June is National Safety Month! The Industrious Hygienist will be very busy in June. I'm scheduled for a four-day Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) 501 General Industry Outreach Trainer class; this will allow me to provide 10-hour and 30-hour General Industry training to my clients and my future graduate students at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University - Prescott. Thanks to the Arizona Safety Education Center for holding the class. The instructor will be the *illustrious* Harold Gribow.
I'm also super-excited to attend Safety 2013 in Las Vegas. I've signed up as a moderator for three sessions. This conference is through the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), and I am stoked to meet the other members of the Industrial Hygiene Practice Speciality (IHPS) and the Healthcare Practice Specialty (HPS).
The National Safety Council (NSC) chose the theme "Safety Starts With Me" and has four focus areas for each week in June.
Week 1: Preventing Slips, Trips and Falls
Week 2: Employee Wellness
Week 3: Emergency Preparedness
Week 4: Ergonomics
Per NSC, "Successful organizations engage everyone in safety and create a culture where people feel a personal responsibility not only for their own safety, but for that of their coworkers, family and friends. While leadership from the top is important, creating a culture where there is a sense of ownership of safety by all, makes everyone in the organization a safety leader."
On the NSC website, you can sign up for free safety materials, make a safety pledge, and if you're a member, there free weekly webinars and downloadable posters.
The U.S. Army is joining in National Safety Month as well. They are dedicating a campaign to safety's significance in four key areas: civilian injury prevention, ground operations, aviation operations and off-duty driving.
I especially like the slogan on the poster: "Know the signs. Know what's right. Do what's right."
This encompasses very important facets of safety, including education of employees (they can't "recogize the hazard" if they don't realize it is a hazard) and the emphasis on employee engagement in safety.
Cintas has provided the following "5 Activities to Engage Employees" for National Safety Month:
1.) Set a company goal for AED/CPR training: Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), a stoppage of the heart, causes an estimated 15 percent of workplace deaths. Employees who are well-trained in both CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) use will be fully prepared to respond when SCA occurs. Set a company-wide goal to get a large percentage of workers certified and recognize those individuals who participate in the program by hosting a lunch or picnic. Enlist the help of a training provider and American Heart Association (AHA)-certified instructors to highlight proper AED use and CPR technique.
2.) Fit employees for PPE: Since PPE is only fully effective when it fits correctly, and employees are more likely to wear it when it fits, National Safety Month events are a great opportunity to size employees for gloves, eyewear, hearing protection and protective apparel. PPE that fits properly will not inhibit movement or comfort, but will be tight enough to protect employees during daily activities. Set up fitting stations with several sizes and have a representative on duty who can maintain a log of employees’ sizes to make future ordering easier.
3.) Host a safety contest: To keep employees focused and enthusiastic about safety, use contests and trivia to test employee knowledge about correct safety practices. For example, use an “identify what’s wrong with this picture” contest and have employees submit answers for prizes. To maintain engagement over time, launch a recognition program that rewards certain departments or individuals who have shown an exemplary dedication to workplace safety.
4.) Test fire extinguisher skills: Pick a vendor that can be on-site during safety events to train employees on proper fire extinguisher technique using a fire simulator. Then, test employees’ knowledge with oral quizzes and online training courses. In addition, make sure employees know where all extinguishers and exits are located throughout the facility so they can be fully prepared if a fire occurs.
5.) Teach emergency response: A common misconception is that employees know how to properly respond in the event of an emergency. Use safety awareness events to teach employees proper response including evacuation protocol, first-aid techniques and how to call for help during an emergency. Assign stand-out employees to emergency response teams that can correctly handle chemical spills, fires, natural disasters and SCA.
What's your plan for National Safety Month?
Since moving to Prescott, Arizona, I have noticed a decrease in scorpions in and around my home, but an increase in spiders. Walking the mighty dog-beast this morning, I chanced upon a flowering prickly pear (lovely) that was draped in spider webs.
These webs are all over our neighborhood and mighty spouse has conquered at least four spiders since we moved in.
The webs appear to be from funnel weaving spiders, and apparently funnel weaving spiders get nice and busy in the Spring, specifically, in May.
So it is nice to know that the spiders in my neighborhood are following the natural order of things.
In the vein of safety, I offer you the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tips from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) re: venomous spiders.
Venomous spiders in the U.S. include: black widow, brown recluse, and hobo spiders. Spiders easily get inside buildings and present a risk to indoor workers as well as outdoor workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), insects and arachnids were responsible for approximately 48% of nonfatal occupational or workplace injuries involving animals from 1992-1997.
Spiders are not (usually) aggressive; most spider bites happen because a spider is trapped or accidentally contacted. NIOSH states that "It is important for employers to educate their workers about their risk of exposure to venomous spiders, how they can prevent and protect themselves from spider bites, and what they should do if they are bitten."
NIOSH recommends that employers should protect their workers from spider bites by training them on:
- Their risk of exposure to spiders
- How to identify spiders (photos on website)
- How to prevent exposure to spiders
- What they should do if they are bitten by a spider
Since safety is all about preventing the injury before it occurs, NIOSH also provides a list of preventative steps for workers:
- Inspect or shake out any clothing, shoes, towels, or equipment before use.
- Wear protective clothing such as a long-sleeved shirt and long pants, hat, gloves, and boots when handling stacked or undisturbed piles of materials.
- Minimize the empty spaces between stacked materials.
- Remove and reduce debris and rubble from around the outdoor work areas.
- Trim or eliminate tall grasses from around outdoor work areas.
- Store apparel and outdoor equipment in tightly closed plastic bags.
- Keep your tetanus boosters up-to-date (every 10 years). Spider bites can become infected with tetanus spores.
The Mayo Clinic has helpful first aid recommendations for spider bites:
- Clean the bite with mild soap and water.
- Apply cold packs to the bite, to reduce pain and inflammation.
- If the bite is on an extremity such as an arm or leg, keep it elevated.
- Take over-the-counter pain relievers as needed.
- Observe the bite for signs of infection.
A note re: the tetanus booster - the spider itself is not likely to be carrying the bacteria Clostridium tetani, it's the fact the the bite is a puncture wound and dirt carrying the bacteria gets in the wound, which therefore can become infected.
Special thanks to the vlogbrothers (John and Hank Green) for teaching me something new today. Spouse and I have been watching vlogbrothers for a few months now and stumbled on the embedded video this morning. It's a great introduction to nerdfighteria.
Apparently there's a difference between acronyms and initialisms.
An initialism is a group of letters strung together, where each letter stands for a word (i.e. CIH = Certified Industrial Hygienist, NRR = Noise Reduction Rating, ASSE = American Society of Safety Engineers, DFTBA = Don't Forget to be Awesome).
An acronym is an initialism that you pronounce as a word (i.e LASER = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, HEPA = High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance).
So in honor of learning something new, I wondered if the word "acronyms" could be an actual acronym. So here's my attempt:
Ambiguous
Confusing
Relatively
Obscure
Nonessential
Yammering (Yucky?)
Meaningless
Syllables
Enjoy, post your favorite acronym in the comments!
