At least four million workers go to work each day in damaging noise environments, ten million people in the U.S. have a noise-related hearing loss, and 22 million workers are exposed to potentially damaging noise each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Business Pulse: Workplace Safety and Health, launched today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation, focuses on innovative employer strategies using science-based solutions from CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to address emerging worker safety and health issues and well-recognized workplace hazards and exposures.
It’s common knowledge that the oil and gas industry is dangerous and the death toll is higher than other industries, but the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows it hasn’t been improving.
A business executive once told me that safety is a “necessary evil.” When I asked him to elaborate, it became clear that his view of OSH had been distorted by expensive projects and equipment upgrades at his company, all driven by regulatory compliance concerns. He was skeptical as to whether these compliance improvements would actually improve his organization’s safety performance.
Work in cold, damp conditions can be uncomfortable, even just for an hour or two. However, workers who prepare food for 8-hour shifts in refrigerated, 40°F food preparation and storage enclosures called cold rooms may feel extremely uncomfortable, have declining work performance, and be more likely to get hurt on the job.
NIOSH is celebrating N95 Day on Sept. 4, 2015. N95 is a category of respirators commonly used by healthcare personnel tested and certified by NIOSH. The agency is partnering with the Joint Commission to highlight two new educational products, Hospital Respiratory Protection Program Toolkit: Resources for Respirator Program Administrators (National Toolkit), and Implementing Hospital Respiratory Protection Programs: Strategies from the Field.
Researchers from Colorado State University and the Colorado School of Public Health recently found workplaces that value employees’ safety and well-being as much as company productivity yield the greatest rewards.
