18 states and Washington DC have now passed laws prohibiting drivers of a moving vehicle to text while driving. Yet over 10% of all drivers still continue to text. Many of these drivers are under the age of 29. The University of Utah recently published a study (December 16, 2009) Text Messaging During Simulated Driving, which found that drivers who texting have a much greater chance for an vehicle incident (6 times) than those who use a hand-held cell phone.

Recently I have been speaking at regional and local safety conferences on the topic of driver distraction, You Can Drive Me To Distraction. During these presentations I ask the audience how many people either text or use a cell phone (hand-held or hands free) while they drive. When I ask them to be honest, more than 60% of the people raise their hands.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defines distraction as:

Distraction is anything that diverts the driver’s attention from the primary tasks of navigating the vehicle and responding to critical events.  To put it another way, a distraction is anything that takes your eyes off the road (visual distraction), your mind off the road (cognitive distraction), or your hands off the wheel (manual distraction).  So when you think about tasks that can be a driving distraction, you can see that they often fit into more than one category: eating is visual and manual, whereas using a navigation system is all three.

Both the National Safety Council and the NHTSA have become very active in awareness programs and getting laws passed which prohibit the used of any electronic device while driving a motor vehicle.  To make the point much clearer click on this link and watch this video (hint; it is a little hard to watch, be prepared).

So, what’s that message here?  Any time you lose focus on driving for only 2 seconds, your reaction time to avoid an incident is the same as if your blood alcohol level is .08 or the DUI limit.  We must stay alert and focused to stay alive and keep others from getting killed or injured.

MOTOR VEHICLE COLLISIONS ARE THE #1 CAUSE OF EMPLOYEE DEATH AND INJURY.

More people have died in 1 year from texting related incidents in the US, than all the service people who have died in the middle east conflict since 2003.

Hepatitis B Vaccination and Post-Exposure Follow-Up Procedures

Q. Who must be offered the hepatitis B vaccination?

A. The hepatitis B vaccination series must be made available to all employees who have occupational exposure. The employer does not have to make the hepatitis B vaccination available to employees who have previously received the vaccination series, who are already immune as their antibody tests reveal, or who are prohibited from receiving the vaccine for medical reasons.

Q. When should the hepatitis B vaccination be offered to employees?

A. The hepatitis B vaccination must be made available within 10 working days of initial assignment, after appropriate training has been completed. This includes arranging for the administration of the first dose of the series. In addition, see page 17 for vaccination of designated first aiders.

Q. Can pre-screening be required for hepatitis B titer? Post-screening?

A. No. The employer cannot require an employee to take a pre-screening or post-vaccination serological test. An employer may, however, decide to make pre-screening available at no cost to the employee. Routine post-vaccination serological testing is not currently recommended by the CDC unless an employee has had an exposure incident, and then it is also to be offered at no cost to the employee.

Q. If an employee declines the hepatitis B vaccination, can the employer make up a declination form?

A. If an employee declines the hepatitis B vaccination, the employer must ensure that the employee signs a hepatitis B vaccination declination. The declination’s wording must be identical to that found in Appendix A of the standard. A photocopy of the Appendix may be used as a declination form, or the words can be typed or written onto a separate document.

Q. Can employees refuse the vaccination?

A. Employees have the right to refuse the hepatitis B vaccine and/or any post-exposure evaluation and follow-up. Is important to note, however, that the employee needs to be properly informed of the benefits of the vaccination and post-exposure evaluation through training. The employee also has the right to decide to take the vaccination at a later date if he or she so chooses. The employer must make the vaccination available at that time.

Q. Can the hepatitis B vaccination be made a condition of employment?

A. OSHA does not have jurisdiction over the issue.

Q. Is a routine booster does of hepatitis B vaccine required?

A. Because the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) does not recommend routine booster doses of hepatitis B vaccine, they are not required at this time. However, if a routine booster dose of hepatitis B vaccine is recommended by the USPHS at a future date, such booster doses must be made available at no cost to those eligible employees with occupational exposure.

Q. Whose responsibility is it to pay for the hepatitis B vaccine?

A. The responsibility lies with the employer to make the hepatitis B vaccine and vaccination, including post-exposure evaluation and follow-up, available at no cost to the employees.

Q. What information must the employer provide to the healthcare professional following an exposure incident?

A. The healthcare professional must be provided with a copy of the standard, as well as the following information:

•A description of the employee’s duties as they relate to the exposure incident;

•Documentation of the route(s) and circumstances of the exposure;

•The results of the source individual’s blood testing, if available; and

•All medical records relevant to the appropriate treatment of the employee, including vaccination status, which are the employer’s responsibility to maintain.

