Wisconsin Polishing and Plating of West Allis, WI, faces $75,400 in OSHA fines for 53 health violations associated with allowing workers to be overexposed to chromium and chromic acid.

A willful citation against the company is for allowing an employee to be exposed to hexavalent chromium above the permissible exposure limit (PEL).

The 50 serious violations include failure to:

• provide proper protective equipment for employees working with lead and other extremely dangerous dust and chemicals, and
• maintain material safety data information.

The company also received two other-than-serious violations. One of them was for not informing employees about their right to access medical or exposure information and records.

As usual, the company has 15 days to decide whether to contest the fines.

The heat.

Workers are required to wear boots, gloves and Tyvek coveralls — a thick suit that protects them from chemicals and oil.

But all that protective gear increases the chances for heat stroke.

High temperatures in the last ten days in the cleanup area have ranged from 91 to 94 degrees. One night the low only dropped to 80. The heat index has risen as high as 110.

Dozens of workers have already been treated for heat stroke, which, if not caught early enough, can lead to death.

Some people are working 12-hour shifts, 7 days a week in the cleanup effort.

BP has set up guidelines for cleanup workers to prevent heat stroke:

• Work begins early in the day to take advantage of cooler temperatures.
• Shaded rest areas are provided at all work areas.
• Workers are required to drink liquids and take rest breaks.
• Workers have received training about the hazards of working in the high heat.

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.

Marijuana is now legal as a prescription painkiller in 14 states. But what if you have a drug-free-workplace policy?

When it comes to HR policies, companies in some states find the situation to be complicated.

But the good news is that when it comes to safety, companies’ rights are more clear — at least somewhat.

Seven medical marijuana states include employee protections. Only on-the-job consumption or impairment can be grounds for termination in Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and Vermont.

Two more states, Rhode Island and Maine, have other explicit protections for medical marijuana patients.

On the other hand, in California, the state supreme court has ruled that drug testing for marijuana is legal and that firing an employee for medical marijuana use, even outside the workplace, isn’t discrimination.

When it comes to safety, federal regulations can come into play.

OSHA’s General Duty Clause states that all employers must provide a safe work environment to employees. So if it can be shown that an employee’s impairment is a danger to himself or other workers, a company can suspend or fire the worker.

On top of that, the federal Department of Transportation issued new guidelines last year that prohibit the use of medical marijuana for transportation workers in safety-sensitive jobs, including pilots, school bus drivers, truck drivers, subway operators, ship captains and transit security workers who are armed.

As courts rule on worker lawsuits against companies over the issue of medical marijuana, employers will receive more guidance.

Until then, this is a case where it’s good to get legal counsel involved before taking action.

It’s a fact: Dust, temperature and humidity factor into asthma attacks. But how can you tell if asthma is an ongoing disability?

Here’s what happened in this case:

Hughey Payne worked for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) as a Metro Station manager.

One summer, Payne had trouble breathing because malfunctioning air conditioning in the station created high heat and humidity.

He received a requested transfer to another station.

A year later, the air conditioning in that station stopped working, and Payne became dizzy, faint and very weak one day on the job.

He left work and hasn’t returned since on advice from his doctor that he should avoid the “dusty, underground station,” and that he needs to work in an environment “without temperature extremes to avoid worsening of his asthma.”

Payne filed for and received disability benefits.

An administrative law judge (ALJ) made these findings:

• Payne’s injury arose out of and in the course of his employment
• His physical condition “is medically causally related to the work incident” (malfunctioning air conditioning)
• His exposure to dust and excessive heat while working as a station manager aggravated his asthma, and
• The medical evidence supported Payne’s claim that the work exposure to dust and heat prevented him from returning to work in the Metro tunnels.

His employer, WMATA, appealed.

It presented testimony from a certified industrial hygienist that the dust levels inside the Metro stations were 1/100th of the limit set by OSHA.

The ALJ again ruled in favor of Payne, saying that the hygienist wasn’t a medical doctor and couldn’t determine whether those dust levels were sufficiently low for Payne to return to work.

