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As the issue of maintaining healthy Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in the workplace becomes more prevalent, companies are being taken to task for ignoring the harmful effects of poor air quality on their employees. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indoor air quality may be between 2 to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air. Recent years have witnessed an upward trend in number of lawsuits filed against employers relating to poor air quality. Here are some examples. Chevron pays $21.4 Million in damages to families of brothers who died from cancer after daily exposure to VOCs In 2019 a judge in Northern California ordered Chevron Corp to pay the families of two brothers who died of cancer $21.4 Million in damages after concluding the company failed to properly warn the men about the dangers of toxic solvents they worked with at a company tire factory. Gary and Randy Eaves both worked for decades at Cooper Tire & Rubber in Texarkana, Arkanas. As part of their work the brothers were frequently exposed to the chemical benzene, commonly used as a rubber solvent. Benzene is a VOC and known human carcinogen. Gary Eaves was a tire handler and hauler in the tire plant’s curing department. In this role he was exposed to the solvent on daily basis and as a spray booth operator he was responsible for spraying tires with the chemical. Gary also hauled the tires coated in benzene. In June 2013, Gary Eaves was diagnosed with cancerous non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, at the age of 59. He died just two years later in July 2015. Randy Eaves was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia a few years later, in June 2016. He also died less than 2 years later, in March 2018. Both of the brothers were 59 when they were diagnosed with cancer. The families’ lawyer argued that none of the plant workers wore respirators or protective clothing while working with the solvent and were never advised to handle benzene inside of a ventilation booth. Alexander also argued that the manufacturer should have warned of the dangers of using the chemicals and that the benzene solvent was shipped without Safety Data Sheets that could indicate this. Samsung’s estimated $15.3 Million payout and apology to workers who developed cancer after exposure to VOCs In November 2018 multinational electronics conglomerate Samsung reached a final settlement with a group representing the families of ex-employees who died from leukemia and other cancers while working at the company’s semiconductor plants. The tech giant’s apology and settlement ended a controversy that dogged the company for over a decade. The issue began in 2007 when a 22-year-old woman named Yu-mi Hwang, who had worked at Samsung’s Giheung semiconductor plant, died of leukemia. A year later, a 30-year-old woman who shared a workstation with Yu-mi died, also of leukemia. Thus began a series of reported deaths and severe illnesses affecting Samsung workers. Campaigners claimed that in this time 320 Samsung employees developed illnesses after being exposed to VOCs at chip factories. They also claimed that 118 people died as a result. Benzene, trichloroethylene (TCE) and methylene chloride are VOCs used widely in semiconductor and electronics manufacturing and are associated with cancer, nervous system damage and are also known to affect developing embryos. After years of denying responsibility, Korean smartphone giant promised to offer adequate compensation for employees who died of or developed leukemia from working at the company’s semiconductor plants. Under the agreement, Samsung agreed to compensate any employee who became sick from working in the company’s semiconductor and LCD lines from May 1984 onwards – when Samsung built its first chip line at Giheung. Compensation was based on when and where an employee worked, and the kind of sickness they contracted. Those who suffered leukemia received up to around US$130,000. A conservative estimate of the payout puts this at around $15.3 Million dollars. The decade long fight by campaigners to hold Samsung responsible for health problems related to working conditions, galvanized public opinion and birthed a broader movement to hold businesses accountable for safety lapses in the chip and display industries which use large amounts of chemical compounds. Boeing Aviation in ongoing lawsuit with pilots and air crew over exposure to contaminated cabin air Most recent is the lawsuit filed in Jan 2020 by 3 Delta Airlines flight attendants against aviation giant Boeing. The suit alleges that cabin air on all Boeing’s commercial aircraft (except the 787 Dreamliner) could be filled with toxins due to their use of a “bleed air” system which use the planes engines to draw in outside air. Due to its design the bleed air system may also suck in heated jet engine oil, hydraulic fluid and chemical compounds that can also be found in insecticides and pesticides. The lawsuit stems from an event on a February 2018 flight from Frankfurt to Detroit that left passengers and flight crew sick. The flight attendants claim that while aboard a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft “toxic” air flowed into the cabin. The suit says the fumes cause nausea and dizziness as well as long term health problems such as memory loss, tremors and joint and muscle pain. The suit also alleges that Boeing has known about the design flaw but has failed to fix it and has deceptively created the image that the air in its cabins are safe. Although there are engineering standards that recommend levels of air filtration for airplanes there is no federal requirement for airplanes to install air filters, so that means that the air in many cabins may not be filtered or cleaned in any way, exposing passengers and crew to harmful particulates. Accounts of events similar to that above were echoed in March 2019 when the BBC reported that British Airways, EasyJet, Jet2 and Virgin Atlantic (all operators of Boeing aircraft) were  subject to legal action by the Unite union over “aerotoxic syndrome” . The cases continue. Are you monitoring VOC levels in your workplace? Taking control of the air you and your employees breathe begins with monitoring indoor air quality. As these accounts demonstrate, the  measurement of VOC concentrations in working environments  is increasingly important. Monitoring IAQ is part of being a workplace health compliant employer, will save lives and mitigate worker related litigation.

