Every year since 1996 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has collected work-related injury and illness data from more than 80,000 employers. For the first time, the agency has made the data from 1996 to 2007 available in a searchable online database, allowing the public to look at establishment or industry-specific injury and illness data. The workplace injury and illness data is available at http://www.osha.gov/pls/odi/establishment_search.htmlas well as Data.gov.

OSHA recently solidified leadership for the agency and has provided a clearer picture of the regulatory horizon.

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.

Nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses among private industry employers in 2008 occurred at a rate of 3.9 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers — a decline from 4.2 cases in 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Oct. 29th. Similarly, the number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses reported in 2008 declined to 3.7 million cases, compared to 4 million cases in 2007. The total recordable case (TRC) injury and illness incidence rate among private industry employers has declined significantly each year since 2003, when estimates from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) were first published using the 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

National public sector estimates covering nearly 19 million State and local government workers — for example, police protection and fire protection — are available for the first time from the SOII for reference year 2008.  Nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses among state and local government workers combined occurred at a higher rate (6.3 cases per 100 full-time workers) than among private industry workers in 2008.

Key findings of the 2008 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses:

• Incidence rates for injuries and illnesses combined among private industry establishments declined significantly in 2008 for all case types, with the exception of job transfer or restriction cases whose rate remained unchanged from 2007.  The number of cases of injuries and illnesses combined declined significantly in 2008 for all case types.
• For injuries only, both the incidence rate and the number of cases in private industry establishments declined significantly in 2008 compared to 2007 — each falling 8 percent from the year earlier.
• Looking at illnesses, both the incidence rate and the number of cases declined significantly in 2008 compared to 2007 — mainly the result of a decline among the ‘All other illnesses’ category, which accounted for nearly 84 percent of the decline in illness cases among private industry establishments.
• Manufacturing was the only private industry sector in 2008 in which the rate of job transfer or restriction cases exceeded the rate of cases with days away from work, continuing an 11 year trend.
• The total recordable case injury and illness incidence rate was highest in 2008 among mid-size private industry establishments (those employing between 50 and 249 workers) and lowest among small establishments (those employing fewer than 11 workers) compared to establishments of other sizes.

Slightly more than one-half of the 3.7 million private industry injury and illnesses cases reported nationally in 2008 were of a more serious nature that involved days away from work, job transfer, or restriction — commonly referred to as DART cases.  These occurred at a rate of 2.0 cases per 100 workers, declining from 2.1 cases in 2007.   Among the two components of DART cases, the rate of cases involving days away from work fell from 1.2 to 1.1 cases per 100 workers, while the rate for cases resulting in job transfer or restriction remained unchanged at 0.9 cases in 2008. Other recordable cases — those not involving days away from work, job transfer, or restriction–accounted for the remaining injury and illness cases nationally and occurred at a lower rate in 2008 (1.9 cases per 100 workers) compared to 2007 (2.1 cases per 100 workers).

Private Industry Injuries and Illnesses

Injuries. Approximately 3.5 million (94.9 percent) of the 3.7 million nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses in 2008 were injuries — of which 2.5 million (71.2 percent) occurred in service-providing industries, which employed 80.1 percent of the private industry workforce covered by this survey.  The remaining 1.0 million injuries (28.8 percent) occurred in goods-producing industries, which accounted for 19.9 percent of private industry employment in 2008.

Illnesses. Workplace illnesses accounted for slightly more than 5 percent of the 3.7 million injury and illness cases in 2008. Private industry employers reported 18,900 fewer illness cases in 2008 — down to 187,400 cases compared to 206,300 in 2007. This resulted in a decline in the rate of workplace illnesses in 2008 from 21.8 to 19.7 cases per 10,000 full-time workers.

Goods-producing industries as a whole accounted for approximately 38 percent of all occupational illness cases and were responsible for more than two-thirds of the decline in illnesses reported among private industry workplaces in 2008. Consequently, both the number and rate of illnesses declined significantly for goods-producing industries as a whole in 2008. The manufacturing sector accounted for 31.5 percent of all occupational illnesses cases and reported 12,000 fewer illnesses in 2008 compared to 2007. Both the number and rate of illness cases among service-providing industries as a whole remained statistically unchanged in 2008, compared to 2007.

