Standard Oil Refinery, ‘House
of Butterflies’ in Bayway, New Jersey,
1924.
Petrol “ With Ethyl”; TEL, anti-knock
compound
Poster advertising “Ethyl”:
i.e. Tetra Ethyl Lead (TEL) containing gasoline
14. Lead in
consumer products are typically a greater hazard to workers (including waste
and recycling workers) than to consumers, and as Professor Winder drums in to
his Occupational Safety students, primary prevention is based on the
Hierarchy of Controls. Primary prevention, of course, is preventing lead
poisoning occurring in the first place.
The ‘Hierarchy of
Controls’ concept dictates that the best measure to take for any lead hazard,
is to “substitute the lead hazard with another of lower risk.” If only they’d
instituted the ‘Hierarchy of Controls’ in 1921 when workers began to
hallucinate, believe they could fly and then commit suicide, in what became
known as the ‘House of Butterflies’ – the Ethyl plant where the lead additive
for petrol was first made.