Protecting the Men and Women of the BP Oil Spill Cleanup Effort

Disasters and tragedies are always unpredictable and can impose a long term effect on entities it has affected. Behind every disaster, there are those men and women who are willing to sacrifice their lives in order to save more and lessen the problem. The September 11 attack on the World Trade Center for example has prompted numerous citizens to rescue people trapped under the debris and help during the cleanup effort.

The year 2010 has been rocked by many disasters and accidents which have already claimed thousands of lives. One of the destructive and most significant is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill or more commonly known as the BP oil spill. On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion has caused the largest offshore oil spill accident in the United States and probably one of the worst oil spill incidents in the world. Currently, the incident has already claimed 13 lives mostly from the original explosion and also 17 people were reportedly injured.

With the possibility of further destroying marine wildlife and ecology, it is now the job of the cleanup workers to lessen the impact of the oil spill and eventually take control of the situation. A recent report disclosed by the Louisiana Health Department has indicated that about 324 people of whom 241 are directly involved on the actual oil spill cleanup itself have reported to suffer from various illnesses. These illnesses were thought to originate from chemicals and oil dispersants used for the cleanup effort. It is quite alarming that a lot of fisherman’s and other workers have offered their assistance without receiving any assurance of their safety.

A report has also pointed out that these cleanup workers are in fact working with dangerous chemicals without having any respiratory protection. There is indeed a high probability that every worker working in the cleanup effort will eventually incur future health problems. With the symptoms already seen from various workers, the BP has continued to deny requests for respiratory protection gear from workers. This prompted various

Democratic senate candidate Roxanne Conlin launched an online campaign which will generate enough signatures for a formal letter that will be sent to the President. The letter contains a proposal unto developing a provision that will require cleanup workers to use protective wear such as gas masks and skin cover. She aims to protect the thousands of workers who are in danger of acquiring chemical-produced diseases. Thousands of workers have sacrificed their lives in cleaning the mess of other people. They should be properly compensated and unconditionally supported at all cost.