Winter storms create a variety of hazards and can have lingering impacts on everyday tasks and work activities. According to the National Weather Service, about 70 percent of injuries during winter storms result from vehicle accidents, and about 25 percent of injuries result from being caught out in the storm. Learning about how to prepare for a winter storm and avoid hazards when one occurs will help keep you safe during the winter season.

This is from the new OSHA Winter Storm site.  The site has four (4) main sections to help employers learn about dealing with winter storms. These sections are:

• Introduction
• Preparedness
• Response/Recovery
• Additional Resources

With winter in its full glory this information will be useful to anyone who has to deal with this season.

Florida and Hawaii can disregard this posting.  Aren’t you lucky and warm.

Violence in the workplace represents one of the most challenging security and personnel safety problems that organizations can face today. To help companies and organizations respond to and become better prepared for such challenges, two American National Standards Institute (ANSI) members and accredited standards developers, ASIS International and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), have joined forces to release an American National Standard (ANS) aimed at preventing violence in the workplace.

The standard establishes policies, processes, and protocols that organizations can adopt to identify and prevent threatening behavior and violence affecting the workplace, and to better address and resolve threats and violence that have occurred. The standard also describes the implementation of a workplace violence prevention and intervention program, as well as protocols for effective incident management and resolution. The standard‘s recommendations are broad in order to provide organizations the flexibility needed to implement prevention and intervention strategies appropriate for their workplace.

Have you every heard of Safety Toolbox Talks?

If you are part of the safety team for your company or organization, this is a free safety resource exchange for safety professional.  The site give you all kinds of information and it is FREE!

From their website, “Safety Toolbox Talks was started in 2007 as a portal for safety professionals to share and exchange free safety topic resources . . . specifically Toolbox Topics, Toolbox Talks and other free safety resources. If you’re like so many companies these days, the daily safety meeting has proven very effective in reminding employees about the importance of safety in their daily tasks.”

Safety Toolbox Talks offers a wide  variety of topic which include:

• toolbox talks
• home safety
• driver safety
• safety videos
• safety news
• OSHA quick takes
• and much more.

With the safety budget shrinking, we need a place to get information and resources with as little cost as possible.  So check out Safetytoolboxtalks.com.  I think you will find it helpful and informative.

.Have you ever heard of NETS? No not the locked out basketball team or The Network of Executive Women. The NETS I am talking about is the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety. Motor Vehicle collisions are the NUMBER 1 cause of death and injury for employees/worker in the United States.

NETS is dedicated to improving the health and safety of employees, their families and the community by preventing traffic crashes that occur both on- and off-the-job.

October 3 – 7 , 2011 is National Drive Safely Work Work

What are you to help insure your driver are being safer? NETS offers information for you to use with this year’s campaign;

Focus 360°: Getting there safely is everyone’s business.”

Whether we’re the driver, a passenger, a pedestrian or cyclist, there are things we can do in each role to help prevent distracted driving-related incidents. And for anyone willing to set the right example, the opportunities to be safe-driving role models for family and community members are limitless. That’s the premise of this year’s campaign materials and we’re confident you’ll find them to be informative, practical and useful.

Go to the link above for material you can use to develop your own program and “Let’s Be Careful Out There.”

So, where were you when 9/11 occurred? Today’s generation will always remember where they were and what they were doing when this significant terrorist event happened 10 years ago. As a baby-boomer we always heard stories from our parents what they were doing when Pearl Harbor happened. Our generation remembered what they where doing when President Kennedy was shot.  When the Oklahoma Federal Building was bombed and of course when the 9-11 attack happened.

I was working for the National Safety Council, and on my way to Kemper Insurance to meet with their global vice-president of safety, when I got a message from his administrative assistant. I was told that he could not meet with me today due to the events that happened in New York. I was not even aware of anything that had happened. I turned on the news and learned that 2 planes had hit the towers in New York City.

Being a safety person, my first reaction was the safety of the people in the towers. I later learned that Kemper had many people in the twin towers, and they were some of the fortunate ones. They all got out. But for days Kemper did not know who was alive or who had died. Soon after, they put a new notification system in place for their employees in the event something else would happen.

