August 2011 Blog Posts (32)

According to an informal poll taken by the Red Cross recently a growing number of us are using social media (Facebook, Twitter) to learn how loved ones are doing as well as notify loved ones how we are doing when emergencies hit.

The keys findings of the poll include:

• Followed by television and local radio, the internet is the third most popular way for people to gather emergency information with 18 percent of both the general and the online population specifically using…

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a division of the United Nations send out a warning yesterday (Aug. 29^th, 2011) urging a "heightened readiness and surveillance against a possible major resurgence of the H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza amid signs that a mutant strain of the deadly Bird Flu virus is spreading in Asia and beyond, with unpredictable risks to human health."

Of the 565 people who contracted the H5N1 flu since its outbreak in 2003, 331…

It seems hard to believe that another summer has come and gone and it's time to start getting the kids ready to go back to school. Some of us are sending our kids off to school for the very first time, and others are veterans of the bus stop. Either way, there are lots of simple things that we can all do to help keep our kids safe at school and at play. Every parent's primary goal is the same-to ensure a…

Ansell, the global leader in hand protection, introduces a new line of construction gloves specifically designed for the unique needs of construction trades.

Each construction trade is different and so are the hand protection needs of professionals in the field. Ansell, the world leader in hand protection, is now introducing a line of gloves designed specifically for the unique needs of construction trades –…

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis released a statement yesterday (Aug. 25^th, 2011) after finding out that there was no significant drop in fatalities between 2009 and 2010. There was, in fact, a slight increase. 2009 numbers total 4,547 and preliminary numbers for 2010 total 4,551.

Hilda L. Solis issued the following statement:

"No worker should have to sacrifice his or her life to earn a living.



"An average 12 workers die on…

Back in my younger days, I used to go caving; spelunking is the proper terms for it. I used to go out with friends and crawl under tons of rock, sometimes wiggling my way on my belly, hoping that there was a little more head room up ahead.

As any spelunker will tell you, there's one cardinal rule when it comes to safety… never, ever get caught underground without a light. What started out as a fun adventure can rapidly turn deadly if the lights go out; I've seen enough salamanders and…

Who in your neighborhood has been fined by OSHA for a safety violation? What was the fine for?

OSHA has made a major improvement in its enforcement database by incorporating an interactive map into the enforcement database.

Zoom in or out to locate companies in your neighborhood. Click on the ! in a diamond to see which companies have been fined, how many times they've been inspected, how many fines they received and what the amount of the fine(s) was. Click…

What Causes Dehydration?

The two types of dehydration, chronic dehydration and acute dehydration, can be caused by many things. The most common are: flu, vomiting, diarrhea, blood loss, malnutrition, and plain old failure to replenish liquids lost from sweating and urination (Not drinking enough water). Many illnesses and…

The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute released a new report on fatal truck accidents in 2008 (last year data was available). A few highlights:

There were 4352 trucks involved in fatal accidents

February had the highest number of accidents (402), March had the fewest (297).

Almost 2/3 occur in rural areas in daylight.

85% occur in dry weather conditions.

29%…

If you're like most people, you've never really asked yourself what the 4-digit number on those pair of gloves you're wearing was all about. It isn't on all gloves but it's on a lot of them and it there to provide you with information about the glove.

It's the EN388 rating and it measures abrasion resistance, blade cut resistance, tear resistance and puncture resistance in that order. The performance rating is 1 to 4 with 1 being the lowest and 4 the highest. The blade cut resistance…

Miller Fall Protection, one of the leaders in fall protection, has come out with a manual entitled "Statement of Best Practices of Personal Fall Protection Systems for Aerial Work Platform Equipment". Here's what they have to say about this document:

Rental businesses, manufacturers, associations, educators, regulators, users and operators have joined forces to produce a Statement of Best Practices…

OSHA, in an effort to adapt safety to developments in technology, has developed it's first phone app, a "Heat Safety Tool". Here's what they have to say about it:

When you're working in the heat, safety comes first. With the OSHA Heat Safety Tool, you have vital safety information available whenever and wherever you need it — right on your mobile phone.…

According to OSHA reports, the two boys were “walking-down-the-corn”, creating flow for grain emptying machinery, when the kernels suddenly assumed the nature of quicksand below Wyatt’s feet. The 8^th grader began…

If I'm to go by the stats for this blog there are a lot of you out there looking for safety meeting "stuff". Almost 1/3 of the hits that I get on this blog are from searches related to "Safety Meeting" talks (funnily enough, the OSHA cowboy, bullrider, santa, streaker, etc… is the second highest topic, showing that safety people do have a sense…

Download newsletter here!We like to be a little bit controversial and strive for risk management radicalism. The feature articles in this issue are:



• Macondo: Lots of Analysis, Finally Some Action? – Has anything really changed as a result of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe?

• Pain Threshold – Every organization has one, including yours.



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