Archive for the ‘Videos’ Category

When it Comes to Safety, This is Just Ducky…

Monday, May 14th, 2012

We begin the week on a somewhat bizarre note, as Donald Duck does safety in this vintage 1959 cartoon clip entitled “How to Have an Accident at Work.” When it comes to safety, Donald is everyone’s nightmare worker. For those of us in the workers comp field, this may seem more horror film than cartoon, but Donald, unlike ordinary workers, is literally indestructible.

This clip was a sequel to “How to Have an Accident in the Home”

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

Friday, April 20th, 2012

In an era when one death per million dollars spent on bridge construction was axiomatic, chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge Joseph Strauss decided his project would be different. He refused to accept the conventional wisdom that worker deaths were just a normal cost of doing business and introduced a series of safety innovations – you can see an overview in this brief video clip:

More on his commitment to safety during construction is presented in the PBS American Experience documentary “Golden Gate Bridge.” Perhaps the innovation that was most touted was the introduction of a safety net, “… similar to a circus net — suspended under the bridge. The safety net extended ten feet wider than the bridge’s width and fifteen feet further than the roadway’s length.” While there was one deadly accident when a scaffold platform fell and broke through the net resulting in 10 fatalities, there is no doubt the net saved many other lives. Nineteen survivors whose falls were stopped by the net became de facto members of “The Halfway to Hell Club.”
Strauss employed many other fascinating safety innovations, ranging from sauerkraut juice “cures” for men suffering from hangovers to special hand and face cream to protect against winds. But next to safety nets, the other noteworthy safety practice that emerged during the bridge’s construction was the reliance on hard hats. The hard hats of the era were called “hard-boiled hats,” and were made of leather and canvas. You can read more about the history of the hard hat at the Bullard site. Edward W. Bullard first introduced the hats in 1919, based on a doughboy hat he had worn in WWI. His hats were originally created to protect miners. The Bullard history says:

America’s first designated “Hard Hat Area” was set up at the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge construction site. “The project’s chief engineer, Joseph B. Strauss, shared a vision with my grandfather that the workplace could be a safer environment for the worker. One problem the bridge project faced was falling rivets, which could cause serious injury,” said Bullard. “My grandfather transformed the mining helmet into a durable industrial hard hat.”

We would be remiss if we did not note that the status of being “the first official hard-hat area” is under some dispute – some contest that the Hoover Dam construction was the first work site to mandate hard hats:

The Bullard Company asserts that the first official “Hard Hat Area” was the Golden Gate Bridge project in San Francisco. The project’s chief engineer, Joseph B. Strauss, beginning on January 5, 1933, directed all the workers to wear hard hats to protect themselves from falling rivets and other materials. However, the Six Companies constructing Hoover Dam first required all its workers to wear hard hats by November 1931.Bullard-Hard-Boiled-Hats

Here’s a picture of the vintage “Bollard hard boiled hats” of the era, courtesy of Hal’s Lamp Post, a site with an excellent and very interesting collection of mining artifacts.

Original image source

100 Years of Workers Comp

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

vintage photo of ambulance and injured worker
We’re happy to bring you this 12-minute, must-watch video commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Workers Comp. The video highlights progress in worker safety, treatment of injured workers and risk management in the past 100 years. In addition to telling the history of comp, it also features three visionary women who were instrumental in furthering health and safety of workers…one of whom witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Until this clip, I did not realize the strong role that women played in this history.
Kudos go to Sedgwick as well as to our colleague and friend Peter Rousmaniere. who wrote the script.
Here’s some additional information about the women highlighted in the video clip:
Crystal Eastman
Frances Perkins
Alice Hamilton MD

Violence in healthcare: 61% of all workplace assaults are committed by healthcare patients

Monday, March 5th, 2012

According to a recent NCCI Report on Violence (summary) (Full Report, PDF), “the majority of workplace assaults are committed by healthcare patients.” While there is good news in the fact that workplace homicides and assaults are on the decline, the NCCI report says this:
“The decline in the rate of workplace assaults has lagged the steady decline in the rate for all lost work-time injuries and illnesses. This reflects a notable change in the composition of the US workforce and, in particular, the ongoing increase in the share of healthcare workers, who experience remarkably high rates of injuries due to assaults by patients. This is especially common in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. In fact, 61% of all workplace assaults are committed by healthcare patients. For assaults, coworkers make up just 7%, and someone other than a healthcare patient or coworker comprises 23%. The remainder is unspecified.”
In a post last year on healthcare workers and on-the-job violence, we talked about some of the perpetrators:
“While many assaults are by patients, friend and family members of patients also can commit the assaults. There are also rapists or muggers who are targeting healthcare settings or solitary workers; drug addicts and robbers, who are looking for medications; and domestic violence brought into the workplace. And it’s unclear why violence is on the rise. Many point to staff shortages. Others see the preponderance of alcohol, drugs, and ready access to weapons as contributing factors; others think that hospital administrators do too little in the area of prevention.”

In the list above, we overlooked a huge and growing segment: elderly patients, patients with Alzheimer’s, and people suffering from mental illness.
Prevention Tools
OSHA: Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Health Care & Social Service Workers. See also the slide show overview version
The Emergency Nurses’ Association has issued a good Workplace Violence Toolkit.
We also found that WorkSafeBC has put together a series of excellent short video clips for various health care settings.




