Taking Safety Seriously: A Contrarian View of the Safety Practice

This article is an attempt to shoe some of the regular safety practices that Jim Loud, the author, has come to consider as being a hindrance to the progress of creating a safe environment. He also suggests that the safety practices, as currently being handled, is making this profession remain stagnant and it is his belief that it is what is directly responsible for preventing the safety profession from being what it should be. In essence, this article is an analysis of the various weaknesses which plague the safety profession and it serves the purpose of making suggestions of approaches which are more productive when taking protective measures.

Loud states that the safety profession has become so ruined and stagnant that most of its practitioners do not have a clue what their role is within it. In addition, according to Loud (55) it is a fact that most safety professionals, instead of working towards the fixing of those systems which are necessary for the development of good safety measures tend to attempt to fix the workers, and to do the latter, these safety professionals tend to use gimmicks as well as slogans. Among the most criticised aspects of the maintenance of safety by the safety professionals is their overreliance on quick fixes to the safety problems that arise and their failure to come up with lasting solutions for the said problems. This has come to create a situation where the safety infrastructure is barely able to maintain itself and in case of dire emergency, it is quite possible that they may end up failing (Loud 56).

A noteworthy point in this article is one which states that most safety professionals have come to confuse compliance with safety rules with safety and this may perhaps be the reason why there have been such appalling failures in the safety standards of many places. It is suggested that these professionals should help their employers realise that a proper approach to safety will ensure that their management priorities such as quality, cost control, and customer satisfaction, are fulfilled (Loud 57). The attempt to commercialise safety instead of actually implementing it is one of the factors about the current safety standards which should be avoided, ad instead, the real issues concerning safety should be addressed to ensure there are very limited losses of lives and property.

In conclusion, it can be said that there should be a quick response to the public recognition that there is a rapidly growing number of severe accidents which have come to be associated with the speedy development of industrialisation. The fact that there have developed many safety-first measures to prevent these accidents from becoming commonplace, these measures seem to have largely failed and that it is high time that some serious thought to find the necessary solutions. The strength of the safety measures that are to be taken by safety professionals have to be based on fact and have to be effective so that the safety problems which are currently being faced can be ended and a new era of complete public safety can be inaugurated.

Paul Ehrlich and his Influence on Modern Microbiology and Immunology

Paul Ehrlich was a scientist from Germany who was among the first individuals to get involved in and found what came to be known as applied organic chemistry. Among his earliest work was his involvement in dyestuffs and staining methods which he intended for use in the microscopic study of bacteria. Starting in 1891, however, he came to use this method for the purpose of developing drugs which would be used for the elimination of some of the bacteria which he had identified as having been the cause of many of the diseases that existed at that time. Though his early studies of antitoxins, his work developed further into a serious examination of the diverse number of chemicals which were available to him for the purpose of identifying those which could be used to fight such bacterial species as treponema pallidum, which was the main agent that was responsible for the development of syphilis(Raju, 662). The latter had for a long time been a serious disease not only in Europe but also all over the world and had developed into a serious public health problem which needed to be dealt with swiftly. Ehrlich’s contribution to microbiology in this case came from the study of the chemicals which were seen to have a discriminating affinity to certain types of organism or tissues and because of this research, he and a fellow scientist, Sakahiro Hata, ended up developing salvarsan, an arsenical that killed spirochaete without having any mortal effects on the patients on whom it was administered. Despite the fact that this arsenical had some toxic effects, it was still a great advancement in the field of applied organic chemistry, and it was for this reason, among others, that Ehrlich was honoured with the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1908.

He was a pioneer in the conducting of experiments which involved the use of chemical drugs for the treatment of diseases and this was done through the study of the diverse cells and tissues in the human body. These ended up revealing the fundamental principles which lay behind the immune system of the human body and this helped a great deal on the establishment of the use of chemotherapy in medicine. In addition, his development of salvarsan ensured that syphilis would, for the first time in history, be cured and this discovery may be considered to be amongst the greatest discoveries in the modern world because it came to reveal the potential which the systematic research in drugs had for the development of cures for other diseases (Sepkowitz, 291). The development of the field now known as haematology came about through the efforts of Ehrlich, who conducted studies of how blood cells reacted when dye was applied to them. This new field came to be concerned with the study of blood and those organs which formed it, and as such came to be and is still recognised as one of the most prominent scientific fields. In fact, many of the terms which Ehrlich coined when conducting his various researches have come into common use in medicine and these involve the term chemotherapy (Elliott, 53).