I also learned that a cousin’s son was in the pentagon, just a couple of doors down from the area that was hit. He was not injured. But for 3 days his parents did not know if he was alive or dead.

Americans have always had this mentality that nothing that nothing will ever happen to me.  We are now starting to reconsider that philosophy a little. Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma City, NYC Twin Towers, each generation has their event to remember.  So where were you when…………………..happened?

RAIN IS blamed for thousands of accidents each year and driving on wet roads is particularly hazardous. While it is impossible to completely eliminate the risks, it is entirely possible to reduce the factors that lead to accidents by understanding the difference between driving in fair and foul weather.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the Department of Labor has developed this elaws Advisor to address the federal requirement to report and record work-related injuries and illnesses. The OSHA Recordkeeping Advisor is intended to help determine:

• Whether an injury or illness (or related event) is work-related
• Whether an event or exposure at home or on travel is work-related
• Whether an exception applies to the injury or illness
• Whether a work-related injury or illness needs to be recorded
• Which provisions of the regulations apply when recording a work-related case

The OSHA Recordkeeping Advisor presents questions and relies on responses to determine the appropriate course of action. The Advisor does not store any information. If the Advisor does not address the circumstances of a particular case, please contact OSHA or obtain expert advice.

OSHA has recently introduced a new part to it’s website, the Injury and Illness Prevention Programs page. There are some really useful parts to this site.

One part I am using is the program resource button. When you click on the safety pays link it takes you to an estimated cost worksheet. Why is this useful? It give you, the safety professional, a way of showing upper management the relative cost of an injury and how much additional sales is needed to pay for that injury. As Yoda might say, “very powerful it is.”

The safety pays part also gives you a step-by-step method for helping safety people get management buy-in. and other useful tools

OSHA has done a really nice job give safety professional a real tool to be more successful.

Check it out.

April is National Distracted Driving Month

Each day, more than 16 people are killed and more than 1,300 people are injured in crashes involving a distracted driver. Distracted driving is driving while doing another activity that takes your attention away from driving; these activities can increase the chance of a motor vehicle crash.

There are three main types of distraction:

• Visual—taking your eyes off the road;
• Manual—taking your hands off the wheel; and
• Cognitive—taking your mind off what you are doing.

Distracted driving activities include things like using a cell phone, texting, eating, drinking, and talking with passengers. Using in-vehicle technologies (such as navigation systems) and portable communication devices can also be sources of distraction. While any of these distractions can endanger the driver and others, texting while driving is especially dangerous because it combines all three types of distraction.

How big is the problem?

• In 2008, nearly 6,000 people died in crashes involving a distracted driver and more than 500,000 people were injured.
• The proportion of drivers reportedly distracted at the time of a fatal crash has increased from 8 percent in 2004 to 11 percent in 2008.
• When asked whether driving feels safer, less safe, or about the same as it did five years ago, more than 1 in 3 drivers say driving feels less safe today. Distracted driving—cited by 3 out of 10 of these drivers—was the single most common reason given for feeling less safe today.

What are the risk factors?

• Some activities—such as texting—take the driver’s attention away from driving more frequently and for longer periods than other distractions.
• Younger, inexperienced drivers under the age of 20 may be at highest risk because they have the highest proportion of distraction-related fatal crashes.

How can distracted driving be prevented?

• Many states are enacting laws—such as banning texting while driving—or using graduated driver licensing systems for teen drivers to help raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving and to keep it from occurring.
• On October 1, 2009, President Obama issued an executive order prohibiting federal employees from texting while driving on government business or with government equipment.
• In January 2010, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration enacted an interim ban that prohibits commercial vehicle drivers from texting while behind the wheel. In March 2010, a proposed rule was announced that would make that ban stronger and more durable.
• The Department of Transportation recently launched a national campaign to encourage the public to get involved in ending distracted driving.   Put It Down focuses on the key messages that drivers can’t do two things at once, and everyone has a personal responsibility to pay attention while behind the wheel.