The case eventually went to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

It noted that one of the doctors in the case was asked: If a person is affected by dust, and a report says a work area meets OSHA air quality standards, would that person be released to go back to work? The doctor replied in that case, it wouldn’t be the dust that was causing the asthma problem.

On top of that, the appeals court found the ALJ had used the wrong burden of proof to determine whether Payne’s disability was ongoing. For that reason, the ALJ couldn’t discount the testimony from the industrial hygienist.

The case has been sent back for a rehearing. (A PDF of the appeals court’s entire opinion can be downloaded here.)

What do you think about this case? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Cite: WMATA v. Payne, DC Court of Appeals, No. 08-AA01207, 4/15/10.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will review the antibacterial chemical, triclosan.

It’s found in liquid hand soap, deodorant bar soaps, face washes, deodorants, toothpastes and mouthwashes.

U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) has called for a ban on the chemical in personal care products. Markey cites concerns that use of triclosan may encourage the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Studies have shown that microbes resistant to triclosan also seem to have picked up resistance to other antibiotic drugs at the same time.

The FDA says triclosan isn’t known to be hazardous to people. But the agency is going to evaluate new evidence and come to some conclusion next year.

Triclosan stops or slows the growth of bacteria. It does help fight germs on your hands. But the common cold and stomach bugs are viruses, and triclosan doesn’t help fight those.

Some studies have found that, at the level contained in consumer products, washing with antibacterial soaps doesn’t kill more bacteria than washing with regular soaps.

However, at higher concentrations used in hospitals, it does improve germ removal.

Even without further FDA research, an article in the LA Times says many doctors, public health officials and environmentalists think triclosan isn’t worth the risk.

What do you think about antibacterial soaps? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Mark Buttitta was exposed to asbestos as a child. His father handled brakes and clutches containing the substance while working at a General Motors warehouse and carried the asbestos fibers home on his work clothes.

Buttitta was then directly exposed to asbestos while working at a GM warehouse during his summer and winter breaks from college.

In upholding the jury award, the largest mesothelioma award in New Jersey history, the Superior Court noted that the frequency, regularity and proximity test had to be viewed differently than the test for another asbestos-related disease, asbestosis.

Mesothelioma, a cancer that is often fatal, can develop from infrequent exposure to a relatively small amount of asbestos. Asbestosis usually requires much more prolonged exposure.

The court ruled that Buttitta’s “rather brief work history” with asbestos was enough to establish a medical link with his mesothelioma some 30 years later.

The $30.3 million award broke down this way: $8 million for pain and suffering, $2 million for loss of consortium, $9.3 million for lost earnings, $2 million for loss of services, and $3 million to each of Buttitta’s three daughters for loss of parental care.

Cite: Buttitta v. Allied Signal, Inc., Superior Court of NJ, 5/5/10.

The new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) policy took effect April 5.

The old rule was based on outdated versions of antidepressants that could cause drowsiness and other side effects.

Some pilots had kept their use of the medications a secret because of the previous rule. They were concerned they’d lose their certification to fly.

Under the new policy, pilots who take Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa or Lexapro will be allowed to fly if they’ve been successfully treated for a year without side effects that could pose a safety hazard in the cockpit.

The FAA is also granting amnesty for some pilots taking those four medications, known as SSRIs. The agency won’t take civil enforcement action against pilots who disclose their diagnosis of depression and treatment within six months.

The Army, Civil Aviation Authority of Australia and Transport Canada already allow some pilots to fly who are using antidepressants.

Does your company ask employees in safety-sensitive jobs to disclose certain types of medications they’re taking? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

City of Detroit employee Susan McBride filed her lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She claimed the city failed to reasonably accommodate her allergy after she complained that a co-worker’s perfume made it difficult for her to breathe.

The city argued the perfume allergy didn’t qualify as a “major life activity” under the ADA.

But a judge disagreed, saying that breathing qualifies as a major life activity.

Under a settlement reached with McBride, the city will have to post notices in buildings where McBride works, asking other city employees not to wear scents at work.

The notice will contain this language: “To accommodate employees who are medically sensitive to the chemicals in scented products, the city of Detroit requests that you refrain from wearing scented products, including but not limited to colognes, after-shave, lotions, perfumes, deodorants, body/face lotions, hair sprays or similar products.”

