Occupational Health

WASHINGTON -- High levels of air pollution contribute to an estimated 500 fatalities a year nationwide from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, with perhaps a dozen occurring in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area, a panel of doctors contended at a news conference yesterday.SIDS claimed the lives of 3,800 babies in the United States in 1994, the year upon which the statistics are based. Its cause is largely unknown, but infants are known to face a heightened risk if they breathe cigarette smoke or sleep on their stomachs rather than on their backs.

Concentra Medical Centers, one of the largest physician-practice management companies focusing on NTC occupational health care, plans to bring up to 20 jobs to Howard County with the opening of its 14,000-square-foot regional headquarters and clinic in Jessup, the company announced yesterday.The new jobs, county economic officials say, are part of an estimated 5,000 new jobs expected to come to Howard this year -- with the majority of these jobs in the service and health care fields.The county has about 100,000 jobs, with its job base having grown about 5 percent each of the last three years.

BP is a blatant repeat offender — a serial criminal. In 2005, BP's criminal conduct resulted in an explosion at its Texas City Oil Refinery that killed 15 people; this was followed by the Prudhoe Bay, Alaska pipeline oil spill in 2006. In both cases multi-million dollar criminal fines were imposed. BP also paid hundreds of millions of dollars in civil and administrative fines for Occupational Health and Safety Administration and environmental violations. And now, BP is responsible for yet even more deaths and an environmental disaster of devastating proportions.

Researchers commissioned by the Defense Department said Monday that decades-old limits on lead exposure are inadequate to protect the health of workers on military firing ranges. Moreover, the National Academy of Science reported, lead from ammunition fired on Army, Navy and Air Force ranges in the last five years has "frequently exceeded" those limits, "in some cases by several orders of magnitude. " Sen. Ben Cardin expressed concern about the report's implications for workers at Maryland installations with firing ranges, such as Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County.

Laurance Rockefeller, 94, a conservationist, philanthropist and leading figure in the field of venture capital, died in his sleep yesterday in New York City. The cause was pulmonary fibrosis, a spokesman said. Mr. Rockefeller -- the fourth of six children of John D. Rockefeller Jr. -- was No. 377 on this year's Forbes magazine list of 587 billionaires, with $1.5 billion. But he was perhaps best known for his environmental work: He served under five presidents in several capacities related to conservation and the outdoors.

Lloyd Edwards is not a smoker, but he works around smokers almost constantly at the Phoenix Emporium in Historic Ellicott City. The bartender said he knows secondhand smoke is unhealthy for him but that he isn't worried."

Maryland will once again have the highest cancer death rate among the 50 states in 1992, according to the American Cancer Society.Only the District of Columbia is likely to fare worse, according to estimates in the society's publication, "Cancer Facts & Figures" for 1992, which analyzes trends in the District and Puerto Rico as well as the 50 states.Nearby Delaware ranks right behind Maryland in the places where the highest death rates are expected.Led by malignancies of the lungs, colon and rectum, breast, prostate and pancreas, cancer is expected to kill 9,900 people inMaryland in 1992, according to the society.

Services for Roma G. Mayes, a retired industrial nurse and Brooklyn resident, will be held at 1 p.m. today at the First Baptist Church of Brooklyn, 3801 Sixth St.Mrs. Mayes, who had cancer, died Feb. 6 at Mercy Medical Center. She was 69.She had recently retired after 20 years with Locke Insulator Inc. Earlier, she worked many years in the office of Dr. Albert R. Wilkerson, a surgeon.The former Roma G. Johnson was a native of Baltimore whose father had practiced medicine in Brooklyn. She was a graduate of Eastern High School and the Franklin Square Hospital nursing school.

Hospital offers hepatitis vaccineThe North Arundel Hospital's Occupational Health Services division now provides Hepatitis B vaccinations to area employers and employees who are at risk of exposure to Hepatitis B virus.The vaccination was recently mandated by The Department of Labors' Occupational Safety and Health Administration at no cost to employees who are considered at risk of occupational exposure to the virus.Workers at risk of catching the virus include a variety of professional health care workers and emergency medical services personnel such as nurses, physicians, laboratory technicians, police officers, firefighters and dentists as well as morticians, embalmers and hotel housekeepers.

OSHA program to focus on preserving hearingCarroll Occupational Health Services will sponsor a hearing conservation program on federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards regarding exposure to noise.The program will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sept. 14 at Francis Scott Key Mall, 5500 Buckeystown Pike, Frederick.Cost is $30.Participants will learn about the requirements of an occupational noise exposure control plan, hearing testing, compliance with employee notification guidelines, how to complete the OSHA log and employee training.