E-Newsletter

Savings / Safety Tips for June 2017 from All Safety Products, Inc.

National Safety Month kicks off in June!

National Safety Month kicks off in June with four areas of focus:

Week 1 - Stand Up to Falls

Week 2 - Recharge to be in charge with a focus on fatigue.

Week 3 - Prepare for active shooters.

Week 4 - Don't just sit there! - focusing on ergonomics.

Week 1:  Preventing falls at work In industry, one main focus of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration are worker deaths related to falls from cell towers.  In what has been a relatively new industry during the last 30 years, cell tower  construction and maintenance has been a rapidly growing field in which workers have unique fall risks.

In 2013 OSHA recorded 13 communication tower-related fatalities with 12 in 2014.  With strict enforcement of safety standards that number dropped to 6 in 2016. Not all fatalities were from falls. Some fatal incidents occurred because of structural collapse of towers. However, the cell tower construction industry's unique experience highlights the role of safety in industry.

According to OSHA, it is the duty of  industry to have fall protection systems and protective practices in place. All companies must provide training with personal protective devices such as safety belts, lanyards, lifelines, lanyards and safety nets. In industry, the key is planning ahead to get the job done safely, providing the right equipment for the situation, and training workers to use the equipment. This isn't just the responsibility of  the cell tower industry, but all industries in which workers climb to heights of at least six feet.

Week 2:  Focusing on fatigue. Busy people with busy lives can become overtired and  the result has far-reaching implications for all activities at home and at work.

According to the National Safety Council, more than 37 percent of workers are sleep deprived and that goes double for night shift workers. More than 60 percent of night shift workers complain about sleep loss. What's more people become less focused on safety as they become more tired. Fatigued workers cost employers about $1,200 per employee annually. The perils of driving while fatigued are perhaps the most obvious.

According to the NSC: *A driver is more than three times more likely to die in an accident if the driver is fatigued. * Drowsy driving takes the lives of more than 5,000 people each year. * Losing two hours of sleep has the same impact on driving as two beers. * Being awake for more than 20 hours is the equivalent of being drunk. The cost of fatigue is not felt just in driving and work activities, however. The cost of sleep deprived living is bad health. Sleep deprived living has been linked to depression, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. Stay safe with a minimum of seven hours of sleep every night. Make it a priority.

Week 3: Active shooter safety. As the number of active shooters in public spaces rises worldwide, government, industry and educational institutions have focused on training people to act immediately during a shooting. Remember most active shooters do not have a specific target in mind. They will shoot at random.

The rules:
Run, escape if the path is accessible.
Hide, in less obvious places.
Fight. As resort  of last hope, attempt to disrupt, distract or incapacitate an active shooter. If you believe you have a chance to escape, don't pause to urge others to follow you.
Act immediately. Get out and do not stop to help injured people. According to the Department of Homeland Security, if you can't escape, then find either cover or concealment. Cover might protect you from gunfire.
Concealment will hide you from the view of the shooter. When law enforcement arrives, they will be focused on the shooter. They will not have time to help injured people until the threat is over. Officers might shout orders and everyone must be prepared to follow the orders immediately. Officers might push people to the ground to get them out of the line of fire or even out of the way of responders. As officers arrive, you must put down any items in your hands, raise your hands, and prepare to follow instructions.

Week 4: Sit right there! Long hours at a computer can be a pain -- in the shoulders back and wrists. Health advisors at the Mayo Clinic studied the various ergonomic factors involved in working with a computer.
Chair: It should have adjustable armrests, height, lumbar support and seat depth.
Footrest: If desk or chair adjustments don't allow for keeping feet flat on the floor, use a footrest. A stack of sturdy books can fill the need.
Monitor: Placed at arm's length and directly in front of you.  If you wear bifocals put the top of the screen slightly below eye level.
Arm and wrist: When typing or using your mouse, keep your wrists straight and upper arms close to your body.
Desk: Should be high enough so knees and thighs have clearance underneath the desk.
Mouse and keyboard: They should be within easy reach, side by side on the same desk surface. Use a standard size keyboard. If you don't need the keyboard number pad, select a keyboard without it. The saved desk space allows closer placement of the mouse to the actual keyboard area. When choosing a mouse, fit it into your hand. Roller ball models may be more comfortable and require only
movement of the fingers. An optical mouse requires movement of the entire arm.

All Safety Products provides a wide variety of hand protection products. Visit this link, https://www.allsafetyproducts.com/hand-protection-gloves.html

Tick season: Prepare for an increase!

You can tell by the acorns. A bumper crop of acorns means good times for mice and that means lots of food for ticks.

According to Richard S. Ostfeld, a Cary Institute scientist, there was a bumper crop of acorns in 2015. Lots of ticks therefore survived on mice and reproduced. Since ticks have a two-year life cycle, the number of nymph-stage ticks should be huge this spring.

In areas with lots of snow cover this winter, the tick population might be mitigated, but in areas with a mild winter, the tick population should be big. Naturally, where there are ticks, there is Lyme disease. That's going to be big, too.

Of course not every tick bite transmits Lyme or any other disease but more ticks  carry pathogens today than in the past. Connecticut, whose Agricultural Experiment Station collects and studies ticks, found in May that 38 percent of collected ticks tested positive for Lyme disease, according to the Wall Street Journal. That is up from 27 percent in the last five years.

The deer tick can actually transmit up to seven pathogens that cause diseases in  humans, one of which is Lyme disease. Connecticut also found that 10 percent of  ticks tested positive for a pathogen that causes Babesiosis, a disease similar to malaria. About 5 percent tested positive for Anaplasmosis, a serious disease that causes anemia and an increase in the heart rate.

In 2009, talk show host David Letterman revealed he got the disease from an infected tick while camping with his son. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are more than 300,000 new cases of Lyme disease every year, about three times the number 20 years ago.

If you spot a tick quickly, chances are you will not be infected. Ticks latch on  for three to five days but a tick that bites for only a few hours probably won't transmit an infection, according to the CDC.

Healthy Tip For June
Whole grains confer benefits!

Two new studies by Tufts University have found whole grains have a wide role in producing healthy bacteria in the gut. Whole grains include whole wheat, brown rice, rye, oats, barley and quinoa.
The first study found benefits from whole grains in gut bacterium that enhance the immune system and prevent infection. At the same time, the grains reduced bacterium that contribute to inflammation.

The second study suggested that whole grains increase metabolism and encourage weight loss. A whole grain diet increases calorie loss by decreasing calories retained  during digestion, according to HealthNews.

Delicious Drink Recipe: Mint Tea from the Herb Garden
A refreshing treat to try in the summer is mint tea from your herb garden.

Pick roughly a dozen sprigs of mint and pull the leaves off the stems.

Put the leaves in a large bowl of cold water and squeeze, rip, and tear the leaves in the water with your hands. The mint flavor will transfer to the water.

Pour the water through a colander into a pitcher. Repeat this until your pitcher is full.

Add sugar or honey to taste and some ice cubes.

For winter, you can dry your mint leaves then steep in a teaball for a hot version that is good for upset stomachs.

About All Safety Products
We are all about trying to save you money when we are able to.  It is our shipping policy to only charge you the actual shipping costs.  Sometimes there is a shipping error on our website.  We do review all orders for accuracy and pleasantly surprise our customers when we notify them of an adjustment in their favor. We make money on products, not shipping!

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