Ehrlich had many influences in his early life that inspired the development of his interest in science and scientific methods of research and among the most influential individuals in his early life was his cousin Karl Weigert. The latter was a well known pathologist in his time and it was he who helped Ehrlich develop an interest in the study of cells through his teaching him how to dye cells so that he could have a better view of them under the microscope. From this time onward, Ehrlich became engrossed in his research on dye reactions on cells and this interest continued even after he joined university and it was his research which may, for the most part, have led to the development of modern microbiology as well as immunology. In his doctorial thesis, which he presented in 1878 and was entitled Contributions to the Theory and Practice of Histological Staining, it can be suggested that during such an early period of his suggests that even at this early stage in his vocation, he had already come to the conclusion that his chosen field or research had a huge potential in the possibility and discovery of the development of those chemicals that would be essential for cures in the future. While conducting his experiments with dyes, Ehrlich came to gain the knowledge of how to manipulate these dyes to ensure that they gave him specific effects. An example of this was his use of methylene blue dye to stain nerve cells and the use of this dye worked so well that it did not stain the tissue around the nerve cells (Schwartz, 870).

The experiments with dye reactions that he conducted were the basis upon which his career was founded and they led to two significant roles in the development of modern science. The first of these was that it permitted the examination of all types of cells, both healthy and unhealthy by scientists as well as those microorganisms which were known to or had the potential of causing disease. This capability by scientists led to the development of new methods of medical diagnosis as well as the study of cells and these came to significantly contribute to the development of modern microbiology as well as the discovery of the cure for many diseases which were deemed incurable. The second and most significant role that Ehrlich’s experiments with dyes played in the development of science is that they revealed that certain cells are attracted to certain types of dyes and this meant that both chemical and physical reactions were taking place within the said cells. He came up with the theory that chemical reactions were responsible for the biological processes of life and as such, then it was possible that chemicals could be used to heal diseased cells and to destroy microorganisms that were harmful (Shukla, et al, 309). To prove his theory, Ehrlich started the study of the chemical structures of the dyes that he used and came up with diverse theories concerning the various chemical reactions that were possibly taking place in the human body in the presence of a broad spectrum of chemical agents. If was these efforts, which led Ehrlich to begin his study of the human immune system, and it is mainly because of his research that there developed the field that is now known as immunology.

He came to conduct studies of blood under the microscope and while it can be found in a diversity of forms, through his dye method, Ehrlich began identifying these forms. The methodical classification and cataloguing of the cells originating in blood led to the development of the field of haematology. To further improve himself in his field of study, Ehrlich kept in constant touch with chemists, and the latter not only provided him with further information concerning the development of new chemicals, but they also ensured that he was constantly supplied with these new chemicals as well as dyes. His steady work with dyes ended up in a spectacular achievement after he heard that Robert Koch had identified the microorganism that caused tuberculosis. Ehrlich immediately recognised that Koch’s method was faulty and he immediately set to work conducting his own experiments on how to more effectively identify the tubercle bacillus through staining, and this technique has remained in use ever since. This can perhaps be considered to be one of the greatest discoveries of the modern age because it inevitably paved the way not only for the development of a cure for tuberculosis but also for the development of vaccines whose purpose was to prevent this disease.

