Print PDF

In this week’s Safety News Summary: You’ve got a shooter (like in the Aurora theater). What do you do? Heavy patients are weighing down hospital workers. It’s not just workplaces that are getting louder. And 21 people attending a motivational seminar burn their feet while fire walking.

Did the news coverage of the shootings in an Aurora, CO, movie theater make you think about what you’d do if someone burst into your workplace and started firing at your co-workers? Ken Oswald at SafetyCommunity.com has a comprehensive list of what you should do in his post, Active Shooter - What do you do? At The Safety Blog, Caleb Kimpel has more on addressing workplace violence in light of the Colorado shootings.

In other news, USA Today features an article on how hospitals have changed their patient lifting practices to protect healthcare employees from back injuries.

Have you thought bars and restaurants are getting louder, and it’s more difficult to hear other people when you’re dining out? You’re not imagining it, according to a report in The New York Times. The Times measured noise levels in bars, restaurants and gyms and found some “dangerous decibels.”

Finally this week, I’ve never been a fan of some of those team building exercises that companies want to run. I found out in grade school that I’m not good at making things out of index cards and paper clips and don’t need to be reminded of it as an adult.

Anyway, our last featured story this week from FindLaw.com tells of 21 people whose feet were burned when they participated in a fire walk led by motivational speaker Tony Robbins. Oh, and the people were employed by Oprah. Let’s hope this is a workplace injury you never have to deal with.

Have you read something on the web about safety that you’d like to share with other Safety News Alert readers? Let us know about it in the comments below, and we might feature it in next week’s Safety News Summary.

Tags: Aurora shootings, fire walk, lifting patients, loud workplaces