THE federal government's bioterrorism preparations have moved forward significantly this year. The best example is Project Bioshield, an initiative President Bush unveiled in February to give the government blank-check spending authority to buy new vaccines. With an assured buyer, vaccine manufacturers will pursue the R&D necessary to confront smallpox, anthrax, botulinum toxins, and other bioterror threats, the project assumes.
Popular perception: Buy an AED, and your company is ready to save lives.
Harsh reality: Recently, a father of three died from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) while visiting a Tennessee county courthouse. Six months later, hoping to prevent similar, unnecessary deaths, the man's widow offered to donate an automated external defibrillator (AED) to the public building. She was informed by embarrassed public officials that they already had one--that the life-saving device had, in fact, been in the building at the time of her husband's death. Unfortunately, no one had been trained to use it.
OSHA's 29 CFR 1910.146, "Permit Required Confined Spaces," contains the requirements for practices and procedures to protect employees in general industry from the hazards of entry into permit-required confined spaces.
OCCUPATIONAL health and safety professionals may be well trained to deal with risks in the workplace, but are we prepared to deal with risks that may confront our own families?
THE first in what appears to be a long stream of international machine safety standards was adopted recently by the United States. This standard (IEC-61496, parts 1 & 2) is a product standard for Electro Sensitive Protective Equipment, adopted as ANSI/UL 61496 parts 1 & 2.
It is commonly thought that low-voltage electrical arc accidents are harmless "poofs" as long as there is no electrical contact, and often this is true. The problem with low-voltage accidents is that the great majority are without consequence.
FOR most companies, including the majority of manufacturing firms, worker safety is a genuine priority. But when OSHA comes for a visit, safety personnel and management can feel their throats tightening and their heads pounding.
THE process of selecting appropriate respiratory protection can be as important and difficult as the decision about whether respiratory protection is needed in the first place. While the selection process can be complex and time consuming, the consequences of improper selection of respiratory protection equipment can be devastating.
REDUCING air pollution emissions from vehicles in urban areas, combined with the desire to reduce dependence upon imported oil, resulted in several new regulations by federal, state, and local regulatory agencies in the 1990s.
Editor's note: ZOLL Medical Corp., a producer of defibrillators and pacing devices for hospital physicians, nurses, and emergency medical technicians, introduced its first automated external defibrillator (AED) for public safety professionals and lay responders last year.
SOME safety equipment blends into the background until it is urgently needed. The only people who probably pay close attention to emergency eyewash and shower equipment are those who inspect it. Even these inspectors may not have done any recent re-evaluations to determine whether the equipment is adequate for your current needs.
WE all enjoy being outside when the weather is pleasant. And after a long winter, warming temperatures and sunny conditions lure our employees out of doors for work-related tasks, at-home yard work, or just for recreation. This creates some unique problems for those responsible for safeguarding the health and safety of workers.
INDOOR air quality (IAQ) typically refers to the quality of air inside buildings where people work or live. Indoor air quality issues and specific building-related health concerns may result from a complex combination of physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, and behavioral risk factors.
IN today's workplace, safety managers make tough choices every day that affect lives and their companies' bottom lines. Hand, eye, hearing, and bodily protection are key to any successful safety program. Another critical, sometimes overlooked, element in preventing workplace injuries is foot protection.
Editor's note: Patricia A. "Pat" Gleason is president of the Safety Equipment Institute, a private, nonprofit organization created in 1981 to administer non-governmental, third-party certification programs to test and certify safety equipment. SEI's certification programs are accredited by the American National Standards Institute. The institute (call 703-442-5732 or visit www.SEInet.org) has its headquarters in McLean, Va.
WHILE America as a nation continues to struggle with the problem of drug abuse, U.S. employers continue to make progress in their war on drugs. A key weapon in that war continues to be drug testing. The screening of job applicants and employees for the illegal use of drugs has become as much of the fabric of American work life as paychecks and paid sick leave.