Weekly news round up
Overcoming resistance to near-miss reporting
Easily ignored incidents can be key to improving safety performance
Even though a near-miss incident on a job site may cause no injuries or property or equipment damage, it can give a company a heads’ up about a need for early intervention, thereby enabling it to improve its safety performance. That point is made in Near Miss Reporting – a Missing Link in Safety Culture, a peer-reviewed feature in the May issue of the American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) journal, Professional Safety.
Economic costs of asthma: $56 billion a year
Numbers of asthma sufferers increasing in U.S.
With May being designated Asthma Awareness Month, the EPA is using the occasion to help individuals control their symptoms and to shine the spotlight on several asthma management programs that have proven effective.
Report: 13 a day die on the job
North Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska & Arkansas have highest fatality rates
OSHA remains underfunded, understaffed and unarmed with penalties high enough to deter violations, according to the AFL-CIO’s annual report on occupational fatalities in the U.S., which provides background analysis in addition to the data.
Hand amputation and prosthetics
What options are available?
What is amputation? Amputation is the removal of an injured or diseased body part. An amputation may be the result of a traumatic injury, or it may be a planned operation to prevent the spread of the disease in an infected finger or hand.
Protective gloves: types, training & inspection
Work gloves- Leather - sparks, moderate heat, blows, chips, and rough objects; metal mesh (aluminized) – heat (require an insert of synthetic materials); canvas (aramid fiber and other synthetic materials) – heat and cold, cut and abrasion resistant.
Officials now know what exploded at Texas fertilizer plant – but not why
Ammonium nitrate named as substance that blew up
Sources say an investigation into the fatal April 17 blast at a West, Texas fertilizer plant has already yielded some information, though it’s expected to continue beyond this week. The Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office has identified ammonium nitrate – a relatively inexpensive fertilizer with a high nitrogen content – as the substance that caused the explosion, killing 14 people and injuring approximately 200 more.
European countries establish nano registries
Belgium, France & Denmark calling for mandatory reporting
In an effort to improve nanotechnology safety, several European countries are establishing registries to keep track of nanomaterials and the products containing them. “The idea behind such registries is to help authorities gain access to information that so far cannot be obtained in the current legislative framework,” according to the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI).
Oil spill commission: improvements made, but…
Arctic environmental safety among top concerns
Although the ability of the oil industry to respond effectively to a spill has substantially improved – largely due to lessons learned by the industry and tougher government regulations – the job of ensuring safety is far from finished.
Anheuser-Busch workers exposed to carbon dioxide
Brewer faces fines of $88,000
OSHA has cited Anheuser-Busch Cos. LLC in Houston with one alleged willful and five serious violations for failing to protect workers from exposure to carbon dioxide and other workplace hazards while working in brewery cellars. The October 2012 complaint inspection of the facility on Gellhorn Drive has resulted in a proposed penalty totaling $88,000.
Minor hand injuries can become major if infected
Have you ever thought about what it would be like to lose a finger? A thumb? A hand? Both hands? Your arms and hands are the tools you need to do a variety of tasks, both job-related and personal.
Casting agency employee mauled to death by grizzly bear
Montana company cited in trainer’s death
A “wildlife casting agency” that provides the services of wild animals to the movie industry and photographers has been cited for two safety violations after one of its employees was mauled to death by grizzly bears last year.
OSHA estimates 320,000 disabling hand injuries annually
OSHA has determined that workers involved in a wide range of occupations are exposed to a significant risk of death or injury from being struck by various objects in the workplace.
Only one in five U.S. adults meet physical activity guidelines
-But half of us get enough aerobic exercise
About 20 percent of U.S. adults are meeting both the aerobic and muscle strengthening components of the federal government's physical activity recommendations, according to a report published in last week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Exxon’s tar sands pipeline spills twice in one month
Opponents of Keystone pipeline say spills are inevitable
One month after Exxon Mobile’s Pegasus pipeline ruptured in Mayflower, Arkansas, spilling thousands of gallons of crude oil in a residential neighborhood, the same pipeline spilled again in Ripley County, Missouri. The second Pegasus line spill – which was much smaller than the first -- occurred despite the fact that the operation was shut down after the first spill.
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