April 2007

  • The First Cut is the Deepest
  • Safety@Home: A Rising Tide
  • First Responder: MRSA Staph Infections
  • Why Safety Training May Not Be the Answer

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Cover Story

The First Cut is the Deepest

By Daniel Ledwig, Kimberley Hosey, Alex Marks

PICTURE, if you will, the new Safety Director at a sheet metal fabricator in the early 1990s. Fresh out of college with a degree in Safety Engineering and a desire to work in industry, he sincerely wants to "help" promote the idea of a safe workplace. He wants to "make a difference." On the first day of his new job, he is confronted with an accident that results in a severe laceration of a worker's hand. A hospital trip is involved. This one will definitely go down as a Lost Time Accident. There is grumbling about a potential lawsuit.


Features

Frequently Asked Questions: Ergonomics and Hand Protection

By Michael S. Zedalis, Keitha Kessler

SOARING medical costs and production losses resulting from repetitive motion injuries and related musculoskeletal disorders, including carpal tunnel syndrome, are inciting safety personnel to rapidly advance their consideration of ergonomically designed products that can reduce these types of injuries. This article examines some answers to common questions related to ergonomics and hand protection products--their safety, performance, quality improvements, and cost advantages.


Working Hand in Hand

By Tricia S. Hodkiewicz

IMAGINE that upper management has charged you with a brand-new assignment, developing an "employee wellness program." This could be a tall order for anyone. There's no standardized program to follow. However, if you are a safety and health professional, you have one trick up your sleeve: your safety and health program.


Training the Industrial Athlete: Fitness Training at UPS

By Zoe Robinette, M.A., CSHE

This article speaks to the training of Industrial Athletes, the men and women whose jobs require strength, agility, and stamina in a variety of industrial sectors. Keeping their bodies healthy and fit is the key to optimal performance and reduced injuries on the job.


Time to Be Clutter-Free

By Gary W. Helmer

EVEN in this age of technology, I seem to collect and accumulate more paper than ever. I have piles of this and that on my desk and can honestly say I don?t know what treasures I have (or don't have) right at my fingertips. Disorganized is the operative word here, but I am trying really hard to recoup some semblance of order.


A Rising Tide

By Jerry Laws

REACHING the pinnacle of safety success, world-class performance with a spotless injury log, can seem unattainable for any number of reasons. Deadlines, culture, turnover, upper management support, and resource shortages can set you back. Yet companies and workplaces achieve it again and again through passion, persistence, accountability, and empowerment.


Mobilizing Safety Leadership and Performance

By Robert Pater

ARE you concerned about spurring and reinforcing change at sites far from corporate HQ?


MRSA Staph Infections: Coming to a Workplace Near You

By Dr. Mark Christensen

IF you have not heard of MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus) yet, you will very soon. MRSA (it is generally verbalized as mersa) used to be found only in hospitals.


Why Safety Training May Not Be the Answer

By David Machles, Ed.D, MPH, COHN-S

IMAGINE you are ill and make an appointment with your physician. You walk in the door, register with the receptionist, and are escorted to an exam room. A few minutes later, the physician walks in with a syringe filled with medicine. He asks you to roll up your sleeve. As your eyes widen, you exclaim, "You haven't even examined me yet!" As he walks closer with the syringe, he replies, "That's all right. Most of the time, this usually does the trick." While this scenario may seem ridiculous, how many times have we approached a safety problem with a "syringe" full of training without diagnosing the underlying issue?


Departments

Walk the Flight Line

By Waldo Waldman

IT'S extremely rare for the squadron commander to meet you at your jet after a training mission, so when I saw Lt. Col. Dodson approaching my jet with a stern look on his face, I knew something was up.


Raise Your Workplace's Activity Level

By Jerry Laws

HOW physically active are the employees you manage? Given spiraling health costs and America's stunning increase in obesity, don't you want them to be more active and healthier?


Artificial Intelligence