Q. What serological testing must be done on the source individual?

A. The employer must identify and document the source individual if know, unless the employer can establish that identification is not feasible or is prohibited by state or local law. The source individual’s blood must be tested as soon as feasible, after consent is obtained, in order to determine HIV and HBV infectivity. The information on the source individual’s HIV and HBV testing must be provided to the evaluating healthcare professional. Also, the results of the testing must be provided to the exposed employee. The exposed employee must be informed of applicable laws and regulations concerning disclosure of the identity and infectious status of the source individual.

Q. What if consent cannot be obtained from the source individual?

A. If consent cannot be obtained and is required by state law, the employer must document in writing that consent cannot be obtained. When the source individual’s consent is not required by law, the source individual’s blood if available shall be tested and the results documented.

Q. When is the exposed employee’s blood tested?

A. After consent is obtained, the exposed employee’s blood is collected and tested as soon as feasible for HIV and HBV serological status. If the employee consents to the follow-up evaluation after an exposure incident, but does not give consent for HIV serological testing, the blood sample must be preserved for 90 days. If, within 90 days of the exposure incident, the employee elects to have the baseline sample tested for HIV, testing must be done as soon as feasible.

Q. What information does the healthcare professional provide to the employer following an exposure incident?

A. The employer must obtain and provide to the employee a copy of the evaluating healthcare professional’s written opinion within 15 days of completion of the evaluation. The healthcare professional’s written opinion for hepatitis B is limited to whether hepatitis B vaccination is indicated and if the employee received the vaccination. The written opinion for post-exposure evaluation must include information that the employee has been informed of the results of the evaluation and told about any medical conditions resulting from exposure that may further require evaluation and treatment. All other findings or diagnoses must be kept confidential and not included in the written report.

Q. What type of counseling is required following an exposure incident?

A. The standard requires that post-exposure counseling be given to employees following an exposure incident. Counseling should include USPHS recommendations for prevention of HIV. These recommendations include refraining from blood, semen, or organ donation; abstaining from sexual intercourse or using measures to prevent HIV transmission during sexual intercourse; and refraining from breast feeding infants during the follow-up period. In addition, counseling must be made available regardless of the employee’s decision to accept serological testing.

Q. What information about exposure incidents is recorded on the OSHA 300 Log?

Revision 10/02 A. All work-related needlestick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that are contaminated with another person’s blood or other potentially infectious materials must be recorded. Enter the case on the 300 Log as an injury. To protect the employee’s privacy, do not enter the employee’s name. Enter the case on the sharps injury log or enter comparable data on the OSHA 300 Log.

NIOSH Update: Aging Workers at Higher Risk of Death, Severe Injury, Conference Report Suggests Ways to Keep Workers Healthy and Productive

Policy Shifts on Work Environment, Health Promotion, Continued Research Needed to Maintain Healthy U.S. Workforce

A report of conference presentations and discussions among participants from the National Academies of Science, universities and research institutions, and representatives of professional associations, industry and labor, recommends attention to workplace environments to maintain “work ability” as workers age, along with legislative fixes and research to fill in knowledge gaps for keeping workers healthy and productive.

According to researchers using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, older workers are more severely injured and die with greater frequency from work-related injuries than younger workers. Older workers also have longer recovery periods than younger workers. These findings raise health care delivery and economic issues for the nation, as more workers are choosing to delay retirement due to collapsed 401(k) plans and savings. BLS uses workers age 55 and older in its calculations, although the rates rise sharply for those workers over age 65. Other agencies and organizations define the term as age 50 or 55 and up. The Department of Labor uses age 40 as a starting point for “older worker.”

“The issue of healthy aging is critically important as the U.S. economy is revitalized. As we go forward in time, the demand for workers will grow but fewer workers will be entering the workforce and a larger proportion of the workforce will be older. This is a simple reality of demographics,” said National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Director John Howard, M.D. “Having a healthy, productive workforce will help sustain economic growth in the decades ahead. We must take steps now to help all workers stay safe and healthy at work as they age. We must also take steps to address the special needs of older workers who, more and more, will be staying on the job past traditional retirement age.”

The conference, held Feb. 17-18, 2009, at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., paid particular attention to workers in physically demanding jobs, such as construction and health care. Health care cost-containment has meant longer work hours and increased stress among health care workers, which has led to a shortage of nurses. Thirty-nine percent of RNs were 45 years or older in 2002.