Cool Tools: OSHA safety videos for construction

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Falls in Construction – Reroofing

In Spanish: Caidas en la Construccion/Reparacion del Techo
Sprains and Strains in Construction/Pulling Cables

In Spanish: Torceduras y Desgarres en la Construccion/Tendido de Cables
Struck-by Accidents in Construction/Swinging Cranes

In Spanish: Golpes Causados por Accidentes en Construccion/Gruas en Movimiento

Health Wonk Review, OSHA, state reports, and the single best thing for your health

Friday, January 6th, 2012

Healthcare policy – Kick off the new year with a bit of health policy wonkery. Jared Rhoads hosts 2012’s first edition of Health Wonk Review at The Center for Objective Health Policy. We’ll be hosting the next issue here on this blog later in the month.
OSHA fines double for serious violationsOSHA Law Update has a good overview of statistics recently released by OSHA. While the number of inspections have dropped in 2011, fines for serious violations or workplace safety doubled. The average OSHA penalty per serious violation in 2011 increased to $2,132, more than doubling from 2010’s average of $1,053. OSHA head David Michaels points out that this is still too low, “We have to maximize the impact of our penalties because we’re trying to not just focus on the employer where we found the [violation], but the whole industry.” OSHA conducted 40,648 inspections, down from 40,993 in 2010. The drop was attributed to a change in inspection priorities, with a higher mix of health inspections and recordkeeping compliance, which take longer.
Wyoming – “Wyoming’s overall workplace death rate was more than three and a half times the national average in 2010 and has ranked worst in the nation five of the past 10 years.” A yearlong study and report to the Governor by epidemiologist Dr. Timothy Ryan points to a lack of workplace safety culture and finds that employers consistently fail to enforce safety rules. (Thanks to Joanne Wojcik for the pointer.
Hello, hard market – By year’s end, it looks as though insurers finally had something to toast. Joe Paduda posts that the soft workers comp market is over. He cites a MarketScout report, which indicated rates were up 3% in December, the highest increase among all P&C lines.
Claims adjuster workload norms – At Comp Time, Roberto Ceniceros asks if 12 to 18 minutes per claim file is adequate. He’s looking for feedback on “how much time should be devoted per file in order for adjusters to do a really great job.”
Michigan, Maryland – WCRI recently issued two new cost-per-claim reports on Maryland and Michigan. Both studies include observations about the impact of recessionary pressures on claim costs. The picture may change going forward in Michigan, where reform legislation was just signed, the state’s first overhaul in more than twenty years.
Brief takes

We close with this compelling video, which might provide some inspiration for your new year. It’s a great video to share with your work force. (Hat tip to the Renaissance Alliance Consumer Insurance Blog

Rehabilitative robot roundup: Coming to a hospital near you?

Monday, December 19th, 2011

From time to time, we like to take a look at the wizardry that is under development in rehabilitative and assistive technologies. What used to be on the order of Flash Gordon type fantasy is now reality within reach. In out first clip, Toyota Unveils Quartet of Healthcare Robots. MedGadget says these four robots are expected to be production ready in 2013. Three are walking assist and balance training robots that would help in patient rehab. The fourth is a patient transfer assist – something we see as very valuable in helping to prevent health care worker injuries.

And while on the topic of lifting aids, we’d be remiss if we didn’t include RIBA, a versatile if somewhat surreal patient care robot.

Finally, we have a Robotic Man’s Best Friend to Guide the Blind. Yes, it may cost a bit more, but think of the savings in dog food. All joking aside, it’s exciting to see these technological advances moving closer to the practical reality of helping people to overcome injuries and disabilities.

Good laptop ergonomics – for work and for play

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

In the office, on the road or at home, proper ergonomics when using laptops will help to prevent back, shoulder, and wrist problems.

Have you protected your employees from this seasonal peril?

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

We’re looking for some OSHA safety guidelines, but to no avail. There’s a peril that is plaguing postal workers, police, EMTs and news producers alike, yet it’s a safety issue that remains largely unaddressed. We’re talking turkey here. Wild, urban turkeys are fast, aggressive and persistent. In honor of Thanksgiving, we bring you these videos of brave workers confronting this natural peril.





As yet, we aren’t aware of any turkey-related claims. Wait, that is not entirely true – there was the rather unusual situation where a claims investigator was mistaken as a turkey and shot, an unfortuante situation my colleague discussed a few years ago. But a claim resulting from an actual turkey attack? We’ve yet to hear of one.
Should you be confronted by a wild turkey – and we assure you, it can be an intimidating experience to be attacked by a 30-pound enraged male turkey that sees you as threat or a subordinate in the pecking order – the best advice we have is to try not to give ground. They are trying to establish dominance. Hold your ground, carry a big stick to shoo them, or better yet, carry an umbrella, which you can open and close to create your own display of dominance.
Or barring that, just stay in your vehicle, call state wildlife authorities, and wait until help arrives or the turkeys meander away.
Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers!

Grain Bin Safety

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

The National Corn Growers Association and the National Grain and Feed Foundation – the research and education arm of the National Grain and Feed Association – recently unveiled a joint video project to promote awareness about grain bin safety on the farm. The two organizations teamed up in November 2010 to develop the video in response to an increase in U.S. fatalities and injuries associated with entry into grain bins.
It’s pretty powerful. The video, shot on location in several states, provides a wide range of information on prevention tips and background data on grain bin accidents. The project also involved interviews with professionals in the fields of grain bin safety research and rescue.
The producers are hoping to get this in the hands of as many farmers as possible and are making DVD copies of the grain bin safety video available for ordering.