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.

Severe cases of popcorn lung — also known as bronchiolitis obliterans — have been found in at least five former candy factory workers.

The five worked as candy makers at a now closed Brach’s Candy plant in Chicago, according to Andrew Schneider’s online article.

The plant made butterscotch and butter toffee among other sweets.

One former employee, Doris Stubbs, has to use oxygen almost all the time. Stubbs says some former co-workers have died from breathing problems.

Since the initial reports of employee sickness centered around those working in popcorn plants that used the butter flavoring diacetyl, investigations centered on that industry.

However, some in the safety and health community have questioned whether workers in other food manufacturing plants using diacetyl may also be affected.

The fact that this plant is no longer in operation poses a problem. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) can’t perform a Health Hazards Evaluation on a closed plant.

However, Schneider quotes a Teamster official as saying they are having discussions with OSHA about inspecting candy plants in Tennessee.

OSHA has a National Emphasis Program (NEP) to target popcorn manufacturing facilities for inspection. You can read more about the NEP here.

The guidelines were published in a Q&A on heat-illness prevention on Cal-OSHA’s Web site:

• Where unlimited drinking water is not immediately available from a plumbed system, the employer must provide enough water for every employee to be able to drink one quart of water, or four 8-ounce cups, per hour.
• If an employer chooses not to provide the full-shift quantity of drinking water at the start of a work shift, the standard requires effective procedures for drinking-water replenishment to allow each employee to drink one quart per hour.
• Water must always be readily accessible. Employer should build their water placement strategies around a sound understanding of the fact that the more an employee has to interrupt work to drink, the greater will be the likelihood the employee will not be drinking enough water to protect fully against heat illness. An employer may choose to augment maintaining a compliant readily accessible water supply by also providing a beverage container (preferably insulated to keep the water cool) to be carried and used by the employee while working.
• When temperatures exceed 90 degrees F, having ice on hand to cool the water is recommended.
• Having shade present is considered a requirement of the standard when the outdoor dry-bulb temperature high for the area closest to the location at which employees are to work is forecast, as of 5 p.m. the previous day, to be over 85 degrees F, according to the National Weather Service. Shade must be up at the beginning of the shift and present throughout.
• Regardless of what the predicted high is, employers are expected to know if the actual temperature is exceeding 90 degrees F at their worksite. If the temperature enters this range, shade must be present regardless of the predicted high.
• Cal-OSHA consider the amount of shade to be sufficient is enough to accommodate 25% of the employees on a shift so that they can sit comfortably in the shade without touching each other. However, if more than 25% of a shift’s workers require shade at the same time, the employer must provide it immediately.
• Shade must be located less than a 1/4-mile or five-minute walk away, whichever is shorter.

For the complete set of guidelines, click here.

A new study published by the British Psychological Society found that children with ADHD continue to experience difficulties that impair their work performance and increase the number of accidents they have as adults.

The team surveyed 8,563 workers. They found 1.9% of them met the criteria for Adult ADHD.

Those with the condition were twice as likely to have had an accident at work during the preceding year.

The researchers estimated that each worker with Adult ADHD cost their employer $4,336 in lost revenue because of extra sick leave and lower work performance.

Only four of the 163 workers with Adult ADHD in the study were receiving treatment for their condition.

The study concluded that, given the effectiveness of drugs for Adult ADHD, employers consider screening for Adult ADHD.

The research was funded by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, a developer of drugs for ADHD.

Click here for more information on the study.

Imagine this: One of your employees is on pain medication that could compromise his safety and productivity, as well as that of co-workers. But, because of state law, you have to accommodate the employee. Not only that, but federal law says the pain medication is illegal.

What medication are we talking about? Marijuana.

That’s the case in Oregon, and a business lobbying group is pushing a bill to exempt employers from having to accommodate medical marijuana patients.

House Bill 2497 would allow businesses to terminate employees who test positive for marijuana, even if they are legally authorized to use it for pain management.

Employers would also be notified when a worker applies for a “marijuana card,” under the measure.

Associated Oregon Industries (AOI) sees medical cannabis as a liability for employers.

AOI’s vice-president for government affairs, J.L. Wilson, told The World that many employers have horror stories about employing medical marijuana users and impairment on the job.

