In 1971, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) created an Outreach Training Program as a voluntary program with a purpose to promote workplace safety and health, as well as help workers become more knowledgeable about workplace hazards and their rights. Over the years OSHA has done well to expand the reach of the program and with this growth has increased training availability with their train-the-trainer format. In fact according to OSHA, between FY 2008 and FY 2013, more than 3.6 million workers were trained in job hazard recognition and avoidance through the program.

OSHA offers Outreach Training Programs for 4 industries: Construction, General Industry, Maritime, and Disaster Site work. For the sake of this article, we will be covering the construction and general industries. Although their class formats and even a few topics are similar, generally they cover a different set of topics and the atmosphere and scope is much different and taking one over the other can be unnecessary and a waste of time and money, depending on the industry you work in.

Why were these implemented?

The OSHA Outreach Training Program provides training on the recognition, avoidance, abatement, and prevention of workplace hazards. Outreach classes also provide overview information regarding OSHA, including workers’ rights, employer responsibilities, and how to file a complaint.

Why take one over another?

The 10 hour courses are designed and intended for entry or lower level workers, due to the nature of the material covered. It is a more simplistic approach and covers a smaller scope. The 30 hour courses are designed and intended for higher level workers, those with some safety responsibility, due to the larger scope and more topics included in the 30 hour course. Although it should be noted, that any worker would benefit from either 10 hour or 30 hour courses; however as stated earlier, a worker in the construction industry would not get a proper representation of their industry in the general industry course and vice versa.

What is the difference between the two?

As per OSHA.gov’s website: “The 10 hour course provides basic awareness training on the recognition, avoidance, abatement, and prevention of workplace hazards. The course also provides information regarding workers' rights, employer responsibilities, and filing a complaint.

The 30 hour course provides a greater depth and variety of training on an expanded list of topics associated with workplace hazards in each industry. OSHA provides authorized trainers procedures for each industry program on the topic outlines for each industry.”

The neat thing about these programs is that they are customizable to a company’s own wants and needs. For example, the 10 hour General Industry course covers the following mandatory topics:

• Introduction to OSHA
• Walking/Working Surfaces
• Exit Routes, Emergency Action Plans, Fire Prevention and Protection Plans
• Electrical Hazards
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Hazard Communication

With the following example topics being selective or optional and can be selected to best tailor to a specific company based on want/need:

• Hazardous Material Flammable/Combustible
• Machine Guarding
• Confined Space Entry Awareness
• Lock Out/Tag Out

The list becomes even longer when you look at a 30 hour OSHA course. It is a more detailed version of the previous topics and also includes Materials Handling in the mandatory topics, but adds 6 or so additional topics to be covered. The construction industry courses include even more additional topics for individual selection. The mandatory topics are different as well, tailored to include more construction specific topics, the most important difference is that of “Focus Four Hazards” which include: Fall Protection, Electrical, Struck By, and Caught in/Between.

Can anyone take either class?

These courses are not designed to be exclusive to an age group. Everyone, of all ages, can benefit from OSHA courses. Especially the general industry as it covers a good number of general topics (as the name would imply) that can be used in any setting, even an office workplace or at home.

And again, you should be certain to verify which course (General Industry or Construction Industry) is a best fit for you when registering. At STS, we are happy to answer anyone's questions regarding this difference, as it important to attend the correct one for your industry. Find out more by contacting us! 

Are these classes required?

Short answer, no. They are a recommendation from OSHA as an orientation to occupational safety and health for workers. However, some states have enacted laws that mandate the training. Also, certain employers or organizations may require this training.

What are the benefits to me?

With the courses not being mandatory for all, what is the reason you should take these courses? Well, in a perfect world, one would hope you’d want to take these courses simply to establish a good safety values and attitude at your workplace. But the reality is often times not so. So below you will find a few valuable reasons to engage yourself or your staff into OSHA compliance safety training.

• It promotes good safety culture through peer training
• Training is intended to be participatory, using hands-on activities
• Trainers are able to tailor the training topics based on specific needs of their audience
• Outreach training content includes hazard recognition and avoidance, workers’ rights, employer responsibilities, and hot to file a complaint; it emphasizes the value of safety and health to workers, including young workers
• Outreach training is available in languages other than English (Spanish, Polish, etc.)

Today's blog article comes with a great infographic to sum up its information. Courtesy of the Editors at Best Choice Reviews. They write great articles on a multitude of subjects from fitness to personal shopping to electronics/technology. Check them out!

Anyways, today's subject will be "Everyday Ergonomics." Thank you again Best Choice Reviews for providing this information!

Everyday Ergonomics

Ergonomics is the science of efficient work. Use our guide to promote health and focus at home, on the road, and in the office.

