Project of Safety Science - Assignment Example

Project of Safety Science Introduction Safety science is a course designed to help students in learning the impact of safety science on everyday life. For an understanding of how people associate with their working and nature's turf, one need to comprehend the fundamental sciences of chemistry, physics, biology, math and some other topics from the traditional engineering practices. With the help of this general course the students will become able to understand the techniques with which they can apply the principles of science and engineering to human safety. This thing attracted me to attend the EGEE 110 Safety Science course, so that I could learn best safety practices and procedures from science and engineering to implement in my daily life. Before attending this course I had very basic information about safety and in my opinion safety is something that saves us from accidents, injuries and serious health issues. However, after taking this class, I explored so many new things about safety and I learned that safety is a very broad area. The thing which grabbed my attention to take this course was its connection with health and food, the two most important things for me. I find it interesting to explore things that are considered harmful to the eyes of professionals, but we usually neglect them due to lack of knowledge. For example, before taking this class I perceived that my home is the safest place in the world for me, but during the course I learnt that our home also needs certain modifications to make it safe for us. I never thought about fire, so in my apartment there is no proper fire escape route. I never judged my bathroom critically and this course made me conscious about its safety. Before joining this course I only have safety information about cars, alcohol, tobacco, injuries caused by accidents and falls. The topics that were new for me in the course included carbon monoxide, hazardous waste, home hazards, Repetitive task injuries, pesticides and nuclear power, asbestos and food borne illness etc. With EGEE 110 course, I learned too many things regarding safety that affect my daily life or can affect my health and life in the future. I want to become a safer individual as well as I want to have a safer and health family with a healthy living standards. Focus Areas Caffeine I chose caffeine to address as my first topic of focus area because caffeine is the key ingredient of many of beverages and foods that we consume on the daily basis. The biggest example of caffeine containing product is coffee and tea. During the period of taking this course many other products came into my notice containing a significant amount of caffeine such as energy drinks, prescription drugs, chocolate, carbonated drinks like sodas, Pepsi, mountain dew, coca-cola and Dr. Pepper and many weight loss supplements. The article that I found interesting about caffeine and its impacts on our health stated that the number of hospital visits is increasing rapidly because youngsters are using energy drinks on a daily basis. Caffeine has been indicated to prompt a loss of minerals found in bones, which inevitably will result in osteoporosis, an infection that is portrayed by exceptionally frail and fragile bones because of the fact that caffeine diminishes the capability of your body to assimilate small amount of calcium (Heaney and Recker). Evidences suggested that the high consumption of caffeine could bring about diabetes, cancer, heart diseases, dehydration, and liver sicknesses. Caffeine increases the risk of vasoconstriction and circulatory strain. Hypertension or high blood pressure is connected with higher risks of strokes, and cerebral vascular ailment, resulting in an increased risk of multi-infarct dementia. Caffeine may lessen control of muscular movements resulting in shaky hands. Caffeine increases the frequency of urination and causing dehydration in human body. The withdrawal of Caffeine produces cerebral pain, diminished readiness, headache, difficulty concentrating, anxiety and depression (Weinberg and Bealer). Caffeine is addictive therefore it is hard for people to stop its consumption. Caffeine has two other names: the main is 1, 3, 7 - trimethylxanthine; the second is 3, 7,-Dihydro-1, 3, 7- trimethyl-1h-purine -2, 6-dione. Evidences from history showed that Caffeine has likewise passed by the name of methyltheobromine, and also thein (Weinberg and Bealer). The C8 H10 N4 O2 is the chemical formula of caffeine and its molecular weight is 194.19 atomic units. The composition of Caffeine is: 49.5 percent carbon, 5.2 percent hydrogen, 28.9 percent nitrogen, and 16.5 percent oxygen. The strong hexagonal crystal of Caffeine melts at 238 degrees Celsius. RELATED ARTICLES When I read this article I find that it has a very close relation with things that were taught in our class. It discussed various negative factors of caffeine that I have never read before such as frequent urination, strokes, high blood pressure and liver disorders. The article helped me in learning how energy drinks are causing deaths of teens because there is no age limit on these products. Additional to caffeine, energy drinks have high sugar levels and some other substances causing serious health issues in combination with caffeine. Repetitive task injuries I decided to select Repetitive strain injury as my second focus area because it is something that was new for me. This topic identified many actions that I believed are healthy for us. Repetitive Strain Injuries or Cumulative Trauma disorder happen from rehashed physical movements causing harm to tendons, nerves, muscles and other delicate body tissues. Repetitive movements that put total physical pressure on tendons, nerves and muscles (Johansson). Overtime such stress and pressure leads to some annoying indications of pain, burning, blazing, deadliness or stinging in the neck, shoulder, elbow, lower