National Public Sector Estimates

National public sector estimates covering nearly 19 million State and local government workers — for example, Police protection (NAICS 922120) and Fire protection (NAICS 922160) — are available from the SOII for the first time for 2008.

Nearly 940,000 injury and illness cases were reported among State and local government workers combined in 2008, resulting in a rate of 6.3 cases per 100 workers — significantly higher than the rate among private industry workers (3.9 cases per 100 workers). Approximately 4 in 5 injuries and illnesses reported in the public sector occurred among local government workers, resulting in an injury and illness rate of 7.0 cases per 100 workers — significantly higher than the 4.7 cases per 100 workers in State government.

In addition to the industry-level estimates available for the first time with this release, more detailed national public sector estimates will be available in the future covering case and worker demographics for cases that involved days away from work.

The risk of influenza to healthcare workers is not a new concern, but the ongoing experience with novel influenza A (nH1N1) makes this issue even more urgent. Among the many considerations for the health and well-being of healthcare workers is the question about what types of personal protective equipment (PPE) (respiratory protection, gloves, gowns, eye protection, and other equipment) are needed to protect these frontline workers. PPE needs to be regarded one part of a set of infection control strategies to reduce the potential for infection in healthcare workers. At the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) the Institute of Medicine convened the Committee on Respiratory Protection for Healthcare Workers in the Workplace Against Novel H1N1 Influenza A to provide recommendations regarding the necessary respiratory protection for healthcare workers in their workplace against novel H1N1 influenza A.

RESPIRATORY PROTECTION

The committee focused solely on the scientific and empirical evidence regarding the efficacy of various types of personal respiratory protective equipment (e.g., medical masks and respirators). Studies on influenza transmission show that airborne (inhalation) transmission is one of the potential routes of transmission. N95 respirators are documented to filter out 95 to 99 percent of relevant particles and have maximum effectiveness when properly fitted to the face of users. Research results on the filtration and fit of medical masks show wide variation in penetration of aerosol particles and inadequate fit suggesting that the use of medical masks is unlikely to be effective against airborne transmission.

Recommendationation 1: Use Fit -Teste d N95 Respirators espirators

Healthcare workers (including those in non-hospital settings) who are in close contact with individuals with nH1N1 influenza or influenza-like illnesses should use fit-tested N95 respirators or respirators that are demonstrably more effective as one measure in the continuum of safety and infection control efforts to reduce the risk of infection.

• The committee endorses the current CDC guidelines and recommends that these guidelines should be continued until or unless further evidence can be provided to the effect that other forms of protection or other guidelines are equally or more effective.

• Employers should ensure that the use and fit testing of N95 respirators be conducted in accordance with OSHA regulations, and healthcare workers should use the equipment as required by regulations and employer policies.

It is important to note that controversy exists regarding clinical guideline decision making as many factors besides efficacy may affect policy decisions for PPE guidance including economics, equipment supplies, vaccine availability, immunization status, extent of worker compliance, and logistical considerations in the implementation of such guidance. The committee was not charged to address these other issues.

AUGUST 19, 2009

CDC is releasing new guidance that recommends actions that non-healthcare employers should take now to decrease the spread of seasonal flu and 2009 H1N1 flu in the workplace and to help maintain business continuity during the 2009–2010 flu season. The guidance includes additional strategies to use if flu conditions become more severe and some new recommendations regarding when a worker who is ill with influenza may return to work. The guidance in this document may change as additional information about the severity of the 2009-2010 influenza season and the impact of 2009 H1N1 influenza become known. Please check www.flu.gov periodically for updated guidance

Introduction

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with input from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has developed updated guidance for employers of all sizes to use as they develop or review and update plans to respond to 2009 H1N1 influenza now and during the upcoming fall and winter influenza season. Businesses and employers, in general, play a key role in protecting employees’ health and safety, as well as in limiting the negative impact of influenza outbreaks on the individual, the community, and the nation’s economy. Employers who have developed pandemic plans should review and revise their plans in light of the current 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak to take into account the extent and severity of disease in their community as outlined in this guidance.

