Tsunamis and earthquakes in Asia in the past three weeks underscore the need to ensure hospitals are protected against natural disasters, the agencies said Wednesday as they marked International Day for Disaster Reduction 2009.
The board concluded Wednesday that the American Petroleum Institute's Recommended Practice 1162 should explicitly identify 911 emergency call centers as emergency response agencies included in pipeline operators' public education programs.
The collapsed I-35W span in Minneapolis, the crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407, and the US Airways splashdown in the Hudson River are among the events presenters will discuss during the Nov. 17-19 course at the NTSB Training Center.
Flu-like cases are widespread in Ireland, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Cypress, with flu activity in Japan continuing above what is usually seen during flu season, WHO reports.
The National Transportation Safety Board is offering a three-day course,titled "Transportation Disaster Response - A Course for Emergency Responders," at the NTSB Training Center in Ashburn, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.) on Nov. 17-19, 2009. The course is being facilitated with the full participation of the New Jersey State Police.
Two interactive computer tools released by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will help emergency planners and responders select and run alternate care facilities during disaster situations. In such instances, hospitals experiencing a surge in seriously ill patients requiring acute care may need to transfer less ill patients efficiently to alternate care sites.
"The process of pandemic planning may be unfamiliar to many organizations," said Safety Services Canada President Jackie Norman. "We felt it was necessary to create a course that would answer important questions and give employers a solid foundation regarding H1N1 flu prevention in the workplace."
A study on the self-reported health of Americans ages 18 to 64 revealed that the flu is responsible for 200 million days of diminished productivity, 100 million days of bed disability, and 75 million days of work absence. Each episode of illness translates into five to six days of symptoms and between a half-day and five days of work missed.
The Food and Drug Administration recently announced the availability of the first draft guidance for industry on Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS), titled "Format and Content of Proposed Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS), REMS Assessments, and Proposed REMS Modifications," which are required for certain drugs or biologics.
They're the front lines and the heart of the nation's defense against the H1N1 flu, and the care they provide will be vital during the 2009/2010 U.S. flu season. How well the employees of about 5,000 hospitals can perform their duties may depend on those individuals' willingness to receive flu vaccinations, as health care professional associations and leaders of this year's Joint Commission Resources Flu Vaccination Challenge 2009-2010 strongly encourage.
Editor's note: Disaster readiness (DR) involves securing and safeguarding all corporate assets — employees, principally, but also data, facilities, and equipment. John Humphreys ([email protected]), senior director of Citrix's Virtualization and Management Division in Boston, Mass., said organizations are learning how virtualization can ensure their data centers are safe and remain operational in the event of a disaster. Humphreys discussed how this works in the following June 23, 2009, interview with OH&S Editor Jerry Laws.
Between the National Safety Congress and A+A, taking place amid Dusseldorf's lovely scenery, the world's PPE providers and safety professionals will have plenty to chew on before the holidays.
The Joint Fire Science Program, a partnership of six federal wildland management and research agencies that addresses problems associated with managing wildland fuels, fires, and fire-impacted ecosystems, will award up to $10 million for research on these and several more topics, with proposals due by Nov. 20.
To help employers prepare for the potential impact this virus could have on their workplaces, OSHA is presenting a forum today.
NIOSH said yesterday it has readied a computer-based training program to prepare the new generation of miners to read mine maps, which is critical for staying safe underground. NMA's "Safety First: Stay Alert" initiative has offered training materials to mine operators.
The specific objective of report is to identify all on-duty firefighter fatalities that occurred in the United States and its protectorates during the calendar year and to present in summary narrative form the circumstances surrounding each occurrence.
Grantees will use the funds to provide federally mandated training and retraining of miners working at surface and underground coal and metal and nonmetal mines, including miners engaged in shell dredging or employed at surface stone, sand, and gravel mining operations.
But the two senators who introduced legislation on Sept. 8 to strengthen security and federal oversight of the six laboratories say the labs remain vulnerable.
Theodore P. Zoli and Yale Program on Aging Director Mary Tinetti are among 24 researchers given $500,000 grants by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
The June 2008 relocation of the UCLA Medical Center involved limiting incoming transfers and more efficient discharge, enabling a smooth transition without interrupting emergency services, an Archives of Surgery paper reports.