Category: Benefits

Making the Business Case for Safety and Health

In addition to their social costs, workplace injuries and illnesses have a major impact on an employer’s bottom line. It has been estimated that employers pay almost $1 billion per week for direct workers’ compensation costs alone. The costs of workplace injuries and illnesses include direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include workers’ compensation payments, medical expenses, and costs for legal services. Examples of indirect costs include training replacement employees, accident investigation and implementation of corrective measures, lost productivity, repairs of damaged equipment and property, and costs associated with lower employee morale and absenteeism.

via Safety and Health Topics | Making the Business Case for Safety and Health – Costs.

Coronary heart disease – leading cause of death

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in the United States for men and women.

Coronary heart disease is caused by the buildup of plaque in the arteries to your heart. This may also be called hardening of the arteries.

Fatty material and other substances form a plaque build-up on the walls of your coronary arteries. The coronary arteries bring blood and oxygen to your heart.

This buildup causes the arteries to get narrow.

As a result, blood flow to the heart can slow down or stop.

A risk factor for heart disease is something that increases your chance of getting it. You cannot change some risk factors for heart disease, but others you can change.

The risk factors for heart disease that you CANNOT change are:

  • Your age. The risk of heart disease increases with age.
  • Your gender. Men have a higher risk of getting heart disease than women who are still getting their menstrual period. After menopause, the risk for women is closer to the risk for men. See: Heart disease and women
  • Your genes. If your parents or other close relatives had heart disease, you are at higher risk.
  • Your race. African Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians, Hawaiians, and some Asian Americans also have a higher risk for heart problems.

Many things increase your risk for heart disease:

  • Diabetes is a strong risk factor for heart disease.
  • High blood pressure increases your risks of heart disease and heart failure.
  • Extra cholesterol in your blood builds up inside the walls of your heart’s arteries (blood vessels).
  • Smokers have a much higher risk of heart disease.
  • Chronic kidney disease can increase your risk.
  • People with narrowed arteries in another part of the body (examples are stroke and poor blood flow to the legs) are more likely to have heart disease.
  • Substance abuse (such as cocaine)
  • Being overweight
  • Not getting enough exercise, and feeling depressed or having excess stress are other risk factors.

via Coronary heart disease – PubMed Health.

Exercise: 7 benefits of Regular Exercise

You know exercise is good for you, but do you know how good? From boosting your mood to improving your sex life, find out how exercise can improve your life.

Want to feel better, have more energy and perhaps even live longer? Look no further than exercise. The health benefits of regular exercise and physical activity are hard to ignore. And the benefits of exercise are yours for the taking, regardless of your age, sex or physical ability. Need more convincing to exercise? Check out these seven ways exercise can improve your life.

  • No. 1: Exercise controls weight
  • No. 2: Exercise combats health conditions and diseases
  • No. 3: Exercise improves mood
  • No. 4: Exercise boosts energy
  • No. 5: Exercise promotes better sleep
  • No. 6: Exercise puts the spark back into your sex life
  • No. 7: Exercise can be fun

The bottom line on exercise and physical activity are a great way to feel better, gain health benefits and have fun. As a general goal, aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day. If you want to lose weight or meet specific fitness goals, you may need to exercise more. Remember to check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program, especially if you have any health concerns.

via Exercise: 7 benefits of regular physical activity – MayoClinic.com.

Control Risk to Workers

Controlling exposures to occupational hazards is the fundamental method of protecting workers. Traditionally, a hierarchy of controls has been used as a means of determining how to implement feasible and effective controls. One representation of this hierarchy can be summarized as follows:

  • Elimination
  • Substitution
  • Engineering controls
  • Administrative controls
  • Personal protective equipment

The idea behind this hierarchy is that the control methods at the top of the list are potentially more effective and protective than those at the bottom. Following the hierarchy normally leads to the implementation of inherently safer systems, ones where the risk of illness or injury has been substantially reduced.

via CDC – Engineering Controls – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.

