In a recent case, two employees of the same company sustained the same injuries. But the state’s Supreme Court said one could sue, and the other couldn’t.

Here’s what happened: A guy working for a recreational vehicle dealership was given a makeshift pre-fab “office” that was heated by a propane stove. He complained that the fumes from the stove made him sick, but the company ignored his complaints.

Then one day his girlfriend found him unconscious in the office. He was later diagnosed with numerous debilitating neurological impairments and declared permanently disabled.

A short time later, a new employee was hired to do the same job. He, too, complained that the fumes were making him sick. And he, too, was eventually found unconscious — this time by a co-worker. He was also eventually declared permanently disabled.

In fact, he died a short time later (the decision doesn’t say whether his death was related to the exposure).

When the first employee and the family of the second combined forces and sued, the company was able to get both cases dismissed by a district court, successfully invoking exclusive remedy.

But the state’s Supreme Court saw things differently. The district court was right, it said, to toss the first employee’s complaint. But the second employee, it said, might have had a point. Granted, the company hadn’t intentionally harmed him. But given all the circumstances, the company might have been reasonably certain that harm would occur. And that might be enough to overcome exclusive remedy.

Now, the case will be heard by a jury, if it isn’t settled first.

While noting that it was hard to sympathize with the company in this case, one of the high court justices nonetheless vehemently disagreed with the decision to let the employee’s case be heard, saying, “I believe the legislature intended Workers’ Compensation to be the exclusive remedy except … where the defendant’s conduct arose from specific intent rather than willfulness. In other words, an assault would allow a personal injury action. Gross negligence, such as we have here, would not.”

The case, Alexander v. Bozeman Motors, Inc., was decided by the Supreme Court of Montana.

What do you think? Does exclusive remedy unfairly protect even reprehensibly negligent employers, or does the dissenting justice have it right — unless an employer sets out to deliberately harm an employee, workers’ comp should always be the only remedy? Feel free to comment below.

Great Britain’s Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) says workers who eat lunch at their desks are creating health hazards for themselves.

That’s because the food crumbs that fall into the keyboards lure mice.

At night, the mice scrounge for food and dig into the crumbs in keyboards.

Problem is, the mice have no problem pooping where they eat, so to speak.

The RSC says workers can get sick simply by typing on a pooped-on keyboard and then picking up a sandwich with their unwashed hands. The potential stomach illness has been dubbed “qwerty tummy” after the first six letters on a keyboard.

One London cleaning company told the RSC that a woman couldn’t understand why seeds kept popping out of her keyboard when she typed. An investigation showed them to be mouse droppings.

Scientists found traces of E. coli after swabbing keyboards in their London offices.

One keyboard was so dirty that a microbiologist ordered it removed, quarantined and cleaned.

The RSC really wants to spread the word about keeping desks clean at work. And what better way to do that than with a contest?

The scientists will give £300 (about $439) to the sender of the most awful image of a workplace keyboard.

What’s the worst office keyboard you’ve seen? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

The statistics on workplace deaths and injuries in the U.S. are sobering:

• In 2008, 5,071 U.S. workers died from workplace injuries — that’s 14 per day.
• 49,000 deaths annually are attributed to work-related illnesses.
• In 2008, an estimated 4.6 million workers had a nonfatal workplace injury or illness; 40%-50% of these workers were transferred, placed on work restrictions or took time away from work.
• 3.4 million workers were treated in emergency rooms for occupational injuries and illnesses in 2007.
• 94,000 were hospitalized in 2007 from workplace incidents.
• Employers and insurers spent nearly $85 billion on workers’ compensation in 2007.

And those workers’ comp costs are just a fraction of the costs to employers for worker injuries. Other costs include training replacement workers, incident investigations, lost productivity, damaged equipment and property, and legal expenses.

On this Workers’ Memorial Day — and any day at work — what messages are you sending to employees about workplace injuries and deaths? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

The mammoth size of this case is the bad news.

The good news: A detailed settlement plan (about 70 pages) has been drafted, according to The New York Times.

Lawyers for both sides are engaged in intensive talks aimed at settling some or all the cases.

The first 12 cases are scheduled for trial on May 16 in Manhattan.

Firefighters, police officers, construction workers and other emergency responders claim New York City, its contractors and other government agencies offered inadequate safety procedures and supervision to shield them from exposure to contaminants while working at the 16-acre site where the World Trade Center towers once stood.

