Safety Training Manages Workplace Risks

Contributed by Eric Tofte, Director of Training, Evergreen Safety Council
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) training is an important part of managing workplace hazards and risks. Such training may involve instruction on identifying occupational risks and how to control them, learning about safe workplace practices and how to properly use personal protective equipment. The question comes up though – how effective is our training?

Well, thanks to the National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) a document to evaluate the effectiveness of training has been developed earlier this year.

How do your training programs measure up?

Work stress puts women at risk for heart disease: study

Women with demanding jobs but little control over their daily work have an 88 percent higher risk of heart attack than women with low job strain, indicates new research from Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Researchers analyzed job strain among 17,415 middle-aged health professionals enrolled in a long-running study of women's health. Women in stressful jobs had a 40 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, stroke, coronary artery bypass surgery and death, according to a press release from the Dallas-based American Heart Association.

In addition, fear of losing one's job was associated with increased blood pressure, cholesterol and body weight – risk factors for heart disease.

The research was presented Nov. 15 at the AHA Scientific Sessions 2010.

Courtesy of National Safety Council

Lifeguards Saved Our Son's life

Contributed by Tom Odegaard, Executive Director, Evergreen Safety Council
I received this testimonial from the parents of a boy who nearly drowned in a swimming accident. Another life saved because two individuals were trained in First Aid/CPR!
These two young lifeguards have been submitted for the Governor's Life Saving Award.

On October 31, 2010 our family was swimming in the busy Pro Club pool when we found our 4 year old son, Mikey, floating face down. Another boy had grabbed his swimming noodle, and not knowing how to swim, Mikey sank below the water and began drowning. My 9 year old son noticed Mikey face down and called for me. I grabbed him and put him on the side of the pool. He was purple, limp and had no pulse.

The lifeguard, Talor Green, had been admonishing other children in the pool for misbehaving at the time. When I put Mikey on the side of the pool, Talor was there instantly. He did a quick assessment and began CPR on Mikey. Although Talor had been trained in CPR, he had never done it in a real-life situation. Soon after he began compressions, Danielle Van der Baan arrived with a mask to do mouth to mouth resuscitation. She and Talor worked as a tight team, counting together. Danielle kept checking for a pulse and finally got a good blow into Mikey’s lungs. Water came spilling out and his eyes opened. They rolled him on his side as the water drained from his lungs. Talor told me to get in the pool and talk to Mikey since he was hardly conscious. Within a few seconds the paramedics arrived and gave Mikey oxygen.

Mikey was taken to Seattle Children’s hospital and released the next day with no complications. One of the doctors noted that the CPR did not injure Mikey and complimented the work of the two lifeguards.

Mikey is a very special boy. Our family is a Christian family. We had gone to the pool this day after church. Later, in the hospital my wife found Mikey’s Bible memory verse from Sunday School in his coat pocket: “The Lord will keep you from all harm. He will watch over your life” Psalm 121:7. We believe that God must have great plans for Mikey since he gave him a second chance at life.

We want to honor these lifeguards for saving Mikey’s life by nominating them for the Governor’s lifesaving award.

2009 Injury & Fatality Statisics Overview

Our Safety Intern Mary Czaja has been pulling lots of interesting worker injury and fatality facts off of the LNI website. They have released the 2009 statistics, which we are beginning to incorporate into our training classes.

Fatal work injuries 2009:
66 men
9 women
75 total
More men died at work, but a higher percentage of assaults and transportation incidents deaths were to women.

Percentages:
Assaults and violent acts: 56% Women, 26% Men
Transportation incidents: 44% Women, 29% Men

By occupation (total):
Professional and business services: 7
Trade, transportation, and utilities: 20
Manufacturing: 3
Construction: 10
Natural resources and mining: 17

By Age:
Under 16: 0
16 to 17: 0
18 to 19: 0
20 to 24: 8
25 to 34: 13
35 to 44: 20
45 to 54: 15
55 to 64: 9
65 and over: 9

You can find a lot more injury data and statistics on LNI's website.

First Aid Instructor Update for New 2010 CPR Guidelines

Dear First Aid Instructor,

The new 2010 Guidelines for CPR and ECC have been announced by ILCOR and AHA. ASHI has been working very hard to get as much information together as possible for an interim period. Below is an explanation of the process you will be required to partake in order to maintain your instructor certification credentials.

1. Starting November 15th interim materials will be available for download from http://www.hsi.com/ (probably on the instructor portal). This will include instructor supplemental materials and student materials. You will continue to use the current material and handouts for the student.

