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.

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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.
   

We most often think of employee safety with regards to manufacturing, construction or other miscellaneous industries with related safety incidents.  But how often do we consider the professional athlete as an employee or the fan in a safety situation? 

Dave from TechLife recently sent me an article by Scott Miller of CBS Sports about the number of breaking wood bats in baseball.  This number is increasing each year, and it is becoming a safety issue for the players (employees) and the fans.  Sports are becoming much more harmful to the employee.  About a year ago a minor league coach (an employee) was hit in the head by a foul ball and died.  The NAICS for sports is 71100 and the recordable rate is 5.8 that is comparable to construction and manufacturing.  We know there is an alarming increase in the number of injuries is sports such as football and hockey, but should athletics and OSHA be concerned about the incident rate in the industry as a whole?

Fans are also “in harms way” when a hard line drive or a bat flies into the stands or a herd of 30,000 people all want to leave a game at one time.  Someone(s) often gets injured.  These injuries will not appear on an OSHA 300 log even though the injury occurred on-site, because the fan is not considered an employee.  What happens when a vistor to your company gets injured, do you record it if it qualifies and a recordable?

Sports today are a dangerous profession.  The employees receive much more medical attention than employees in other professions.  Most athletic teams provide a medical staff both on and off site.  How many of you have a doctor, nurse or trainer on-site?

So when you think of employee safety and health don’t forget to consider the professional and non-professional athletic as an employee too.

The US department of labor estimates that 5.6 million workers risk exposure to bloodborne pathogens, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV), while on the job. An OSHA Standard Bloodborne Pathogens (1910.1030) Training Program is essential for any person who may be “reasonably anticipated” to face contact with blood and other potentially infectious materials as the result of performing their job duties. Professions at risk include, but are not limited to, healthcare professionals, educators, cosmetologists, tattoo artists, and construction workers. Industries whose employees have contracted infection from bloodborne pathogens while on the job run the risk of an OSHA citation up to $70,000 for facilities not in full compliance with bloodborne pathogens standard.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has recently begun to strictly enforce the bloodborne pathogens standard. Facilities not in full compliance with the standard, including failure to provide proof of OSHA standard bloodborne pathogens training to all employees, have received up to 70,000 dollars in fines.

A Bloodborne Pathogen program should include, but not be limited to:

• Exposure Control
• Methods of Compliance
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Housekeeping
• Regulated Waste Control
• Communication of Hazards to Employees
• Recordkeeping

It is the employers’ responsibility to train and inform their employees about hazards in the workplace.  It is also the responsibility of the employer to pay for all PPE necessary to keep the employee safe.

The Compliance Resource Center provides training and polices and procedures for Bloodborne Pathogens Programs and other OSHA and DOT compliance.

What is a Job Safety or Job Hazard Analysis and how can you use it successfully?