How big is the problem?

According to the National Safety Council, 60 percent to 80 percent of all workers will experience a back problem at some time during their working careers. Back strains and sprains are the largest source of workplace claims. Conditions in the workplace which, increase the likelihood of back pain, are called risk factors. Back pain risk factors associated with lifting include:

1. Lifting heavy loads;
2. Carrying bulky loads or loads far away from the body;
3. Frequent lifting;
4. Bending the body’s trunk, as when picking items up off the floor;
5. Twisting the body’s trunk;
6. Static loading (for example, holding objects for long periods of time).

If we reduce or eliminate exposure to these risk factors, we also reduce the chance of experiencing back pain:

1. Limiting exposure by providing mechanical assistance, such as conveyor systems, two- and fourwheel carts, and hoists; or by lightening the load to be lifted;
2. Engineering means, such as elevating the starting point of the lift, to reduce worker exposure to awkward postures;
3. Training (a safer way to lift should be considered when none of the previous methods are feasible);
4. Administrative controls (if the lifting is frequent, rotate the work with other workers).

Lifting techniques

If you must lift, you should select the safest way to lift – one that is free from the potential for injury. However, we can lessen our exposure by using an approach that encompasses best practices that have come about through research and application. 

Here are some guidelines:

• Plan the lift from start to destination;
• Flex to loosen up your body before starting the lift;
• Squat close to the load;
• Grip the load firmly with both hands, not just the fingers;
• Place hands on diagonally opposite corners so one hand pulls toward you and the other one lifts;
• Bring the load as close as possible to the body;
• Keep weight centered over your feet, with arms and elbows against your sides;
• Keep your back straight, use the power in your legs to push yourself and the object into a standing position;
• Avoid twisting by changing direction with your feet;
• Continue to your destination with the object as close to the body as possible.

Remember, relying only on lifting techniques to prevent back injuries still leaves us quite vulnerable to pain and suffering, which can affect our ability to perform our jobs and enjoy our free time with our family and friends. Examples in our daily lives that ease lifting include:

• Grocery carts to transport items to our car;
• Bags with handles;
• Snow shovels and other tools that have curved handles like scythes;
• The carrying of items in smaller amounts or shorter distances;
• Wagons to carry yard trimmings.

Article provided by the BWC Division of Safety & Hygiene

Central serves children 18 months through 12 years of age, while Northserves children 18 months through 5 years of age. Details about our mission, curriculum, fees and recent compliance ratings can be accessed below:

• Patri-Tots Brochure
• Parent Handbook

100% compliance rating:

• August 2011
• January 2011
• 2010
• 2009

For more information contact the Patri-Tots Learning Centers directly:

Toll Free: 1-800-628-7722 (Ohio only)

Central Campus Child Care Center: 937-393-3431 ext. 2629
North Campus Child Care Center: 937-382-6645 ext. 4629

The office is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday.  HealthSource Wilmington accepts Amerigroup, CareSource and Molina as well as most other insurance plans.

Please call (937) 481-2930 to schedule your child’s appointment today.

HealthSource of Ohio is a private, not-for-profit organization serving communities in Adams, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Highland and Fayette counties.

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Visible senior management leadership promotes the belief that safety management is an organizational value.

Requirements
Contemporary businesses establish safety and health as a core value of their organizations. Senior management, including your top executive on site, must act as role models for how all your employees should work to create a safe work environment. This means:

• Authorizing the necessary resources for accident prevention;
• Discussing safety processes and improvements regularly during staff or employee meetings;
• Ensuring management is held accountable for accident-prevention activities and for managing accident-prevention processes;
• Annually assessing the success of your safety process by using surveys, personal interviews and/or behavior-sampling;
• Encouraging employees to take an active part in maintaining a safe workplace.

Implementation
Your senior management must assume a leadership role in establishing the importance of safety in all operations. Taking the safety and health lead helps in the campaign to reduce accident losses. It also encourages management and employees to make the safety and health system and processes successful.

Here are the actions your senior managers can take to show active leadership in the safety and health processes:

• Issue a written safety policy as a core value of the organization and assign roles and responsibilities;
• Establish both annual and long-term safety goals;
• Include safety as an agenda item in all regularly scheduled business meetings;
• Regularly review progress of the safety and health processes with supervisors and employees;
• Accompany supervisors, safety team members or safety committee members during periodic departmental safety surveys;
• Review and discuss all accident-investigation reports with the supervisor or foreman;
• Present safety recognition awards to deserving employees;
• Openly discuss safety issues with employees during periodic tours or meetings;
• Participate as a student in employee safety training programs;
• Participate in meetings with accident-prevention coordinators;
• Review minutes of safety team or committee meetings;
• Review safety survey reports.

Frank Gates is notifying all of their impacted clients and providing training options. If your entity had one or more claims during calendar years 2009 or 2010, and your company participates in one of the July 1, 2011 Programs, the BWC has indicated that you must meet the safety training requirement. The topics must be workplace safety-related and can consist of multiple classes totaling a minimum of two hours of training. There are options available for your entity to meet the 2-Hour Safety Training Requirement:

• Frank Gates ‘2 Hour Safety Training’ sessions
• Frank Gates half day seminars in April of 2012
• BWC On Demand Courses
• BWC Online Courses
• Safety Council Classes (other than the routine monthly safety council meetings)

Weekly Briefing // October 26

 

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Over the past 10 years, Ohio has lost more than 465,000 jobs. Yet during this period, the bioscience sector did more than buck the trend, it grew the number of employees in the sector by 20%. The rise has positioned Ohio as one of the top states in the country in one of the most promising fields for economic growth. In just the last five years, more than 250 bioscience companies have expanded or opened new facilities in Ohio, and the industry now generates more than $61 billion in annual economic impact in the state.