Planning for Fall and Winter Influenza Season

Businesses may have already been impacted by the spring and summer outbreaks of 2009 H1N1 influenza affecting their employees. CDC anticipates that more communities may be affected than were in the spring/summer 2009, and/or more severely affected reflecting wider transmission and possibly greater impact. In addition, seasonal influenza viruses may cause illness at the same time as 2009 H1N1 this fall and winter. In response to the anticipated spread of 2009 H1N1 influenza, the CDC has revised its recommendations to assist businesses and other employers of all sizes.

The severity of illness that 2009 H1N1 influenza flu will cause (including hospitalizations and deaths) or the amount of illness that may occur as a result of seasonal influenza during the 2009–2010 influenza season cannot be predicted with a high degree of certainty. Therefore, employers should plan to be able to respond in a flexible way to varying levels of severity and be prepared to refine their pandemic influenza response plans if a potentially more serious outbreak of influenza evolves during the fall and winter. More people and communities are likely to be affected as influenza is more widely transmitted. The CDC and its partners will continuously monitor national and international data on the severity of illness caused by influenza, will disseminate the results of these ongoing surveillance and will make additional recommendations as needed.

FOR THE COMPLETE GUIDE GO TO http://www.flu.gov/plan/workplaceplanning/guidance.html

There is an old saying, “haste makes waste.”  But to safety professionals haste makes incidents.  Today, companies are getting leaner and meaner.  They want more productivity with less expense, meaning less people.   A job that was performed by 3 people, is now done by 2, or maybe 1 person.   As a safety person, this presents new challenges to our job.  Not only does haste make waste, it cause injuries.  To work faster and be more productive you often have to use unsafe work behaviors.

Look around you, how many people are gone?  Are you working more hours and being asked to do more?  Most people are.  Talking to other safety people, we are now starting to see more unsafe work practices and more injuries than previously experienced in the past few years.  Statistics may not show this trend for a couple of years, and one reason is the decline in the number of workers in the workforce.   But just ask a safety manager what they are experiencing, and they will tell you they are seeing more injuries than every before and more serious injuries.

I believe there are 2 main causes of incidents in the current workplace or at home, HASTE (speed) and NOT BEING AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS.  As we work faster, we tend to think less of our surroundings and more about getting the job done.

When people try to do their job in a hurry, they tend to make mistakes.  Often these mistakes can cause a near miss and at other times it can cause an injury.  Most workers today do not report a near miss, which give us less opportunity to do a root cause analysis.  We have to wait until the near miss becomes an incident. 

We hurry or speed because we are required more things today.  When I teach defensive driving, speed is still the #1 cause of motor vehicle incidents.  Speed also keeps people from focusing on the task at hand.  Remember the I Love Lucy episode where the candy was coming down the conveyor belt?  The candy was coming down at a rate that made it impossible for Lucy and Ethel to pack it properly in the boxes.  Haste not only made waste, but look closely and you will also see possible near misses.

Think of your last few Slip, Trip or Fall incidents.  Our workplace had more than we wanted in the past few months.  Many were caused when someone wanting to get somewhere a little faster.  How about you, Mr./Ms safety professional?   It is finally time to leave work and go home.  What are you concentrating on:
· How fast you get out of the building
· Picking up your kids
· Making that one stop to get dinner
· Meeting someone someplace

 Whatever the case, you are probably not thinking of the ground around you, even if there is sow, ice or an uneven surface, and all of a sudden you slip and fall.
 As I stated above, haste keeps us from not being aware of our surroundings.  At home you need a box off a high shelf, so you pull up a nearby chair and stand on it.  Do you think about how unsafe this act is?  Probably not.  You cutting your lawn wear your flip-flops.  An unsafe act?  Your probably not thinking about this act either.  The company sales rep is trying to place and order and get to the next appointment at the same time.  Do you think they are thinking about their surroundings?  Bet not, until they have an vehicle incident. 