Construction workers already suffer the highest number of fatalities in any U.S. industry.  But the death rate among construction workers 55 years and older was nearly 80% higher than that of construction workers under 35 in 2007. And like the rest of the workforce, the average age of a construction worker is rising; it was 40.4 in 2008, which is 4.4 years older than in 1985. The average retirement age among construction workers is 61.

“Our nation loses an average of four construction workers every workday to a job-related incident – and that’s been consistent for more than a decade,” said Pete Stafford, executive director of CPWR – The Center for Construction Research and Training, one of the conference’s co-sponsors. “As we start to rebuild our nation’s crumbling infrastructure and venture into green jobs, we want to make sure jobsites do not become a source of pain and death for older workers who have so much to contribute, especially in mentoring younger workers.”

Howard believes the conference confirms and expands on a 2004 report from the National Academies of Science that recognized the deteriorating conditions facing an aging workforce, to the detriment of workers, their families, and businesses. “Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers” made clear recommendations to increase research efforts toward preventing work-related injury, illness and fatality among aging workers.   These recommendations have yet to be adopted.

“The discussions and recommendations from the conference point to steps that can be taken to address needs identified in the 2004 report  that were never acted upon,” said Jordan Barab, acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for  the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). “As those discussions make clear, a sustainable workforce will be a critical component of a secure and prosperous 21st century economy. The work we do now is an investment in a stronger workforce for tomorrow.”

The Healthy Aging for Workers conference was funded through grants from NIOSH and CPWR. The Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics and the Society for Occupational and Environmental Health were conference sponsors. Additional co-sponsors were AARP, OSHA, the American Public Health Association, the Veterans Administration, and the University of Maryland Work and Health Research Center.

The full conference report and presentations from national and international researchers on occupational health and safety issues can be found on the Society for Occupational and Environmental Health’s Web site.

Top 5 Holiday Home Safety Tips for 2009

Help keep your home and family safe this holiday season with these tips from Security Choice.

The holidays are here and their arrival brings time with family, great food and fun holiday parties. As people fill their homes with gifts and decorations, home security and safety should be at the top of the holiday checklist. Security Choice, a leading online resource for the best in home security systems, offers the following tips for keeping homes and loved ones safe this holiday season.

Keep your home safe this holiday season with these home security tips.

Don’t display big gifts – Giving and receiving gifts is a fun part of the holidays, but if big ticket items like gaming consoles and TV’s end up under the tree, conceal the evidence. Burglars often look for boxes near the trash to give them an idea of what to expect inside a home. To be safe, break down boxes so they fit inside the trash can.

Don’t use holiday lights 24/7 – It’s important to turn off all home holiday lights before going to bed or leaving for an extended period of time. And never hook up one extension cord to another. Purchase extension cords that are long enough to stretch across the room to prevent an electrical or fire hazard.

Do background checks - If carpet cleaners, housekeepers or other home service professionals are in the home to help prepare for guests, check their track record. Many criminals are in a house for other reasons before they return to burglarize it. Make sure to use services that are reliable and never leave spare keys for a repair person or housekeeper.

Activate the home alarm – Set the home alarm system when leaving the house – especially during the day. According to the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report, daytime burglaries increased by more than 6 percent in 2008. Close blinds and put away expensive holiday gifts and valuables.

Leaving town? Leave the lights on – People often think leaving one house light on is enough to make a home look occupied. But it’s just the opposite. Place timers on two or three lights throughout the house so they turn on and off at different times. This gives the home a more ‘lived in’ appearance.

Recently, I have been speaking to various groups about distracted driving.  While speaking at the Chicagoland Safety & Health Conference someone told and sent me the link to this video Teens Texting.

We know that more employees die and are injured from traffic accidents than any other type of incidents.  Distracted driving is done all the time.  The next time you are driving just look at the car next to you.  Within minutes you are bound to see someone either:

• Talking on a cell phone
• Eating/drinking
• Reading
• Putting on makeup
• Shaving
• One of many other things other than just driving

Also, if you have teenagers or someone about to drive you might want to watch this.  There are some graphic scenes, but the point is well done.  17 states have made laws to prohibit texting while driving, and there is a bill in front of congress.  Lastly, a recent study showed that talking on cell phone (regular or hand-free) reduces your reaction time to the same as if your blood alcohol rate is 0.8, or the accepted rate for DUI in almost every state in the US.