Category: Safety

Strangulation Hazard – Baby Monitor Cords

Cords from baby audio and video monitors present a strangulation hazard to young children if the monitors are placed within reach. Parents should take the following precautions to help prevent strangulation:

  • Check the location of all monitors and products with electrical cords.
  • Make sure potentially hazardous products with cords are not within reach of children.
  • Keep monitors at least 3 feet from any part of cribs or beds.

Since 2002, seven children have died due to entanglement in a baby monitor cord and three children have nearly been strangled. The victims were between 6 and 20 months old, according to a press release from JPMA.

via Campaign warns parents about baby monitor cords.

Gravity Can Kill – Fall Protection Saves Lives

The following tragic accident is an example of why it’s critical to wear fall protection.

A worker hanging cable was suspended about 18 feet in the air in the bucket of the truck, working with a a steel cable that was attached to utility poles on both sides of Central Avenue Pike.  The cable was stretched across the roadway.

A pickup truck drove over the cable, and the cable hooked on the rear bumper, causing the cable to stretch tight before breaking free.  The worker was hit by the cable and thrown from the bucket of the truck, then fell to the ground.

via Report: Worker hanging cable died after falling 18 feet to the ground | wbir.com.

Lightning Can be Deadly

Summer is the peak season for one of the nations deadliest weather phenomena— lightning. But don’t be fooled, lightning strikes year round. In the United States, an average of 54 people are reported killed each year by lightning. To date, there have been 16 deaths in 2012. Hundreds of people are permanently injured each year. People struck by lightning suffer from a variety of long-term, debilitating symptoms, including memory loss, attention deficits, sleep disorders, chronic pain, numbness, dizziness, stiffness in joints, irritability, fatigue, weakness, muscle spasms, depression, and more. Lightning is a serious danger.

via NWS Lightning Safety.

10 Most Dangerous Jobs in America

Before you complain about punching the time clock, read this list for some perspective. Maybe the coffee stinks and you don’t like your boss, but at least the threat of death or injury isn’t perpetually hanging over your head. The order may change from year to year, but these are typically the most dangerous jobs in America.

1. Logger

2. Pilot

3. Fisher

4. Iron/Steel Worker

5. Garbage Collector

6. Farmer/Rancher

7. Roofer

8. Electrical Power Installer/Repairer

9. Sales, Delivery, and Other Truck Driver

10. Taxi Driver/Chauffeur

via HowStuffWorks “10 Most Dangerous Jobs in America”.

Warning – Confined Space

Confined Spaces can be dangerous.

“Confined Space” refers to a space which by design has limited openings for entry and exit, unfavorable natural ventilation which could contain or produce dangerous air contaminants, and which is not intended for continuous employee occupancy. Confined spaces include but are not limited to storage tanks, compartments of ships, process vessels, pits, silos, vats, degreasers, reaction vessels, boilers, ventilation and exhaust ducts, sewers, tunnels, underground utility vaults, and pipelines. According to data collected by the U.S. Department of Labor USDOL, Bureau of Labor Statistics BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries CFOI program, fatal injuries in confined spaces fluctuated from a low of 81 in 1998 to a high of 100 in 2000 during the five-year period, averaging 92 fatalities per year.

via CDC – Confined Spaces – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.

Walking Safely

Safety while walking is a shared responsibility for all road users, including drivers and pedestrians. The following are some tips to improve safety.

Safety tips for pedestrians

Be safe and be seen: make yourself visible to drivers

  • Wear bright/light colored clothing and reflective materials.
  • Carry a flashlight when walking at night.
  • Cross in a well-lit area at night.
  • Stand clear of buses, hedges, parked cars or other obstacles before crossing so drivers can see you.

Be smart and alert: avoid dangerous behaviors

  • Always walk on the sidewalk; if there is no sidewalk, walk facing traffic.
  • Stay sober; walking while impaired increases your chance of being struck.
  • Don’t assume vehicles will stop; make eye contact with drivers, don’t just look at the vehicle. If a driver is on a cell phone, they may not be paying enough attention to drive safely.
  • Don’t rely solely on pedestrian signals; look before you cross the road.
  • Be alert to engine noise or backup lights on cars when in parking lots and near on-street parking spaces.

Be careful at crossings: look before you step

  • Cross streets at marked crosswalks or intersections, if possible.
  • Obey traffic signals such as WALK/DON’T WALK signs.
  • Look left, right, and left again before crossing a street.
  • Watch for turning vehicles; make sure the driver sees you and will stop for you.
  • Look across ALL lanes you must cross and visually clear each lane before proceeding. Just because one motorist stops, do not presume drivers in other lanes can see you and will stop for you.
  • Don’t wear headphones or talk on a cell phone while crossing.

via walkinginfo.org: Walking Safely.