In today’s environment, safety people are dealing with these actions more and more.  What can we do to prevent more incidents?  The message has to start at the top with senior leadership.  While every CEO wants their company to be more efficient and leaner, they cannot proceed to a point where it promotes unsafe behaviors to be more productive.  The CEO must be the leader to make sure everyone is aware that safety is high priority.   The message should state that behaving in an unsafe manner is not acceptable and actually costs the company more when an incident occurs.

Managers and supervisors have to be held accountable that their employees are working safer and smarter.  The workers should understand to report if part of their job creates an unsafe work behavior.  In other words, EVERYONE has to be responsible for having a safe workplace.  Safety people have to make sure that workers are acting in a safe manner.  Slowing down enough to make their job safe and giving the worker an opportunity to focus on being aware of their surrounding.  Through training, reminders and other forms of communication, the message must be constant and often.

Hopefully as workers slow down and become more aware of their surroundings, we can eliminate the phase HASTE MAKES WASTE and replace it with SLOW, STEADY AND SAFE MAKES YOU MORE PRODUCTIVE.

Slips, Trips and Falls happen everywhere.  These hazards have much more potential to cause harm in a healthcare setting, where patients are not well and people are in a hurry.  Haste is the number 1 cause of Slips, Trips and Falls.  Here are some helpfuls hints to think of.

Potential Hazard
Employee exposure to wet floors or spills and clutter that can lead to slips/trips/falls and other possible injuries.  
Possible Solutions:

• Keep floors clean and dry [29 CFR 1910.22(a)(2)]. In addition to being a slip hazard, continually wet surfaces promote the growth of mold, fungi, and bacteria, that can cause infections.
• Provide warning signs for wet floor areas [29 CFR 1910.145(c)(2)].
• Where wet processes are used, maintain drainage and provide false floors, platforms, mats, or other dry standing places where practicable, or provide appropriate waterproof footgear [29 CFR 1910.141(a)(3)(ii)].
• Walking/Working Surfaces Standard requires [29 CFR 1910.22(a)(1)]: Keep all places of employment clean and orderly and in a sanitary condition.
• Keep aisles and passageways clear and in good repair, with no obstruction across or in aisles that could create a hazard [29 CFR 1910.22(b)(1)]. Provide floor plugs for equipment, so power cords need not run across pathways.
• Keep exits free from obstruction. Access to exits must remain clear of obstructions at all times [29 CFR 1910.36(b)(4)].

Other Recommended Good Work Practices:

• Ensure spills are reported and cleaned up immediately.
  Use no-skid waxes and surfaces coated with grit to create non-slip surfaces in slippery areas such as toilet and shower areas.
• Use waterproof footgear to decrease slip/fall hazards.
• Use only properly maintained ladders to reach items. Do not use stools, chairs, or boxes as substitutes for ladders.
• Re-lay or stretch carpets that bulge or have become bunched to prevent tripping hazards.
• Aisles and passageways should be sufficiently wide for easy movement and should be kept clear at all times. Temporary electrical cords that cross aisles should be taped or anchored to the floor.
• Eliminate cluttered or obstructed work areas.
• Nurses station countertops or medication carts should be free of sharp, square corners.
• Use prudent housekeeping procedures such as cleaning only one side of a passageway at a time, and provide good lighting for all halls and stairwells, to help reduce accidents.
• Provide adequate lighting especially during night hours. You can use flashlights or low-level lighting when entering patient rooms.
• Instruct workers to use the handrail on stairs, to avoid undue speed, and to maintain an unobstructed view of the stairs ahead of them even if that means requesting help to manage a bulky load.
• Eliminate uneven floor surfaces.
• Promote safe work in cramped working spaces. Avoid awkward positions, and use equipment that makes lifts less awkward. 
   

Strains and sprains from manual materials handling are significant causes of workplace injury. Although lifting, placing, carrying, holding, and lowering are involved in manual materials handling (the principal cause of compensable work injuries), Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that four out of five of these injuries were to the lower back, and that three out of four occurred while the employee was lifting an object.

Management and workers should both be involved with analyzing and assessing manual materials handling job tasks for risk of injury. When a manual materials handling task has been assessed as a risk, the first control option should be redesign (i.e., redesigning the task so that the risk is completely eliminated). If this is not possible, the risk should be reduced through the use of mechanical aids and training.

(more…)

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.