A small private laboratory was set up in Berlin by Ehrlich after receiving financial help from his father-in-law making him to be honored in 1890 and appointed Extraordinary Professor at the University of Berlin. Ehrlich was invited to join Robert Koch at the Institute for Infectious Diseases which was created by the Prussian Government for Koch; Koch began an Immunology research at the institution with a description that a mice fed or injected with toxins ricin and abrin are able to develop antitoxins. Moreover, Koch proved that antibodies are able to be passed from mother to an offspring during the process of breastfeeding. Ehrlich’s collaboration with Koch and Emil von Behring enabled them find a cure for diphtheria which was one of the deadly child diseases affecting children at that time. Von Behring identified antibodies to diphtheria despite facing difficulties when transforming the discovery into safe cure for humans and being potent at the same time. Blood drawn from goats and horses were infected with the disease and later the scientists came and worked together in concentrating and purifying effective antitoxin; Ehrlich’s contribution to the cure was the method used in measuring a dose that is effective. Diphtheria antitoxin was commercialized in 1892 and manufactured by Höchst Chemical Works; royalties that came from the drug in form of profits made Erhlich and von Behring wealthy. Ehrlich was urged by von Behring to accept the government’s position of monitoring production of diphtheria serum in 1885; there were conflicts of interests clauses which obliged Erhlich to withdraw from the agreement made on profit sharing. Von Behring stood by diphtheria antitoxin and this made him a wealthy man, they both quarreled making them part ways later; it was not clear the main reason for their parting and this certainly this could not help the relationship present which was tumultuous (Stehr, 451). Both scientists exchanged news that was scientific and personal even though they never met again.

The Prussian administration requested Ehrlich in June 1896 to assist in directing a newly formed Institute for Serum Research and Testing; this was the first time for Ehrlich to have his own institution. The Royal Institute for Experimental Therapy was started after Ehrlich’s acceptance on November 1899, Ehrlich reinstated as the director until the time of his death sixteen years later; Ehrlich’s years in Frankfurt were some of his most productive during his life. During the opening of the Institute for Experimental therapy, Ehrlich described his side-chain theory on how antibodies work; the appendages on benzene molecules that allow the appendages to react with other chemicals are given the name side-chain. Ehrlich’s belief was that the molecules have similar side-chains and that it linked nutrients, infectious toxins, molecules and other substances, and while this theory turned out to be false although it led to hosting of new discoveries and guide of his future research during Ehrlich’s effort to prove the theory (Sörgel, 6).

The beginning of chemotherapy started with Ehrlich’s moving to Frankfurt where he set up a diverse number of chemical agents against a mass of various microorganisms that were categorized as dangerous. The reason behind sleeping sickness, which was a deadly disease that was most prevalent in Africa, was ascertained by scientists in 1903; this disease is caused by a variety of trypanosomes which are a type of parasitic protozoans. Kiyoshi Shiga, a Japanese scientist assisted Ehrlich in finding a dye that was able to destroy trypanosomes in infected mice; by 1904, Ehrlich discovered a dye and it was dubbed trypan red. Ehrlich’s success with trypan spurred his testing of other chemicals against disease and Ehrlich relied on his assistants when conducting methodical and painstaking experiments that involved the use of enormous range of chemicals. There were a series of instructions on colored cards that were used in providing instructions when directing the work, this form of management strategy failed to endear Ehrlich to his lab associates hence it failed to allow the associates to carry out their own research, the approach used by Ehrlich was successful (Soderqvist, 449). For instance, he asked the personnel to pay no attention to the chemical composition of atoxyl notion; they therefore proceeded with the work founded on chemical specifications. Two medical scientists working with Ehrlich were appalled at Ehrlich’s scientific heresy and this action ended their employment at the laboratory; the hypothesis concerning atoxyl turned out to be correct and it eventually led to chemical cure of syphilis.

