Environmental Issues

Recommendations to the Incident Commander
That the above site is a potential health hazard is a fact based on the devastating events of the Hurricane. Against this backdrop, the following guidelines and recommendations would be of great help to the Incident Commander. With regard to safe entry and clean up process of the site, it would be imperative for the said commander to ensure that hisher team is absolutely sure that the Hurricane would not reoccur in the near time. The primary reason for this reconfirmation is to make sure that none of the team members as well as recovery workers is at any danger for that matter. Reliable and validated data for the same would have to be obtained from the local district meteorological department. Secondly, the commander should ensure that all the recovery staffs have the requisite protective clothing (PPE) to prevent any possibility of gas poisoning from the site. The recommended PPE for the recovery workers for such kind of an operation would be protective clothing, gas masks, helmets, and goggles.

At the same time, all the recovery workers should avoid making contact to the chlorine prone zone within the site. Also, the need to have all the required recovery equipment, resources and reasonably sufficient number of recovery staff cannot be overstated in this regard. In order to be effective and efficient, it would be appropriate to sub-divide these workers into manageable teams of about ten to 12 persons with clear cut roles and duties with respect to recovery process. It would also be necessary to allocate duties amongst recovery workers based on their skills and technical capability. The clean up would be centered on the need to control all hazards at the site. In particular, this process should focus on elimination of the chlorine gas, dusts as well other harmful building materials such as asbestos. Hazard assessments on the other hand would be done by qualified personnel to provide valid and reliable assessment data upon which hazard control would be based.

Industrial Hygiene Concerns 
One of the primary industrial concerns from the aforementioned case study is the presence of chlorine within the site having been occasioned by the reported gas leak. In this regard, it is imperative to note that the entire atmospheric zone within Baton Rouge is at great risk of air pollution. Apart from the threat of chlorine air pollution, there would be the industrial concern from dust from building rabbles or related material in addition to carbon gas from decomposing bodies or compounds within this area. Furthermore, the risk of atmospheric pollution from other unknown industrial chemical compounds such sulphur oxides can not be ruled out. Air pollution from a range of domestic aerosols is the other potential industrial concern area.
The other industrial concern within such areas as it has been put forward by Birch and Susan, (2006), is the high possibility of contamination of water by sewerage, detergents and chlorine gas due to the after shocks of the Hurricane and gas leak respectively. To add to that, this water might also contain other industrial chemicals this may be either soluble or insoluble for that matter. The flood water is also highly predisposed to contamination from asbestos that might have been used for roofing within Baton Rouge. The water within Baton Rouge is also at risk of chemical pollution from agricultural compounds both from industries and farms.

Organization of the Team
In order to be effective, the team would be sub-divided into two main categories. One of the teams would be headed by the Safety Supervisor who would also be accompanied by one of the two technicians. The other team would be headed by the Environmental Manager who would also be accompanied by the other technician. However, unlike as it shall be the case with the latter case, the other technician would be given a free roaming role which would be used to assist the second technician subject to workload as well as urgency of tests results. As a rule of the thumb, these two teams would be reporting to me to keep the channel of information flow as clear as possible during the entire recovery exercise. I on the other hand would be reporting to the Incident Commander.  In the event that some recovery workers have additional technical expertise, and then they would be selected through randomly to assist this team although it would be have to be based on the professional discretion of the Incident Commander. It should be emphasized that throughout the entire exercise, cohesion and coordination amongst the team members would be given priority.

Task Allocation within the team
The Safety Supervisor shall be charged with the task of coordinating all the recovery programmes during this exercise. In addition, heshe would be responsible for training and skill upgrading of the other team members based on the recovery programmes required at the site.  In principle, the Safety Supervisor shall act as the nerve centre for programmes coordination of the various programme activities at Baton Rouge. With this in mind, all the team members would be expected to liaise with the Safety Supervisor with regards to the various programmes for the recovery exercise. Technicians on the other hand would be tasked with the duty of collecting all the relevant samples for testing.