Motorcycle Safety: Helmets Save Lives

Preventing serious injuries and deaths from motorcycle crashes is a major and growing public health concern.

Consider that:

  • Motorcycle crashes killed 5,290 people in 2008.
  • The number of motorcycle-related deaths increased every year between 1997 and 2008.
  • Motorcycle crash-related injuries and deaths totaled $12 billion in one year, in medical care costs and productivity losses.
  • Helmets are estimated to prevent 37 percent of fatal motorcycle injuries for motorcycle riders (operators) and 41 percent of fatal injuries for motorcycle passengers.

via CDC Features – Motorcycle Safety: Helmets Save Lives.

Dangers of Staph Infections

Staph infections are caused by staphylococcus bacteria, a type of germ commonly found on the skin or in the nose of even healthy individuals. Most of the time, these bacteria cause no problems or result in relatively minor skin infections.

But staph infections can turn deadly if the bacteria invade deeper into your body, entering your bloodstream, joints, bones, lungs or heart.

In the past, a lethal staph infection might have occurred in a person who was hospitalized or had a chronic illness or weakened immune system. Now, a growing number of otherwise healthy people are developing life-threatening staph infections. And many staph infections no longer respond to common antibiotics.

via Staph infections – MayoClinic.com.

Healthy Aging: Over 50

Healthy aging is a hot topic for baby boomers everywhere. Whether you’re concerned about weight gain, sex drive or chronic diseases, the key to healthy aging is a healthy lifestyle. Eating a variety of healthy foods, practicing portion control and including physical activity in your daily routine can go a long way toward promoting healthy aging. Better yet, its never too late to make healthier lifestyle choices.

via Healthy aging – MayoClinic.com.

How can you avoid stress?

Stress is a fact of life for most people. You may not be able to get rid of stress, but you can look for ways to lower it.

You might try some of these ideas:

  • Learn better ways to manage your time. You may get more done with less stress if you make a schedule. Think about which things are most important, and do those first.
  • Find better ways to cope. Look at how you have been dealing with stress. Be honest about what works and what does not. Think about other things that might work better.
  • Take good care of yourself. Get plenty of rest. Eat well. Don’t smoke. Limit how much alcohol you drink.
  • Try out new ways of thinking. When you find yourself starting to worry, try to stop the thoughts. Work on letting go of things you cannot change. Learn to say “no.”
  • Speak up. Not being able to talk about your needs and concerns creates stress and can make negative feelings worse. Assertive communication can help you express how you feel in a thoughtful, tactful way.
  • Ask for help. People who have a strong network of family and friends manage stress better.

via Stress – Manage Your Stress, Measure Your Stress, and Reduce Your Stress.

Lowering LDL Cholesterol

Do you know your cholesterol numbers? They are too high for more than half of all American adults. The culprit is LDL cholesterol—low-density lipoproteins, the bad kind—in their blood. Manufactured by the liver, cholesterol is a critical building block of cell walls, hormones, and digestive juices. But overly high LDLs are a major cardiovascular risk. Along with liquified fat, dead cells, and other cellular trash, they can form deposits within the walls of the coronary arteries; as these deposits, or plaques, grow, they may bulge into the artery, interfering with blood flow. If one ruptures and a clot forms, a heart attack or stroke is likely. If you haven’t had your cholesterol checked with a quick blood test, now would be a good time. Adults are advised to get their levels tested at least once every five years.

via Lowering LDL Cholesterol.

Smoking Cuts Life Short

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death.

Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 5 million deaths per year, and current trends show that tobacco use will cause more than 8 million deaths annually by 2030.

In the United States, tobacco use is responsible for about one in five deaths annually (i.e., about 443,000 deaths per year, and an estimated 49,000 of these smoking-related deaths are the result of secondhand smoke exposure).

On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.

via CDC – Fact Sheet – Fast Facts – Smoking & Tobacco Use.