By September 1906 the laboratory became a division of Georg Speyer Haus for Chemotherapeutical Research which was a research institute that was endowed by George Speyer’s widow for the purpose of continuing Ehrlich’s work of chemotherapy. During the opening of the new laboratory, Ehrlich gave a speech and used the phrase magic bullets which were an illustration of his hopes of finding chemical compounds capable of attacking microorganisms that are offending or malignant cells while leaving healthy tissues untouched (Schwartz, 1079). The work of Ehrlich on immunity and his contributions to diphtheria antitoxin was honored with a Nobel prize in physiology or medicine, Ehrlich shared this prize with Metchnikoff who is a Russian bacteriologist. Ehrlich laboratory had already tested more than 300 chemical compounds against syphilis and trypanosomes by the time it joined Speyer Haus; each of the tests were given laboratory number which were numbered in the nine hundreds before he realized that compound 606 was one that had high potent drug effective for fighting syphilis and relapsing fever. An assistant committed an error making compound 606 be overlooked for a period nearing two years until the time Sahashiro experimented it again; by June 10, 1909, Hata together with Ehrlich filed a patent for 606 to be used in fighting relapsing fever (Prull, 332).

One of the favorable results of 606 when fighting syphilis was announced during the International Medicine Congress that was held at Wiesbaden in 1910; there was much emphasis on preliminary results even though news had already spread on the presence of a cure for a disease that had been wide spread and devastating throughout Europe and America, this made Ehrlich be besieged with requests for the drugs. Ehrlich was aware that any mishandling of the dosage is able to blind or kill a patient, he therefore, begged physicians to wait until he tests 606 on twenty thousand patients. This did not stop the demand for the drug making George Speyer Haus manufacture and distribute 65,000 units of 606 to several physicians in several parts of the world. Large scale production of 606 was taken over by Höchst Chemical Works and the drug was given the commercial name Salvarsan; the next four years witnessed reports of patient’s death and maiming as a result of doctors failing to administer Salvarsan properly.

It can therefore be said that Paul Ehrlich was instrumental in the development of modern microbiology and immunology and it is most likely because of his work that many of the cures and vaccines for the diverse number of diseases in the world have been developed. The fact that he developed staining methods whose validity is beyond doubt today attests for the man’s genius as well as placing him on the pedestal as one of the greatest scientists of the modern age. His work not only influenced the scientists of his age but has also come to heavily influence that of modern scientists in his field of study.

Types of Leukemia and Treatments

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow which involves an unusual increase in the development of those white blood cells, which are immature, in the body. These abnormal white blood cells are known as ‘blasts’ and their development happens in diverse ways which often result in a broad spectrum of related diseases. Leukemia represents a one of a large group of diseases which have a direct effect on the blood and it is because of this that plenty of research has been dedicated to its treatment. This cancer is a treatable condition and treatment often involves chemotherapy, the use of medical radiation therapy, bone marrow transplants and many others. The ability of a patient to become cured of the disease is highly dependent on the variety of leukemia that he or she is suffering from as well as their age. It has been found that in most circumstances, it is easy for children to be permanently cured when compared to adult patients. However, while in some circumstances a complete sure of the disease is unlikely, the methods of treatment have ensured that patients receive treatment for many years, thus ensuring that they live for as long as possible with the disease. There are certain circumstances where leukemia develops as a result of an effect from another cancer and this tends to be quote difficult to treat. Leukemia is not a single disease as some may think, but consists of a range of cancers which affect the blood, each being named after the specific part of the blood that it affects. However, there are normally four categorizations of these diseases which are classified according to the way in which they develop.

The first of these is acute leukemia whose main characteristic is the rapid development in the quantity of immature blood cells which tends to lead to crowding (Sedlackova, Spacek, Holler, Imryskova & Hromadnikova, 2011). The crowding that results from the development of these numerous cells makes it impossible for the bone marrow to be able to produce blood cells that are healthy. This type of leukemia is considered to be quite dangerous due to the rapid development of malignant cells which end up spilling into the blood stream. It is therefore recommended by specialists that immediate treatment for it begins to ensure that the accumulation and progression of malignant cells does not spread into the blood stream and from there into vital organs in the body. This form of leukemia is among the most common that affect children and it is therefore important to ensure that whenever any signs and symptoms are detected, the individuals affected are put into immediate treatment in order to stop any further spread of the disease.

