Cool tools

February 28th, 2008 by Julie Ferguson

From time to time, we like to share a mixed bag of useful tools ranging from health and safety resources to productivity enhancers. Here are our latest finds:
ComplianceState labor legislation enacted in 2007 – the Monthly Labor Review’s 29-page PDF offers a summary of major labor changes on a state-by-state basis, including minimum wage, immigration initiatives, child labor, worker privacy, and many other legal matters.
TruckingSafe Stat is a safety resource for trucking, transportation and fleet safety. It’s a Department of Transportation site that includes such features as SafeStat, Crash Profile, Program Measures, and Current Analysis Results.
CaliforniaPD Rater bills itself as “a free benefits calculator for California.
GeorgiaGeorgia Tech’s OSHA 21D Consultation Program provides a free, confidential, on-site consultation service for small companies (fewer than 500 employees) in Georgia that need assistance in occupational safety and health.
Spanish – Georgia Tech’s OSH program also offers construction safety information in Spanish: Seguridad en la Construcción. The program includes posters, fliers and PowerPoint presentations. Other Spanish safety programs are also available.
Annoyances – Do you ever make a quick call and find yourself stuck in a nightmare automated loop and you can’t access the service you called for? Grrr. Here are two services that might help. Get Human is a company-specific database of phone numbers that will bypass the robots and get you directly to a human customer service rep. Sometimes they provide a direct number and in other cases, they give you the magic formula code numbers that will get you through. I’ve used this service a few times and it works. Someone also recently pointed me to an alternative service along the same lines, except it will do most of the work for you. Bringo! allows you to choose a company that you’d like to call from a list, you enter your number, and Bringo will call you back and connect you after they get through the phone tree and reach a human.
Travel productivity – If you travel a lot for work, FlightStats might be a lifesaver. The site allows you to track lights in real time, check on airport delays and wait time, and a links to a variety of other flight-related tools.
Search – Google has more search tools and web tools than you probably realized, some tucked away in various corners of Google that you may not have occasion to visit. Simply Google lets you access all Google’s tools one page without having to poke around to find them.

Tags: , , , ,