The lead lawyer for the defendants contends no link can be proven between the workers’ illnesses and exposure at Ground Zero.

All involved are selecting a small group of sample cases to bring to trial, hoping that the verdicts will guide settlement of the remaining lawsuits.

The number of people involved isn’t the only complicating factor in this case. The collapse of the two towers created a toxic soup the likes of which have never been encountered.

A professor who specializes in mass torts told The Times that there’s not a lot of experience with this kind of risk.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has filed a petition with Cal/OSHA calling for the condom requirement.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) reports that actors in the X-rated flicks are ten times more likely to get a sexually transmitted disease than members of the public.

The LACDPH has stated that as many as 25 industry-related cases of HIV have been reported since 2004.

AHF accuses the porn industry of inaction to comply with current Cal/OSHA regulations.

In August, AHF filed 16 worker-safety complaints with Cal/OSHA over the lack of condom use in adult film production and submitted nearly 60 adult DVDs filmed in California as proof.

However, the adult film industry is already doing an excellent job of protecting its performers, writes Alexandre Padilla, a professor of economics at Metropolitan State College in Denver, in Forbes magazine.

Padilla writes that, since the industry’s HIV testing policy was implemented in 1998, there has been only one major outbreak. He also claims that all but four performers who tested HIV-positive contracted the disease outside the industry; therefore the threat doesn’t come from the workplace.

The Forbes article also notes another potential problem. The film-makers would have to hire actors as employees to comply with Cal/OSHA regulations. However, California anti-discrimination laws prohibit requiring an HIV test as a condition of employment, so HIV tests for those in the films would become illegal.

Padilla also predicts that a condom policy would create a black market for condom-less porn and drive the businesses out of California.

What should Cal-OSHA do? Write your comments in the box below.

Update: On Dec. 22, a judge denied the request calling for mandatory use of condoms on adult film sets. The judge ruled local health officials have broad discretion in how they oversee public health. The groups that filed the petition plan to appeal.

EPA has issued a warning: Several vendors are making claims that aren’t true.

What is true: Disinfectants used on hard surfaces according to label instructions are effective against type-A flu viruses, including this year’s H1N1 strain. Approved products specifically have label information which states they provide effectiveness against “Influenza A viruses”

However, there are no products registered by EPA that will disinfect or sterilize the air or a room by fogging. Claims for disinfecting carpets, drapes and other porous surfaces are also false.

For more information from EPA on flu disinfectant products, click here.

The agency also reports that 22 million swine flu cases occurred during the same period.

In an average flu season, flu contributes to the deaths of about 36,000 people, with 90% age 65 or older. Many of them have other underlying health conditions.

That’s not been the case with H1N1. The vast majority of deaths have been in people age 18 to 64, and about 25% of them were healthy before contracting the virus.

Of the 4,000 total deaths, about 540 have been children age 17 and under.

Key message: We’ve got at least four more months to go in the flu season this year. H1N1 has just started to show the impact it can have. Employees still have to heed warnings to wash their hands frequently and stay out of work if they have flu symptoms and a fever.

Injuries and illnesses occurred at a rate of 3.9 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers. The 2007 rate was 4.2, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There were 3.7 million total nonfatal injuries and illnesses in 2008 compared to 4 million in 2007.

Occupational injuries and illnesses have declined significantly each year since 2003.

The injury and illness rate was highest among mid-size companies with 50 to 249 employees, and lowest among small companies with fewer than 11 workers.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said she was “cautiously optimistic” about the injury rates. But she also noted that OSHA has launched a National Emphasis Program on Recordkeeping that will help assure the accuracy of injury and illness data reported by employers.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 39% of workers don’t have paid sick time. Result: People who can’t afford to receive smaller paychecks go to work sick. Then they spread their illness — including flu — to their co-workers.

“Providing workers with paid sick days is essential if we’re going to get serious about the public health recommendations for swine flu — stay home until 24 hours after your fever is broken,” said George Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. Staying home until a fever is broken may take up to five days.

According to The New York Times, workers at some retailers and restaurants say their employers’ policies discourage them from calling in sick.

Wal-Mart issues employees a demerit point when they miss a day of work. If employees get four demerits in six months, they begin receiving warnings that can lead to dismissal.

