The BP oil spill is finally contained, with industry and government officials even making the dubious claim that three quarters of the oil is gone.
But as speakers at a Poynter Institute training in New Orleans this week discussed, the health risks for thousands of workers cleaning up the spill are still a serious issue shrouded in misinformation and confusion.

The 100-day gusher drew out an army of contractors hired by BP and various government agencies, including fishermen working as VOOs, or “vessels of opportunity.” Many have been exposed to petroleum and toxic dispersant on a daily basis, often with questionable safety equipment.

There are widespread reports of BP contractors prohibited from wearing respirators on the job, including reports catalogued on the Louisiana Bucket Brigade’s oil spill website, a “crowd-sourced” social media map where anyone can post reports of oil spill-related damage and trauma.



Irwin Redlener, head of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, said he was surprised and dismayed to find that a government-run mobile clinic for workers in Louisiana is only seeing a handful of patients per day, since workers must first go through triage at a privately-run clinic sponsored by BP.

Only workers referred by that clinic make it to the government clinic, Redlener said, raising concerns that workers’ illnesses are being downplayed or covered up by the private emergency services company contracted by BP.

“It was a surreal experience,” said Redlener, whose center has set up 50 mobile clinics around the country.

FULL story at link.