A Review of United States Arboricultural Operation Fatal and Nonfatal Incidents (2001–2017): Implications for Safety Training

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-83
Author(s):  
John Ball ◽  
Shane Vosberg ◽  
Timothy Walsh

The objective of this study was to identify and quantify the hazards present during arboricultural operations. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration Fatality and Catastrophe incident database and other Bureau of Labor Statistic sources were analyzed for arboricultural operation incidents within the 17-year period from 2001 through 2017. There were 865 fatal and 441 nonfatal incidents reviewed from this period. The leading four fatal incidents, from the largest to the smallest number of fatalities, were climber falls, workers struck by a falling tree, workers making indirect contact with an electric current, and workers struck by a falling branch. Climber falls were also the leading incident for severe nonfatal injuries, followed by ground workers struck by a falling branch, workers struck by a chain saw, and falls by aerial device operators. The American National Standards Institute Z133 American National Standard for Arboricultural Operations—Safety Requirements establishes safety requirements and recommendations for arboricultural operations in the United States. It addresses common hazard sources and has guidelines to avoid, eliminate, or reduce them. Safety training programs should emphasize the most common hazard sources for fatal and nonfatal incidents and follow the ANSI Z.

Safety ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athena Ramos ◽  
Gustavo Carlo ◽  
Kathleen Grant ◽  
Casper Bendixsen ◽  
Axel Fuentes ◽  
...  

Immigrants comprise a large percentage of the agricultural labor force in the United States. They are a vulnerable worker population and often have fewer occupational and social protections. Latino immigrant cattle feedyard workers (N = 68; 59 men; mean age = 38.7 years) in the central Midwest reported on their perceptions and preferences for job-related safety training and practices. Preliminary findings indicate that approximately 40% of workers reported that they had not received any health or safety training from their current employer, and only about 13% had ever participated in any Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safety training program. In-person training, videos, or shadowing another worker were the most frequent methods of safety training reported by those who had received training. More than 90% were interested in receiving more information about health and safety related to their job. Workers preferred that safety information be provided through in-person training at the job site, videos (particularly those accessible through media sources such as YouTube), and written materials. Specific topics that workers were interested in obtaining more information about included zoonoses, low-stress cattle handling, injury prevention, hazard and injury reporting, chemical and equipment safety, and teamwork. Furthermore, a majority of participants preferred to receive information in Spanish. Results may help guide the development of future materials and training strategies to better suit the needs of the growing immigrant workforce in production agriculture.


Author(s):  
Richard M. Lynch ◽  
Ismaila Mbaye

An industrial hygiene review was conducted in pesticide, asbestos, and cement manufacturing facilities in Senegal to provide the Senegalese Ministry of Labor with recommendations for improving working conditions. Findings show severe under-reporting of occupational illnesses, and major shortcomings in terms of worker training, personal protective equipment use, emergency planning, and other traditional industrial hygiene controls. Despite these findings, a comparison between observed conditions and the proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Safety and Health Program Management standard shows that these companies would probably not be considered grossly non-compliant by U.S. standards, and suggests that strong regulatory enforcement of actual working conditions remains a necessity. This analysis also suggests that compliance with the proposed standard would not in itself assure that such dire shortcomings as were observed could not legally exist here in the United States. Key differences between the political economies of developing nations and the United States suggest that improving working conditions requires a comprehensive planning effort addressing poverty reduction, environmental considerations, and economic growth. Three fundamental questions are proposed which should be addressed to improve working conditions in Senegal.


