Research confirms that new guidelines to prevent worker hand, wrist, and elbow musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) better protect workers. MSDs can be debilitating and costly workplace safety and health issues. In Washington state alone, direct costs for hand, wrist, and elbow MSD workers’ compensation claims accounted for over $2 billion and 11.8 million lost work days from 1999-2013.
In the study, “Suicide and drug‐related mortality following occupational injury,” published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, researchers found that workplace injury significantly raises a person’s risk of suicide or overdose death. Earlier studies have shown that injured workers have elevated rates opioid use and depression.
Although the injury and illness rate for poultry workers remains higher than for all private industry workers, new Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that the rate is trending downward.
The BLS reported that there were approximately 230,000 poultry processing workers in 2016. That year, there was an incident rate of 4.2 nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time equivalent workers; higher than the rate for all private industry workers, which was 2.9 per 100.
Multiple hazards at Ohio workplace: OSHA issued 23 citations and $183,738 in penalties to Ohio Gratings, Inc., for inadequate machine guarding and recordkeeping, failing to ensure that workers used personal protective equipment, and exposing workers to struck-by hazards and flammable liquids.
A CBS policy change angers safety advocates; the final frontier is the target of government regulations and a mining safety rule change gets reversed in court. These were among the top stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
Employees at a psychiatric hospital in Colorado were exposed to workplace violence and bloodborne pathogens, according to OSHA investigators, who fined their employer $32,392.
OSHA inspected Centennial Peaks Hospital in Louisville, an acute psychiatric treatment facility owned by UHS of Centennial Peaks LLC, after a complaint of workplace violence was lodged with the agency in December 2018.
The Alaska Occupational Safety and Health Division issued 14 citations and $270,723 in penalties to Trident Seafood Corporation after two workers were seriously injured by unguarded machinery. Inspectors found that the company failed to provide machine guarding on augers, conveyors, sprocket wheels, and chains.
Oregon forestry workers who were injured on the job were more likely to fully recover if they received treatment and support from their employers, according to a recent study at the University of Washington. Those workers also reported that their employer promoted safety through policies, practices, and resources—indicators of a healthy safety climate.
Created by Naked Prosthetics , this prosthetic moves with a person's hand mimicking a natural finger.
“For us, function is about getting somebody back to work, back to life, back to doing what they want to do," said Bob Thompson, CEO of Naked Prosthetics.
They created the product to help the vast amounts of construction workers who've lost partial fingers and wanted to get back on the job.
Injuries to two employees in two separate incidents have resulted in OSHA citations against a Mobile, Alabama packaging manufacturer.
One of the workers at the ProAmpac facility suffered a severe hand injury after being caught in a piece of equipment. Another employee sustained a finger laceration when struck by moving machine parts.