Public utilities are in a sorry state in many U.S. cities, no more so than in the water and wastewater sectors. Due to restricted spending and the “invisible” nature of the problems related to the water industry, investment has been deferred for years and the infrastructure has been bereft of the care and attention it so desperately needs. One recent study revealed water loss as high as 46% between the water source and its destination – an alarming figure by any measure. If towns and cities in the United States are leaking almost as much water as they are supplying, what is is to be done to secure a more sustainable future for this precious resource? The savior of the water and wastewater industries? The light at then end of the tunnel is the  real-time data and analytics  provided by the Industrial Internet of Things (the IIoT). With a straightforward installation of sensors in key locations and connection of these sensors to the Cloud, real-time data can be analyzed to identify the infrastructure’s main leak points. Once identified, the municpiality’s limited resources can be focused to address the issue: budgets can be alloted, upgrades can be scheduled and maintenance teams deployed. More than preventing leaking wastewater But introducing the  IIoT into water and wastewater infrastructure   goes far beyond this “plugging the holes” remedial work. Additionally, sensors can gather data on water quality, flow rates and equipment performance. If problems arise, the near real-time data can be acted upon more swiftly, allowing engineering teams to respond faster to remedy leakage, loss of pressure or to mitigate the risk of catastrophic failure. How IIoT deployment becomes the industry’s crystal ball As well as a faster reactive model, the IIoT offers the additional and much greater benefit of predictive insights. Component parts all have a pre-determined working life and by monitoring the data on their working hours, spares inventory procurement and part replacement work can be scheduled in a far more efficient and cost effective manner. Read:  The completely overlooked but drastic cost savings municipal water departments can achieve with this simple IIoT application Moreover, the predictive advantage of IIoT pretty much guarantees indefinite continuation of service. Additionally, over time the data can be used for longer term improvements like more accurate usage forecasting or for system expansion planning. Easy of use by monitoring using existing devices Remote monitoring of the water/wastewater system using IIoT is simple because it requires no custom hardware or dedicated devices. Public works departments can monitored their system from every day devices such as tablets and smartphones. The IIoT is also flexible enough to provide different users with different levels of access to cater for the specific and varied needs of everyone from C-level executives to maintenance teams. The IIoT road ahead for water/wastewater departments Although many public works professionals are aware of the benefits of deploying the IIoT, there is some way to go before awareness of the enormous advantage of IIoT reaches the mainstream and the ears of the voting public. Full adoption requires bold decisions from city and municipal leaders to make IIoT a priority on their planning roadmap, commit to an overhaul of current infrastructure and to make the right investments to ensure an intelligent and robust water/wastewater system is in place for the future. Taking your first steps towards IIoT deployment? Check out the  Nimbus IoT Cloud Gateway  for a simple way to begin connecting your equipment to the Cloud.