No scented deodorants? That could be problematic.

But one company has decided to turn that potential problem into an opportunity.

The makers of unscented Crystal deodorant recently distributed free samples of their product to City of Detroit employees.

Crystal Vice President Larry Friedberg notes, “If people can’t wear deodorant, there’s going to be body odor at work.”

Friedberg says Crystal is made from natural salt, without scents.

Getting back to the case, here are some questions: Wouldn’t it have been easier — and less expensive — for the City of Detroit to have asked McBride’s co-worker not to wear perfume? What do you think about workplace scent bans for health reasons? You can share your comments below.

Here’s one link between employee wellness and safety: As obesity becomes more common, more employees may suffer from a condition that makes them sleepy at work.

People are considered at risk for sleep apnea if they have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more and a neck circumference of 17 inches or more.

Someone 5 feet 10 inches tall would have a BMI of 30 if they weighed 209 pounds. (Click here for a BMI chart.)

In 2008, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s medical review board recommended that commercial truck drivers with a BMI more than 30 be screened for sleep apnea. The FMCSA hasn’t adopted that recommendation, even though its own statistics show 26% of drivers suffer from the condition.

Some trucking firms are addressing the issue without government regulation. Schneider National recently started to diagnose and treat their drivers in an effort to reduce healthcare costs and reduce crash risks.

Schneider found 17% of its drivers had sleep apnea. Because of its program, the company has seen a significant reduction in the frequency and severity of crashes.

Drivers diagnosed with sleep apnea are required by the FMCSA to be disqualified until it’s been treated. However, a test for sleep apnea isn’t included in the licensing process for commercial drivers.

With a lack of regulations, it’s up to companies to decide how to address this wellness-safety link, not to mention others.

Does your company have a wellness program for employees? Do you think such programs help decrease the risk of certain types of workplace injuries? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

A new study says that, yes, you really can be bored to death.

Researchers at University College London found people who complain of high levels of boredom are at double the risk of dying from heart disease or a stroke than those who find life entertaining.

People who said they were bored were nearly 40% more likely to have died by the end of the study than those who weren’t bored.

Those with more menial jobs were more prone to boredom, and thus more likely to die at an earlier age.

The researchers say people who are bored are more likely to turn to unhealthy habits like drinking and smoking.

The report also suggested people with boring jobs should find outside interests rather than turning to drinking or smoking. Another anti-boredom plan: Think more about the needs of others, such as family, friends or co-workers.

The study of 7,524 civil servants will be published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

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.

An Australian study reported in Circulation magazine shows a strong link between heart disease and the amount of time spent sitting watching TV. Study participants who watched more than four hours per day had an 80% greater risk of death from heart disease.

So if sitting in front of your TV for four hours a day isn’t healthy, what about sitting at an office desk for eight?

Some workplaces have addressed this issue. Among the ways they’re getting office workers to move around more:

• Instituting “no phone, no e-mail” periods. For ten minutes each hour, no one can communicate via phone or e-mail. It forces workers to get out of their chairs and walk if they need to talk to a colleague.
• Creating decentralized office space. Workers have a “home” desk, but they’re allowed to work wherever they want in the office.
• Taking away individual trash cans. Workers are forced to get up to throw away trash in central locations.
• Scheduling daily stretches. Employees have to stand up and participate in a five-minute stretching period.

The Australian study also caught the attention of the folks at TrekDesk. The company manufactures office work stations in which employees stand. Treadmills can even be put underneath so that an employee can walk and work at the same time.

“Within one generation we have engineered movement completely out of the workplace,” said TrekDesk CEO Steve Bordley in a press release.

Do you think your company would take any of the above steps to help office workers be less sedentary? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

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 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.

The medical community appears to be split on this.

Hand washing does help stop the spread of the common cold, many respiratory infections and viruses that cause diarrhea.

But in a Newsweek article, Arthur Reingold, head of epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley, says there’s virtually no evidence that people can catch the flu virus via physical contact. He says people are more likely to catch the flu from breathing in microscopic particles exhaled by infected people.

Dr. Michael Osterholm, head of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, notes that some animal studies confirm flu is transmitted through the air and not by physical contact.

