What do you all think are the biggest threats to health and safety in the cannabis industry? What have you particularly witnessed/experienced?
A few to mention: solvent fire/explosion, dry ice suffocation, vacuum implosion, ect.
Any long term consequences for health like CHS?
The same people who profited from incarnating innocent people and destroyed livelihoods to make a dollar are the ones who are regulating this rodeo to make another dollar.
Inadequate training for larger equipment. BLEVE
I see a ton of pictures with operators not wearing adequate PPE. I’m guilty of walking around without glasses time to time but walking off the sidewalk into a lab and starting isn’t smart for producers or consumers.
Many acute opportunities, fire, suffocation, even explosion… but what we dont think too much about is chronic exposure to “less harmful” not fully understood risks.
Chronic exposure to chemicals, especially those we dont really understand is one of the biggest threats to health and wellness today.
This occupation concentrates that exposure.
Think about how long it took for round up to be seen then accepted as a cancer risk, and consider how many bottles are still on the shelf…huge settlements, but still used by many in relatively casual/unprotected conditions. Bad for the earth too…which is a whole different topic.
Ventilation is huge, so is proper safety gear whenever you are at risk of exposure. Proper storage with adequate venting and spill protection. Thankfully code solves a lot of this.
Best way is to eliminate the nastiest of things and only use those that “worth” the inherent risk. This takes work and research to understand but is worth the effort.
A bit easier to do…
Don’t work with idiots.
This was what was on my mind. I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking it.
The one issue I see with code is that although there is an enforceable code a lot of these new companies are not following regulations yet as they are “unaware” of the codes themselves or the fines that come with violating them… or choose not to follow assuming OSHA won’t enter a federally illegal operation.
It’s the corporate philosophy of profit before safety. Cutting corners on needed safety protocols while sinking hundreds of thousands into grandiose extraction machines then hiring a bunch of kids to learn how to run them without any prior experience. The lawsuits will be plenty, 10 years from now.
Capitalism