Archive for the ‘Videos’ Category

Navigating extreme height, Chinese workers build cliff walks

Tuesday, March 7th, 2017

China has many incredible cliff walks – some for necessity so that remote villagers can connect with the world beyond and some for tourism so visitors can connect with vistas of natural splendor. Check out this 300m glass bottomed cliff walk that is proving popular with intrepid tourists. Even more terrifying – a death-defying hiking trail some people are willing to undertake all to get a cup of tea.

So much for the trails, what about the workers who construct them? We get a short glimpse in this video of Chinese construction workers building a glass-bottom walkway on Laowang Mountain, Jiangxi, China. The clip says workers are in their 50s and work a 10 hour day, earning between $43 and $58 dollars a day. They build about 65 feet a day. Other than hard hats, they don’t appear to have much in the way of safety equipment.

The workers aren’t the only ones braving these heights – look at the extremes these tiny, brave Chinese kids are willing to go through to get an education!

It wasn’t that long ago that U.S. workers were climbing the cliffs of the skyscrapers to build our cities here in the U.S., and safety equipment wasn’t to be seen. Check out this clip of workers building the Empire State Building – not only did they have no safety equipment, they played catch with red hot iron rivets!

Thankfully, safety standards have come a long way in our country since. Fall protection at 1776 feet: One World Trade Center. Although we’ve come a long way in terms of safety, we haven’t come far enough: The high price for fast phones: Cell tower deaths.

If you are a as fascinated with working at extreme heights as we are, you might enjoy more from our prior posts.

Dangerous Jobs: window washing at extreme heights.

You think your job is tough? Climbing Up The Tallest Antenna Tower 1,768 feet

Safety Nets, Hard-Boiled Hard Hats & The Halfway to Hell Club: Safety Innovations in the Golden Gate Bridge Construction

 

Introduction to Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM)

Wednesday, April 20th, 2016

In workers comp, we often speak about occupational physicians or “occ docs” but what exactly does that mean and how does an occupational physician differ from other physicians? Occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) is a board-certified specialty within the profession of preventive medicine that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of work-related injuries and illnesses.  Occupational physicians also serve as champions for the health/safety of workers and their environments.

At its recent annual conference, The American College Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) released a video Introduction To Occupational and Environmental Medicine written and produced by Dr. Jon O’Neal, MD, MPH, FACOEM and Residency Director of HealthPartners and University of Minnesota OEM Program St. Paul, Minnesota.

The video offers a good overview and history of history of the discipline, including its early roots when
Hippocrates and Pliny wrote about occupational injuries and exposures. It also includes a brief history and overview of workers compensation and the occupational physician’s unique triangular relationship with worker and employer.  It also talks about common work exposures and routes of exposure, and the role of the occupational physician, including the prevention component of occupational medicine; treating injured workers; disability management; and various testing and monitoring roles, such as conducting preplacement exams; serving as medical review officers (MRO) in drug screening programs; conducting surveillance exams to measure ongoing effects of work exposures; monitoring fitness for safety sensitive workers such as pilots.

For more on the role of the occupational physician, see ACOEM: What is OEM?

Near-miss trench collapse in dramatic video

Monday, September 14th, 2015

OSHA inspectors were on the scene at a construction project with a 21 foot trench. The on-site inspector was issuing a warning that no workers should be in the trench since there was no shoring. No sooner did he say the words when the trench collapsed, narrowly missing a worker.

We came across this clip courtesy of a post by Fred Hosier at Safety News Alert:
Viral video: Partial trench collapse narrowly misses worker. Fred explained that it’s not a new video:

“Oregon OSHA had been making this video taken by one of its inspectors available for training purposes for a few years. After being posted recently on Facebook, the video has now received almost 1 million views.”

We’re glad that this clip is attracting attention – it may save lives. But it doesn’t need to be a 21 foot trench to claim a life — it could be as little as 6 feet: Read Eric Giguere’s gripping story of 10 minutes buried alive.