Among those still promoting hand washing is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Dr. Anne Schuchat. She supports hand washing because it protects against respiratory and intestinal diseases in general – and H1N1 does cause respiratory and intestinal problems.

What’s the take-home for businesses? First, hand-washing is effective in preventing some illnesses, so there’s no reason not to promote it.

Second, this points to the importance of sending sick employees home, and telling them to stay there until they’re well.

Third, the best step people can take starting next month is to get the H1N1 flu shot, when it becomes available.

Men’s Health magazine has ranked 100 U.S. cities from least to most accident prone.

The most accident-prone: Charleston, WV, followed by Jacksonville, FL, and Corpus Christi, TX.

Safest cities: Rochester, NY, Burlington, VT, and Los Angeles.

The magazine also provides break-outs by category. Most fatal workplace accidents: Cheyenne, WY, Bangor, ME, and Modesto, CA. Highest number of fatal falls: Charleston, WV, Denver and Baltimore.

Men’s Health used stats on fatal workplace accidents (Bureau of Labor Statistics); deaths from car crashes, poisoning, drowning, falls and fires (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention); emergency-room visits (American Hospital Association); and bandage sales.

Check stats for your city, here.

A diabetic employee can’t control his hypoglycemic episodes. In recent episodes, he’s become disoriented around dangerous equipment and threatened violence against co-workers. Can you fire him for safety reasons, or is he protected under disability law?

Martin Onken was a welder for McNeilus Truck & Manufacturing in Iowa. He has Type I diabetes which causes him to have occasional low blood sugar episodes – hypoglycemia.

Onken is among a small percentage of diabetics who are often unable to detect their low blood sugar from physical symptoms.

He suffered several low-blood sugar episodes at work. Co-workers would offer him a soda, candy bar or tube of glucose to bring his blood sugar back up. The company worked with Onken through several episodes and encouraged him to seek medical help to better control his condition, which he did.

However, one hypoglycemic episode in particular proved to be the last straw.

During this episode, some of Onken’s co-workers saw him staggering near his work station.

One co-worker, who was also a paramedic, approached him. Onken lifted his arm into a position that implied he was going to hit his co-worker, laughed and said, “You scared?”

When the plant supervisor approached him, Onken held his left arm back as if he was going to hit the supervisor. Onken lowered his arm, and the supervisor suggested he go to the break room. Onken cursed at the supervisor and said he wasn’t going anywhere.

Then Onken locked himself in a restroom and refused to come out. He came out of the restroom after 25 minutes.

When the co-worker who was a paramedic offered Onken a tube with glucose to bring his blood sugar back up, he knocked it out of her hand. Paramedics took Onken to the hospital.

In his report about the episode, the supervisor wrote that this time he knew those around Onken were at risk.

A doctor evaluated Onken. The doctor wrote Onken “would not be a risk to himself or others if he was able to manage his underlying medical condition without having hypoglycemic episodes. He appears to be unable to appropriately determine when he is becoming hypoglycemic and to take appropriate action.”

Based on the doctor’s report, and the company’s own observance of Onken, they fired him.

Onken sued, claiming discrimination based on his disability.

The court’s ruling: The company had a valid safety reason to fire Onken. The judges wrote that, since Onken presented a direct threat to the safety of others at the plant, he wasn’t a qualified individual with a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

For more information on accommodating employees with diabetes, click here.

Cite: Onken v. McNeilus Truck & Manufacturing, Inc., U.S. District Court, N.D. Iowa, Eastern Division, No. 08-CV-2003-LRR, 7/10/09.

Imagine this: An employee, who happens to be morbidly obese, is injured at work. Doctors say, before he has surgery to correct the workplace injury, he needs weight-loss surgery.

And, in two separate cases, courts rule that comp must cover the weight-loss surgery!

First, the case of Adam Childers. While working at Boston’s Gourmet Pizza in Indiana, he was struck by a freezer door, injuring his lower back. At the time, Childers was six feet tall and weighed 340 pounds.

A doctor said before Childers could have back fusion surgery, he needed lap-band surgery to lose weight.