Wilson notes that marijuana remains federally illegal, but in Oregon, employers are forced to accommodate those who have been approved to use it for pain.

Wayne Haythorn with Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse says the bill is designed to stir up fear and punish people who need marijuana for pain.

In what situations do doctors approve pot use for pain?

One example: Jude Isaacson had back surgery in 2000 and developed a spinal infection. She was using a wheelchair.

“Cannabis has brought me back,” she said. “I can focus now.”

Dr. Michelle Petrofes who treats six medical marijuana patients says pot isn’t her first line of treatment by any means. She said patients have to have tried every other medication first for pain before she will consider marijuana.

Pain management expert Dr. Daniel Rusu says most patients who request cannabis for pain management don’t qualify for it.

He also believes this battle over marijuana will continue.

How can employers balance compassion for workers in severe pain with their employee drug policies? What do you think is the right course of action? And readers from Oregon, let’s hear from you, especially. You can leave comments in the box below.

NIOSH can’t issue fines. According to its Web site, NIOSH “is the federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness.”

In its efforts to research the health impact on workers who deal with the food flavoring diacetyl, NIOSH conducted an investigation at Sensient Flavors International in Indianapolis at the request of the local Teamsters union representing the plant’s workers. Diacetyl has killed several and sickened hundreds of food plant workers.

The Teamsters told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s senior correspondent Andrew Schneider that Sensient had altered its production process while NIOSH was inspecting and taking air samples. The union claims NIOSH didn’t get an accurate look at normal conditions at the plant.

NIOSH uncovered “pulmonary abnormalities” in its first inspection and demanded a second look to gather more information.

Sensient is fighting NIOSH’s request, saying that the agency is “attempting to use Sensient’s facility as its own personal laboratory.” It says the agency can look once, but not twice.

The case is now in federal court.

OSHA is considering a regulation on diacetyl and food flavorings.

Considerate, understanding bosses who keep up contact with their sidelined workers are key to getting them to return.

Previous research showed a strong link between management and sick leave – especially how the risk of long-term leave rose with the lack of support from management.

Because of this, scientists looked at the link between positive management and workers on sick leave.

They found people on leave and light duty need to feel their problems are being taken seriously. Those who do are likely to fight harder to get back to work as quickly as possible.

Communication is key for both managers and hurt employees, since misunderstanding the workers’ needs can lead to problems later on.

And not all workers have the same needs. While older workers are more concerned with adapting to the work environment, younger employees are more in need of encouragement.

But in all cases, these seven manager types were most successful at getting employees back to work:

1. The Protector: Understands the situation, shows compassion, and looks out for the employee.
2. The Problem Solver: Professional and solution-oriented. Can help worker adapt to the environment.
3. The Contact Maker: Keeps in touch with the worker to see how he’s doing and relays what’s happening in the workplace.
4. The Trust Creator: Discreet, honest and open. Develops trust and a feeling of job safety.
5. The Recognizer: Shows respect and confidence to employees during their time on light duty.
6. The Encourager: Motivates and inspires while being patient.
7. The Responsibility-maker: Gives the employee challenges and responsibility for his situation.

The research was conducted by The International Research Institute of Stavanger in Norway.

A woman who claims she was disabled by a co-worker’s perfume can move forward with her workers’ comp lawsuit.

Doris Sexton sued the Cumberland Manor nursing home, claiming perfume sprayed by her co-worker left her permanently disabled and unable to work.

She said the co-worker sprayed perfume near her at least three times on one day.

Sexton had a chronic lung condition that resulted from smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for 43 years. She claims the perfume made her illness worse.

A lower court in New Jersey ruled that her reaction to the perfume didn’t arise out of her employment.

Should the company have to pay?

But an appeals court said her employer can be held liable because the exposure happened at work.

The court said, “The air Sexton had to breathe in order to fulfill her contract of service, contaminated by a co-employee, was a condition of the employment for Sexton and thus a risk of this employment for her.”

Now the case goes back to the lower court for trial to determine whether Sexton will receive comp payments.

Since the perfume incident, Sexton has been largely dependent on an oxygen tank to breathe and has been unable to work, according to her lawyer.

She was hospitalized on the day of the incident, where she stayed for almost a month.