[For more on bioscience sector trends, read BioOhio's 2010 Ohio Bioscience Growth Report]

On October 20th, the Wilmington-Clinton County Chamber of Commerce convened an industrial roundtable discussion at Alkermes with businesses leaders in the bioscience sector and public officials to discuss opportunities for growing the sector in Clinton County. The roundtable was led by special guest Tony Dennis, CEO of BioOhio—Ohio’s leading bioscience business accelerator. Dr. Dennis began by providing a state, national, and international overview of the bioscience sector, and highlighted the aggressive steps being taken by the state to position itself as a leader in the field. He discussed Ohio’s strong position related pharmaceutical and medical parts production, but pointed out that the state’s research and industry leaders need to build capacity to be on the cutting edge of biologic–the field which presents the largest growth opportunity in sector. Dr. Dennis strongly emphasized the important role higher education plays in creating an environment necessary to bioscience growth given the specialized nature of nearly all jobs in the sector.

Paul Dearing, director of engineering at Alkermes shared many insights related to his experience building the Alkermes in Wilmington. Coming from Boston—a global leader in bioscience—Paul was surprised to find how easy it has been to build the company in Wilmington. On several occasions, Paul emphasized the high quality of the workforce in Clinton County, and said that it was far and away our strongest asset. He also emphasized the cooperation he received from the City of Wilmington in the permitting process and in accessing reliable utilities. Paul said that building the Wilmington facility has been one of the most challenging projects of his career, and that it would have been much harder to meet the challenge in a place like Boston than it was in Wilmington.

Following the roundtable, attendees were provided a tour of the Alkermes facility. It event was attended more than 30 people, including representatives from Alkermes, EMSAR, Custom Molded Products, the Wilmington-Clinton County Chamber of Commerce, BioOhio, Southern State Community College, Wilmington College, the Clinton County Regional Planning Commission, Clinton County, Sen. Sherrod Brown, Gov. John Kasich, the Center for Innovative Food Technologies, and the City of Wilmington.

Every employer that has one or more hazardous chemicals must comply with the OSHA Hazard Communication Program. This includes having a written program, having an individual responsible for overseeing the program, having a labeling program, securing and maintaining material safety data sheets.

The Hazard Communication Standard still accounts for more OSHA violations each year than any other single standard. OSHA is also mandated to check each company’s Hazard Communication Program. They usually will interview employees during an inspection and during that interview they often times ask employees if they know what types of hazardous chemicals they are exposed to; if they know where the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are, and if they know how to read an MSDS. Unfortunately all too often the answer to the latter question is no.

When I begin working with a new client I often start out with the review of the Hazard Communication Program and how to read an MSDS. Reading and understand an MSDS can be difficult and confusing. There is no set standard format for an MSDS. Many times the headings are different and they are not always in the same order. The amount of detail in each varies and even the type of information provided differs from one MSDS to another. Many companies have also expended the information they provide on an MSDS to cover EPA information, D.O.T. information and other regulatory information. All of this makes it difficult to teach employees how to read one, let alone getting them to understand one.

As a result of doing Hazard Communication over the years, I discovered that MSDS don’t have to be so confusing no matter how much information is provided. MSDS usually only have nine sections that relate to safety. Maybe ten if there is a section on First Aid. These sections include:

• The Chemical Identity
• Hazardous Ingredients
• Physical Properties
• Fire & Explosion Data
• Health Hazards (First Aid Procedures)
• Reactivity
• Spill & Leak Control
• Special Protection (Employee Protection)
• Special Precautions (Handling & Storage)

These sections may differ in order and titles slightly but they are usually on every MSDS. Each of these sections are in bold letters and usually underlined so that they can be identified easily. I review these sections during my training class. Each of these sections contain important safety information, but at first glance the amount of information can be intimidating.

Employees, however, very seldom need to read all of the information on an MSDS. Most employees want a MSDS to answer a very specific question or questions. That is the key to teaching employees how to read the MSDS. Advise employees not to get lost in all this data, but simply go to the particular section on the MSDS that contains the information they are interested in. Once they have obtained the information they need then go to the next section for which they have a question.

The questions most employees have about a chemical is what does the chemical do to me? This can be found in the Health Hazard Section. This section tells an employee what the health hazards are, the symptoms, how long it takes to be impacted and what employees can do to protect themselves. If an employee wants to know how the chemical burns the section on Fire and Explosion Data provides this information. If Personal Protective Equipment is required that is covered in the section on Special Protection. Each question an employee has can be answered in one of the sections on the MSDS.

Reading and understanding an MSDS does not have to be overwhelming. It is simply as easy as knowing the question and going to the appropriate section. I found that using this technique makes the training easy and the employees have the confidence to get the information they need quickly. The MSDS becomes much less complicated and the valuable resource that OSHA had intended.

If you need any help with your Safety Program or employee training, please feel free to give me a call at
1-800-356-1274.

Find out more information about this program and the expectations required to participate here.