Occupational foot protection is very often ignored until a serious injury occurs. Safety professionals should take the following steps to ensure their facilities and employees are following best practices when it comes to foot protection.
Both wellness and workplace occupational health and safety (OHS) have benefits to employees and employers alike. While both can be implemented separately, there are proven additional benefits to combining the two programs into one overall Employee Health, Safety, and Wellness (HSW) Program where the total is greater than the sum of the parts. Combine your efforts in these 12 areas and enjoy improved wellness.
Three centers of excellence funded in 2006 and 2007 are researching beneficial approaches to make the workplace safer and healthier for health care workers and other groups.
The efforts of APIC and other organizations this year are aimed at significantly reducing health care-associated infections. APIC CEO Kathy Warye, shown here, hailed a recent CDC study showing gains against MRSA among ICU patients.
Shawmut Design and Construction, an employee-owned construction management firm with headquarters in Boston and offices in New York, Providence, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and New Haven, recently completed a three-story vertical expansion project at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence that added 110 beds for cardiac intensive care and general medical/surgical patients. The project was safely completed five months ahead of schedule thanks to extensive pre-planning and the company's intense focus on safe operations, John Neil, Shawmut's managing director of safety, said during a Jan. 9, 2009, interview with the editor of Occupational Health & Safety. Neil joined Shawmut in 2007 after a 20 years with Liberty Mutual, starting as a loss prevention consultant and eventually rising to Practice Leader and Director -- Construction.
Through the agreement brought on by a shareholder resolution, the company has committed to survey its current U.S. potato suppliers and compile a list of best practices in pesticide reduction that will be recommended to the company's global suppliers (through the company's Global Potato Board).
In a field where hand washing and hygiene is of utmost importance, studies indicate compliance among health care providers is well below 50 percent, on average.
The study is designed to help business owners and executives evaluate their companies' benefits package, determine how it compares with others, and assess the costs of providing benefits.
According to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most Americans consume more than double the amount of their daily recommended levels of sodium.
The study administered a highly concentrated form to patients in shock during ambulance transport to the hospital. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute stopped the clinical trial because this showed no more survival benefit than using normal saline solution.
High unemployment in the United States and a severe downturn in Britain are getting the attention of EAPA and allied organizations. Mary Guardino, shown here, founded Freedom From Fear 25 years ago; its 2009 National Anxiety and Depression Awareness Week will take place May 3–9.
"This information underscores the need for fundamental transparency and provides a powerful tool for protecting public health and the environment," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "Serving the public’s right to know is the crucial first step in reducing toxic chemicals in the places where we live, work, and raise children."
Researchers have developed the first hollow gold nanospheres that search out and “cook” cancer cells. The cancer-destroying nanospheres show particular promise as a minimally invasive future treatment for malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, the researchers said. Melanoma now causes more than 8,000 deaths annually in the United States alone and is on the increase globally.
Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) fell by more than 90 percent during the past three years at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania due to a multi-pronged approach combining leadership initiatives, electronic infection surveillance, checklists to guide line insertion and maintenance, and implementation of the Toyota Production System to encourage best practices in line care.
FDA is aware of incidents at two undisclosed hospitals involving more than 2,000 people in which the cartridge component of the insulin pens was used to administer insulin to multiple patients, exposing them to the risk of HIV and the hepatitis viruses.
Procedures that require instruments such as surgical lasers to treat a patient can generate toxic smoke and other vapors that may create an occupational health risk for health care workers and other professionals.
More than 70 public health and health care organizations will be represented at today's IOM public meeting, which is available by phone and online. By June 30, IOM must evaluate the response and recommend how to spend $400 million in stimulus money.
This method of monitoring hand hygiene compliance, which is essential for infection control in hospitals, was released at the annual meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).
"These findings are strong evidence against the common misconception in the emergency responder community that many of their members have BMIs in the overweight and obese ranges simply on the basis of increased muscle mass. Even in these young recruits, we documented a very strong association between excess BMI and an increased cardiovascular risk profile," said senior author Dr. Stefanos Kales.
In time for Brain Awareness Week, the Conference Board and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives announced the launch of a new, publicly accessible, interactive, online tool which promotes brain-healthy activities for employees of all ages.