Robert Malestein, a lawyer representing Sexton’s former employer, said, “If you tell people that this is a woman with a chronic medical condition who smells some perfume and gets sick, should people have to pay for that?”

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

Upshot for companies: It should be less of a surprise when an OSHA inspector visits than it was seven or eight years ago.

What types of companies are getting hit?

• Those with high injury rates
• Industries with high fatality rates
• Industries that OSHA designates as having major health and/or safety hazards, and
• Companies that have been inspected before and were found to have serious or willful violations.

According to OSHA’s statistics for FY2008 (Oct. 2007 through September 2008), 80% of violations issued were categorized as either serious, willful or repeat.

The number of willful violations (those where there was intentional disregard or plain indifference to OSHA rules) increased 25% from 2007 to 2008. During the same period, repeat violations increased 4%.

Out of 38,591 inspections, 121 resulted in fines of over $100,000. Twelve inspections resulted in criminal referrals.

OSHA’s areas of emphasis include these industries: landscaping; oil and gas field services; residential building construction; commercial and institution building construction; and highway, street and bridge construction.

OSHA also placed inspection emphasis on these hazards which cause fatalities: falls from elevation, trenching, struck-by incidents, forklift incidents and electrical problems.

For more information, click here.

1-BP is used to clean electronics and metal. In some states, it’s also being used as an alternative in the dry cleaning industry instead of perchloroethylene, which is considered “probably carcinogenic to humans” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Now, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says the solvent may represent an unrecognized occupational health risk.

In a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, NIOSH presents two cases of workers exposed to 1-BP who were diagnosed with clinical manifestations of neurotoxicity. The cases were from the electronics and dry cleaning industries.

Also, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) has concluded that there’s sufficient evidence of developmental and reproductive toxicity among animals exposed to 1-BP.

NIOSH doesn’t have a Recommended Exposure Limit (REL), nor does OSHA has a Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for 1-BP.

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) recommends an 8-hour time weighted average (TLV) of 10 perts per million (ppm).

EPA says exposures within or below the range of 17 to 30 ppm are anticipated to be protective against reproductive effects in men and women.

NIOSH recommends engineering controls and work practices, including personal protective equipment, to limit workers’ exposure where 1-BP is manufactured, used, handled or stored.

The agency continues to study the solvent.

Disability laws don’t trump OSHA rules on required personal protective equipment (PPE).

That’s according to a new document from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

If OSHA requires PPE for a certain type of work, and a person with a disability can’t wear the PPE, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn’t provide the worker with an exemption.

Is worker ‘qualified?’

Example: An OSHA regulation requires an employer’s workers to wear steel-toed boots.

An employee has severe burns on his feet and legs that prevent him from wearing steel-toed boots.

No accommodation is possible, so the employee asks for an exemption.

The ADA doesn’t prevent employers from complying with other federal laws, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Under these circumstances, the employer may insist that the employee wear steel-toed boots.

Because the employee can’t comply, he is considered “not qualified.”

At this point, the company should explore whether it can reassign him to another job as a reasonable accommodation. If that isn’t possible, the company can consider medical leave until he can wear the boots.

For more information, you can download The Americans with Disabilities Act: Applying Performance and Conduct Standards to Employees with Disabilities for free here.

1. Get a flu shot. This is the most important step. Getting vaccinated is especially important for people at high risk for serious flu complications, including young children, pregnant women, people with chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes or heart or lung disease, and people 65 or older. People who live with high-risk people should also get a flu shot to protect their high-risk contact.
2. Take everyday preventive steps. Those include covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Even coughing into your sleeve is better than into the air. Wash your hands often with warm soap and water for at least 15 seconds. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective. If you get the flu, stay home from work. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth because germs spread that way.
3. Take flu antiviral drugs if your doctor recommends them. There are prescription pills that keep the flu virus from reproducing in your body. They can make your illness milder and prevent serious complications. These drugs work best when taken soon after symptoms begin. Flu symptoms include high fever, headache, extreme fatigue, dry cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, and muscle aches.

You can get free materials, such as handouts and posters, for your workplace from the CDC to encourage workers to take these steps. Just go to http://www.cdc.gov/flu/workplace/.