A blog follower recently asked: Is there anything from Caterpillar Safety Services outlining the positive things or actions that we can expect to see in facilities with “world-class” responses to the survey questions for each of the survey process elements? Back in the days of the survey development one of the team members, Dr. Dan Petersen, defined world-class safety as an organization that was within the best 10 percent of his customers at that point in time.

A woman who suffered injuries in a slip and fall on ice accident was awarded $60,000 in a court settlement. The 50-year-old woman was bringing her garbage to the apartment complex’s dumpster when she slipped and fell on ice, sustaining an injury to her ankle.

OSHA has published a new slide presentation on the value of injury and illness prevention programs — a proactive process to help employers find and fix workplace hazards before workers are hurt.

OSHA has ordered the Union Pacific Railroad Co., headquartered in Omaha, Neb., to immediately reinstate an employee who was terminated in violation of the Federal Railroad Safety Act for reporting a work-related injury. The company will pay more than $350,000 in back wages with interest, compensatory and punitive damages.

Emergency responders in Boston said a construction worker who fell 30 feet was spared serious injury when he landed on bubble wrap, according to UPI. A spokesman for the Boston Fire Department said the 38-year-old worker fell 30 feet off a building and landed in a pile of bubble wrap taken from the construction site`s scaffolding.

In the movie “Zero Dark Thirty” a brief exchange occurs between a CIA subordinate and his boss at Langley HQ. The subordinate and his team are frustrated. The higher-ups are not with aggression pursuing leads that the team believes could track down Bin Laden. “I wonder,” says the subordinate. “how do you assess the risk of doing nothing?”

A couple months back at my University a young man, a student, was found dead in the creek that runs through a small park on campus. Apparently, he had gotten intoxicated at a party, and then went to a bar with friends.  He ended up leaving the bar at 2 am and walked home alone.  He went to the park, slipped on some of the rocks surrounding the creek and was rendered unconscious in the water where he drowned.

With more and more Americans finding themselves in low wage work due to the effects of the recession, two public health experts have produced a policy brief that focuses on the financial impact of injuries and illnesses to that segment of the workforce.

New health research gives hope to workers and residents exposed to toxic dust and fumes after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. A study finds that some of those people have shown gradual improvement in lung function, indicating that airway injury is reversible in at least some cases.

One of my favorite Broadway musicals is “Les Misérables.” My favorite musical score for this powerful drama takes place when the hero, Jean Valjean, sings “Who am I?”