A workers’ comp panel awarded him benefits to have the weight-loss surgery. His employer appealed, arguing that Childers suffered from a pre-existing health condition of morbid obesity.

However, the court said the restaurant couldn’t prove that Childers had a weight problem that impaired his health and/or required medical intervention. Case closed, he gets the surgery paid for by comp.

In the second case, Edward Sprague injured his knee at work in 1976 and reinjured it in 1999.

During that time span, Sprague’s weight went from 225 to 350 pounds.

Doctors told Sprague his weight would prevent successful treatment of the knee condition, so he sought workers’ comp benefits for weight-loss surgery.

His insurance carrier argued that the claim wasn’t compensable because the obesity wasn’t caused by his 1976 accident.

Last year a state court ruled Sprague’s bypass surgery should be paid for by workers’ comp. The court said the injury was more than a minor cause of Sprague’s need for gastric surgery.

Now, the Oregon Supreme Court has issued the last word in this case. It agrees that comp should cover the weight-loss surgery.

Should state comp laws be amended to prohibit employees from getting workers’ comp benefits to pay for weight-loss surgery in cases like these? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

What do you do with employees who have a history of injuries? Fire them and they may sue, but leave them on the job and they might harm themselves or others.

Now there’s a way for legally removing these people from the workplace.

Some companies conduct fitness for duty (FFD) evaluations in these situations. They’re similar to post-offer, pre-hire physical exams to determine ability to do the job. But FFDs can be done any time during employment and are broader: They determine physical, mental and emotional fitness.

A comprehensive FFD program would include:

• pre-placement medical evaluations, often done with safety-sensitive jobs
• absence management, including people who call in sick Mondays and Fridays and presenteeism, people not fully productive under stress from family issues or medication
• for-cause drug and alcohol testing, based on credible report of impairment, and
• pre-assignment clearance to new tasks or after leave due to injury or FMLA.

An FFD would withstand legal challenges if a company:

• administers it fairly across the board
• makes tests reasonable and job-related
• doesn’t make decisions on past health records, such as cancer history
• keeps test results confidential, and
• gives a disqualified employee the right to submit his or her own evidence as to fitness for duty.

For more information on FFD evaluations, click here.

Does your company use FFD evaluations? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

The guidance comes in two parts: one if flu severity is no worse than it was this spring and one if it gets significantly worse.

The recommendations if severity is similar to spring/summer 2009:

• Sick persons should stay home. The CDC recommends that employees with flu-like symptoms remain at home until at least 24 hours after they are free of fever (100° or higher), without the use of fever-reducing medication.
• Sick employees at work should be told to go home immediately. Then, they should follow the above guidance about when to return to work.
• Cover coughs and sneezes. Best practice: sneezing and coughing into your sleeve instead of your hands.
• Improve hand hygiene. Instruct employees to wash their hands often with soap and warm water or use an alcohol-based hand cleaner, especially after coughing or sneezing.
• Clean surfaces and items that are more likely to have frequent hand contact. These include workstations, countertops and doorknobs.
• Encourage employees to get vaccinated. This includes vaccination against seasonal and swine flu. Another option: Contract with a local medical provider to give flu shots at your facility.
• Protect employees who are at higher risk for complications from flu. People at higher risk include pregnant women; those with chronic lung disease (such as asthma), heart disease, diabetes, diseases that suppress the immune system and other chronic medical conditions.
• Prepare for an increase in employee absences due to their own illness or sick family members they have to care for. Decide which functions are essential to your business so those workers who are still present can carry those out.

Recommendations for conditions with increased severity compared to spring/summer 2009:

• Consider screening employees who report to work. Send workers home who have fever or chills and cough or sore throat. Don’t require a doctor’s note from employees who take time off due to flu symptoms.
• Plan alternative work arrangements for employees at higher risk for complications from flu (see list above). This could include telecommuting.
• Consider increased social distancing at work. Goal: Workers should be at least 6 feet apart at most times.
• Prepare for school dismissals or closure of child care. This may require workers with children to leave work suddenly.

Links to more information:

• www.flu.gov
• Worker safety and health guidance for a flu pandemic from OSHA
• Resources for healthcare facilities.