Related posts:

“An unprotected trench is an open grave”

It’s spring … and the start of trench death season

High Voltage Cable Inspection

Friday, November 7th, 2014

Here’s a fascinating clip on high voltage cable inspection, which the poster says is “not a job for a hot duck.”

For more information on the clip, see the description under the video at YouTube. If you’re thinking of this as a possible career path, see The Salary of a High Voltage Cable Inspector. But be aware that robots may be encroaching on your career aspirations.

Don’t worry, it’s just ESD!

Friday, February 22nd, 2013

From the “what not to do” school of safety, we have this amusing video tutorial by Mehdi Sadaghadar on Electrostatic Discharge. And once you’ve learned what not to do from the helpful Mr. Sadaghader, you can visit the Mr. Static page, which includes info on charging, ionization, explosions, and other ESD-related topics. You can also obtain very helpful information from the Electrostatic Discharge Association – including some ESD Compliance Posters. Most of the danger revolves around the potential for ignition or damage to expensive or sensitive technology equipment. An ESD ignition in an explosive environment could cause a fire or explosion, so the potential for injuries to humans does exist.

Risk Roundup and Top 10 Forklift Accidents

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

Michael Stack and Rebecca Shafer make their debut in hosting Cavalcade of Risk, #172 at the Amaxx Work Comp blog. Check out this biweekly smorgasbord of risk!
And speaking of risk, here’s a compilation of the Top 10 Forklift Accidents from the “what not to do” school of risk management.

Vintage Office Worker Perils

Friday, August 3rd, 2012

This 1950s-era video clip on office safety can be filed under the “funny pratfalls” genre of safety. While the fashions and retro office technology are amusing, some of the lessons are real – often, the little things that are overlooked can cause injuries.

More vintage safety clips
When it Comes to Safety, This is Just Ducky…
Vintage safety clips – women in the workplace

New developments in the UCLA lab death of Sheri Sangji

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

We’ve previously posted about the death of chemical research assistant Sheri Sangji, who was killed as a result of a 2008 UCLA laboratory fire. She was working with a dangerous chemical that ignited when exposed to air. Her terrible burns proved fatal some 18 days after the accident.
After numerous investigations, UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran (her supervisor) and the UC Board of Regents faced felony charges for three counts each of willfully violating occupational health and safety standards. These charges sent shock waves through university labs throughout the country since this was the first time that a U.S. professor ever faced a felony charge in relation to the death of a lab worker.
Last week, felony charges were dropped against UC regents after a plea deal in which the University agreed to implement a comprehensive safety program and to establish a $500,000 scholarship in Sangji’s name. The University will provide enhanced safety training and protective equipment across all its campuses.
Professor Patrick Harran’s case was continued until September to allow his defense to prepare a challenge to the credibility of the chief California OSH investigator. As the LA Times puts it, “Proceedings against a UCLA chemistry professor in the death of a lab worker take a strange turn when the defense alleges state investigator committed murder as a teen.” It’s a pretty bizarre development, one that is under much discussion in the scientific community. See Facing felony charges in lab death of Sheri Sangji, UCLA settles, Harran stretches credulity.
For ongoing developments in this case, we point you to the ongoing blog postings — 42 as of today — of Chemjobber on the Sheri Sangji case. Not only does Chemjobber provide excellent informed commentary and links to a variety of sources, his postings also include interesting comments from others in the scientific community, from both private industry and university labs.
In the wake of this tragic accident which has had widespread coverage, safety in university labs had really been under scrutiny. Despite the vast scope of academic research, it has largely been unregulated. This case may be the turning point in ushering in a new era of a “culture of safety.”
Below, a good video that the Chemical Safety Board issued in response to this and other two other tragic accidents that occurred in university labs.