Commuting
The average commute is 25.5 minutes, or 51 minutes a day. And 8.1% of Americans commute for an hour or more both ways.[1] That’s a long time to mistreat your back and neck.

Train or bus?[5]
Essentials:

• Loose clothes
• Comfortable shoes
• Feet flat
• Use railing to balance

Car?[4]
Essentials:

• Base of your spine touching back of the seat.
• Rolled towel, or some form of support filling the gap between mid rib cage area and seat
• Don’t slump
• Lift your back up
• Adjust headrest and tilt head back onto it
• It takes time to adjust to sitting correctly. With practice it will feel comfortable.

Back pain is the second most common reason for missed work. Don’t ruin your day before it starts.[9]

Work
Workplace health is a marathon, not a sprint. That doesn’t mean that you aren’t an “industrial athlete.” Let us coach you into the right place.

Work-space: [7][6][10]

• Monitor 15 degrees above eye level horizon is easiest on eyes and neck.
• Tilt monitor back slightly.
• Feet flat on floor.
• Lower back supported.
• Monitor one arms’ length away.
• Forearms and hands in straight line.
• Should be comfortable to look at the center of the screen for prolonged periods.
• Lighting should only be as bright as the room’s lighting.
• Avoid glare from the sun.

Habits:[8]

• Get up and walk/ stretch at least once an hour.
• Talk to colleagues in person instead of sending intra-office emails.
• Take the stairs.
• Hold “walking meetings.”
• Walk to a farther bathroom.

The Average worker spends 5 hours 41 minutes sitting at work. Leading to higher rate of sedentary lifestyle, decreased mental stability, and increased muskulo-skeletal problems.[11]
Almost 60% of work related injuries can be avoided with proper ergonomics. Why risk it?[9]

Luggage 

• Push, don’t pull rolling bags.
• Use bags with two straps to spread weight equally across body.
• Choose longer straps when using single strap bags and drape across body on the opposite shoulder.
• Only carry what you need.

Manual Labor [3]

• Use knee pads for prolonged kneeling
• Mix up repetitive actions
• Store heavy items within reach (see “work zone”)

Core concepts

In 1700 Ramazzini, a Paduan professor of medicine, outlined the importance of neutral posture and the “work zone” in maintaining muskulo-skeletal health. [12]
We’ve known about ergonomics for hundreds of years. It’s up to you to change.

The Neutral Posture [2]
The position where each joint is resting. Least tension on nerves, muscles, tendons, and bones.
Often seen in astronauts under conditions of weightlessness.

Fingers: gently curved, not spread apart.
Wrists: in line with forearm
Forearms: With thumb up.
Elbows: Bent from 90-110 degrees. Close to torso.
Upper Arms: hangs straight down
Shoulders: resting. not up, down, forward, or back.
Neck: balanced on the spinal column.
Spine: an ‘s’ shape. Upper region bends out. Lower region gently bends in.
Lower body: hip and knee joints slightly bent.

The greater the deviation from the neutral posture, the greater the risk of injury and discomfort.
Cumulative trauma disorders develop over weeks, months, or years from the repeated stress on a particular body part. Start changing your habits now.
Repetitive motion disorders are muscular ailments.
Examples: Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, Dequervain’s Disease,Tendinitis, Trigger Finger

The “work zone” [3]
The best work zone:

• Never do heavy lifting outside of it.
• As far forward as your wrist with arms slightly bent.
• As wide as your shoulders.
• Upper level at about heart height.
• Lower level at about waist height.

The “ok” work zone:

• As far forward as your hand with arm outstretched.
• A foot to either side of shoulders.
• Upper level at shoulder height.
• Lower level at fingertips when arms relaxed at sides.

If you could make the choice to live without pain. Wouldn’t you make the choice everyday?

Citations

1. http://www.census.gov/hhes/commuting/files/2012/ACS-20.pdf
2. http://www.oehc.uchc.edu/ergo_neutralposture.asp
3. https://www.osha.gov/ergonomics/guidelines/retailgrocery/retailgrocery.html#stocking
4. http://www.wikihow.com/Sit-in-a-Car-Without-Back-Pain
5. http://www.chiropractic-uk.co.uk/gfx/uploads/member%20area/Posture%20sheets/Mind%20your%20posture%20-%20commuting.pdf
6. http://ergocanada.com/ergo/monitors/monitor_height_guidelines.html
7. http://www.ors.od.nih.gov/sr/dohs/Documents/ORS_Ergonomics_Poster_Rd5.pdf
8. http://www.forbes.com/sites/alisongriswold/2012/06/12/to-work-better-just-get-up-from-your-desk/
9. http://www.nclabor.com/osha/etta/A_to_Z_Topics/ergo.pdf
10. http://www.gatoroffice.com/monitor_ergonomics.htm
11. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120113210203.htm
12. http://ergonomenon.com/ergonomics-articles/bernardino-ramazzini-the-first-ergonomist-and-what-have-we-learned-from-him/

Slips, trips, and falls are some of the worst yet most common type of office injuries in the workplace, but they are also the easiest to correct.