How to Create a Disaster Plan

Preparing for the worst can help minimize the risk. Sample disaster plans are widely available on the Internet, including the SBA’s Web site, and can be customized for your business needs.

Here’s a short list of how to prepare to best protect your business, should disaster strike:

  • Review insurance policies. It’s smart for any business owner to take out property insurance policies, which cover the cost of replacing damaged or destroyed equipment or buildings. But also consider business interruption insurance, which covers lost income in the event that your business is forced to shut down temporarily.
  • Develop a contingency plan. Come up with a list of backup vendors or suppliers in case your primary ones are shut down. Consider alternative work sites so that you can keep operating. Keep a list of twenty- four- hour emergency numbers for all your employees, and develop a quick and efficient way of keeping employees informed.
  • Back it up. Make backup copies of all critical records, such as accounting and employee data, customer lists, production formulas and inventory. Keep that information in a separate location at least fifty miles away, or subscribe to a online data backup service provider.

via How to Create a Disaster Plan – Small Business – WSJ.com.

What Are The Risks? – Rethinking Drinking

What are the risks of drinking?

You may have heard that regular light to moderate drinking can be good for the heart. With heavy or at-risk drinking, however, any potential benefits are outweighed by greater risks, including

  • Injuries. Drinking too much increases your chances of being injured or even killed. Alcohol is a factor, for example, in about 60% of fatal burn injuries, drownings, and homicides; 50% of severe trauma injuries and sexual assaults; and 40% of fatal motor vehicle crashes, suicides, and fatal falls.
  • Health problems. Heavy drinkers have a greater risk of liver disease, heart disease, sleep disorders, depression, stroke, bleeding from the stomach, sexually transmitted infections from unsafe sex, and several types of cancer. They may have problems managing diabetes, high blood pressure, and other conditions.
  • Birth defects. Drinking during pregnancy can cause brain damage and other serious problems in the baby. Because it is not yet known whether any amount of alcohol is safe for a developing baby, women who are pregnant or may become pregnant should not drink.
  • Alcohol use disorders. Generally known as alcoholism and alcohol abuse, alcohol use disorders are medical conditions that doctors can diagnose when a patient’s drinking causes distress or harm. In the United States, about 18 million people have an alcohol use disorder.

Beyond these physical and mental health risks, frequent heavy drinking also is linked with personal problems, including losing a driver’s license and having relationship troubles.

via What are the risks? – Rethinking Drinking – NIAAA.

The Five Steps of Risk Management Leads To Lower Cost

There are five steps to risk management:

  • Identify
  • Analyze
  • Control
  • Finance
  • Measure

The most important step is “Identify” because you can’t Analyze, Control, Finance or Measure what you don’t know. Insurance is “NOT” risk management. Insurance is “FINANCING” risk. Managing risk 365 days a year vs. buying insurance 1 day a year is the key to lowering the total cost of risk (TCOR) for business.

Injuries from Ingestion of Wire Bristles from Grill-Cleaning Brushes

Foreign object ingestion is a common reason for visiting an emergency department (ED), particularly for children (1–3). In recent years, internal injuries have been reported following unintentional ingestions of wire grill-cleaning brush bristles by both children and adults (4–6). A series of six cases from a single hospital system with two EDs during July 2009–November 2010 was reported previously (4). This report describes a series of six more cases identified at the same hospital system during March 2011–June 2012. The six patients ranged in age from 31 to 64 years; five were men. Like the patients in the previous series (4), all six reported outdoor residential food grilling and use of commercially available wire grill-cleaning brushes. The severity of injury ranged from puncture of the soft tissues of the neck, causing severe pain on swallowing, to perforation of the gastrointestinal tract requiring emergent surgery. Awareness of this potential injury among health-care professionals is critical to facilitate timely diagnosis and treatment. Additionally, awareness among the public, manufacturers who make wire grill-cleaning brushes, and retailers who sell these products can reduce exposures and decrease the likelihood of further occurrences. Before cooking, persons should examine the grill surface carefully for the presence of bristles that might have dislodged from the grill brush and could embed in cooked food. Alternative residential grill-cleaning methods or products might be considered.

via Injuries from Ingestion of Wire Bristles from Grill-Cleaning Brushes — Providence, Rhode Island, March 2011–June 2012.