Occupational Health Management Archives – July 1, 2011
July 1, 2011
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Cutting-edge strategies: Fatality focus, reporting 'near misses'
The question "What can kill a worker?" will give you a different kind of answer than asking "What can hurt a worker?" says Gregg Clark, director of global occupational safety and hygiene for Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark Corporation, where a strategy of focusing on fatality elimination is currently being implemented. -
Unintended Consequences with Injury Rate Reporting
While walking through a work area, an employee steps into a hole that was left unguarded, and twists his ankle. He doesn't tell his supervisor because he doesn't want to negatively affect Occupational Safety and Health Administration recordable injury rates. -
Ignore indirect costs of injuries at your peril
Direct costs of workplace injuries are fairly straightforward, but indirect costs are often ten times that amount. If occupational health doesn't consider indirect costs, which may be difficult to compute, prevention programs may appear not worth the expense. -
No loss, no gain with design change
Keeping employees from gaining weight is a major challenge in any workplace, but a new study shows that in fact, very simple workplace design changes can help stave off weight gain.1 However, these interventions by themselves aren't likely to lead to weight loss. -
Tension with safety? Defuse it together
If your workplace is downsizing, don't be surprised if this causes some tension between occupational health and safety. -
Occ health, safety partner to prevent
Occupational health nurses noticed that employees were reporting skin irritation from wearing safety goggles, and reported this to safety. After safety reviewed the situation, a new process was implemented for cleaning the goggles. -
AHA: Time for hospitals to step up for workers
It's time for hospitals to stand up for the health and wellness of their own. -
OSHA targeting ambulatory care
Outpatient centers have historically attracted little attention from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, although needle market data shows they have lagged in sharps safety. But that hands-off approach is ending with a regional emphasis program in four states. -
Money motivates HCWs to be healthy
As with most employers, the cost of health insurance was rising year after year for Sentara Healthcare of Norfolk, VA, an integrated health care delivery system that includes eight acute care hospitals, outpatient centers, long-term care, and Optima Health Plan, an insurance subsidiary. -
Better lift programs raise bottom line
Safe lift programs save money, and they save more if they are comprehensive and have leadership support. That finding from a new study of workers' compensation and lift-related injuries in long-term care provides a strong, new underpinning for the financial benefits of safe patient handling. -
OSHA extends comment deadline on MSD rule
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) briefly reopened the comment period on the proposed rule to record work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The comments came from May 17 to June 16, about a month after two teleconferences focused on concerns of small businesses.