Office safety is very essential in today's world. Not only is it essential but it is also very important to be aware of several safety rules and regulations as this could hamper the smooth functioning of your office due to legal issues. This article does not focus on the legislation regarding workplace safety, but on providing several tips for ensuring that you and your employees have a safe working environment. Staying alert minimizing the risk!

Be sure take time to look around your work area and help to prevent these hazards. Slips, trips, and falls constitute the majority of general industry accidents and can result in back injuries, sprains and strains, contusions, and fractures. Slips, trips and falls, sidelined 25,790 workers in 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS). The National Safety Council says employees are twice as likely to suffer a disabling fall in an office setting as anywhere else. Falling, specifically, is the most common office accident and results in numerous and disabling injuries.

Slips & Falls

Standing on chairs – particularly rolling office chairs – is a significant fall hazard. Workers who need to reach something at an elevated height should use a stepladder.  Stepladders must be fully opened and placed on level, firm ground. Workers should never climb higher than the step indicated as the highest safe standing level. 

Carpeting and other skid-resistant surfaces can serve to reduce falls. Marble or tile can become very slippery – particularly when wet, according to the National Safety Council. Placing carpets down can be especially helpful at entranceways, where workers are likely to be coming in with shoes wet from rain or snow.

Some other simple changes to the workspace can be effective in eliminating hazards and reducing the number of fall injuries. 

• Clean up all spills immediately
• Close all file cabinets when not in use
• Ensure sufficient lighting
• Always use a ladder or stepstool to retrieve anything above shoulder level
• Remove obstacles from hallways and other high-traffice areas
• Do not lean back in chairs
• Regularly have the floors moped clean and dry

History

Since the beginning of mankind, humans have adapted a sense of using the right tool for the job. In ancient times, it was tying rocks or bones to sticks for use as a hammer or sharpened to make hunting easier. Essentially, they established that using crude items could be used to make life easier. Ergonomics is just that, an applied science (not just a buzzword for marketers!) of work. That is, it’s intended to maximize productivity of workers by reducing/eliminating fatigue or discomfort. The literal definition of ergonomics, as Dictionary.com states, is “the study of the relationship between workers and their environment.” Also known as “biotechnology,” and first coined by Wojciech Jastrzebowski in 1857.

However, these early adoptions were merely used to optimize tasks. Ergonomics has since evolved into learning how to include worker safety and health by addressing muscle force, cardiovascular activity, maximum weight, etc. This is seen by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 19^th century in which he used his “Scientific Method” (AKA ergonomics) to assist coal workers in tripling their productivity by designing shovels that were lighter and smaller. Also in the 1900s Frank and Lillian Gilbreth further expanded Taylor’s methods by coming up with the “Time and Motion Studies.” This was meant to reduce the amount of unnecessary motions required to perform a task. With this approach, they reduced the number of motions bricklayers used (from 18 to 4.5) and allowed them to increase productivity from 120 bricks per hour to 350.

“Formal” ergonomics is generally credited to the development of more complicated machinery in WWI and WWII. As aircrafts, tanks and other complex machines were being developed; human errors were piling up, resulting in catastrophes. Non-combat casualties were an outcome of bad engineering and design. This begged the necessity of better results through better designing, and the most “modern” form of ergonomics (how we know it today) is now becoming the norm.

Engineers and psychologists are working together in collaboration to improve our daily lives through better design. A multi-disciplinary approach has been taken to include anthropologists, industrial engineers, cognitive scientists and physiologists in order to understand the human operators and to design systems and machines to fit said user.

Today, most of us know ergonomics in a workplace context. As the average worker in America works for about 8 hours a day, the need for ergonomic office furniture and practices is of the upmost importance. The idea is to be sure that as technology and design make our homes safer and more comfortable, and in the case of the workplace, to increase productivity, increase comfort and prevent injuries and fatigue.

Hazards Associated with Ergonomics

Back injuries - Common back injuries include sprains, herniated disks and fractured vertebrae. Lower back pain is often the result of incorrect lifting methods/habits and poor posture.

• Tips include:

• Properly train employees on appropriate lifting techniques

• Utilize material handling equipment (carts, dollies, hand trucks)

• Encourage stretching for employees to reduce muscle strain

Carpal tunnel syndrome - A nervous system disorder causing parethesia (limbs falling sleep), pain and numbness. Carpal tunnel can be caused by environmental factors such as heavy manual work or work with vibrating tools. There is even a small amount of clinical data to suggest that lighter, repetitive tasks can cause it. This includes activities when frequent/constant wrist flexion is needed or when there is pressure against the underside of the wrist.

