Building a mobile computer for health care involved totally sealing it and adding features such as a fingerprint reader for biometric sign-in, an integrated camera, and a built-in bar code scanner for scanning patients' wrist bands and medicines, said Greg Davidson, Senior Business Development Manager for Health Care for Panasonic Computer Solutions Company (Secaucus, N.J.). He talked about creating computers for these and other challenging environments during a Dec. 1 conversation with OH&S Editor Jerry Laws.
You're in the market for a material handling product, something that can help your employees move those loads quickly and safely. You surf the Web and flip through catalogs, but how do you start to narrow your choices? The same way best-in-class manufacturers create innovative products: research, testing, and knowledge.
Process Hazard Analysis (PHA), a regulatory requirement under OSHA's 29 CFR 1910.119(e), is a collection of methodologies to address process hazards. Societal and technological changes are affecting sources, intensity, and frequency of hazards. For instance, digital controls and smart instruments have reduced maintenance requirements inherent with analog instruments.
The future will be defined by how organizations respond to globalization, culture and performance; prioritization of safety initiatives; development of employee engagement; and the relationship between organization and employee.
Employees and managers should be trained to recognize and
prevent combustible dust fires, and facilities should have a damage
control plan that includes sprinklers, explosion protection systems,
and deflagration venting.
Almost every workplace has a fire extinguisher. Quite a few are equipped with automated external defibrillators. A few suppliers of emergency oxygen units and kits are hoping to see those products someday gain a foothold comparable to AEDs, and possibly even comparable to extinguishers.
OSHA and other federal agencies track electrical accidents of all kinds, but not arc flash incidents specifically. The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) are working to change that through a collaborative research project to conduct extensive testing on arc flash. At present, only data on all electrical accidents are available.
Instead of focusing on safety (i.e., the avoidance of employee injury), many safety managers are focused on compliance (i.e., the avoidance of regulatory action taken against them). To put it another way, compliance-first is a mindset that asks, "What do I need to do to stay safe in the eyes of the government?" while a safety-first mindset frames the issue more simply: "What do I need to do to stay safe?"
No two ways about it: Masonry is hard work and stressful on the body. Masonry workers have the highest rate of back injuries causing days away from work among all of the construction trades. The rate is more than one and a half times higher than the average rate for all construction workers.
One of the questions most frequently asked is, "What kind of training do I need to be a Competent Person in regard to fall protection?" Although it seems like a straightforward question, the answer can be a little tricky. Many people believe the singular requirement to achieve Competent Person status is completion of a fall protection course, but it's just not that simple.
Confined space entry presents a potential hazard in numerous industries. Whether it is an inspection of an aircraft fuel tank, entering the hold of a barge, working in an underground utility vault, or cleaning a wine fermentation tank, education and safety are important when entering confined spaces.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has proven itself in the health and safety sector: it saves money, simplifies IT objectives, and ensures customers are using the most current versions of software. Yet SaaS's strategic potential for the industry has yet to be mined. It's time to take a hard look at how SaaS could evolve to best serve the health and safety sector.
A key aspect of any EH&S compliance program is to make sure that for every documented problem, all steps taken to correct the problem are also documented. It does not matter whether the problem arose as a result of an incident report or as a result of an audit; managing, tracking, and documenting the steps taken to handle and correct the problem are just as important as solving the problem.
Anyone who has participated in any of the National Safety Council's 95 previous annual Congresses might have a hard time taking literally the theme of the 2009 version of the event: "Beyond Your Wildest Expectations." That's because most in the industry already recognize it as the biggest show in the safety kingdom, and this year, despite the execrable economy, the preliminary numbers are setting up to maintain that tradition.
Human behavior is often the focus of safety investigations. Managers and others are primarily interested in how to get people to do the right thing at the right time. Attention is generally given to risky actions taken by people. The desire is for people to be careful, to always watch out, to remember that everyone has a family at home and that risk recognition and management are personal responsibilities. But a key element is often missing from the equation: identification and control of causes that exist in conjunction with behaviors.
The 15th Annual National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition will take place Nov. 17-20 at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, with its focus directed at helping businesses survive the downturn and prosper as the economy improves. Five educational tracks are featured (Program Management, Office Ergonomics, Industrial Ergonomics & Material Handling, Healthcare & Lab Ergonomics, and Design for the Aging & Diverse Workforce).