CSB Key lab safety lessons and recommendations

  • Ensure that research specific hazards are evaluated and then controlled by developing specific written protocols and training
  • Expand existing laboratory safety plans to address physical hazards of chemicals
  • Ensure that safety personnel report to a university official who has the authority to oversee research laboratories and implement safety improvements
  • Document and communicate all laboratory near-misses and incidents

It’s Lightning Strike Awareness Week

Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

Here in New England, Lightning Strike Awareness Week kicked off with some drama. A Connecticut woman suffered second- and third-degree burns after being struck by lightning at a campground outside Norwich, the lift bridge between Maine and New Hampshire was closed for a few hours after direct lightning hit, and lightning was the likely suspect in a few house fires in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
On average, 54 people die from lightning strikes each year – that number of fatalities has been trending down in recent years (29 each in the past two years), the improvement credited partly to the massive public awareness and information campaigns. More than half of all fatalities involve recreational activities such as golfing and boating, but electrical storms are a very real hazard for workers, too. Some of the high risk workers include loggers, construction and building maintenance workers, lifeguards, farming and agricultural workers, lawn care workers, road crews, roofers, telecommunications and utility workers, plumbers and pipefitters, and heavy machinery/equipment operators. See NOAA’s Outdoor Safety tips and the eLCOSH Lightning Safety page.
It should be noted that in addition to lightning fatalities, hundreds more people suffer lightning strike-related injuries each year – about 80-90% of the people who are hit by lightning survive the ordeal. These survivors pose interesting case studies – many suffer from unusual and little understood medical effects that can clear up relatively quickly or linger for a lifetime. See Medical Aspects of Lightning and NASA’s fascinating Human Voltage page. This video also includes some interesting first-person accounts:

Lightning Safety Resources
National Lightning Safety Institute, which includes information on
Structural Lightning Safety
and Personal Lightning Safety
Lightning Safety Resources and Tool Kits from NOAA
The one in a million club you don’t want to join
Lightning Safety Guidelines
Lightning Strike and Electrical Shock Survivors

The high price for fast phones: Cell tower deaths

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

The boom in cell phones has spawned a huge demand for the building and maintenance of radio towers and that demand accelerated with the introduction of iPhones. The good news was that work proliferated – but under brutal, highly aggressive schedules. Now, with carriers gearing up for 4G networks, the anticipated building boom raises alarm in many seasoned workers – who see a proliferation of less trained, less experienced workers, working under more pressure for less pay – a recipe that points to the potential for more fatalities.

Frontline and Pro Publica focus on cell tower worker deaths, a small industry with a death rate that is about 10 times the rate of construction. Free climbing – climbing completely untethered without any safety gear – was involved in about half the deaths. (See our prior post with a gut-wrenching free climbing video clip: You think your job is tough? It remains one of this blog’s most visited posts.)

Tower work is carried out by a complex web of subcontractors – an arrangement that makes good sense on many levels, but that allows large carriers to deflect responsibility for on-the-job work practices – and for any workplace deaths. These networks are like like the Russian nesting dolls: layer after layer of progressively smaller employers. Tower owners are carriers like AT&T that hire firms such as Bechtel and General Dynamics to manage and complete tower projects. The industry jargon for these firms is “turf vendors.” The turf vendors then hire contracting firms, who in turn hire subcontractors. The end result: less money, less experienced workers, less training, less focus on safety and more deaths. This layering makes OSHA enforcement almost impossible. The lowest rung on the ladder is the one responsible for safety – and enforcement becomes what some industry observers call a game of “whack a mole.” Safety experts say that the responsibility for safety has to lie up the line, probably with the turf vendors.

Contract work and subcontracting is the new normal. The old contract between the employer and the employee is fraying, the concept of lifetime employment is increasingly a quaint tale of yesteryear. How this new normal will play out in terms of employee safety and employee protections should be of great interest to workers as this pattern proliferates in other industries. Even aside from politics, one has to wonder if the very concepts of workers compensation and OSHA — and other worker protections — would come into existence in a fragmented work environment like the current one.

Additional articles from the series
Transcript of a live chat with reporters and project manager for the Tower Climber Protection project. We note that the project manager is Wally Reardon, who commented on our prior post, linked above.)
Jordan Barab discusses OSHA limitations
How Subcontracting Affects Worker Safety