Occupational Safety

RSS

The majority of occupational injuries suffered by clinicians and nurses are due to patient transfers, according to a recent survey, which found that one in three clinicians and nurses report being injured while moving patients from a bed to a chair.

Safety and health professionals are intensely serious about protecting workers from the hazards of electrical arc flash and complying with industry safety standards. But it’s easy to make mistakes that create unnecessary costs (both time and money) or put workers at risk. As you comply with NFPA 70E and OSHA safety standards, avoid these common missteps:

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), arc-flash is an electric current that passes through air when insulation or isolation between electrified conductors is no longer sufficient to withstand the applied voltage. The flash is immediate, but the result of these incidents can cause severe injury including burns. Each year more than 2,000 people are treated in burn centers with severe arc flash injuries.

Most electricians will tell you that safety is always their #1 priority. When considering electrical hazards on the job, arc flash is perhaps the most lethal threat with temperatures exceeding 35,000 degrees.

There is a statistic, that is commonly quoted, that says there are ten arc flash incidents per day resulting in one to two deaths per day.  This statistic is identified as coming from a report compiled by Capelli-Schellpfeffer, Inc. In a paragraph titled "Two Deaths Per Day" Fire Engineeringmagazine states:"An arc flash is an electrical release of energy hotter than the surface of the sun and capable of exploding with the strength of eight sticks of dynamite.

The passage of electric current causes deep injuries to the anatomical structures, leading to serious consequences for the patients. The most common sites for such accidents due to electricity are power stations, which are often unsupervised and thus allow people free access, thus making it possible for them to come into contact with high-voltage cables.

A coalition of worker safety and food safety groups is urging the FDA to drop a proposed regulation that would pull government food inspectors from poultry plants and allow companies to conduct their own inspections and speed up production lines.

A company president heads to federal prison for occupational safety crimes, sharps injuries among health care workers benchmarked and an asbestos claim transparency victim that has victims’ rights advocates calling “foul” are among this week’s top EHS-related stories as featured on ISHN.com:

The current administration looks to Saul Alinsky’s “Twelve Rules for Radicals” for their guidance. OSHA has now stepped in this direction and away from safety principles. Their first foray was the Shaming Press Releases.

The NHCASF is a tax-exempt organization (501c3) that provides scholarship awards to graduate, post-doctoral and residency students who focus on applied/practical studies in hearing loss prevention at regionally accredited institutions/agencies.