arm, hand, wrist or fingers. The symptoms of repetitive strain injury rely upon the types of actions. Much of the time the manifestations create in an arm, wrist or hand, as these parts of the body most regularly do dull tasks repetitively. Nowadays, the symptoms are common among typists, computer operators, musical performers and individuals doing redundant undertakings in other fields. Individuals who do a great deal of DIY around the house are at higher risk to RSI, or individuals who do certain games which include redundant movements such as tennis, squash, golf etc. Sometimes, the symptoms become too severe that people cannot perform other tasks due to pain and inflammation in muscle (Johansson). Repetitive strain injury can cause some other issues more than a harm to hand, arm and shoulders muscles such as back injuries, eye strain, reduction in the ability of movements necessary for the completion of a certain action, spinal asymmetry etc. People who are at the higher risk of getting repetitive strain injury include people spending more than two to four hours on computer, laptop or typing machine, have no frequent break times, no exercise, having poor, stressful and unhealthy lifestyle, having serious medical conditions like muscle weakness, diabetes, arthritis etc., heavy weight people, high pressure work environment and high work load. Untreated RSI leads to serious conditions in which individual cannot perform daily tasks such as food preparation, laundry, driving, writing, shake hands and typing etc. Repetitive strain injury sufferers suffer from continuous pain, numbness and loss of sensation but are also suffering from an increased dependence on friends and family members, limiting day to day functionality and a high emotional burden (Helliwell and Taylor). Related Article I found this article effective regarding the things I have learnt during my course. In our lectures we learned that how poor postures and less breaks during work leads to stress on muscles and tensions. I myself felt eyes strain, back pain and fatigue after sitting for a long time on computer and for the first time I discovered the actual reason behind it. It has been told in our lectures that to avoid repetitive task injuries, one need to have proper exercise, breaks, a relaxed environment and health consciousness. Whenever, a person feel pain in muscles and hands, it is important to visit a doctor without wasting time because untreated muscle pains can cause serious health conditions. Additional to sitting posture, environment and proper breaks, it is important to have a proper type of seat: its height, angle, angle and height of backrest, distance from computer etc. Today, people spend more than four hours on using computer therefore, it is crucial to understand the side effects of the excessive use of the new technology. Food Borne Illness Food Borne Illness is caused by the consumption of food and beverages containing poisonous and polluted substances. There are numerous health issues caused by microbes, or pathogens. Also, noxious chemicals, or other harmful substances can result in food borne illness in case that they are part of food items. More than two 250 food borne diseases have been portrayed; most of them are caused by infections. They are brought about by a mixture of microorganisms, infections, and parasites that might be food borne (Bjorklund). The most regularly perceived food borne diseases are those caused by the microbes Campylobacter, Salmonella, and E. coli 0157:h7, and by a group of viruses called Calicivirus, also known as the Norwalk virus. The bacterial pathogen Campylobacter is a major cause of fever, stomach issues and diarrhea. It is the most common bacteria causing diarrhea across the globe. These microscopic organisms live in the entrails of birds, and are the most common part of raw poultry meat. Consuming under-cooked chicken or other food that has been sullied with the substances dribbling from raw chicken is the most successive wellspring of this specific contamination (Tham and Danielsson-Tham). Salmonella, another bacterium that is far reaching in the digestion systems of mammals, reptiles, and birds. It can spread to the human species through an assortment of distinctive routes; through food and direct contact with animals. A few examples of such food are eggs, poultry and different meats, crude milk, cheese and chocolate. The sicknesses it causes are fever, loose bowels, and stomach cramps. E. coli 0157:h7 is a bacterial pathogen that lives in cattle. Human disease normally takes after utilization of food or water that has been tainted with minute measures of cattle feces. The disease it causes is serious bleeding, loose bowels and severe stomach issues. Such extreme difficulties incorporate impermanent paleness, lavish dying, and kidney disappointment. Despite the fact that their frequency is moderately low, their extreme consequences, especially among newborn children, youngsters, and the elderly lead to death (Bjorklund). RELAED ARTICLE RELAED ARTICLE Related Article: I selected the topic of food borne illness as my third focus area because it is one of the most common and serious issues of the world. Our eating habits have been changed over a few decades, which put us at the higher risk to food borne illness. The reason for relating this article with food borne illness is that we learned in our class that we are at the higher risk to be affected by food borne illness because of our eating habits. We usually prefer to have a burger or any other type of fast food on the way to home, collage or office due to time shortage. Many fast food brands are using processed meat purchased from different companies working in the country. However, there are no specific regulatory measures about the methods used for processing meat regarding safety. The safety measures imposed by the government of the USA are not sufficient and appropriate because in recent years the