Another form of this disease is chronic leukemia which is typified by the disproportionate increase of white blood cells which, while being comparatively mature are still unusual (Jan & Majeti, 2013). These blood cells tend to take many years to produce and they often result in their production at a higher rate than normal, and this leads for there to be a higher number of abnormal cells that normal ones in the blood. Unlike acute leukemia which requires immediate treatment, chronic leukemia is never treated immediately, and in fact, it has to be observed for a certain period of time before progressing with treatment. The monitoring of chronic leukemia is done to ensure that the method of treatment that is selected is the best in ensuring that there is maximum effectiveness. While this form of leukemia can occur in any age group, it has a high prevalence rate among older people and it is therefore advisable for these individuals to have frequent checks so that there can be early detection and treatment.

In addition, the diseases which make up leukemia are often named according to the type of blood cells that they affect. These divisions are generally subdivided into two categories, lymphoblastic and myelogenous leukemias (Yamasaki, Miyazaki, Nagamachi, Koller, Oda, Miyazaki, Honda, 2010). In lymphoblastic leukemias, the progressions of the cancer often affect the bone marrow cells which go on to form lymphocytes, which are predominantly those cells that are involved in fighting infections. The myeloid leukemias tend to affect the bone marrow cells which form red blood cells as well as some forms of white blood cells and platelets. Each of the four categories of leukemia that have been named above have a number of subcategories which are classified according to their specific effects as well as the areas that they affect. Apart from the categories named above, there are other forms of rarer leukemias which are considered to be outside the above scheme of categorization.

All forms of leukemia results in damage to the bone marrow since normal bone marrow cells are normally displaced by malignant ones which are produced in excess. The malignant cells, which are normally made up of immature cells, lead to a deficiency in blood platelets, which play an important part in blood clotting (Vinceti, Rothman, Crespi, Sterni, Cherubini, Guerra, Malagoli, 2012). As a result of this deficiency, one will find that those individuals diagnosed with leukemia often suffer from excessive bleeding and in many instances, they get bruised easily. This condition also makes it difficult for white blood cells, which are designed to fight pathogens, to perform their functions. It might result in the inability of a patient’s immune system to fight off even the simplest infections, and instead, the white blood cells might begin attacking other cells of the body. Because leukemia thwarts the functions of the immune system, there are instances where some patients end up experiencing frequent infections which range from sores in the mouth to diarrhea to other opportunistic infections.

It is recommended that when an individual is diagnosed with leukemia, it is always best for the individual to talk openly about their concerns with their families, as well as their doctors. This will ensure that these people are made aware of the patient’s concerns and are, therefore, able to know how to help this individual live his or her life as normally as possible. Since most of those individuals who are diagnosed with leukemia tend to suffer from anger, depression, and anxiety, it is advisable for them to talk about these feelings so that they can be better able to cope with their situation (Rivera, Pinkel, Simone, Hancock & Crist, 1993). While some patients find comfort with their own families and friends, there are others who prefer being in the company of those people who are going through the same problems. This makes support groups extremely beneficial for these individuals because they come to learn that they are not the only ones who are undergoing this situation. Moreover, such groups help individuals to learn from each other how to cope with this disease as they do their best to live their lives as normally as possible. In the matter of support groups, it is essential for the doctors treating the patients to ensure that these patients are connected to others with the same condition, so that they can all share their experiences and help each other get through changes in their lives as they undergo treatment. Doctors, family, and support groups have the responsibility of helping patients undergo treatment because some of treatments for leukemia can be immensely trying for the patients.

The treatment for leukemia is a highly individual process because the doctors conducting such treatment have to consider the needs of their patient before deciding on how best to tackle the disease. The plan for treatment is normally created by the physician who takes a wide range of factors into consideration before deciding what the best treatment scheme is for their patient. Among the factors that a doctor would consider before making a treatment plan are the following: they type of leukemia that is to be treated, the part of the body which has been affected, the age of the patient, and lastly, the overall health status of their patient (Rivera, Pinkel, Simone, Hancock & Crist, 1993). While it is the responsibility of the doctor to make a treatment plan for their patients, the patients also have a say in it. The doctor has to put into consideration the wishes of their patients concerning the treatment they would like to have. It is, therefore, essential for doctors and their patients to discuss the treatment options open for the latter so that a clear plan of treatment can be created.

