One problem in manufacturing has always been worker safety. What will the future of OSHA look like in the United States? As other nations with no worker safety run forward in the Global Market they will enter their Industrial Revolution just like America did. But up until that point they will continue to pollute their water supplies and air and take advantage of their cheap labor. The United States will have to relax their OSHA Standards or re-align them with reality. Some say any relaxing of such regulations will be a sham and an obvious and careless move against the American worker for increased profits and exploitation of our labor markets here at home. In making new materials like carbon nanotube sheets many methods will be used such as for instance the possible use of frequency fields in the microwave area, chemical ionic bonding and high amounts of heat. All of which might be very dangerous to human beings. Perhaps robots will be assigned such tasks, yet frequency pollution in the work place can be highly disruptive to the human bio-system and health. This can lead to free radicals, cancer or other diseases. Although these issues have not been satisfactorily addressed it is important to study along with the various methods being introduced to manufacture carbon nanotubes. A schematic of each method must be studied to make sure, none of the polluted bi-products are released into the environment or in an area which they may enter the human bio-system. Due to the nature of working with such small dimensions, it maybe a painstaking set of procedures, which will need to be introduced to make the manufacturing of carbon nanotube material possible and safe. As the industry attempts to address these issues and come up with adequate protocols everyone is concerned as we do not need a repeat of the Asbestos issues, which caused havoc and cost many their lives. So it is essential and paramount that we address these issues to the satisfaction of all. Scientists are working on ways to do this now and learning as they go. Designing filters, which can protect us will be difficult due to the micro scale we will be working with, however there are ways to keep the particles controlled during the process. Next we must take this process to a much higher level so we can mass-produce them to help fuel efficiency and safety for all carbon nanotubes many uses. |