Fast food chain White Castle says its policy is that when an employee is ill, they are allowed — and required — to stay home until they’re well. However, White Castle doesn’t provide paid time off. A company VP says workers don’t have to lose pay because they can make up the missed time by working more hours after they’re well.

Supporters of a bill in Congress that would mandate companies with 15 or more workers to provide seven paid sick days a year are using the H1N1 pandemic to push their cause.

Business groups oppose the measure, saying it’s expensive and unnecessary.

Does the U.S. need to mandate paid sick time for workers? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

As states pass non-smoking laws, fewer service employees are exposed to customers’ second-hand smoke. But should companies be liable for their workers who still encounter it on the job? Some businesses are facing lawsuits.

Lawyers have filed two class-action lawsuits against Las Vegas casinos, alleging that the health of employees is being affected by second-hand smoke.

The latest lawsuit is against the Wynn Las Vegas. The first one was against Caesars Palace.

Caesars hasn’t filed its answer to the lawsuit. Wynn Las Vegas didn’t respond to a request for comment by the Las Vegas Sun.

The suit says the smoke is causing employees to suffer eye irritation, coughing, sore throat, sneezing, shortness of breath, dizziness, wheezing, tightness in the chest, asthma, headache, nausea, and ingestion of cancer-causing chemicals and toxins.

Lawyers for the casino workers claim some Las Vegas properties have taken measures to minimize second-hand smoke on their gaming floors. The Bellagio has a high-tech air filtration system. The Palazo built smoke-free corridors and half of its gaming area is non-smoking.

The suit also charges that Wynn employees risk losing their jobs if they complain about the second-hand smoke.

The suit seeks an order requiring Wynn “to take reasonable measures to protect its employees from second-hand smoke” and unspecified costs and attorney’s fees.

The suit against Caesars notes that the Palace and its sister properties, Bally’s and Paris, were part of a study released in May by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

The study found that casino dealers had traces of a tobacco-specific carcinogen in their urine. The NIOSH study said, “The increase in [a known lung carcinogen] in the urine of most non-poker casino dealers at the end of their work shift demonstrates that non-poker casino dealers are exposed to a known carcinogen in the tobacco smoke at the casinos. The best means of eliminating workplace exposure … is to ban all smoking in the casinos.”

What do you think about the lawsuit? Should a court be able to order a business to go smoke-free? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

One extensive study pegged the numbers at twice the comp claims, seven times the medical costs from those claims and 13 times as many days lost from work injuries and illnesses.

In other words, the higher the BMI, the lower the ROI.

And here’s where the fairness question gets reversed. Is it fair to make svelte health-conscious employees pay the same insurance premiums as their Devil (Dog)-may-care co-workers?

The great healthcare debate is now framing the question within a larger context: A new study from the Centers for Disease Control says the health cost of obesity in the U.S. is nearly $150 billion a year and rising. One idea: A tax on empty calories. Make people pay extra for “foods” that are virtually nutrition-free (and maybe even give ‘em a subsidy on the healthy stuff). It’s worked with cigarettes, say proponents: The combination of education and outrageous taxation has dramatically reduced tobacco use.

What do you think? Should employees who are greater safety risks because they consistently make unhealthy food choices have to pay more, either through higher premiums or higher taxes (or both)? Let us know in the Comment Box below.

The amendments would clarify when and how to provide shade, water and training for workers.

The changes would also set triggers of 85 and 95 degrees for steps to be taken by employers.

Cal/OSHA shut down eight employers in two weeks earlier this year, saying the heat protection they were providing for employees wasn’t adequate.

The agency says its findings show employers need more guidance on protecting workers from heat exposure.

The changes appear to be delayed for now. When Cal-OSHA’s standards board met on June 18, it refused to adopt the emergency amendments after labor and health advocates spoke out against some of the changes.

The amendments would allow grapevines in vineyards to be used as suitable shade. Also, shade could be as far as a five-minute walk away.

Click here for more on California’s heat-illness standard.

Infections continue to climb in the United States, Europe, Australia and South America. And the H1N1 flu is still spreading as the start of summer nears in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear after weather turns warm, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.

On the one hand, the vast majority of infections have been mild. But, of the 141 people who have died from swine flu worldwide, half were young and healthy — people who aren’t usually susceptible to flu.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports flu is currently widespread in five states: Arizona, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

For more information from the CDC on the flu, click here.

The state recently shut down five farm labor contractors for violations of heat illness prevention regulations.

