Randy – Page 59 – Risk Management 365

Sleep, Performance, and Public Safety

Insufficient sleep may not have led the news in reporting on serious accidents in recent decades. However, that doesn’t mean fatigue and inattention due to sleep loss didn’t play a role in these disasters. For example, investigators have ruled that sleep deprivation was a significant factor in the 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, as well as the 1986 nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl.

Investigations of the grounding of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker, as well as the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, have concluded that sleep deprivation also played a critical role in these accidents. In both cases, those in charge of the operations and required to make critical decisions were operating under extreme sleep deprivation. While the Challenger disaster put the multi-billion dollar shuttle program in peril, the Exxon Valdez oil spill resulted in incalculable ecological, environmental, and economic damage.

via Sleep, Performance, and Public Safety | Healthy Sleep.

Healthy Eating for a Healthy Weight

A healthy lifestyle involves many choices. Among them, choosing a balanced diet or healthy eating plan. So how do you choose a healthy eating plan? Let’s begin by defining what a healthy eating plan is.

According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010, a healthy eating plan:

Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products
Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts
Is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars
Stays within your daily calorie needs

via Healthy Weight: Healthy Eating for a Healthy Weight | DNPAO | CDC.

Eye Safety: Tips

1. Create a safe work environment

Minimize hazards from falling or unstable debris.
Make sure that tools work and safety features (machine guards) are in place.
Make sure that workers (particularly volunteers) know how to use tools properly.
Keep bystanders out of the hazard area.

2. Evaluate safety hazards.

Identify the primary hazards at the site.
Identify hazards posed by nearby workers, large machinery, and falling/shifting debris.

3. Wear the proper eye and face protection.

Select the appropriate Z87 eye protection for the hazard.
Make sure the eye protection is in good condition.
Make sure the eye protection fits properly and will stay in place.

4. Use good work practices.

Caution—Brush, shake, or vacuum dust and debris from hardhats, hair, forehead, or the top of the eye protection before removing the protection.
Do not rub eyes with dirty hands or clothing.
Clean eyewear regularly.
Prepare for eye injuries and first aid needs.

5. Have an eye wash or sterile solution on hand.

via CDC – Eye Safety: Checklist – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.

Eating Safely – Avoid Foodborne Illness

What is Foodborne Illness?

Food safety is a vital part of staying well. Each year, about 76 million people in the United States become ill from eating contaminated foods. Thousands are hospitalized and around 5,000 die. The illnesses they get may come from eating foods contaminated with bacteria, viruses, or parasites. Illnesses you get from contaminated food are called foodborne illnesses, also known as food poisoning.

via NIHSeniorHealth: Eating Safely – Avoid Foodborne Illness.

Electricity – a serious workplace hazard.

Working with electricity can be dangerous. Engineers, electricians, and other professionals work with electricity directly, including working on overhead lines, cable harnesses, and circuit assemblies. Others, such as office workers and sales people, work with electricity indirectly and may also be exposed to electrical hazards.

Electricity has long been recognized as a serious workplace hazard. OSHA’s electrical standards are designed to protect employees exposed to dangers such as electric shock, electrocution, fires, and explosions. Electrical hazards are addressed in specific standards for the general industry, shipyard employment, and marine terminals.

via Safety and Health Topics | Electrical.

Why Wear a Bicycle Helmet?

It’s a beautiful day for a bike ride. You fill your water bottle, lace up your shoes and head out. The thought of a head injury doesn’t even cross your mind. Still, it’s a risk you’re taking if you don’t wear a bicycle helmet.

Why wear a bicycle helmet?

It’s simple. If you fall from your bike, the bicycle helmet takes the force of the blow — instead of your head. Although collisions with cars or other vehicles are likely to be the most serious, even a low-speed fall on a bicycle path can be dangerous. For kids and adults alike, wearing a bicycle helmet is the most effective way to prevent a life-threatening head injury.

via Bicycle helmet do’s and don’ts – MayoClinic.com.