2. EVERY INSTRUCTOR will be required to go through an upgrade in order to teach the new 2010 guidelines and receive the new books and cards. You will have until 12/31/11 to upgrade to the new guidelines. By completing the Update Process you will have the ability to teach HSI’s new G2010 training programs and issue provider-level certification cards, you will receive a new G2010 Instructor card (new card will use instructor’s current renewal date) and you will have access to digital G2010 Instructor Guides. There are two ways you can upgrade:

a. Starting November 22nd you can go to http://www.hsi.com/, sign in to the instructor portal and upgrade online. At this time the process takes approximately 1-2 hours and the cost is $20 payable to Evergreen Safety Council.
or
b. Attend an upgrade with Evergreen Safety Council in a classroom setting. The class will be about 4 hours and cost $40. You can register online or you can download a registration form (pdf) and mail/fax it back to us.

A benefit to attending a class will be the option of sending in questions you’d like answered and/or topics you would like discussed, as well as additional instructor development techniques.

Current upgrade classroom schedule:
December 15, 2010 – Seattle from 8am-12pm
January 18, 2011 – Seattle from 12:30pm-4:30pm
February 8, 2011 – Shelton area from 8am-12pm
February 28, 2011 – Spokane area - tba
Other areas can be scheduled with enough interest

First Aid, CPR/AED and CPR for the Professional Rescuer materials are estimated to be available to instructors during the second quarter. Other materials such as Oxygen Administration, Bloodborne Pathogens and Spanish FA/CPR are estimated to be available by the end of 2011.

Please do not hesitate in contacting Stephanie Dyck First Aid Programs Coordinator, or call 206-382-4090 or 800-521-0778 if you have any questions or concerns.

Safety & Health Solutions - December Newsletter

Evergreen Safety Council produces a monthly newsletter covering a variety of safety topics. Each month we will provide a link here to the online PDF.

Inside this Issue:
Lead Article – CO: The Silent Killer
People in Safety – Angie Ward, Program Manager, Washington Traffic Safety Commission
Articles -
Driving in the Snow Part 1
Are You Prepared for any Incident?
Don't be in a Hurry to Graduate
Safe Driving around Large Trucks
Is "More Training" the Solution to Human Error? Part 2 of 3

You can also sign up to receive an electronic copy via email or hard copy via the mail. This link will also take you to a full archive with over four years of past issues.

So pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back and read all about what's going on in the world of safety & health.

Secure your load

Contributed by Norm Nyhuis, Trainer, Evergreen Safety Council
There have been many articles, in both the electronic and the printed media, in recent months about securing your load, and the consequences of loosing a load. The consequences range all the way from damaged items to potential collisions caused when vehicle following behind attempt to dodge and miss the unexpected obstruction in their lane of travel.

It was five years ago, July 2005, that RCW 46.61.655 became law. If you operate a vehicle on the highways of this state, and your vehicles carry a load of any kind; you need to understand this law and others regarding safely securing your load. This law came into being following a tragic event on Interstate 405, where the loss of a piece of furniture from a vehicle caused serious, life threatening injuries, and permanent blindness to an innocent driver. The law, is also known as the Federici Bill.

I thought, with all the media attention, and just that fact that we’ve been hearing the story for more than five years, that by now drivers would have gotten the message, and were now insuring their loads were well secured, with no chance for things to fall off, or blow out, . . . . but something I saw on Interstate 5 during the afternoon commute tells me there are still drivers “out there” who haven’t gotten the message.

While making our way through the heavy, stop-and-go traffic around the approaches to SR-16 and the construction in the Nalley Valley Viaduct area of Tacoma, we encountered what you see the photo. This little couch apparently was too large to fit inside the canopy of the compact sized pickup truck. It’s also wider than the box of the pickup truck’s box. Apparently the driver felt that a single, narrow fabric strap was sufficient to hold this bulky item . . . not INSIDE the pickup, but balanced on the tailgate.

We’re not sure what all was actually inside the little pickup box, but that, added to the weight of the couch, cantilevered out on the tailgate certainly has caused the rear of the truck to sag.

So, let’s recap all the errors:
(1) – the load is only secured with a single narrow fabric strap. The strap’s capacity and condition are unknown, not to mention the relative strength of whatever part of the vehicle the strap is attached to.
(2) - the load is so wide that the view from all three rear-view mirrors is either fully blocked or restricted in its arc of view.
(3) - the width of the couch completely blocks the tail lights, turn signals and stop lights. (4) - the load weight, and placement has altered the “balance” of the vehicle, and has caused the front tires to be lightly loaded, potentially increasing the possibility of loss of steering control particularly on a bumpy road.

Conclusion: There are just times when you need a bigger truck, and this was one of them.


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