Four contractors provided no shade for workers exposed to temperatures over 100 degrees, and one had less than a single gallon of water for 15 employees working in temperatures as high as 116 degrees.

The state uses the Order to Prohibit Use (OPU) to shut down employers when employees are exposed to an immediate hazard. The employers’ operations are stopped until they can prove their ability to safeguard workers.

The OPU was first used last year against Merced Farm Labor following the death of Maria Vasquez Jimenez who had been working 9 hours in a vineyard with little water and no shade.

Already this year, California has conducted over 850 heat inspections and issued more than 250 citations for violations of the heat illness prevention standards.

More information about heat illness prevention and training materials are available here.

Experts at the University of Pennsylvania and Wharton School believe the official warnings and media coverage was not overblown.

“From a business perspective, the costs of a false negative are so much bigger than the costs of a false positive,” according to Wharton health care management and economics professor David Asch.

In other words, a weak response to a flu outbreak that went on to be much worse would have had serious consequences, possibly taking trillions of dollars from the economy.

Asch suggests a large number of false alarms are necessary to protect public health.

Arthur Caplan, director of Penn’s Center for Bioethics agrees that, if you have a new strain of the flu, “you should be yelling about it.”

“You have to protect your own employees first, and that’s what most companies have been doing,” said Erwann Michel-Kerjan, managing director of Wharton’s Risk Management and Decision Processes Center.

So what about all that news coverage? The Penn and Wharton experts said much of it did provide a public service, such as constant reminders about hand washing and the fact that face masks won’t prevent the spread of flu.

However, Asch is concerned that there could be a backlash. Since, for now, this proved to be a somewhat false alarm, the public may discount the danger of the next epidemic.

The report notes that new flu strains often return with a second wave that can be stronger than the first. That’s what happened with the 1918 pandemic. There was a weak outbreak in the spring of 1918, with most of the deaths occurring in the fall and winter of 1918 into 1919.

The report is available online here.

Do you think the government warnings and/or media coverage were overblown? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

And we’d like to hear whether your company is prepared for pandemic flu. Visit our home page to participate in our poll on swine flu.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a series of e-cards that address health issues such as blood pressure, diabetes and pregnancy.

But some of the cards could really come in handy when any sort of illness — swine flu, a stomach virus or even the common cold — appears in your workplace.

One card shows a picture of a woman with her hand to her forehead. It says, “Stay home!” The message inside when you click on the card: “Stay home if you have symptoms, like fever, cough, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, and fatigue.” There’s also a link for recipients to click and get more information about the flu.

Know of co-workers who don’t wash their hands after using the restroom? Send them the “Wash ‘em” e-card. It recommends recipients wash their hands with warm soapy water or use alcohol-based hand cleaners.

The CDC’s e-cards are online here.

OSHA is establishing a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) panel to review a proposed rule on occupational exposure to food flavorings that contain diacetyl.

The SBREFA process allows small businesses to review the proposal and comment before it’s enacted.

Workers in microwave popcorn and candy plants have come down with a sometimes fatal lung disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, after working with diacetyl.

OSHA has also started the process of drafting a rule regarding combustible dust in the workplace.

The agency expects to issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to evaluate possible regulations.

Since 1980, more than 130 workers have been killed and more than 780 injured in combustible dust explosions, including 14 deaths at an Imperial Sugar Co. plant in Georgia on Feb. 7, 2008.

You can find more information about diacetyl here, and more about combustible dust here.

The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) has developed guidelines for businesses to prepare for a pandemic:

Workplace Access and Security

• Restrict and monitor workplace access
• Establish criteria for refusal of access to unfit workers and criteria for return-to-work
• Implement telecommuting capabilities where feasible
• Develop infrastructure to manage meetings by conference call or videoconferencing; when in-person meetings are necessary, keep a separation of at least 6 feet from colleagues and ensure there is adequate ventilation
• Reduce or eliminate noncritical social interactions
• Encourage job rotation or staggered shifts to reduce worker exposure risks related to traveling on public transit during peak times
• Segregate/isolate critical work clusters
• Reduce or eliminate work in low-ventilated areas
• Minimize the use of shared facilities for eating and smoking by staggering meals and breaks or designating multiple sites
• Reduce or eliminate work travel to high-risk regions, and
• Initiate a snow day practice or “reverse quarantine” for nonessential workers.

