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| 5 Ways to Honor Those Who Died on the Job |
Every year, approximately 5,000 American workers and 1,000 Canadian workers die in work-related incidents. On April 28, the International Day of Mourning – which is also known as Workers’ Memorial Day – we pay our respects to our fellow workers who were injured or killed on the job.
Tragedy in Numbers
In the US, an average of 16 workers die each day from injuries received at work, and 134 are estimated to die from work-related diseases. And approximately 9,000 American workers are treated in emergency wards each day because of occupational injuries.
In Canada, approximately three workers die on the job every day and more than 900,000 workplace injuries are reported every year.
Raising Awareness Worldwide
The International Day of Mourning is set aside not only to commemorate the dead, ill and injured, but also to raise awareness of the importance of occupational health and safety and its role in preventing these needless tragedies. More than 85 countries worldwide recognize this important day.
What Can You Do?
“Mourn for the dead, fight for the living” is the theme of the day. Here are 5 ways you can do that:
1. Be a safety mentor to a new worker.
2. Find the lesson to be learned from a workplace injury or fatality you’ve heard about.
3. Hold a candlelight vigil to remember workers who died.
4. Take 5 minutes to to listen to Stacy Smallwood’s OHS performance poetry, a beautiful tribute to those who died on the job.
5. No matter what part of North America you’re in, dedicate a flower to a fallen worker on the WorkSafeBC memorial website. As you watch the flower fall, take a moment of silence to honor a friend, family member or colleague.
Mentoring is an effective way to use what could be your company's greatest untapped resource – your experienced employees – to train new workers. Mentoring can be used as a stand-alone program, or with an existing workplace health and safety strategy, to reduce accidents and injuries, cut claims and produce a more safety conscious workforce. SafetySmart offers some tips on how you can mentor your company to safety success.
Want to try SafetySmart? Sign up for a free 14-day trial now.
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| This scaffold obviously isn’t on the up and up, putting a different slant on safety for anyone foolish enough to use it. (WorksafeVictoria, Australia) |
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| How to Legally Terminate Employees for Off-Duty Conduct |
Employers are increasingly confronted by unique and difficult legal challenges when terminating employees for off-duty conduct.
The “traditional” reasons for off-duty terminations – anti-competitive actions, criminal charges – are a continuing challenge. But today, these are no longer the only, or even the most potentially damaging, employee behaviors.
Blogs, social media sites, tweeting and other forms of communication have given rise to a whole new range of employee behaviors that can be equally or even more damaging to your company.
How do you handle these challenges? When can you terminate for off-duty conduct? What guidance do recent court rulings provide? What steps should you take? How do you avoid potentially costly pitfalls?
Read more on this topic at OHSInsider.com.
(note: subscription is required; to get instant access, simply sign up for a No-Cost Trial of OHSInsider.com. Sign up now and you will be entered into a drawing to win an NHL jersey of your choice.
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| Night Shift Workers Frequently Struggle to Stay Awake |
Reading about air traffic controllers not being available to assist pilots because they are asleep sounds like big news, but a sleep expert says night shift workers across a range of careers fall asleep on the job all the time.
Dr. Charles Czeisler, chief of sleep medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA, says studies have shown that as many as 50 percent of night-shift workers report falling asleep on the job at least once per week.
Czeisler says while only two percent of people slept six hours or less daily 50 years ago, 28 percent of people do so now.
He says permitting night shift workers to nap would allow workers to be more alert and effective, but the practice is frowned upon in many workplaces.
“We pretend that these things are not happening, instead of managing the problem. We have a bury-our-head-in-the-sand attitude,” says Czeisler.
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| Upcoming Events: |
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| Webinar - May 18, 12:00 EST (9 a.m. PST) |
| How to Minimize the Growing Risk of C-45 Criminal Prosecution for OHS Violations |
| Get a Critical Update and Analysis of the Sweeping Proposals Now Being Hammered Out by the Arthurs Commission – and What They Could Mean to Your Organization.
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| Due Diligence: Defining, Establishing & Demonstrating Your Record of Compliance |
Oct 24th & 25th
Hyatt Regency, Toronto, ON |
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