Author: Randy

Workplace Safety: Skin Exposures and Effects

It is estimated that more than 13 million workers in the United States are potentially exposed to chemicals that can be absorbed through the skin. Dermal exposure to hazardous agents can result in a variety of occupational diseases and disorders, including occupational skin diseases (OSD) and systemic toxicity. Historically, efforts to control workplace exposures to hazardous agents have focused on inhalation rather than skin exposures. As a result, assessment strategies and methods are well developed for evaluating inhalation exposures in the workplace; standardized methods are currently lacking for measuring and assessing skin exposures.

via CDC – Skin Exposures and Effects – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.

Keep Children Safe – Prevent Backover Accidents

Many children are killed or seriously injured in backover incidents. A backover incident typically occurs when a vehicle coming out of a driveway or parking space backs over an unattended child because the driver did not see him or her.

Prevention Tips

  • Teach children not to play in or around cars.
  • Supervise children carefully when in and around vehicles.
  • Always walk around your vehicle and check the area around it before backing up.
  • Be aware of small children-the smaller a child, the more likely it is you will not see them.
  • Teach children to move away from a vehicle when a driver gets in it or if the car is started.
  • Have children in the area stand to the side of the driveway or sidewalk so you can see them as you are backing out of a driveway or parking space.
  • Make sure to look behind you while backing up slowly in case a child dashes behind your vehicle unexpectedly.
  • Take extra care if you drive a large vehicle because they are likely to have bigger blind zones. Roll down your windows while backing out of your driveway or parking space so that you’ll be able to hear what is happening outside of your vehicle.
  • Teach your children to keep their toys and bikes out of the driveway.
  • Because kids can move unpredictably, you should actively check your mirrors while backing up.
  • Many cars are equipped with detection devices like backup cameras or warning sounds, but they cannot take the place of you actively walking around your car to make sure your children are safely out of the way. Do not rely solely on these devices to detect what’s behind your vehicle.

via Backovers | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Bloodborne Infectious Diseases – Emergency Needlestick Information

If you experienced a needlestick or sharps injury or were exposed to the blood or other body fluid of a patient during the course of your work, immediately follow these steps:

  • Wash needlesticks and cuts with soap and water
  • Flush splashes to the nose, mouth, or skin with water
  • Irrigate eyes with clean water, saline, or sterile irrigants
  • Report the incident to your supervisor
  • Immediately seek medical treatment

via CDC – Bloodborne Infectious Diseases – Emergency Needlestick Information – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.

Youth Sports Safety: Your Child

What do I need to know about kids and sports injuries?

Playing sports is a great way for your child to stay fit and healthy, to learn about teamwork, make friends, and develop a sense of personal satisfaction.  In addition, taking part in youth sports may lead to greater leisure-time physical activity as an adult.

However, kids’ injuries from playing sports are on the rise, perhaps due to several factors:

  • Physical stress from the demands of training on kids’ growing bodies
  • Life stress  (which increases the risk of injury)
  • Improper training
  • Poor coaching

Can youth sports injuries be prevented?

Most sports injuries can be prevented, even predicted! The first step in preventing sports injuries is finding out why sports injuries occur. Sports injuries may be caused by:

  • Individual risk factors (such as medical conditions)
  • Inadequate physical exams before participating (every child should get a sports-specific physical exam before each season)
  • Find out what experts say about heart screening for young athletes.
  • Lack of pre-season conditioning
  • Lack of safety equipment, or poorly fitted, improper equipment
  • Lack of proper eye protection
  • Teaming up by age instead of size
  • Unsafe playing fields, or surfaces
  • Improper training or coaching, or lack of instruction
  • Fatigue
  • Not warming up, cooling down and stretching properly
  • Playing while injured
  • Stress and inappropriate pressure to win
  • Temperature
  • Poor nutrition or hydration

via Youth Sports Safety: Your Child: University of Michigan Health System.

On the dock: Avoid lift truck accidents

Before entering a trailer, make sure that the wheels are chocked. If tractors are not attached, make sure that the landing gear is secure and supports are placed under the trailer. Never take for granted that the trailer or railcar is braked or chocked. Take the time to check for yourself.

via CLARK Material Handling Company – On the dock: Avoid lift truck accidents.