As the Industrial Internet of Things marches forever closer, companies are looking at tangible ways to their improve their workflow, productivity and efficiency. However, unsurprisingly, businesses are not adopting radical internal re-engineering as a reaction to the IIoT – it’s simply too disruptive and expensive to throw out the old and embrace the new. Companies actively engaged in the Industry 4.0 vision are taking a far more conservative and gradual approach. While commentators evangelise the Brave New World that the IIoT will deliver, those in industry are asking “what steps can we take while we wait for this new reality to become commonplace?” The Unconnected Billions of industrial machines lay strewn all over the globe in factories and production facilities. These behemoths, never designed to “talk” to each other, have proudly stood alone for decades. But the times they are a-changing. While our domestic world becomes more and more connected, the world of industry remains for the most part, fragmented and discrete. So what is to be done? A tidal wave of IoT data threatens to swamp business operations Connection of these standalone machines and equipment to the Cloud is the first priority and also it seems, the first problem. The blanket connection of billions of industrial machines to the Cloud would generate a massive volume and variety of data. It is estimated that around 20 Billion devices will be online by 2020. These devices will generate several exabytes of data every single day. How can one business successfully manage and analyze this unprecedented amount of data with its existing resources? Read:  The completely overlooked but drastic cost savings municipal water departments can achieve with this simple IIoT application Of course, moving this data from these previous standalone machines to the Cloud will also require vast amounts of bandwidth. In this case, a way of regulating the amount of data would make this more manageable for the business in question. Additionally, evaluating which data is useful and which can be discarded would also help with operational practicalities. Survival of the fittest defined by the quickest The second problem is the agility of a business to respond this data. In any market, responsiveness is a key component to success. Faster response time can improve output, boost service levels, increase safety and reduce maintenance requirements, and urgent action can be taken for mission-critical events that need immediate attention to prevent costly downtime or catastrophic failure. The traditional Cloud model would have this data sent to the Cloud and processing would occur minutes, perhaps hours later. This is far too late. Enter a solution from the Cloud Edge. But Clouds don’t have edges Forget soft, fluffy clouds, the Industrial Internet of Things Cloud has a very definite edge and one where much activity is occurring. The term Cloud Edge merely indicates a near proximity to the Cloud rather than being within it. The IoT Cloud Edge is also referred to as “the fog” with the processing of data at the edge of the Cloud often described as  Fog Computing, Edge Computing or Edge Processing . A middle man between machine and IoT Cloud By placing an intermediary device between the industrial machine and the Cloud, one immediately solves the two problems outlined above. The device has the capability perform calculations on the data it receives, and it is this ability to “do Math” that frees a business from data avalanche. Functions can be written into the device so only vital and meaningful data is filtered to its final destination in the Cloud, thus solving our first problem. Additionally the device can be programmed to respond to results of data immediately it falls outside normal parameters. Alarms can be triggered, pumps turned off, email alerts sent to tech staff and any other corrective action required. By siting the device close to the industrial machine, all this is enacted with minimal latency. A feature vital for almost any industrial business. Read:  SCADA systems vs IIoT Solutions – a comparison of future scaling Beyond the event itself lies the ability to access and study the data in the lead up to the event, offering opportunities to fault detection, improve maintenance and service cycles, and other efficiencies of a reactive workflow. On an even longer timeline, there is also scope for identifying patterns within bigger data sets. Another important benefit of locating the device near the machine is of  security . Analyzing data close to where it is collected means sensitive data is kept inside the network. IT teams can monitor this as they would any other part of their IT environment and in line with existing company cyber-security policies. First steps to connected ecosystem inside industrial businesses All this makes Cloud Edge Processing a viable bridging step for almost all industrial companies. It is straightforward to implement, it is affordable and can be managed by an existing workforce. Additionally, it will provide good data and is scalable in the future. In Summary Processing data at the Cloud Edge (i.e. before it is transmitted) holds the most promise for industrial companies as they transition to becoming fully IIoT equipped. IoT Gateways  that support Cloud Edge Processing provide transitioning businesses with the ability to stem the flow of data to a manageable and useable amount. In turn bandwidth costs would be reduced Cloud Edge Processing has the following advantages: Allows response to data at the Cloud edge (i.e. before it is transmitted to the Cloud) Provides faster (often real time) response to this data Can move specific data to other locations or systems Sends only meaningful data to the Cloud Reduces security issues Why Cloud Edge Processing is the future of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

