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The chief hazard when using a ladder is falling. A poorly designed, maintained, or improperly used ladder may collapse under the load placed upon it and cause the employee to fall. As a result, ladders cause a large number of injuries. One study concerning ladder-related injuries indicated that in more than half of the incidents the ladder either moved, slipped, fell, or broke while the employee was using it. The study also indicated that ladders were secured or braced in fewer than half of the incidents. And, in more than half of the incidents employees were carrying things in their hands at the time they fell. OSHA has general industry standards that apply to the design, construction, and use of portable wood ladders, portable metal ladders, fixed ladders, and stairs. The standards set requirements for ladder construction materials, length restrictions, spacing between rungs, clearance around fixed ladders, etc.

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Both OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) in the U.S. and CCOHS (Canadian Council for Occupational Health & Safety) have similar recommendations for both the types and use of hearing protection devices. They state that the necessity of ear noise protection depends primarily on

• The level of the noise to be eliminated.
• The nature of the noise, sustained or intermittent.
• The work responsibilities and comfort of the person wearing ear protection.

For instance, both agencies recommend the use of hearing protection equipment if you are surrounded by sustained noise levels of more than 85 to 90 decibels during an eight hour day. As the workplace noise level rises, the allowable time period to go without ear plugs or muffs is reduced. For example, if you’re exposed to sustained noise for four hours at a decibel level over 95 dB, you should wear the best hearing protection available.

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We recently experienced 2 very powerful hurricanes, which not only left damage and destruction throughout the south, but also impacted the midwest with heavy rainfalls and flooding.  So was your company or organization emergency ready?  Many were not.

FEMA, Homeland Security, The Red Cross, along with others have materials to help you prepare for disruption of your business.

Here are some things you might want to consider:

• Back up your computer system. Make sure your computers are backed up, preferably off site, and the programs to restore your business data are current. Also, practice restoring your system. After the fact is not the time to test.
• Set up an employee call network. Get employee phone and cell numbers and break your workforce into groups. If there is a natural disaster, have one person in charge of calling everyone in their group, then reporting back to management.
• Have adequate generator capacity. Make sure you have a generator that can run your facility before a disaster strikes. Needless to say, a reliable fuel source is a must. Set it up and test it.
• Stockpile supplies. Store non-perishable food items and other essentials that may be needed after a storm, to create an environment where employees will want to come to work. If you take care of your employees after a disaster, they will take care of you.
• Train first responders on emergency procedures and then all the employees. Ensure that first responders have adequate notice to get employees to a safe area depending on the diaster.
• Secure your facility unless in the case of fire there is no time.
• Plan for after the diaster. Designate a team to assess damages and take stock of what’s happened after the danger has passed.

You can also review Compliance Resource Center articles on Emergency Prepardness:

Exit Routes and Emergency Action Plans (1910.33)

Emergency Preparedness Be Ready

Fire Prevention Plan

Communications Preparedness Tips

NFPA Evacuation Guide to People with Disabilities

There are more articles at www.thecrcenter.com.  So now is the time if you do not have a emergency plan GET ONE and the other important word is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched CDC-TV, a new online video resource on a variety of health, safety and preparedness topics.

The premiere series on CDC-TV is “Health Matters.” The first segment of the series, “Break the Silence: Stop the Violence,” addresses the topic of teen dating violence. In this video, parents and teens discuss the problem of dating violence and how to prevent it.

The library of available videos through CDC-TV will expand to include single-topic presentations as well as series for children, parents and public health professionals. Most are short and all include captioning for the hearing-impaired.
The videos are part of CDC’s efforts to increase access to information that can help people prevent illness and injury. “Online video is one of the best tools we have to reach a large number of people and help them make informed health decisions by providing accurate health information,” said Jay Bernhardt, Ph.D., director of CDC’s National Center for Health Marketing. “CDC-TV marks an exciting new chapter in our continuing efforts to provide CDC’s health information to the public when, where, and how they want it.”

The videos are available at http://www.cdc.gov/CDCtv.

One of the best arguments as to the importance of safety to a business/organization is the cost or worker’s comp.  I recently came across this article be Bill Reynolds who has a website where you can estimate the true cost of your company’s worker comp cost.  I hope you find this article as interesting as I did and it helps you with your fight to keep safety a top priority.

A worker injury not only creates a workers compensation insurance claim. It immediately creates financial waste throughout your organization. As an example, according to OSHA, for every $1 of medical only claims your organization sustains $4.5 in indirect, uninsured costs. At first blush you would think that this is a small number. In fact, it is like bleeding a slow death.

Let’s assume that your organization averages 20 medical only claims a year and that every medical only claim pays workers compensation benefits of $550. This means that your workers compensation adjuster is paying $11,000 a year. However, using the OSHA estimate of indirect costs, your organization also incurs $49,500. This reflects the financial waste and inefficiency throughout your organization. As a result, these 20 medical only claims actually cost your organization $60,500. Assuming a 5% pre-tax profit, this also means that your organization must sell $1,210,000 each year to pay the total cost of these 20 medical only claims. How many employees must you hire to produce goods and services to generate these sales?

Workers compensation disability claims produce more amazing results. According to OSHA, for every $1 of workers compensation disability payments the organization insures between $2 and $10 of uninsured, indirect costs. To be conservative let’s assume that the ration is 2:1. Also, let’s assume that your organization has 10 workers compensation disability claims and each averages $12,500. Your workers compensation adjuster would pay $125,000 for these workers compensation claims. Also, using the conservative OSHA ration of 2:1 your organization would also sustain $250,000 in indirect, uninsured costs. This additional cost reflects the waste and inefficiency throughout your organization. Again assuming a 5% pre-tax profit, the total cost of these disability injuries ($375,000) requires your organization to generate $9,375,000 in sales to pay for these 10 workers compensation disability injuries. Again, how many employees must you hire to produce goods and services to generate these sales?

I invite you to take five minutes to estimate your TOTAL COST of worker injuries using OSHA estimates in the privacy of your office. It is on-line and available 24-7. To find out more go to www.comperaser.com. These resources also include injury prevention, OSHA compliance, safety training, prompt injury response, workers compensation disability management, plus more. These resources are available 24/7 and used irrespective of which workers compensation carrier you select. Its patent-pending technology also provides unique financial reports for monitoring the effectiveness of your safety and health program on an on-going basis.