Category: Safety at Home

Plan for Natural Disasters

Your home or work routines can be disrupted with little or no warning by natural disasters, fires or other catastrophic events. Its important that you and your family are prepared as help may not always be available. During large community wide emergencies, first responders – police, fire and emergency medical services may be overwhelmed with numerous calls for help or even physically unable to reach your location due to blocked roads.  Make a plan and share this information with your loved ones to prevent needless confusion and worry.

  • Determine the safest course of action for you and your family for each hazard. In some situations, it may be better to stay where you are, also called sheltering in place. This would be necessary during a tornado or hazardous chemical release, for example. Sometimes, leaving an area to escape danger or evacuation is the safer course of action in situations such as a fire or hurricane.
  • Stay informed. Know how your community alerts citizens in an emergency. It may be an emergency broadcast on the radio or TV. You might hear a special siren, or get a telephone call, or emergency workers may go door-to-door. If available, sign up for your communitys emergency text or email alert system.
  • Plan for your family’s comfort during disasters. Severe weather, earthquakes, flooding and other emergencies may cause utility outages.
  • Prepare a kit that can meet your household’s basic needs food, water, etc. for 72 hours. Dont forget a kit for your car.
  • Practice with your family what to do in an emergency. Conduct regular drills for the most common hazards such as a fire, tornado or earthquake.
  • Know how to keep in touch. Local telephone service may be interrupted. Sometimes, it is easier to send a text message or contact a family member in another state. Each family member should know how to make contact to advise that they are safe.

via Plan for natural disasters.

Fireworks Safety Tips

Fireworks can be very dangerous. Here are some safety tips:
  • Use fireworks outdoors only.
  • Obey local laws. If fireworks are not legal where you live, do not use them.
  • Always have water handy. (A hose or bucket).
  • Only use fireworks as intended. Don’t try to alter them or combine them.
  • Never relight a “dud” firework. Wait 20 minutes and then soak it in a bucket of water.
  • Use common sense. Spectators should keep a safe distance from the shooter and the shooter should wear safety glasses.
  • Alcohol and fireworks do not mix. Have a “designated shooter.”
  • Only persons over the age of 12 should be allowed to handle sparklers of any type.
  • Do not ever use homemade fireworks of illegal explosives: They can kill you! Report illegal explosives to the fire or police department in your community.

Let’s celebrate our nation’s heritage on the Fourth of July, but celebrate safely. via Welcome | The National Council on Fireworks Safety.

Stay Safe in Extreme Heat

Heat related deaths and illness are preventable yet many people succumb to extreme heat. People suffer heat-realated illness when their bodies are unable to compensate and properly cool themselves. Here  are a few tips to stay safe from extreme heat.
  • Elderly people 65 years and older, infants and children and people with chronic medical conditions are more prone to heat stress.
  • Air-conditioning is the number one protective factor against heat-related illness and death.
  • During conditions of extreme heat, spend time in locations with air-conditioning such as shopping malls, public libraries, or public health sponsored heat-relief shelters in your area.
  • Get informed. Listen to local news and weather channels or contact your local public health department during extreme heat conditions for health and safety updates
  • Drink cool, nonalcoholic beverages and increase your fluid intake, regardless of your activity level.

via CDC Extreme Heat | A Prevention Guide to Promote Your Personal Health and Safety.

Spot the Tot -Prevent “Backover” Tragedies

Preventing “Backover” or “frontover” tragedies

Danger can come from any direction, and parents must be aware of the risk of “backover” or “frontover” incidents. Many of these preventable injuries and deaths occur in driveways or parking lots when drivers are unaware children are near vehicles. Tragically, these drivers are often family members or friends of the injured child.

Parents, caregivers, drivers, and kids can all do their part to make sure that children do not share the same space as vehicles.

  • Walk all the way around your parked vehicle to check for children – or anything that can attract a child like pets or toys – under or behind your vehicle before getting in and starting the engine.
  • Accompany young children when they get in and out of a vehicle.
  • Identify and use safe play areas for children away from parked or moving vehicles. Block driveways so cars cannot enter and exit.
  • Designate a safe spot within a driver’s sight for children to wait when nearby vehicles are about to move.
  • Firmly hold the hand of each child when walking near moving vehicles and when in driveways, in parking lots or on sidewalks.

via Spot the Tot.

Stay Safe While Boating

Recreational boating—enjoyed by over 70 million Americans each year—can be a wonderful way to spend time with family and friends. And making safety a priority can ensure that boating stays fun.

Consider that:

  • In 2009, 3,358 people were injured and 736 died in boating incidents. Of those who drowned, 9 out of 10 were not wearing life jackets.
  • Of the people who died in a boating incident in 2009, more than 7 out of 10 (73%) drowned. More than 90 percent of the people who drowned were not wearing a life jacket.
  • Alcohol use was the leading contributing factor in fatal boating incidents.

via CDC Features – Stay Safe While Boating.

Foodborne Disease Outbreaks Are Deadly Serious

What You Can Do

You can keep you and your family safer by remembering to:

  • Clean. Wash hands, cutting boards, utensils, and countertops.
  • Separate. Keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood separate from ready-to-eat foods.
  • Cook. Use a food thermometer to ensure that foods are cooked to a safe internal temperature: 145°F for whole meats (allowing the meat to rest for 3 minutes before carving or consuming), 160°F for ground meats, and 165°F for all poultry.
  • Chill. Keep your refrigerator below 40°F, and refrigerate food that will spoil.
  • Report suspected illness from food to your local health department.
  • Don’t prepare food for others if you have diarrhea or have been vomiting.
  • Be especially careful when preparing food for children, pregnant women, those in poor health, and older adults.

via CDC Data & Statistics | Feature: Foodborne Disease Outbreaks Are Deadly Serious – What You Can Do to Avoid Them.

Planning for an Emergency

Emergency planning is an important part of a comprehensive workplace safety program.  Taking proactive steps can reduce the social and economic costs of emergencies, criminal acts, crises, and disasters.  An effective response during an emergency depends on the quality of planning and training that occurs before a situation arises.

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.

Portable Ladder Safety

Portable ladders are one of the handiest, simplest tools we use. Because of their effectiveness, ladders are used by many different people to perform many different tasks. Although ladders are very uncomplicated, planning and care are still required to use them safely. Each year in the U.S., accidents involving ladders cause an estimated 300 deaths and 130,000 injuries requiring emergency medical attention.

via G1932 Portable Ladder Safety | University of Missouri Extension.

Lift properly to prevent back injury

No one is immune to back injury. Whether you have a strong back or have hurt your back before, it is well worth it to:

  • Stop yourself before casually picking up a light or heavy load.
  • Plan in your mind for the best way to lift what’s in front of you. This could include enlisting help from one or more people.
  • Lift and move slowly and carefully.

The time you take to use the right lifting mechanics is far less than the days, weeks, or months it can take to heal from a back injury.

via Lifting properly to prevent back injury.