Production needs

• Identify critical production needs and reduce nonessential production
• Compile priority requirements for key workers with respect to personal protective equipment and training
• Engage management and workers in discussions on safe work practices, and contingencies available for work force, supply chain, and production
• Maintain effective communications between all workplace parties
• Address dispute resolution regarding health and safety/safe work issues, and
• Identify and mitigate unique exposure risks posed by multiple jobs and shifts by part-time or occasional workers.

Communications

• Establish call-in hot-line
• Create up-to-the-minute Web splash page, and
• Launch dedicated “grapevine.”

Germ Control

• Develop a sick leave policy that does not penalize sick employees and encourages them to stay home; recognize that employees with ill family members may need to stay home to care for them
• Provide resources and a work environment that promotes personal hygiene; provide tissues, no-touch trash cans, hand soap, hand sanitizer, disinfectants, and disposable towels for employees to clean their work surfaces)
• Encourage employees to wash hands frequently and avoid touching nose, mouth, and eyes; germs can live for two hours or more on surfaces
• Encourage employees to cover their coughs and sneezes
• Provide employees with up-to-date education and training on flu risk factors, protective behaviors, and instruction on proper behaviors (proper cough etiquette and care of personal protective equipment).
• Keep work surfaces, telephones, computer equipment, and other frequently touched surfaces and office equipment clean
• Discourage employees from using phones, desks, offices, or other work tools and equipment that are not their own
• Promote healthy lifestyles that include plenty of sleep, physical activity, good nutrition, stress management, drinking plenty of fluids, and smoking cessation
• Cover mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough either with a tissue or upper sleeves then clean your hands
• Clean hands often, and when possible, wash with soap and warm water, rub vigorously together and scrub all surfaces for 15 to 20 seconds, and
• When soap and water are not available, use alcohol-based disposable hand wipes or gel sanitizers, rubbing hands until dry.

For more information from AIHA, click here.

The CDC says the virus is susceptible to the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. As part of the public health emergency declared by the U.S., supplies from CDC’s Division of the Strategic National Stockpile are being sent to all 50 states and U.S. territories to help them respond to the outbreak.

What steps can people take to stay healthy and slow the spread of the flu?

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. The flu virus can spread that way.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people. Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.
• If you get sick, the CDC recommends you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

Now might be a good time for businesses to consider how they would be affected if pandemic flu spreads to their area. The federal government has a business checklist available online here.

The CDC has other useful information available for free on the Web, including interim recommendations for facemask and respirator use in certain community settings where swine flu has been detected. The agency has also released interim guidelines for primary and secondary schools as well as childcare facilities.

The CDC’s general page on swine flu is at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/index.htm.

The nation’s largest organization of registered nurses today called for broader, national action to promote containment and prevention of a broader swine flu pandemic.

While welcoming the Obama administration’s call on Congress Tuesday to allocate $1.5 billion for combating the virus, the 86,000 member California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee said more is needed to bolster a healthcare infrastructure badly eroded after years of neglect in the public safety net.

“From SARS to avian flu to the current escalating outbreaks of swine influenza, it has become increasingly clear that we are risking a major catastrophe unless we act to restore the safety net, and devote the resources that are needed to protect the public,” said CNA/NNOC co-president Deborah Burger, RN.

The CNA/NNOC action plan includes:

• Reinstate the $870 million for pandemics that was cut from the economic stimulus bill.
• Recruit and mobilize teams of scientists to create the appropriate effective vaccine for the virus.
• Cease and desist any reductions in public health programs at federal, state, and local levels. Lift any freezes on public health funding currently in place.
• Implement a moratorium on any closures of emergency rooms, layoffs of direct healthcare personnel, and reductions of hospital beds.
• Allocate funding for recruitment and retention of school nurses, public health nurses.
• Expand the network of community clinics, especially in medically underserved areas.
• Add thousands of additional ventilators/respirators, which are critically needed in the event of epidemics.
• Assure the availability of protective equipment for all healthcare personnel.
• Require all insurance companies to suspend or waive all out-of-pocket expenses, including co-pays, deductibles, or co-insurance that discourage individuals from seeking preventive care for early signs of infection.