Protect Young Workers this Summer

Most youth find paid employment, either during the summer or year-round, before graduating from high school. Young workers, ages 14-24, are at risk of workplace injury because of their inexperience at work and their physical, cognitive, and emotional developmental characteristics. They often hesitate to ask questions and may fail to recognize workplace dangers. OSHA has made young workers a priority within the agency and is committed to identifying ways to improve young worker safety and health. OSHA’s Young Worker Initiative addresses this group’s safety and health through a multi-pronged outreach program.

via Young Workers.

Signs of Heart Disease

Early heart disease often doesn’t have symptoms; that’s why regular checkups with a healthcare provider are important. Your doctor will check things like cholesterol, a fat that can add to plaques in your arteries, and your blood pressure. He might also do a blood test for CRP (c-reactive protein). You might also have an ECG or EKG, an electrocardiogram. This is a test that looks at electrical activity in your heart.

Everyone should know the outward warning signs of heart disease. Chest pain should be taken seriously. Pain in the chest, shoulders, arms, neck, jaw, or back can be a symptom of heart disease. If you have heart disease, you might feel chest pain during physical activity. But, it can have other causes too, so it is important to check with your doctor to learn what is triggering yours.

Heart Attack? Call 9-1-1 Act in time: Learn the warning signs of a heart attack. If you or someone you know might be having a heart attack, call 9-1-1 right away. You need to take an ambulance to the hospital as soon as possible. Do not try to drive yourself, and do not have someone else drive you unless there is no ambulance service where you live. These warning signs can include crushing chest pain and/or discomfort or pain elsewhere in the upper body, nausea, a cold sweat, fainting or lightheadedness, or shortness of breath.

Other signs of heart disease include a weak or numb feeling on one side of the face or body, dizziness, headache, shortness of breath, tiredness, and swelling in the ankles, feet, legs, stomach, and neck. Some people who have a problem with their heartbeat may report a fluttering in their chest or the feeling that their heart is skipping a beat or beating too hard.

Talk to your doctor if you have any of these signs. Your healthcare provider may want you to see someone who specializes in heart disease. This doctor is called a cardiologist.

via Heart Health | National Institute on Aging.

Healthy at Work

Staying healthy at work makes it easier to do your job. For many people, staying healthy at work begins with proper office space ergonomics — such as correct chair height, proper equipment spacing and good posture.

For others, staying healthy at work means preventing back pain and injury. The best bet? Exercise regularly — even if your job keeps you moving. Better yet, consider ways to include physical activity and gentle stretching in your workday. Strong and flexible muscles help keep your back in shape.

If your job involves travel, staying healthy at work might mean fitting in a workout while you’re away from home.

Staying healthy at work also extends to your mental health and family life. Consider strategies to boost job satisfaction, improve work-life balance and prevent job burnout.

via Adult health: Healthy at work – MayoClinic.com.

Skateboarding Safety

Skateboarding can be a fun way for children and adolescents to get exercise. However, an estimated 111,000 kids younger than 18 are treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments for skateboard-related injuries each year. Many of these injuries can be prevented.

Skateboarding Injury Facts: Of those children treated in U.S. emergency departments because of their skateboard-related injuries:

The three most commonly injured body regions are the wrist, ankle and face.
Broken bones, sprains, scrapes and bruises are the most common injuries.

Who is Most at Risk?

Skateboarders who are hit by a motor vehicle have the most serious injuries.
Skateboarders who ride on uneven surfaces have the most fall-related injuries.

Skateboarding Safety Tips

All skateboarders should wear a helmet and other protective gear (such as wrist guards, elbow pads and knee pads).
Teach children to never ride a skateboard in or near traffic.
Check the skating area for holes, bumps and rocks. Smooth surfaces are the safest for skateboarding.
Skateboarding at dusk or after dark can be dangerous. It is safest to skateboard during the day.
Encourage children to ride their skateboard in skateboarding parks.
Children younger than 5 years should not use skateboards, and children 5-10 years should not use skateboards without adult supervision.
Make sure your child wears a helmet to stay legal and safe.
Children riding on ripsticks should follow the same safety tips as children on skateboards.

via Injury Research and Policy Skateboarding Research :: Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio.