Safe Workplace and Safety News

The National Safety Council has released a white paper describing the risks of using a cell phone while driving. The white paper, "Understanding the distracted brain: Why driving while using hands-free cell phones is risky behavior," addresses the lack of understanding about the dangers of cell phones and hands-free devices.

The white paper includes references to more than 30 scientific studies and reports, describing how using a cell phone, hands-free or handheld, requires the brain to multitask – a process it cannot do safely while driving. Cell phone use while driving not only impairs driving performance, but it also weakens the brain’s ability to capture driving cues. The white paper is available for free download on the NSC Website.

The paper describes how drivers who use cell phones have a tendency to "look at" but not "see" up to 50 percent of the information in their driving environment. A form of inattention blindness occurs, which results in drivers having difficulty monitoring their surroundings, seeking and identifying potential hazards, and responding to unexpected situations.

Numerous public opinion surveys show most drivers believe using a cell phone while driving is dangerous. However, many admit they regularly talk or text while driving. At any time, 11 percent of all drivers are using cell phones, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. NSC estimates more than 1 out of every 4 motor vehicle crashes involves cell phone use at the time of the crash.

"Cell phone use while driving has become a serious public health threat," said Janet Froetscher, NSC president and CEO. "This white paper provides the necessary background and context for lawmakers and employers considering distracted driving legislation and policies. Several states and municipalities have passed legislation allowing hands-free devices while driving. These laws give the false impression that hands-free phones are a safe alternative, when the evidence is clear they are not. Understanding the distraction of the brain will help people make the right decision and put down their cell phones while driving."

To learn more about cell phone use while driving, visit distracteddriving.nsc.org

Related Past Posts:
Create No Driving While Texting Policy
Florida Manufacturer Ignores Fire Department
Company Cited For Poor Hazard Communication

Labels: NSC, Transportation Safety, Vehicle Safety

A five-man electrical crew was working at a substation in Chillicothe, Ohio when a car with two people crashed nearby. The Chillicothe Gazette reports that:

"Dan Gilmore was one of the first Green Township paramedics on scene, arriving quickly from the firehouse just yards away on Delano Road. The [electrical] crew already had moved into action when Gilmore arrived, having removed the front and rear windshields. Although Green Township has a three-person paid day crew, Gilmore said they had to call for volunteers to respond with the needed rescue equipment."

The actions of the electrical crew allowed the injured to be treated five minutes sooner, which was significant in saving their lives.

Mike Ratliff, the electrical crew supervisor, credits his crew's response to the safety training he and his crew received at New River Electrical, based in Cloverdale, Va., as what prepared them to help.

Read the entire article at the Chillicothe Gazette.

Labels: Safety Training, Vehicle Safety

The following is a 28 minute video from the 70's about the dangers associated with earth-moving equipment operation. It shows many great simulated accidents on construction sites.

Labels: Construction Safety, Vehicle Safety

While the increase in older workers in the American workforce could suggest a corresponding decrease in workplace productivity and increase in accident claims, the opposite has proven to be true. Older workers are a benefit to the companies that employ them. However, injuries to older adults tend to be of higher severity, so U.S. companies should consider making workplace modifications that prevent injuries.

These conclusions were published in a new white paper by the PMA Companies, "Capitalizing on an Aging Workforce." The paper, which is the first in a quarterly series by the PMA Companies called PMA Insights, can be viewed at www.pmagroup.com.

Authored by Ken Nogan, Risk Control Consultant at PMA Insurance Group, the paper reports that since 1977, the number of people 65 and older in the workforce has increased more than 100 percent. In addition:

• It is estimated that workers in the age groups 65-74 and 75 and up will grow more dramatically than any other workforce age group - more than 80 percent.
• More than half of older workers are working full-time, up from 44 percent in 1995.

"Not surprisingly, as people age, their skills and faculties, including strength, range of motion, motor skills, sensory acuity and ability to heal, diminish," Nogan wrote. "While this may suggest that older workers would have a negative effect on workplace productivity and safety, statistics prove otherwise."

In fact, the paper notes that as over-55 workers increase in the workplace, so does productivity and overall workplace safety. However, when older workers do experience injuries, severity can be significant, which is an issue that must be considered by safety professionals.

These findings lead to two conclusions, according to the paper: one, older workers are a benefit to the company that employs them and, two, it pays to make modifications to work environments to prevent injuries and limit the severity of injuries commonly sustained by older workers.