outer breaks of E. coli and salmonella have increased significantly. In our class I learned that the major causes of food borne illness are E. coli and salmonella and these microbes are highly present in beef as compared to poultry. It is important to avoid raw poultry, beef and fish to avoid serious health issues because people with weak immune power are at higher risk of food borne illness. Instead of using ammonia to kill these microbes, the state government should find some other more appropriate and human friendly ways. Pesticides Pesticides are substances or chemicals used to prevent or slaughter any sort of nuisance that represents a danger to yields. Insects, fungi weeds, plant diseases and snails are the few examples of pests. Pesticides are also utilized to purify the kitchen floor, cabinets, uproot mold on bathroom tiles to dispose off potential illness and growth of weeds. Persistent organic pollutants make their way to the environment when pesticides are either taken by winds or washed away from corps with rain. The tainted water enters the soil, and inevitably goes into our rivers by sifting through the soil or by direct exposure, lastly winds up in the ocean. At the point when these pesticides get into water bodies they cause "eutrophication" which is the development of abundance algae growth in the water. These algae growth have a tendency to rival the living sea-going life forms in the water bodies for the accessible oxygen causing the death of some aquatic creatures (Lippmann). The pesticides used to control pests to increase annual crop yield are getting worse because the pests immune system is getting stronger to these pesticides. To control a stronger immune system of pests, in many countries a more concentrated type of pesticides are used that are eventually causing serious threats to humans. There are a number of pesticides remain in the final/consumable food derived from the crop such as breads. When people consume such food items their bodies get affected from the effect of pesticides resulting in serious health issues such as defects in infants, hormonal changes in pregnant women, obesity and many other related issues (Karr et al.). Related Article The reason for choosing this article was its relation with my learning from the course. In the article the affects of pesticides on humans are clearly stated that average Americans are at the risk of exposure to more than 10 pesticides every day. In our lectures it is told by our mentors that pesticides are present in our food, water and air that we are inhaling on a regular basis. The use of pesticides has been increased over the past decade and if it continues to grow in the same manner it would cause some uncontrollable issue for us in the future. The facts that are shared in this article are almost discussed in our lectures which really improved my knowledge and compelled me to choose pesticides as the final focus area for this report. According to our notes, Pesticides are causing serious health issues in children and adult such as numbness, abdominal cramps, variable heart rate, muscles issues and continuous exposure to them may result in coma or deaths. Samples Of My Work Summary And Conclusion The overall experience of the EGEE 110 was very interesting and informative for me because it exposed me to some very serious safety facts that are unknown to me and to many of the Americans. The most interesting thing about the course was its close relation with our daily life and with things that we experience on a regular basis. At the beginning of the course I was only familiar with the health and safety issues of alcohol, tobacco, medical errors, fire hazards and pollution but at the end of the course, I discovered too many things, I never thought about as health and safety threats. I liked that in our class we discussed the major health risks of different things and the safety measures and regulatory laws imposed by the US government. For preparing the final report of the course our professors demanded to add the copy of the original article in the report which compelled us to read newspapers and to find effective articles. I never read health related articles in news papers before but now after attending this course I am regularly reading newspapers to find something informative and interesting related to safety science. We were allowed to print the lecture notes before the lecture date which helped us to follow our professors effectively in the class. The emphasis of the course was on learning new things by clearing our concept instead of memorizing facts. The class environment was very friendly and learning oriented and our professors were very cooperative. The open discussion in the class regarding each topic allowed us to share our information with each other which also helped us in learning unknown facts. REFFERENCES Bjorklund, Ruth. Food Borne Illnesses. 1st ed. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2006. Print. Heaney, Robert P, and Robert R Recker. 'Effects Of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, And Caffeine On Calcium Balance In Women.'. The Journal of laboratory and clinical medicine 99.1 (1982): 46--55. Print. Helliwell, PS, and WJ Taylor. 'Repetitive Strain Injury'. Postgraduate medical journal 80.946 (2004): 438--443. Print. Johansson, Philip. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome And Other Repetitive Strain Injuries. 1st ed. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1999. Print. Karr, Catherine et al. 'Pacific Northwest Health Professionals Survey On Pesticides And Children'.Journal of agromedicine 11.3-4 (2006): 113--120. Print. Lippmann, Morton. Environmental Toxicants. 1st ed. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2009. Print. Tham, Wilhelm, and Marie-Louise Danielsson-Tham. Food Associated Pathogens. 1st ed. Print. Weinberg, Bennett Alan, and Bonnie K Bealer. The World Of Caffeine. 1st ed. Print. Read More