Make Safety Priority One When Doing Home Improvement and Repair Projects

Safe Electricity urges all do-it-yourselfers to take precautions, especially when working around electrical equipment and overhead power lines. Make sure outdoor outlets are equipped with a ground fault circuit interrupter GFCI. Use a portable GFCI if your outdoor outlets don’t have them. It’s also a good idea to have GFCIs professionally installed in wet areas of the home, such as the kitchen, bath and laundry. Safety tips to keep in mind include:

  • Look up and around you. Always be aware of the location of power lines, particularly when using long metal tools like ladders, pool skimmers and pruning poles, or when installing rooftop antennas and satellite dishes or doing roof repair work.
  • Be especially careful when working near power lines attached to your house. Keep equipment and yourself at least 10 feet from lines. Never trim trees near power lines – leave that to the professionals. Never use water or blower extensions to clean gutters near electric lines. Contact a professional maintenance contractor.
  • If your projects include digging, like building a deck or planting a tree, call your local underground utility locator before you begin. Never assume the location or depth of underground utility lines. This service is free, prevents the inconvenience of having utilities interrupted, and can help you avoid serious injury.
  • Electricity + water = danger. If it’s raining or the ground is wet, don’t use electric power or yard tools. Never use electrical appliances or touch circuit breakers or fuses when you’re wet or standing in water. Keep electric equipment at least 10 feet from wet areas.

Make certain home electrical systems and wiring are adequate to support increased electric demands of new electric appliances, home additions or remodeling projects. Also, energy use is greatest in the hot summer months when air conditioning use peaks. An older home may be inadequately wired for today’s electrical consumption, putting your family at risk for fire and electrical shock. Replace worn and outdated circuitry and add enough outlets for appliances and electronics. Safe Electricity strongly recommends do-it-yourselfers to leave this project to the professionals.

via Make Safety Priority One When Doing Home Improvement and Repair Projects.

Prevention through Design

One of the best ways to prevent and control occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities is to “design out” or minimize hazards and risks early in the design process. NIOSH is leading a national initiative called Prevention through Design PtD to promote this concept and highlight its importance in all business decisions.The concept of PtD can be defined as:Addressing occupational safety and health needs in the design process to prevent or minimize the work-related hazards and risks associated with the construction, manufacture, use, maintenance, and disposal of facilities, materials, and equipment.

A growing number of business leaders are recognizing PtD as a cost-effective means to enhance occupational safety and health.

via CDC – Prevention through Design – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.

Preventing the Top 5 Most Fatal Home Accidents

We like to think of our “home sweet home” as our haven of safety and security. However, home accidents are responsible for more fatal injuries than any other cause except motor vehicle accidents. Although home accidents are often caused by human error and typically can be prevented, they amount to 18,000 deaths and nearly 13 million injuries a year.

The 5 leading causes of death from home accidents are:

  • Falls
  • Poisonings
  • Fires
  • Suffocation and choking
  • Drowning

While children and older adults are most vulnerable to home injuries, everyone can benefit from knowing how to stay safer at home. To learn more click on the link below.

via Preventing the Top 5 Most Fatal Home Accidents.

The Impact of Off-the-Job Injuries

“Off-the-job” injuries are injuries that involve employed people when they are not working. For example, a restaurant cook cuts his hand on a knife while fixing dinner at home or a truck driver who slides off an icy road while driving his car to work, hits a tree, and suffers a sprained wrist. These injuries occurred off-the-job. If similar injuries had occurred while in the restaurant or driving a truck, they would have been on-the-job injuries. If the cook and the truck driver had been retired, then the injuries would have been neither on-the-job nor off-the-job because the people were not employed. They would have been classified and nonwork injuries. Off-the-job injuries are of concern to employers because statistics show that for each on-the-job death due to unintentional injuries there are about twelve off-the-job deaths of workers due to unintentional injuries. And for each on-the-job injury involving lost time there are about three off-the-job injuries. There are about six times as many days lost from work due to off-the-job injuries as for on-the-job. Employers have to deal with the same disruptions to production and work schedules whether the injury occurred at work or away from work.

Source: National Safety Council

Don’t be a Dummy – Use a Safety Belt in the Back Seat

People sitting in back seat should use safety belts for the same reasons they should use them in the front seat: to reduce serious injuries and fatalities in a crash. Lap and shoulder belts reduce the risk of fatal injury by 44 percent among back-seat outboard occupants in passenger cars and 73 percent among back-seat outboard occupants of vans and SUVs. In a frontal crash, drivers and front-seat passengers are at increased risk of injury from unbelted back-seat passengers, and in a side-impact crash, passengers sitting adjacent to unbelted passengers are at increased risk of injury. Exposure to unbelted occupants increases the risk of injury or death to other occupants in the vehicle by 40 percent.

via IIHS-HLDI.