EEOC -- H1N1 Flu Virus Workplace Rules Now Available for Employers

From: http://newsok.com/qa-with-tony-puckett/article/3400040

Q&A with Tony Puckett -- Q: Has the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidelines for employers to address the H1N1 flu virus and remain in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?

read more here.

CSB Releases New Safety Video, “Combustible Dust: An Insidious Hazard”

From: http://www.csb.gov/newsroom/detail.aspx?nid=269

Washington, DC, July 28, 2009 – The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) today released a new safety video depicting how accumulations of combustible dust at worksites can provide the fuel for devastating explosions that kill and maim workers, shut down plants, and harm local economies.

Entitled, “Combustible Dust: An Insidious Hazard,” the new video is available online at www.CSB.gov, and on YouTube. It can also be ordered free of charge on a new two-DVD set of all CSB safety videos by filling out the CSB’s online DVD request form.

“Combustible Dust” features all-new CSB computer animations which illustrate three major dust explosion accidents the CSB has investigated: West Pharmaceutical Services in Kinston, North Carolina; CTA Acoustics in Corbin, Kentucky; and Hayes Lemmerz International, in Huntington, Indiana.

For each accident, the animations show how explosive dust accumulated over years on plant equipment, pipes, floors, ducts, dust collectors, and other areas. The video shows how conditions develop needing only an ignition source to set off a primary explosion, which lofts the accumulated dust, leading to deadlier secondary explosions. Read more here.

Obama taps epidemiologist to lead OSHA

From: http://blogs.hcpro.com/osha/2009/07/obama-taps-epidemiologist-to-lead-osha/

President Obama wants David Michaels, Ph.D., MPH to serve as the next head of OSHA, according to the Associated Press.

Michaels is currently the research professor and interim chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Read more here.

More Companies Should Be Preparing for an Influenza Pandemic

From: http://online.wsj.com

Few companies have made preparing for a potential influenza pandemic a top priority. Perhaps more of them should.

The World Economic Forum earlier this year put the adverse economic impact of an influenza pandemic at around $500 billion. That was before the recent outbreak of swine flu sickened more than 28,000 people world-wide, leading the World Health Organization on June 11 to declare its first pandemic in 41 years. While WHO officials emphasized that most of the people infected so far have experienced mild symptoms and recovered quickly, they say the outbreak could become more serious.

Much of the cost associated with a pandemic involving a more virulent strain of flu would stem from employee absenteeism. It is estimated that 15% to 30% of employees would stay home during such a pandemic due to illness, family-care responsibilities and fear of being infected at work. The result would be to cripple operations and disrupt global supply chains. As in the credit crisis, the fallout likely would spread rapidly because of how connected the world’s economies are.

The good news is that employee absenteeism—and its financial toll on employers—may be controlled to a large extent with adequate planning and stockpiling of antiviral medication, masks and gowns.

The bad news is that few companies have taken steps to protect themselves. A 2007 survey reported at a Harvard Business School conference on pandemic planning found that while 88% of companies seemed prepared to deal with a power disruption and 70% with a technological failure, only 13% were prepared for the kind of labor-force disruption that would come with a pandemic....

Being unprepared carries potential risks, even legal ones....read more here.

Talk of pandemic preparedness within the safety community has slowed to a trickle. While the current H1N1 Pandemic is a mild one, this is the perfect time to get plans in place. The H1N1 has already begun to mutate (see http://www.medicalnewstoday.com). There are many companies still without a pandemic preparedness plan. I previously blogged about how to write one here, including some excellent resources: Swine Flu and Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace - Part II. Now is the time to make sure we all have that Pandemic Preparedness Plan in place.

Safety Rap

I'm not much for Rap, but this has to be one of the coolest videos. This video was produced by Virginia Dominion Power. Talk about employee engagement! Please watch this video and think about how effective producing your company's safety video could be if you got your employees involved.

World Health Organization Calls Swine Flu Outbreak a Pandemic

From: http://www.washingtonpost.com

The World Health Organization yesterday declared the seven-week-old outbreak of the novel H1N1 influenza virus a pandemic, marking it as a historic global health event, one whose consequences may not be known for years.

The announcement -- expected for weeks but made with some reluctance -- essentially warns the WHO's 194 member nations to get ready for the new flu strain, which is likely to infect as much as one-third of the population in the first wave and return in later waves that may be more severe. read more here.

While this strain of the flu is still mild, it could mutaute into something more deadly. It is a definite wake-up call to workplaces to prepare a Pandemic Plan. Businesses and organizations need to consider how a pandemic will affect business continuity. How would a business continue day to day operations if much of their workforce were sick?

If your company still does not have a pandemic plan, now is the time to do so. A quick Google search of "Pandemic Preparedness Plan" will result in excellent ideas and tutorials to make the task easier.

Does Your Safety Plan Include a Rubber Duck?

From: http://news.aol.com/article/woman-survives-3-days-in-bathtub/518245/a>

"(June 8) -- A 90-year-old woman spent three days trapped in her bathtub after becoming too weak to pull herself out...

Shirley Madsen, of Walnut Creek, Calif., survived her ordeal by drinking water from a rubber duck with a hole in the bottom.

When Madsen got into the tub on May 27, she forgot to put her phone within reach and could not call for help when she got trapped.

Madsen survived for three days stuck in the bathtub by continually replacing the cooling bath water with fresh water from the tap to stay warm. She also used one of her collection of rubber ducks as a drinking cup to keep hydrated during her confinement.

"I have never been so terrified in my life," Madsen later told the Mercury News.

After three days with no word from their mother, Madsen's two daughters grew concerned. Daughter Diane Weber went to Madsen's home where she found her mother trapped in the bathroom and summoned an ambulance.

Following a three-day hospital stay, Madsen was sent home to recover from minor injuries. She worked out a routine to check in with relatives and is getting a waterproof medical alert device. But Madsen also advocates an easy safety plan: "Get a bunch of rubber duckies and make sure one of them can't swim," she joked.

Read the full story here.

One quote from the original story stuck with me: "We had a routine, but we did not have a plan".

How many companies have a routine, but not a plan?

How many employees stick in an unsafe routine, but there is no safer plan, or there is no definitive training of a safer plan?

How many employers or employees are as resourceful as Shirley Madsen?

Would you want to pin all of your hopes of survival on a rubber ducky?