Author(s):  
Jas Devgun ◽  
Harold Peterson ◽  
Cheryl Trottier

A number of initiatives have been underway in the United States in the past several years in the area of clearance of solid materials both at the federal level and at the industry and professional society level. Clearance of solid materials is an issue that has significant economic consequences for decommissioning projects where large quantities of such materials are generated. The cost of treating these materials as low-level radioactive waste (LLW) is prohibitive. A regulatory mechanism could remove economic burdens on such projects while maintaining the public health and safety standards. At the federal level major initiatives are being undertaken by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also taken some steps in this area under their Clean Materials Program. In the private sector, the nuclear industry is active through the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). The Health Physics Society (HPS) prepared the ANSI/HPS N13.12 standard about four years ago, which has been approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The American Nuclear Society (ANS) has recently released a Position Statement on the clearance of licensed materials from nuclear sites and the Society has been active in the national deliberations on this subject. The National Academies (NA) conducted a study for the NRC on alternatives for controlling the release of solid materials and their report was issued in 2002. The steel and concrete industries have also participated in the NRC rulemaking process and are opposed to any release standards for materials that may have residual radioactivity on them. This was clear from industry representatives at the stakeholder workshops conducted by the NRC as a part of the enhanced rulemaking effort. A review of all these initiatives shows the intensity of the debate but it also highlights the need for one national standard, preferably dose based, thus allowing site-specific application through derived radioactivity limits. Thus, interagency cooperation and agreement are necessary at the federal level. Consensus is necessary with standard writing organizations, professional societies, public and other stakeholders. This paper provides an overview of the developments in the United States in the area of clearance of solid materials, a brief comparison to international activities, and a discussion of key points for consensus building that is necessary for any initiative to succeed.


Author(s):  
Dawn N. Castillo ◽  
Timothy J. Pizatella ◽  
Nancy A. Stout

This chapter describes occupational injuries and their prevention. It describes in detail the causes of injuries and epidemiology of injuries. Occupational injuries are caused by acute exposure in the workplace to safety hazards, such as mechanical energy, electricity, chemicals, and ionizing radiation, or from the sudden lack of essential agents, such as oxygen or heat. This chapter describes the nature and the magnitude of occupational injuries in the United States. It provides data on risk of injuries in different occupations and industries. Finally, it discusses prevention of injuries, using a hierarchical approach to occupational injury control.


Author(s):  
Mary Donnelly ◽  
Jessica Berg

This chapter explores a number of key issues: the role of competence and capacity, advance directives, and decisions made for others. It analyses the ways these are treated in the United States and in selected European jurisdictions. National-level capacity legislation and human rights norms play a central role in Europe, which means that healthcare decisions in situations of impaired capacity operate in accordance with a national standard. In the United States, the legal framework is more state-based (rather than federal), and the courts have played a significant role, with both common law and legislation varying considerably across jurisdictions. Despite these differences, this chapter identifies some similar legal principles which have developed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan B. Perlin

Ten years ago, it would have been hard to imagine the publication of an issue of a scholarly journal dedicated to applying lessons from the transformation of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Health System to the renewal of other countries' national health systems. Yet, with the recent publication of a dedicated edition of the Canadian journal Healthcare Papers (2005), this actually happened. Veterans Affairs health care also has been similarly lauded this past year in the lay press, being described as ‘the best care anywhere’ in the Washington Monthly, and described as ‘top-notch healthcare’ in US News and World Report's annual health care issue enumerating the ‘Top 100 Hospitals’ in the United States (Longman, 2005; Gearon, 2005).


2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 1055-1064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Bounthavong ◽  
Emily Beth Devine ◽  
Melissa L. D. Christopher ◽  
Michael A. Harvey ◽  
David L. Veenstra ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 83 (9) ◽  
pp. 1607-1618
Author(s):  
E. RICKAMER HOOVER ◽  
NICOLE HEDEEN ◽  
AMY FREELAND ◽  
ANITA KAMBHAMPATI ◽  
DANIEL DEWEY-MATTIA ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, and restaurants are the most common setting of foodborne norovirus outbreaks. Therefore, prevention and control of restaurant-related foodborne norovirus outbreaks is critical to lowering the burden of foodborne illness in the United States. Data for 124 norovirus outbreaks and outbreak restaurants were obtained from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance systems and analyzed to identify relationships between restaurant characteristics and outbreak size and duration. Findings showed that restaurant characteristics, policies, and practices were linked with both outbreak size and outbreak duration. Compared with their counterparts, restaurants that had smaller outbreaks had the following characteristics: managers received food safety certification, managers and workers received food safety training, food workers wore gloves, and restaurants had cleaning policies. In addition, restaurants that provided food safety training to managers, served food items requiring less complex food preparation, and had fewer managers had shorter outbreaks compared with their counterparts. These findings suggest that restaurant characteristics play a role in norovirus outbreak prevention and intervention; therefore, implementing food safety training, policies, and practices likely reduces norovirus transmission, leading to smaller or shorter outbreaks. HIGHLIGHTS


2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 705-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul B. Greenberg ◽  
Annika Havnaer ◽  
Thomas A. Oetting ◽  
Francisco J. Garcia-Ferrer

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