The ACLU has filed, on behalf of the United Farm Workers Union, a lawsuit accusing the state of not being able to protect its 650,000 agricultural employees from heat injury and death.

The lawsuit also alleges that California hasn’t done enough to establish common-sense regulations that would provide water, shade and rest to farm workers who experience 100° conditions.

The ACLU and union also faults California for not having enough inspectors to enforce the heat stress regulations it has.

California was the first state to establish heat stress regulations in 2005. Washington is the only other state to do so.

However, the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board has failed twice so far this year to upgrade those standards.

Cal-OSHA wanted emergency amendments requiring employers to provide shade for at least 25% of their workers to rest in if temperatures exceed 85°.

When it met this summer, the board voted 3-3 on the proposed amendments. One member was absent. Governor Schwarzenegger supports the changes and criticized the board for not acting.

Cal-OSHA says it’s conducted 167 outdoor workplace inspections and identified over 200 violations between July 11 and 27. In all of 2009, it’s issued $415,398 in citations.

The lawsuit notes that California has 35,000 farms and only 187 inspectors, who also have to enforce safety and health regulations other than the ones about heat stress.

Should states have regulations regarding heat stress and outdoor workers? Or should OSHA just cite companies when they don’t provide enough water, shade and rest using the General Duty Clause? 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.

Employees can receive comp for mental injuries at work under certain circumstances.

In this case, Laila Young said she was harassed at work after September 11, 2001 because of her Egyptian ethnicity. The company fired her in April 2003.

Young claims she was:

• cursed at
• struck in the head by one of her co-workers
• subjected to offensive anti-Arab cartoons that were placed on a bulletin board
• repeatedly ignored and belittled by her supervisor in front of others, and
• asked by her supervisor if she had turned her family in to the FBI.

Her employer, Pentax Precision Instrument Corp., provided witness testimony that told a different story.

There were direct denials of Young’s accusations and reasonable explanations of others.

The company also showed that when Young had complaints, it dealt with them promptly.

Add to all this that Young had been transferred within the company in 1998 because of problems interacting with co-workers. Some of those problems persisted, according to testimony.

Two doctors, two different opinions

Young presented testimony from her doctor that her anxiety and stress were related to harassment at work. However, an independent medical exam performed by the employer’s doctor found no causal relationship between her anxiety and work.

A workers’ comp law judge, the state workers’ comp board and finally the state supreme court all ruled in the company’s favor. The court found no reason to reverse the board’s previous judgment that the company’s testimony was more credible.

In its ruling, the New York Supreme Court noted that if a claimant can show that stress that caused an injury was “greater than that which other similarly situated workers experienced in the normal work environment,” then the employee can receive workers’ comp.

In this case, Young wasn’t able to show that.

You can read the court’s decision here.

Should employees be able to get workers’ comp for stress on the job? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

We polled our editors of safety publications at Progressive Business and came up with this list:

10. More research on dangers of nano-particles to exposed employees. Among the new studies, one that showed long, thin carbon nanotubes exhibited the same effects as long, thin asbestos fibers when injected into mice.

9. The National Institutes of Health says the superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is no longer limited to hospitals. Outbreaks of one strain — community-associated MRSA — have turned up in athletes, prison inmates, the military, daycare attendees and those who live in communal conditions such as college dormitories.

8. MSHA proposes and enacts a flurry of new mining rules in the wake of previous years’ mining disasters, such as Crandall Canyon, including: a policy letter on underground communication and tracking devices; a new final rule that increases the pounds per square inch that pressure seals must withstand in an explosion; a proposal to test miners for drugs and alcohol; and a final rule requiring additional safety equipment for rescue teams at underground mines.

7. California gets serious with heat stress on the job. The company that hired a pregnant teen who died of heat stroke this spring after working in a vineyard without enough shade or water was hit with the highest fine ever issued to a farming operation in the state. Merced Farm Labor’s license was also revoked until Aug. 24, 2011 after the death of Maria Jimenez.

6. The employer payment for most types of PPE rule takes effect. OSHA started enforcing the new rule May 15, 2008. The only exceptions: non-specialty safety-toe protective footwear; shoes or boots with built-in metatarsal protection requested by an employee; logging boots; and everyday work or ordinary clothing used solely for protection from weather.

