We knew safety pays, but now it is official.  Of course, you don’t need an inspector to show up at your door to make your workplace safer. That is what we are here for.

For more information on the study go here.

For more information on Fire Prevention Week, see this page from the NFPA.

Flipping a light switch. Plugging in a coffeemaker. Charging a laptop computer. These activities are second nature for most of us. Electrical appliances and devices make our lives easier. However, our trust in them should not be absolute.

Electrical failure or malfunction was involved in 46,500 reported home structure fires in 2010. These fires resulted in 420 civilian deaths and 1,5200 civilian injuries, with $1.5 billion in direct property damage. Electricity is safe to have in the home if it is treated with respect. NFPA needs your help to ground your community in the basics of electrical safety.

Here’s an online toolkit of support materials, including electrical fact sheets, to help fire departments (or anyone else interested) conduct successful electrical safety campaigns in their communities.

The main points are:

• Change it up: rotate jobs or add more tasks and more variety to one job
• Pace, don’t race
• Break it up–work and rest breaks
• Take time to adjust–acclimate to a new job or returning to work after an absence, such as vacation
• Train–train workers on safe tool use

The full article is here.

Back in the days of the manual typewriter, there was variety, even in the days of the typist (now called a data entry clerk).  Unlike today, where someone can type non-stop for hours on end, to type required putting in the paper, turning the cartridge, typing, hitting the carriage return, typing, hitting the carriage return, typing and so on.  There were essentially micro breaks at the end of every line of type.

To reduce strain, look at ways to work those breaks into work tasks.  If working with tool, having one employee complete various steps, using different tools, presents an opportunity for a micro break.  With office work, reaching to answer the phone or pull a document off a printer provide opportunities for micro break.

A micro break does not have to mean stop working.  It is simply a break from one task. What are ways you can work that into your daily tasks?

Minneapolis-St Paul Airport also has a successful organic waste recycling/composting program.  About 10 tons of organic material a month is going to recycling rather than the trash.

For more on organics recycling, see Hennepin County’s website.

What are you doing to promote recycling and reduce your trash?

For more information on the Minnesota Twins recycling efforts, go here.

Topics are:

• Minnesota Safety Conference
• What Did You Say? Audiograms and Hearing Conservation
• Medication Drop-off
• Where We Will Be
• Compliance Update
• Workers’ Comp

Remember, you can sign up to have a copy delivered to your mailbox every time we send out a new newsletter by
signing up through Constant Contact.

OSHA Whistleblower Protection Program moved to Office of the Assistant Secretary

Moving forward with continuing efforts to strengthen employees’ voices in the workplace, OSHA today announced a major restructuring of its Office of the Whistleblower Protection Program. The program will now report directly to the agency’s Office of the Assistant Secretary instead of to its Directorate of Enforcement Programs. This move represents a significantly elevated priority status for whistleblower enforcement, which now will be overseen directly by Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Dr. David Michaels.

In addition to the change at OSHA’s national office, the agency has launched pilot projects to evaluate structural changes in 10 field regions that could further strengthen the whistleblower program. Read the news release for more details.

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and 20 other statutes protecting workers who report alleged violations of various workplace, commercial motor vehicle, airline, nuclear, pipeline, environmental, railroad, public transportation, maritime, consumer product, health care reform, corporate securities, food safety and consumer financial reform regulations. Additional information is available at www.whistleblowers.gov.