Among the most prominent methods of healing for leukemia that are available are surgical treatment, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. These can be used to treat all the main types of leukemia and, in fact, most of treatment plans formulated by specialists tend to rely on a combination of these three treatments to work. When surgical therapy is applied, it is done with the intention of removing all the infected areas in the bone marrow with the intention of removing all the malignant cells within it. In some circumstances, however, there tends to be a bone marrow transplant, which, if successful, helps patients fight leukemia more effectively (Metayer, Milne, Clavel, Infante-Rivard, Petridou, Taylor, Buffler, 2013). On the other hand, radio therapy is applied when high energy radiation is used to destroy the malignant cells in the affected areas. When this radiation is focused on the cancerous cells, it is done to ensure that the ability of these malignant cells to continue working and to multiply is terminated. In relation to radiation therapy, there is radio surgery whose main purpose is to convey an elevated dose of targeted radiation using gamma ray beams that come together in areas of the body where cancerous cells have been found (Metayer, Milne, Clavel, Infante-Rivard, Petridou, Taylor, Buffler, 2013). This method is normally used when there is a need to protect the healthy blood cells from harm caused by radiation. There are various types of equipment, which are used in radio surgery and these tend to have specific functions. Among these are those that are used when leukemia has spread to the brain, such as the gamma knife, which uses focused gamma rays, the linear accelerator which makes use of photons, and lastly, the heavy charged particle radio surgery which makes use of a proton beam.

The use of chemotherapy in the treatment of malignant cells, in the blood, is done with the intention of destroying these cells. These cells are destroyed using drugs which have been designed to terminate certain types of cancer cells. There is a wide variety of drugs which are used for the purpose of destroying cancer cells, and each has been designed to destroy a certain kind of blood cancer cells. When selecting the drug to use, it is usually done with the condition of the patient being put in mind, hence this treatment in highly individualized. There are several ways through which the drugs used for chemotherapy can be administered, especially in those situations where acute leukemia has attacked the brain and spinal cord and the first of these is through the injection of these drugs into the spinal canal (Ma, Chong, Li, Khan, Walker & Khan, 2010). Other ways include administering the drug intravenously, or through the use of polymers that are chemically impregnated and are biodegradable. All the above mentioned methods of treating brain cancer are designed to ensure that the healthy cells of the brain are not degraded.

When a specialist and the patient are making a treatment plan, they should also consider other possible treatments for the condition. Among these are hyperthermia, which includes treatments using heat, immunotherapy, which include the use of immune cells that are directed to kill certain malignant cells in the blood, and lastly, the use of steroids whose purpose is to reduce inflammation if the brain has been infected. There are times when the only option left for specialists is to design a treatment plan which include the trial of new drugs or treatment methods for their patients. Such options tend to come about especially in situations where other treatments have failed to work. While these new treatments are designed to help the patients involved, they also help in the assessment of how different drugs work on them (Chang, Hsu, Lin, Lee & Wang, 2012). This helps in future research, which comes up with even better treatments for the different types of leukemia. However, when it comes to choosing the treatment plan to combat leukemia, the best way of approaching it is by considering the wishes of the patient as well as the recommendations made by specialists in cancer.

In conclusion, leukemia is a type of cancer which has had a long history in the modern world and as a result, has been studied extensively. It has been found that it can affect anyone, no matter how young or old they are and it is therefore the responsibility of all individuals to make sure that they undergo frequent tests, just in case. Because of this, it is essential to ensure that enough funding is provided so that research in the treatment of all the types of leukemia can be advanced. In almost every instance that one develops this disease, it comes to affect everyone who is close to them. Not only is it a trying time for such people and their families, it is also a time of uncertainty because of the fact that the most effective choice of treatment for the individual is difficult to make. It is, therefore, essential that the specialist involved in the treatment of the disease to provide the patient with all the treatment options available for them. After doing this, it is the duty of the specialist to advice the patient on what the best treatment options for them are available. When this has been presented, the patient and the doctor have to create a treatment plan that is best suited for the patient.