5. An explosion at an Imperial Sugar Refinery near Savannah, GA, kills 14 people and injures dozens more. The blast destroyed a packaging plant. The cause, ignition of dust, placed an emphasis on workplace ignitable dust hazards.

4. Amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act to place burden on employers. The revision may dramatically increase the number of employees who can legally qualify as disabled. Action step for employers and those in charge of safety: Instead of an open-ended light-duty assignment that might define a worker as disabled, re-assess the returning worker’s condition every two weeks.

3. Distracted drivers prove fatal and costly. A Sept. 12 collision between two trains in California killed 25 people. The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating, but preliminary information shows the locomotive engineer of one train was using his cell phone to text within 30 seconds of the accident. In the wake of the crash, the Federal Railroad Administration enacted a new rule banning railroad employees from using cell phones (except in emergencies) and other electronic devices on the job. In another case, International Paper Co. agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle a personal injury lawsuit after one of its employees used her cell phone while driving for work. The employee hit another car, and its driver had to have an arm amputated as a result.

2. Now OSHA can multiply PPE and training fines by the number of employees. Under a new rule, OSHA can issue per-employee citations for those types of violations starting Jan. 12, 2009.

1. President-elect Barack Obama promises an “invigorated” OSHA. Obama supported the Protecting America’s Workers Act as a Senator. The bill would increase OSHA penalties. Obama has also called on OSHA to issue standards “in a timely and more effective manner.” While the financial crisis may delay some reforms the new administration may want, some changes can be made by just shifting existing funding.

Vote for your top safety story or nominate one of your own in the Comments Box below.

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.

A recent survey by a British insurance company seems to suggest that.

RSA surveyed over 2,000 UK employees, and 71% report an increase in their stress levels because of the recession.

On top of that, 20% of workers surveyed believe they are more likely to face a workplace accident due to recession stress. The percent of workers who fear they’re more likely to have an accident, broken out by industry:

• manufacturing: 35%
• transportation: 28%, and
• leisure sector: 21%.

RSA estimates 13.5 million work days will be lost this year in Great Britain due to workplace stress.

Is there something to this? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

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 San Joaquin County District Attorney has charged the former owner, safety director and a supervisor of Merced Farm Labor in the death of 17-year-old Maria Vasquez Jimenez. She was two months pregnant at the time of her death.

The three were also charged with one felony and five misdemeanor violations of state labor code.

Authorities say Vasquez Jimenez died May 14, 2008, because she lacked access to shade and water as she pruned grapevines for more than nine hours in nearly triple-digit heat.

After she collapsed, her supervisor recommended she rest in a hot van. Her fiance took her to a medical clinic two hours later.

Cal-OSHA fined Merced Farms $262,700 for violating eight workplace safety rules. The company later surrendered its license.

Blanket policies barring employees on light or limited duty from working overtime violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

That’s the upshot of a case involving United Airlines. In a consent decree filed in federal court, the company has agreed to pay $850,000 to settle an EEOC disability-discrimination lawsuit.

From 1998 to 2003, the airline had a policy that denied overtime work to employees who were on light or limited duty.

Samuel Chetcuti, a United employee at the San Francisco airport, filed a claim against the company.

Chetcuti has epilepsy and was under medical restrictions that prevented him from operating heavy machinery or working “at heights.”

United considered Chetcuti on light duty. He was medically cleared to work overtime, but United’s policy prevented him from doing so.

A consent decree between United and the EEOC states that the airline “shall not discriminate against United employees at San Francisco International Airport on the basis of disability regarding eligibility for overtime.” United ended the overtime restriction in 2003.

EEOC attorney William Tamayo said United’s former overtime policy ran “counter to the ADA’s goal that each employee be evaluated individually on whether they can get the job done, with or without an accommodation.”

One of the best ways to reduce workers’ comp costs is to have a light-duty program already in place for injured or disabled workers.

Does your company have a light-duty program in place for employees who are injured or who are diagnosed with a medical condition? Let us know about it in the Comments Box below.