Hands-on training works best

Hands-on learning for wiring a fire alarm system

If we left safety and health in the workplace to our instincts, we’d never give either of them a second thought. We’d just move ahead and get things done and feel bad when our people were injured.

Fortunately, we are required to consider safety in every aspect of work. Our primary responsibility is to inspire workers to choose healthy practices and to enjoy an injury-free work experience.

Posters, newsletters, audio announcements, safety classes, and other teaching devices all fill important roles. Hands-on training passes them all when it comes to remembering and being able to reproduce what has been learned.

One company took the hands-on approach by lighting several fires in the parking lot and asking employees to practice putting them out with fire extinguishers. It soon became obvious that most of the workers had no idea how to use a fire extinguisher or even how to turn it on.

“If we’d had a real fire, the plant would have burned to the ground,” said the quality control supervisor at the plant.

Your employees may recognize all the items in a first aid kit. They may understand why different chemicals respond differently when the human body is exposed to them. But until they learn by practicing how to stop bleeding, wash properly, arrange chemicals safely, fall without causing an injury, and respond to a major disaster, they don’t understand workplace safety.

It takes more work, but hands-on training is the only way to be sure learning takes place.

Airbone pathogens at work travel fast to make you sick

Harmful bacteria transmit diseases such as pneumonia and flu.

Besides making us sick, “staph,” pneumonia, anthrax, whooping cough, and influenza have one other trait
in common: they are spread by airborne pathogens. In other words, they carry disease-causing substances through the air to their victims.

It has been demonstrated that it is possible for a worker on one floor of an office building to cough or sneeze and send microscopic droplets into the air where they are picked up by the ventilation system and delivered to an office on another floor. One sneeze can send about one hundred thousand germ-carrying particles through the air.

At new hospital buildings such as the new Center for Advanced Healing in Boise, airborne pathogens were considered when plans were made for the 10-story tower. High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters were installed in the Center to lessen the exposure of patients and staff to disease-carrying pathogens.

Private rooms also help limit traveling airborne pathogens from infecting patients. Infection rates are lower in private rooms because of less exposure to airborne pathogens originating with a roommate. At the Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan, infection rates were 45 percent less for private than for shared rooms.

The workplace can be a breeding ground for airborne pathogens as well, such as the influenza virus that invades our country every winter. An adequate ventilation and filtration system can prevent these potentially harmful substances from spreading infection to your employees. Hand washing with soap, sneezing and coughing without spewing germs into the atmosphere, and asking employees to stay home when they have an infectious disease are great ways to keep airborne pathogens from causing trouble at your business.

Airborne pathogens are always on the move. When you sneeze, the particles you propel from your mouth can travel across the room at a speed of 80 miles per hour. This should be reason enough to guard against uncontrolled coughing and sneezing and to remember to follow hand-washing procedures as if your life
depended on it—because it does.

If we left safety and health in the workplace to our instincts, we’d never give either of them a second thought. We’d just move ahead and get things done and feel bad when our people were injured. Fortunately, we are required to consider safety in every aspect of work. Our primary responsibility is to inspire workers to choose healthy practices and to enjoy an injury-free work experience.

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By the way…PurifierPro.com, a company that manufactures air purifiers to eliminate airborne pathogens provides an information-filled list of common airborne pathogens and their sources on their web pages.

Forklift hazards and how to avoid them

Forklifts pose risks to the unwary

Forklifts are fun to drive, move heavy or bulky objects easily, and are equipped with seat belts. They also tend to become unbalanced, are often driven too fast, and can be hard to maneuver in tight places.

A forklift operator off-loading metal tubing from a truck was caught with a split-second decision when he turned the forklift behind the truck only to feel the machine tilting over on its side. Should he stay in the vehicle or jump out?

He jumped. The forklift turned over and crushed him; he died from his injuries.

Safety experts have one rule about forklifts that are starting to tip to one side or the other: Stay in the vehicle. With the seat belt securely fastened, hands gripped tightly on the steering wheel, and feet braced against the floor, you have a much better chance of surviving the roll-over without an injury than you would if you tried to jump free of the machine. From the loader fork itself to the load being transferred, dozens of objects can hit you during the tipping process and cause injury if you try to jump clear of the vehicle.

Owners of construction businesses are notorious for bringing their youngster to the work site and turning over the forklift keys to give the kid a chance at pretending to be a real worker. The engine roars and the kid drives around the site pretending to be running a worker down or testing his ability to drive the forklift as fast as possible. The exhibition may get laughs, but serious injuries and even deaths have occurred from allowing under-age or untrained individuals to operate a forklift.

Seat belts are essential in a forklift as are appropriate lights and horn sounds to warn other workers of the presence of the machine.

Ways to avoid direct causes of forklift spills and injuries:

1. Observe weight limits. Loading too much onto the fork is a major cause of forklift tipping and resulting injuries.
2. Provide warning lights and horns. Nearly one in five forklift injuries involve employees or pedestrians walking too close.
3. Keep people off the fork. The fork lift is not designed to carry people around. Forklift injuries occur every year because the forklift was being used to lift people.
4. Check all safety devices. Be sure a roll-over protection device is working properly to prevent the operator from being crushed or thrown if the vehicle tips over.
5. Give enough room. Forklifts crash because there isn’t enough room in the warehouse aisle, the ditch is too close, there is a lot of vehicle or pedestrian traffic or visual obstructions interfering with safety, or there isn’t enough room to turn the vehicle around.
6. Treat your forklifts like mechanical employees. Keep them safe and entrust them only in the hands of workers who value safety above attracting attention.

The above information is provided as a free public service by Griffith Publishing at no cost or obligation. Feel free to use HealthWorks posts in your safety programs for your employees. A note giving credit is appreciated.  Safety consultants, please call 208 454-9553 for rates and information.

It’s free and makes you healthier: Let’s exercise!

An employee with a heavy stress burden may lag behind usual performance. Stress leads to workplace injuries, high turnover, and general dissatisfaction. These add up to higher costs and lower profits for the business.

Let’s fix the problem.

Stock up on “stress pills” and make sure everyone swallows one before work begins. No stress attacks all day long.  A crew of happy workers. What could be better?

Wake up from your dream. It won’t happen.

Still, something close to instant relief from stress is available to you and your workers at no cost: exercise.

According to an online report by the Mayo Clinic, almost any type of exercise cuts back on the production of stress hormones, boosts the supply of the hormones that promote good feelings, and counteracts the body’s natural response to stress.

Your “feel-good” hormones are neurotransmitters called endorphins. Running, walking, swimming, team sports, and any other kind of activity that puts your body in motion supplies more endorphines to your brain. Result: a healthier sense of well-being.

The results are immediate.

You’ve probably heard about the man who was so depressed he decided to end his life but wanted to choose a way that no one before him had ever used. His doctor said, “Why don’t you run yourself to death? I’ve never heard of someone committing suicide that way.”

It seemed like such a great idea that the man began running as soon as he got home. Every day he rath farther and faster and felt better and better. Finally he showed up at the doctor’s office. He said, “No way am I gong to end my life feeling this good!”

People with a job that involves moderate exercise have a built-in defense against stress. Research cited by the American Psychological Association indicates that people with physically active lives have lower rates of anxiety and depression.

We don’t need a heavy load of scientific research to be convinced that the best motivated workers are usually involved in exercise at home or at work–or both.

Encourage exercise and set an example for your employees by your own choice. You can’t find a cure for stress that costs less and is more fun than exercise.