As you may remember, we previously covered the topic of “office safety” in an earlier blog, broken up into a 4-part web series. This was a great success in that it helped many to discover another side of an office setting in which hazards were uncovered and myths debunked. Still, it was meant to be a general coverage of the office setting and now we aim to uncover some more in-depth safety info, tips and practices involving office workers and those who work in an office area.

In our new 6-part weekly web series, we will spend time expanding on several subjects including workplace mental health, ergonomics, emergency plans, fire/electrical hazards, “common sense”/housekeeping practices, and the most common workplace injuries: slips, trips and falls.

So mark your calendars for this Monday, June 10^th when part one, “Ergonomics: Office Biotechnology and Improving Your Quality of Work” will come out exclusively on the Safety Training Services’ Safety Blog!

Remember that the safest workplaces are ones where every employee knows and practices appropriate office safety!

 If any of you are like my family, you are probably creating some sort of strategic list of where to hit and when.

Well I would like to take a moment or two to help you stay safe this Friday and hopefully we can avoid this.

That video is just....ridiculous. Is that what people want their children to know about the holidays? That it is just about mommy or daddy fighting for their lives to get a toy or doll or video game? Let's take a step back, realize we are here to HELP one another and try to be as safe as possible; both for ourselves and for our neighbors.

I have been scouring the internet for all the best safety tips and practices so I now present to you the 10 best to remember this while preparing this Thursday!

1. Have a good awareness of your surroundings. You never know when things will go sour. Whether you are outside waiting to get in, or inside perusing, be alert and attentive. If you see any "mob" behavior forming, just leave the area. Its not worth it getting Timmy a Wii U if it means you have to spend the holidays in the E.R. 
    
2. It is really recommended that you leave the little ones at home. If you must bring children with you, make sure you have a plan if separated. Select a meeting place/central location and stick to it. I don't recommend one of those "kid leashes" but keep an eye on them, its easy to get distracted with so much going on. If you are shopping with friends/family, stay close and be ready to defend or pull to safety if the schnitzel hits the fan.
    
3. Avoid getting into a verbal or (and especially) a physical altercation. It should go without saying but even verbal arguments can escalate very quickly. Gaming systems, electronics, etc. are often culprits here. Make sure you have a cell phone with you in case of an emergency and the need to contact the cops or another friend/family member.
    
4. Remember you are a human and not an octopus! Buy only as much as you can carry. Setting down a whole slew of bags to look at a deal on hand towels is definitely not going to be worth it when you realized someone nabbed the Tablet out of your bag and slipped it into theirs.
    
5. Car safety. Let me explain this in two parts. One is that you need to conceal your purchases. Lock your new stuff in the trunk, nothing screams "Take me, take me" to a thief then a 50" flatscreen tv clearly visible in a car with a bunch of bags next to it. Second, have your keys ready while walking to your car! And make sure to check your back seat and around your vehicle before getting in.
    
6. Ladies, please strongly consider wearing (or even investing in) a cross body bag. Stylish or not, a pickpocket will hard a much more difficult time getting to your wallet/important items if they are close and secure to your body while shopping even in the biggest of crowds.
    
7. Probably goes without saying but, save your receipts! This time of year, most places won't take your stuff back unless you have receipts. Not only for yourself (those clothes you bought on a whim and decided you didn't want) but also for those you gift. In the heat of the shopping experience, you may have forgotten that little Suzie already has that My Little Pony and now she is stuck with two (I've been a fly on the wall for THAT conversation). 
    
8. Embrace 2012 and our wonderous technology! Guess what? A lot of Black Friday deals aren't even going on in stores. Online shopping is a way to curb some of the tramplings & stampedes of Black Friday. Who doesn't love shopping from the comfort of their own home in their PJ's? Just make sure that site you are buying from is credible. If the deal is too good, it probably is. And never give your credit card information if you have second guesses on who might be receiving it on the other end.
    
9. Set up a game plan. Figure out where you will go and when. My family does this every year at Thanksgiving and they seem to have a good Black Friday outing every year. Just like a good salesman doesn't just get into his car and drive somewhere to pitch a product, you have to make a plan of attack so you can be everywhere you want to be and get home safely and in good time. Stop at home (or a relative's if they're closer) to empty your vehicle if it gets too full (remember rule 5).
    
10. Lastly, if you see an unattended bag or package, tell a security guard or store employee right away. You can never be too careful, and some people are just plain "nuts."
     

Well everyone, there you have it. Keep these tips in mind while you are shopping and have a great, safe week!