RE: Hanford Site cleanup standards

[Doug Aitken <daitken@sugar-land.oilfield.slb.com>]

At 06:25 PM 8/28/2003 +0000, Pete C, CIH, CHP wrote:

>The risks are not inclusively comparable (as are also the benefits). the

>problem is in the fact that workers are compensated for the risk they take

>when performing work (although one could argue that market forces don't truly

>compensate workers in an equitable manner but that is another argument/

>issue). The public bears the risk with no compensation and here again one

>could argue the original activity that put the material benefited the public.

>In both cases one can't do a nice ledger accounting. In summary its truly

>comparing apples and oranges if you bring the risk to workers into the

>equation. A better comparison would be risk to the public when transporting

>hazardous materials from the site because that is an uncompensated risk for

>the public and if I remember the risk factors correctly transport risk (to

>the public) often outweighs the benefit to the public gained when cleaning up

>the site.



Apples to oranges..... sure.

But lets look at the big picture: the ("expendable, compensated" fully 

informed??) workers are also members of the "public" (provided we eliminate 

the "us" and "them" that tends to distort most arguments on environmental 

cleanups). And therefore must be included in any risk analysis. And, as Jim 

Dukelow has clarified, the occupational safety risks generally far outweigh 

the long term risk to the public.



I would prefer to consider the common-sense approach of excluding the 

public from a site (once the truly hazardous external discharges and plumes 

are eliminated). Then there is minimal danger to law-abiding citizens. This 

slight loss of access is surely tolerable and the overall risk to the 

population less than doing a total cleanup.....



As others have clearly stated, many of these sites became contaminated 

during activities which were (at the time) considered to be in the 

fundamental interest of the public, and at a time when standards were not 

in place. To retroactively impose these standards may be totally 

impractical/uneconomical. And not necessarily beneficial......



Doug

Doug Aitken		Schlumberger Drilling and Measurements QHSE 

Advisor

Phone (Sugarland):   	281 285-8009

Phone (Home office): 	713 797-0919	

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Principal E-mail: jdaitken@earthlink.net

Schlumberger E-mail: daitken@sugar-land.oilfield.slb.com

Mail: 	300 Schlumberger Drive MD2, Room 111

	Sugar Land, TX 77478









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