In particular, samples would be collected from water, soil as well air for testing in order to establish the level pollution. The Environmental Manager on the other hand shall be charged with the duty of conducting a comprehensive environmental impact assessment with particular emphasis on the hazards within this site as well as feasible mitigating measures. As it has been stated above, the Environmental Manager shall be expected to work closely with the Safety Supervisor as well as the other staff within and without the team.
PPE Requirement for the Team and Recovery Workers

As it has been argued by Asfahl and David, (2009), the importance of personal protective equipment (PPE) whilst working in the field is not only mandatory but rather crucial for safety and health of the respective field workers. Against this backdrop, all the team members as well as recovery workers shall require overalls made of hard or tough cloth material. At the same time, these overalls should be able to stay dirt proof for a considerable length of time. Footwear is the other component of PPE that be most needed at such disaster zone. The said footwear would preferably be tough leather boots that would guarantee for the safety of team members and recovery workers as they wade through the rabbles. Spotlights and pressure lamps shall also be required for any night operations or emergencies in dimly lit areas.

Synthetic but tough rubber gloves would also be required as one of the measures of enhancing everyones safety. However, technicians would be given additional surgicalmedical gloves that would be used during the collection of samples. The importance of helmets as the other PPE can not afford to be overlooked during such activities as it has been stressed by,,,,,. On a positive rejoinder, Gardiner and Malcolm, (2005), note that such helmets should also ensure for the protection of the ear as well. The other short term PPE that would be needed is the gas masks for respiratory protection. This is particularly important owing to the fact that the air within this site is considerably polluted by a conglomeration of gases in addition to Chlorine that is confirmed to have leaked. Goggles are the other PPE that would suffice for both as short term and later on during the recovery process. Furthermore, technicians would have to be provided with high visibility goggles in order to enable them to effectively collect and test the various samples. During the recovery process, the all the recovery workers would require almost all of the above PPE in addition to other specialized equipment such as infrared goggles, chemical or dust proof overalls and special lit helmets. To add to that, specialized gas masks would be required to eliminate the likelihood of workers inhaling toxic gases from the atmosphere. It would also be prudent to provide these workers at this stage with radio calls to enhance communication within and without the team in order to enhance coordination of activities as it has been suggested by Roughton and James, (2002). It would also be necessary to provide all the recovery workers with disposable foam earplugs especially for those that would be working in relatively safe but potentially risky sites. (Gardiner and Malcolm, 2005)

Testing Equipment Required by the Team
One of the testing equipment that would be required by this team shall be the portable air sampling pump. This pump is particularly useful for the collection of air samples from the various zones within the site to ascertain the types of pollutants as well the level of air pollution in general. A spectrophotometer is the other testing equipment that shall be required by this team. Portable electro chemistry, hardness analyzers, portable turbidmeters, PH sensors, Dissolved Gas and Chlorine gas analyzers in addition to the BOD sample calculators are the other testing equipment that shall be crucial for testing the safety of water within Baton Rouge. In order to ascertain the exact amount of chlorine in this site having been occasioned by the gas leak, it this team shall also require the CL17 Free Residual Chlorine gas analyzer according to Unidos, (2002)

An air particulate counter shall also be required for testing the level of atmospheric pollution from any other gas or particles. In order for any of the water or air pollution tests to be valid and reliable, it would be necessary to carry PH Buffers and standards. In addition, the team shall be expected to have a full asbestos testing kit in order to establish possibility of air pollution from the same. (Reitz, 2005)

Information Required from the Team
One of the most crucial information that I shall require from the technicians is the extent of Chlorine pollution of both the air and water supplies in the area. At the same time, these technicians shall be expected to provide information concerning any other air pollutant in terms of the amount or whether it is a potential health risk relative to the threshold levels. Hence, this shall entail the subjection to the various air samples to tests for Ammonia, Carbon Dioxide, and Sulphur concentration in relation to the Ozone concentration. With respect to water, these technicians shall be expected to provide information on the nature and extent of pollution in terms of composition of pollutants and the health risk.

The Environmental Manager on the other hand shall be required to provide information on the state of existing or prior plants and whether they conform to the environmental regulations. The manager shall also be expected to provide sufficient information on the types as well as impact of wastes. At the same time, the Safety Supervisor shall be required to provide up to date information with respect to all the programs that might be required for the recovery process alongside the possible number of workers for the same.

Delegation of Duties
As an Industrial hygienist, one the duties I would delegate would be the collection of the various samples as well as analysis of the same. This would be best done by the technicians since they are versed in IH and environmental sample collecting and testing. The Safety Supervisor would suffice as the most suitable candidate to act as the team leader. In this regard, this supervisor shall be delegated the role of coordinating the activities of the entire team. This shall provide the much needed additional time for exposure analysis within the site.