Aug 31, 2012 is a day that one Arizona company will never forget. Events of that day are now clear but for many weeks following the incident, staff and investigators alike drew a blank. A Friday like any other… It was the Friday before Labor Day and business as usual for the 36 workers present. The morning passed uneventfully and during lunch their thoughts naturally turned to the long weekend ahead of them. “We talked about our plans for the weekend”, remembers Amber Brennan-Eisner, office manager at the time. “The weather was great and everyone was looking forward to it.” Some were heading off to the White Mountains for camping or fishing trips, others were staying closer to home to host family picnics or barbecues. All were making the most of the last long weekend before school started. After a scorching summer (July had been the hottest month in U.S. history), the company’s air- conditioning had been worked hard. Earlier in the week the strain had caused several units to fail. That Friday, HVAC engineers were working frantically to remedy the stifling temperatures in some parts of the building. Unfortunately, due to the long weekend, the data breach wasn’t discovered until late on the following Tuesday A devastating security breach In the last hours before this business closed to enjoy all that the 3 day weekend would offer, it suffered one of the most devastating and embarrassing events in the company’s 42 year history. It fell victim to a massive breach of security: the company was hacked and the credit card details of all their recent customers were stolen. Unfortunately due to the long weekend, the data breach wasn’t discovered until late on the following Tuesday. Initial suspicions were of high tech and complex cyber attack from off-shore – perhaps China or Eastern Europe – but the reality turned out to be something far more grass roots. An overseas cyber attack? Like many similar businesses in the area, the company had a Genset (generator) in the basement of their building. To comply with regulations, the emissions from this generator had to be monitored and logged to a data logger computer a short distance away. When the Genset was installed it was just out of range of the company’s wi-fi network router, so a high gain router with a 12db aerial was used to bridge the distance. The installation engineer wired the Ethernet ports: one Modbus TCP at the Genset and the other in the control room which was connected the company network. At the time of installation the IT team ensured the solution complied with the tight security on the company’s wi-fi network, so when the breach happened many were left scratching their heads. They investigated whether network security could have breached by an individual from that basement location Investigators pored over hours of security camera footage, server logs and other technical data attempting to pinpoint the breach. A simple oversight causes havoc Eventually, CCTV footage revealed an individual dressed in a similar fashion to the HVAC engineers making a detour towards the basement. His destination could not be confirmed as unfortunately no security cameras existed in the basement. They then investigated whether network security could have breached by an individual from that basement location. IT pointed out that this made no sense as the company’s network data was encrypted and a high level of security was maintained on the network at all times. However, it turned out that down in the basement this individual had simply plugged a laptop into the extra Ethernet port on the router by the Genset. Of course, data is encrypted while traveling through the air but is decrypted in the router itself and its Ethernet ports were open and transparent. This hacker had hit the jackpot. He was straight in to the company-wide network and accessed the secure customer database. Nowadays the company is connected to the Cloud and has employed robust IoT technology to plug this vulnerability. Security and Industrial IoT Gateways They use the  Zen IoT gateway  which has its own wi-fi port and connects to the Cloud with an extra layer of security: Transport Layer Security (TLS) Additionally it has an ethernet port which uses only Modbus TCP, so the port cannot be hijacked for any other communication uses. The company chose the Zen IoT for its size and simplicity. It offers 3 options to connect their previously discrete hardware to the Cloud, only requires the skills of a local electrician for installation and measures just 4” x 1.4” x 4.7”. As a  Cloud Edge Processing device  the Zen performs calculations on the collated data prior to transmitting to the Cloud. It also features a flexible logic engine which can programmed with a powerful scripting language for custom applications. With the Zen IoT and its built-in security measures in place, if a cyber attack did occur today, the only thing it might achieve would be to corrupt the generator data to the Cloud by simulating a Genset controller. This would be unlikely (as the hacker would have nothing to gain) and the impact would be small compared to the magnitude of a credit data theft. Privacy and security surrounding the IoT is of primary concern to all planning the connection of their legacy equipment and a transition to the Cloud. The Zen IoT addresses these concerns and simplifies the connection process.