More than three years ago, CNA/NNOC warned that the “firewalls for stopping the next great pandemic are getting thinner,” and cited cuts in public health funding and decreased capacity within the system needed to protect public safety. (see calnurses.org for article)

In a November 2005 article in the CNA/NNOC national magazine, written at the time of avian flu warnings, CNA/NNOC noted the escalating cuts in public health funding then, and shrinking of capacity. For example, at the time, there were only 105,000 mechanical ventilators, of which 75,000 to 80,000 were in constant use, an alarming shortage of capacity in the event of acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Recalling the 1918-1919 global influenza which killed as many as 100 million people worldwide, and 675,000 Americans, the article noted that the world’s population “was less than a third of what it is today and populations were far more isolated.”

It also noted a major lesson of that pandemic was the enormous mitigating effect adequate nursing care has on mortality. “We need to rededicate our nation to expanding the supply of nurses and safe patient care in our hospitals and clinics, which is a central component of the healthcare safety net that is especially vital at times of public health crises,” Burger noted.

Eliminating barriers to care based on ability to pay is another central priority, Burger added.

Recent reports have emphasized the growing number of Americans who are skipping routine medical screenings, exams, and general preventive care due to the skyrocketing co-pays, deductibles, and other use charges imposed by insurance companies.

“Price gouging by the healthcare industry has already put tens of millions of families in healthcare jeopardy, especially in an economic crisis,” said Burger. “At a time when untold numbers are already exposed to a dangerous virus, we need to be removing any barriers to medical care that would exacerbate the spread of contagion.”

Representing some 86,000 RNs in all 50 states, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee is the largest and fastest-growing association of direct-care RNs in the nation.  Learn more at www.calnurses.org.

One Call Now Offers Notification Service at NO CHARGE for Governments, Schools, Businesses, Religious Organizations and Others in Response to Swine Flu Outbreak.

Troy, OH–In response to outbreaks of swine flu across North America, One Call Now, America’s leading emergency notification service, has issued professionally-written influenza notification scripts for use by its 35,000 clients to inform and protect the millions of families currently receiving One Call Now Notification Messages.

The company has also announced a NO-Charge, proactive emergency calling plan for any government emergency management agency, school district, business, religious or community organization that lacks an emergency communication system but will find it essential to inform their citizens, families, staff and congregations should the situation change.

One Call Now’s various comprehensive service plans include clear voice, SMS text and email messages, enabling you to reach tens of thousands of recipients a minute to protect lives and keep people informed.

For Government Agencies, the NO-charge service will provide a database of all published and unpublished numbers for every household to be used by government emergency agencies to immediately send a clear, digitally recorded voice message to an entire town, city or county.

For Schools, the NO-Charge service will dial every family in the school’s student database in moments with updates, instructions and details to keep children safe and parents informed.

For Businesses, the NO-charge business continuity plan will allow company management to reach every employee, stakeholder and customer with emergency communications and plans for staff and clients alike.

For Churches, Youth Sports Leagues and Community Organizations, instant communications to keep families safe and informed is vital; and now easy, and at NO charge.

“We have been providing emergency services to tens of thousands of organizations nationwide for eight years, and reach millions of people every day with voice or text messages that inform and protect. In this uncertain time, with the World Health Organization issuing an unprecedented Phase IV pandemic alert, it is incumbent upon every organization to have the ability to contact their people immediately; even if there is no budget or funds available. That’s why we are offering a no-strings, no-charge emergency communications plan for any organization. Our company mission statement, ‘When messages matter, we deliver’ is not just a phrase, it is part of our DNA, and why this no-charge service is so vital for any organization to have in place if the worst should happen. ” said Leib Lurie, CEO of One Call Now.

“The company can have most new clients ready to send their first test message in a matter of hours, and our 24/7 support team is always ready to train and assist with fast, professional implementation. This includes scripts issued to all clients to be used to inform and help keep every family safer from this lethal form of Influenza. ” said company President Angela Kirchner.

For details and immediate implementation for your emergency communications plan, organization administrators are urged to call 877-698-3262.

About One Call Now
Troy, Ohio-based One Call Now has grown rapidly to become a leading provider of community notification solutions for time-sensitive communications. More than 35,000 schools, colleges, municipalities, government agencies, religious organizations, youth leagues and businesses rely on One Call Now services to distribute critical information to millions of people across the United States every day. Whether for emergencies, event changes, reminders for activities, events, games and practices, or to poll people for instant responses, One Call Now is committed to delivering the highest quality service and support to its customers. Please visit us at www.onecallnow.com.