April 2009 Blog Posts (37)

Swine Flu and Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace - Part II

Cross posted from: http://safetyphoenix.blogspot.com/

Part I dealt with things you as a safety professional can do to protect your employees in the workplace. React appropriately, with enough emphasis on the issue to let the employees know that you are on top of it, but not to the extent that you panic them further.

Part II will deal with a safety professional's role in maintaining business…

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Added by Pam Wilkinson on April 30, 2009 at 9:30am — 2 Comments

New Motorized Dump Hopper eliminates strains and pains from transporting heavy trash and debris in factories, schools and warehouses

DJ Products, Inc. of Minneapolis has introduced a motorized dump hopper that disposes your trash and debris in your facility. The Motorized Dump Hopper eliminates the manual pushing of heavy trash containers and increases the efficiency of the disposal process for your business. The… Continue

Added by Amanda on April 29, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Swine Flu and Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace - Part I

Cross posted from http://safetyphoenix.blogspot.com

With the spread of Swine Flu, a workplace must think of keeping the workplace as safe as possible, both for the employees health and to maintain the day-to-day viability of the business.

Note: As of this writing, the World Health Organization has not labeled the Swine Flue as a pandemic. However, this is the time to make sure your business continuity plan is up to… Continue

Added by Pam Wilkinson on April 29, 2009 at 11:00am — 2 Comments

Classifying Employee Exposure to Pandemic Influenza at Work

Employee risks of occupational exposure to influenza during a pandemic may vary from very high to high, medium, or lower (caution) risk. The level of risk depends in part on whether or not jobs require close proximity to people potentially infected with the pandemic influenza virus, or whether they are required to have either repeated or extended contact with known or suspected sources of pandemic influenza virus such as coworkers, the general public,… Continue

Added by John Miley on April 28, 2009 at 4:18pm — 1 Comment

Who Should Plan for a Pandemic

To reduce the impact of a pandemic on your operations, employees, customers and the general public, it is important for all businesses and organizations to begin continuity planning for a pandemic now. Lack of continuity planning can result in a cascade of failures as employers attempt to address challenges of a pandemic with insufficient resources and employees who might not be adequately trained in the jobs they will be asked to perform. Proper planning will allow employers to better protect… Continue

Added by John Miley on April 28, 2009 at 9:55am — No Comments

How a Severe Pandemic Influenza Could Affect Workplaces

Unlike natural disasters or terrorist events, an influenza pandemic will be widespread, affecting multiple areas of the United States and other countries at the same time. A pandemic will also be an extended event, with multiple waves of outbreaks in the same geographic area; each outbreak could last from 6 to 8 weeks. Waves of outbreaks may occur over a year or more. Your workplace will likely experience:

- Absenteeism - A pandemic could affect as many as 40 percent of the workforce… Continue

Added by John Miley on April 28, 2009 at 9:28am — No Comments

Remember

International Workers' Memorial Day - an annual day of remembrance for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work, takes place around the world today (April 28th).

Worldwide, more than a million workers die each year due to job injuries and illnesses. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the United States alone, 5,657 workers were killed by traumatic injuries in 2007 (most recent statistics). That's over 15 worker deaths per day. Another estimated… Continue

Added by Pam Wilkinson on April 28, 2009 at 6:55am — No Comments

JPMF recognizes International Day of Mourning

The John Petropoulos Memorial Fund (JPMF) is urging everyone to reflect on the importance of workplace safety during the International Day of Mourning on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009.

“The International Day of Mourning is an important reminder to all of us to pause and remember the workers who have died on the job or passed away due to work-related illnesses. It’s also an important time to think about all those people who have been injured on the job - and take a… Continue

Added by John Petropoulos Memorial Fund on April 28, 2009 at 1:55am — No Comments

How Flu Spreads

The main way that influenza viruses are thought to spread is from person to person in respiratory droplets of coughs and sneezes. This can happen when droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person are propelled through the air and deposited on the mouth or nose of people nearby. Influenza viruses may also be spread when a person touches respiratory droplets on another person or an object and then touches their own mouth or nose (or someone else’s mouth or nose) before washing their… Continue

Added by John Miley on April 27, 2009 at 9:00am — No Comments

Who is Responsible for Safety?

There are two causes of accidents: unsafe conditions and unsafe acts. A couple of posts last week dealt with unsafe conditions that made the news. Nine out of ten accidents are the result of unsafe acts, though not always by the person immediately involved in the mishap. Today we'll deal with a common occurrence - unsafe acts by employees.

When it comes right down to it, the employee is ultimately responsible for their own safety. Why then, do employees make the choice to do unsafe… Continue

Added by Pam Wilkinson on April 27, 2009 at 7:00am — No Comments

How's Work?

Hello Folks, here in So Cal work is starting to pick up! In the last three weeks we have picked up one grading job and three pipeline jobs. The bad side is that we are not making much of a profit do to the economy (Very Competitive) cut throat!
My questions to you folks, are you starting to see light at the end of the tunnel?? And if so what type of work are you seeing?

Be Good Humans!
Ray

Added by Ray Butler on April 24, 2009 at 4:04pm — No Comments

OSHA may (finally) get teeth.

From: the Las Vegas Sun

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats today introduced a sweeping bill to beef up worker protections laws under the Occupational Safety and Health Act that lawmakers believe have been too lax...The Protecting America’s Workers Act would stiffen fines for violations of workplace safety law and create a new felony…

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Added by Pam Wilkinson on April 24, 2009 at 11:30am — No Comments

Training Thoughts

Originally posted 4/23/09 here: http://safetyphoenix.blogspot.com/

From: The Las Vegas Sun

Washington — Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said Tuesday that the top priorities of her department are hiring investigators and enforcing regulations on worker safety…

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Added by Pam Wilkinson on April 24, 2009 at 9:00am — No Comments

Fire Safety in the Workplace

Originally posted 4/22/09 here: http://safetyphoenix.blogspot.com/

As far as possible, a company should take proactive approaches to prevent fire. An active, committed safety committee is one of the foundations for this approach. Extensive training, both through formal methods, and informal tool time talks, not only in fire safety, but also in proper equipment use are the keys. Diligence in separating materials and… Continue

Added by Pam Wilkinson on April 24, 2009 at 9:00am — No Comments

Safety Suggestion Program

Originally posted 4/20/09 here: http://safetyphoenix.blogspot.com/

All employees want to stay safe. The best safety management programs encourages employee involvement at all levels. Once training is done, there must be a system in place to allow employees to contribute to their own safety and health. On too many factory floors, employees worry their suggestions will fall on deaf ears, or worse bring that employee… Continue