When is asking employees about their illness OK, what caused a cargo ship to sink during a hurricane and which category of first responder saw on-the-job injuries decrease sharply last year? These questions were answered by the stories featured on ISHN.com this week.

Safety company logs a million injury-free man hours

December 15, 2017

A Tulsa, Oklahoma safety services company doesn’t just talk the talk. Having just achieved one million man-hours without a recordable injury, JCL Service Company apparently walks the walk, too. Both divisions of the JCL company—JCL Safety Services and JCL Risk Services—reached this safety milestone by completing over one million man-hours without any of the following injury-related incidents occurring: days off work, restricted work, transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or an injury resulting in death.

A FairWarning story

Fluoride in the water: Too much of a good thing?

Dan Ross

December 15, 2017

In the early 1900s, a young dentist named Frederick McKay moved to a Colorado town where the residents’ teeth — though in some cases stained chocolate brown — had far less decay than was typical back then. He and other researchers eventually linked the phenomenon to fluoride in the town’s drinking water – a eureka moment that would usher in what is often called one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.

Drone operator caused drone, helicopter collision

December 15, 2017

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the operator of a drone that collided with an U.S. Army helicopter failed to see and avoid the helicopter because he was intentionally flying the drone out of visual range and did not have adequate knowledge of regulations and safe operating practices.

The high cost of large-loss fires

Workplaces among the facilities affected

December 15, 2017

Major or “large-loss” fires in the U.S. in 2016 cost $1.2 billion in property losses and resulted in 14 deaths and dozens of injuries, according to the latest edition of the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) “Large-loss Fires in the United States” report. Large-loss fires are defined as events that result in property damage of at least $10 million.

Alabama auto dealership cited after fatal fire

December 14, 2017

OSHA has cited Carl Cannon Inc., an automobile dealership, for serious safety violations after three employees died and two were injured at its Jasper facility. OSHA initiated an investigation in response to a flash fire. Inspectors determined that the employees were using a flammable brake wash to scrub the service pit floor when the fire occurred. As a result, three employees were fatally injured, and a fourth was critically burned. A fifth employee was treated for smoke inhalation and released.

Can restaurant managers ask sick employees about their symptoms?

Under Food Code, to prevent spread of foodborne illness, yes

December 14, 2017

While health concerns are usually considered private matters, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wants restaurant managers to talk to employees who are ill, to make sure they don’t spread foodborne illness to co-workers and customers. It’s a significant problem. Nearly half of restaurant-related outbreaks are caused by sick food workers. Managers may be hesitant to ask their employees about symptoms and diagnoses, especially since that conversation might lead to workers missing work and forgoing pay.

A Confined Space blog post

Dispatches from the front lines of the battle for workplace safety and health: Short stuff

Jordan Barab

December 14, 2017

COSHCON17 — The Young and the Active — The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, the umbrella group of all the nation’s COSH groups held its annual conference last week and I was privileged to be able to chair a very moving panel on “Lessons from Workplace Fatalities” with some of my heroes: family activist Katherine Rodriguez, whose father, Ray Gonzales was killed in a fire at BP Texas City in 2004, Tonya Ford, director the United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities, whose uncle Robert “Bobby” Fitch fell to his death at an Archer Daniel Midland plant in 2009, and Jonathan Karmel, author of Dying to Work: Death and Injury in the American Workplace.

NTSB: Poor decisions, lax safety oversight led to sinking

December 14, 2017

The deadliest shipping disaster involving a U.S.-flagged vessel in more than 30 years was caused by a captain’s failure to avoid sailing into a hurricane despite numerous opportunities to route a course away from hazardous weather, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced during a public meeting Tuesday. The cargo vessel S.S. El Faro sank Oct. 1, 2015, in the Atlantic Ocean during Hurricane Joaquin, taking the lives of all 33 aboard.

Your holiday laser light display may endanger aircraft

FAA: Make sure they're aimed at your house, not the sky

December 13, 2017

Each holiday season for the past several years, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has received reports from pilots who said they were distracted or temporarily blinded by residential laser-light displays. The FAA's concerns about lasers – regardless of the source – is that they not be aimed at aircraft in a way that can threaten the safety of a flight by distracting or blinding the pilots.

2016 U.S. firefighter injuries lowest in 36 years

December 13, 2017

The 62,085 injuries to U.S. firefighters in 2016 reflected an 8.8 percent decrease from 2015, making this the lowest rate of injury since 1981 – the year the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) began analyzing firefighter injury data. The latest data from the NFPA, released as part of the latest edition of its “U.S. Firefighter Injuries” report, show that the leading injury types in 2016 were: Strains, sprains and/or muscular pains (52.6 percent), and wounds, cuts, bleeding, and bruising (15.2 percent). 

MSHA announces annual Winter Alert campaign

December 13, 2017

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has unveiled its annual Winter Alert campaign, reminding miners and mine operators of the increased hazards that colder weather creates at both surface and underground coal mines. The Winter Alert campaign, which runs each year through March, emphasizes increased vigilance and adherence to safety principles during the winter months, when cold temperatures increase hazards for miners.

AIHA releases association priorities for 2018

December 12, 2017

The American Industrial Hygiene Association’s (AIHA) Board of Directors has approved a slate of public policy priorities for 2018 and also established a permanent government relations working group. New public policy priorities for 2018 fall under the following topics: hazards (such as beryllium, silica, and first responder exposure to opioids), assessments (including hazard banding, sensors, and teen workplace safety), and profession (IH Professional Pathways and title protection).

Arc flash victim avoids injury thanks to PPE

December 12, 2017

An arc flash at the Panda Power station in south Sherman, Texas, sent one employee to the hospital. Sherman Fire says It happened around 7:30 a.m. at 510 Progress Drive in Sherman. The Panda Sherman Power Project is a clean natural gas-fueled, 758-megawatt combined-cycle generating facility. The plant can supply the power needs of up to 750,000 homes.

Severely burned lineman receives outpouring of coworker support

December 12, 2017

Zach Spicer, a substation supervisor for DES, Dickson County, Tenn., suffered second-degree burns to his face and neck and third-degree burns Aug. 25 afternoon on his hands and forearm at the DES Old White Bluff Substation just as he prepared to teach a class. He was accessing a breaker cabinet, high voltage side when contact or an arc formed, causing an electrical fault that released heat and energy.

New compendium highlights development of clinical decision support to enhance worker health

December 12, 2017

A new compilation of articles published in the November issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, describes an effort led by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to develop and evaluate clinical decision support (CDS) designed to assist primary care clinicians’ with care of their working patients using CDS tools in electronic health records.

A Confined Space blog post

Methylene chloride deaths: “all preventable”

December 11, 2017

Methylene chloride kills. We wrote about 21-year old Kevin Hartley last June. He died last April 29 — Workers Memorial Day — while when he was overcome by methylene chloride while stripping a bath tub. Seventeen workers have died from over-exposure to methylene chloride between 2000 and 2015, and probably at least as many consumers. “Methylene chloride is too dangerous to keep on the store shelves,” said Dr. Robert Harrison of the University of California San Francisco. He says in a small room, just a half gallon’s worth of product containing that chemical can lead to a buildup of vapors that can prove lethal in less than an hour.

ASSE’s Hudson honored by international OSH organization

December 11, 2017

American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Executive Director Dennis Hudson has been honored with the President’s Distinguished Service Award by the U.K.-based Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). The presentation occurred in November at the IOSH annual conference in Birmingham, England. The award honors the work and achievements of individuals who have made significant contributions to IOSH or the occupational safety and health profession for several years.