SafetyBlog
OSHA and CDC Publishes Guidelines for Zika Virus Safety
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued guidelines on how to protect against workers against the Zika virus.The Zika virus made world news last year when officials in South America linked the transmissible disease to birth defects. However, the virus was first identified in Uganda more than half a century ago, during which researchers had found the virus in monkeys. It wasn't until six years later when the Zika vir
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Apr 25th 2016
Are You Washing Your Hands the Right Way?
From doorknobs and elevator buttons to counter tops, desks, and keyboards, nearly every surface that we come into contact with is ridden with microscopic germs. Some of these germs are completely harmless, whereas others seek to cause infection and disease. The good news is that you can protect yourself from infectious illness caused by the spread of germs by washing your hands on a regular basis.But according to a new study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) has found that most pe
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Apr 21st 2016
Protecting Against Worker Fatigue
We've all been there before: you only get a few hours of quality sleep, at which point you are forced to get ready for work. A couple cups of coffee may get you through those initial morning hours. But come mid-day afternoon, you begin to crash. With little-to-no energy remaining, you struggle to make it through the day.Unfortunately, work-related fatigue is an all-too-common in today's society. Even if a worker feels tired and fatigued, he or she may still attempt to perform their job, which of
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Apr 19th 2016
Living Near Green Environments May Improve Health
If you live around a lush green environment, you could reap the benefits of better improved, according to a recent study.For the study, researchers from the Harvard T.S. Chan School of Public Health analyzed data from some 108,000 U.S. women from 2000 to 2008. They discovered that participants who lived in neighborhoods with green vegetation and landscapes experienced a 12% reduced risk of death compared to individuals who lived in suburban areas where there was little-to-no green vegetation pre
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Apr 18th 2016
Are 12-Hour Shifts Safe for Healthcare Workers?
Eight hours is typically the de-facto standard for a work shift in today's society. But doctors, physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers often exceed this amount by as much as 50%. Clocking twelve hours in a single shift may sound like a great way to fatten your paycheck, but it could have have a negative impact on your health.Up until now, there hasn't been much data on how 12-hour shifts impacts workers' health. However, researchers from the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority
(PPS
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Apr 14th 2016