Key Preventative Measures

The chief risk management concerns that were identified in the paper for older workers are increased falls, increased fatality rates, longer healing times, greater overall severity of injuries and more severe musculoskeletal disorders. The paper recommends that companies consider implementing risk control measures designed for the needs of older workers. Among the specific recommendations are:

• Slip and fall prevention - Falls alone account for more than one-third of all injuries sustained by workers 65 and older, and it takes an older worker two to three times longer to recover from an injury than a younger counterpart.
  
  
• Ergonomics - Ergonomic evaluations of workstations and workspaces can identify causes of fatigue and strain for older workers.
  
  
• Safe driving - Death rates for work-related roadway crashes increase steadily beginning at around age 55, and older drivers (55 and above) are more likely than other drivers to have a crash at an intersection or when merging or changing lanes on a highway.
  
  
• Return to work - Because claim statistics reflect a connection between increased healing time and age, there is a need for highly responsive return to work efforts for older workers.

Related previous posts:
Adult ADHD Is A Risk To Workplace Safety
Top Ten Most Disabling Injuries

Labels: fall protection, Industrial Safety, safety management, Vehicle Safety

ONTARIO SAFETY BLITZ TARGETS INDUSTRIAL WORKPLACES

The Ontario provincial government is cracking down on hazards involving forklifts and lifting devices at industrial workplaces during February, Labour Minister Peter Fonseca announced yesterday.

Inspectors will focus on ensuring employers are inspecting and maintaining lifting devices in good condition, using competent persons to operate the equipment and ensuring that the equipment is being used in a safe work environment.

For each conviction, the court can impose a fine of up to $500,000 against a corporation convicted under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Individuals face a fine of up to $25,000 or imprisonment of up to 12 months, or both.

This initiative is part of the province’s new Safe At Work Ontario blitz strategy, announced on July 23, 2008. Keeping more workers safe means increased productivity for Ontario’s economy and less strain on the health care system.

“Forklifts and other lifting devices are a significant cause of serious worker injury and deaths,” said Labour Minister Peter Fonseca. “The Government of Ontario and its workplace partners are committed to eliminating all workplace injuries, including those related to these lifting devices. Workers have a right to come home each day to their families, safe and sound.”

QUICK FACTS

* The Ministry of Labour compliance program that ran from April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2008 reduced the workplace injury rate by 20 per cent, or more than 50,000 incidents.

* Thirteen workers died between 2003 and 2007 as a result of industrial incidents involving lift trucks, reach trucks, forklifts and tow motors, according to ministry statistics.

* In total, there were 10,308 forklift–related incidents where there was a lost time injury between 1996 and 2008, an average of 793 incidents a year, according to the data compiled by the Occupational Health and Safety Council of Ontario (OHSCO).

* Because of the drop in the annual rate of lost–time injuries, employers have avoided about $5 billion in direct and indirect costs during the four years ending March 31, 2008. Reduced injuries also result in less strain on the health care system, and fewer workers off the job means increased productivity for Ontario’s economy.

Learn more about Ontario’s new four year plan, Safe at Work Ontario, that will help strengthen workplace safety.

Labels: Canadian Safety Standards, safety management, safety statistics, Vehicle Safety, workplace safety

With accident statistics showing that passive safety benefits have been optimized, the automotive industry is looking to active safety systems for the next reduction in injuries and fatalities on the road. Clearly, avoiding an accident is preferable to protecting the occupants of a vehicle from damage if it is involved in an impact with another vehicle or an immovable object.

Many studies have shown that leaving the road or making a lane change without checking the blind spot are major causes of traffic accidents. So is running into the back of another vehicle. These incidents are mostly due to driver error, mainly inattention. The new generation of driver assistance systems is designed to watch the road and other road users and warn the driver if anything potentially dangerous is about to happen. Some systems can take action to help the driver.

"All the latest driver assistance systems use some form of obstacle detection technology to constantly monitor what is going on around the vehicle," says ABI Research principal analyst David Alexander. "Ultrasonics, radar, lidar, and cameras all play a role in currently available technology, but we see some trends emerging that indicate a shift towards radar sensors as the key technology over the next five years."

A new ABI Research study, "Automotive Obstacle Detection Systems" examines the growing availability of a variety of driver assistance systems such as blind spot detection, lane departure warning, and adaptive cruise control. Ultrasonics remains the technology of choice for parking assistance, but even that domain could be challenged in the future as radar and camera technology become less expensive and more powerful.

"We see significant growth in this market over the next five years, and as volumes grow, the component costs are going to decline significantly," adds Alexander. "The migration from luxury to mainstream vehicles will be accompanied by a trend towards multiple functions for greater added value to the end consumer."

ABI Research is a market research firm focused on the impact of emerging technologies on global consumer and business markets. For information, visit www.abiresearch.com, or call 1-516-624-2500.

Labels: Vehicle Safety