MOSCOW, May 21 (RIA Novosti) – The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has raised an issue of the health hazards workers face while carrying out hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, laying emphasis on the lack of information related to the problem.
“Although worker safety hazards in the oil and gas extraction industry are well known, there is very little published data regarding occupational health hazards (e.g., types and magnitude of risks for chemical exposures) during oil and gas extraction operations.
The institute cited at least four fatalities linked to flowback operations since 2014 with some of them still under investigation.
“While not all of these investigations are complete, available information suggests that these cases involved workers who were gauging flowback or production tanks or involved in transferring flowback fluids at the well site,” NIOSH officials said, adding that the alleged cause of death is acute chemical exposure.
With no sufficient information shedding light on what types of risk workers at fracking sights are exposed to, NIOSH conducted a study which suggested that “certain flowback operations/activities can result in elevated concentrations of volatile hydrocarbons in the work environment that could be acute exposure hazards.”
In an effort to address the lack of information and draw attention to the problem, NIOSH officials are urging oil and gas stakeholders to help assess possible risks for toxic exposure during fracking and, possibly, set up special control policies.
Following NIOSH’s May 19 report, the US government launched an inquiry into the health risks of hydraulic fracturing.
