Safety & Health Best Practices

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A safe patient-handling intervention decreased injuries among nurses, but not among lower-wage workers employed as patient care associates, according to a recent study in the American Journal of Public Health. This study at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health compared self-reports of safe patient-handling practices and hospital injury rates at two large Boston area hospitals from 2012 to 2014.

Revisions to the standard that guides implementation of safety and health management systems - ANSI/ASSP Z10.0-2019 – have been approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Safety and health management systems set an operational foundation by ensuring that critical processes are integrated, which helps organizations reduce injuries, save lives and maximize financial performance.

Workplace fatigue and stress is a growing topic for worker safety and health research. For instance, workplace studies have shown that the nature of retail industry work may cause fatigue and stress. Nonstandard work schedules such as irregular and extended shifts, long periods of standing, and reduced staffing are a few reasons for health issues related to job fatigue and stress.

A grant program is helping small- to medium-sized employers in Ohio integrate their occupational safety and health (OSH) efforts with workplace wellness programs, reports the September Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. At least of half of employers participating in the Workplace Wellness Grant Program (WWGP) achieved some level of integration between their OSH and workplace wellness programs within the first year.

The BrandSafway Houston Branch has received a Diamond Level Safety Training and Evaluation Process (STEP) Award, the highest award given out by the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), in recognition of its safety practices and results. This is the fourth time this branch has received this award, having also earned it in 2018, 2017 and 2016.

Specialty Plastics Company (SPC), in Enid, Oklahoma, is a small company that can boast of a big achievement. Since 2016, SPC has experienced zero recordable workplace injuries. In contrast, for NAICS code 326122, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the industry average total recordable cases rate was 4.1, and the average cases with days away from work, job restriction, or transfer rate was 2.55 for this period. [NOTE: 2017 is the most recent year national averages are available.]

With the destruction caused by Hurricane Dorian still making headlines, it’s a good time to review your facility’s preparedness for extreme weather, which can strike at work as well as at home. In addition to being peak time for both Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes (more on that below), September is also National Preparedness Month – a reminder that it’s vital to be ready for all kinds of natural disasters.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has issued a new safety digest on the value of worker participation to prevent chemical incidents. The digest notes that lack of worker participation was a factor in several major incidents investigated by the CSB because workers and their representatives were not engaged to help identify hazards and reduce risks.

In 2018, the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) created the Center of Visual Expertise (COVE), which is dedicated to the application of Visual Literacy for industrial and service operations with an emphasis on safety. COVE leverages TMA’s renowned art collection and staff expertise to help teach close looking skills, create awareness of personal bias and enhance communication skills.