This health, safety and environment electronic update comes from Chip Dawson and the Rochester Business Alliance as a service to member companies. There are currently 285 names on the list.

ANSI Z15.1 Information Available from ASSE...The national consensus standard on Motor Vehicle Operations, written in 2006, has been approved by ANSI and is administered by the American Society of Safety Engineers. The standard covers all kinds of business vehicle operations and has good potential to help employers reduce vehicle crashes and limit legal liability. Attorney Adele L. Abrams makes the crash/liability connection with the fact that 62 percent of vehicles occupied by a fatally injured worker were registered to a business or to the government. Employers, she says, have tremendous liability exposure, especially if third-party (nonemployee) individuals are injured or killed. For an extensive discussion of the new standard, and the full Abrams article, click here for a newsletter on the subject.

NIOSH Hearing Test Fact Sheet...Many workers receive an audiogram (hearing test) at some point, especially if they are in a hearing conservation program, but what do the results mean? This single page (two-sided) fact sheet contains important answers to frequent questions workers ask about their audiograms. To download, click here.

Find Safety Pay Rates...Interested in the mean and median pay rates for Occupational Safety Specialists? If you are, you can go to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle ROCDOCS page and find the data for the Rochester metro area ($59,700 for the 150 people employed in the field around here) or any other metro area in the country. You can also find pay rates for hundreds of other jobs. You'll find it all here.

Study Sheds Light On Consumer Expectations...In the first major study to combine field observations with a national survey on purchasing behavior and social values, increasingly conscious consumers are demanding that companies be transparent about their practices and accountable for their impact on people and the planet. According to the inaugural BBMG Conscious Consumer Report, nearly nine in ten Americans say the words "conscious consumer" describe them well and are more likely to buy from companies that manufacture energy efficient products (90 percent), promote health and safety benefits (88 percent), support fair labor and trade practices (87 percent) and commit to environmentally-friendly practices (87 percent), if products are of equal quality and price. Overall, the study makes it clear that consumers expect the companies they deal with to be highly responsible and trustworthy. With respect to workplace safety, 81 percent of study respondents said one of their top issues was for the companies with whom they deal to provide fair wages and safe working conditions. To learn more about the study, and to order the complete BBMG Conscious Consumer Report, visit their web site.

Construction Ergonomics...If you employ people who perform heavy maintenance or construction work - or contract for construction work - and have concerns about their ergonomic well-being, see the new NIOSH publication "Simple Solutions: Ergonomics for Construction Workers". You can download the entire publication - or just those sections you need - by clicking here.

Preventing Overhead Power Line Deaths...NIOSH has prepared a detailed information sheet addressing the problem of high voltage power line contact by metal ladders. From 1992 through 2005, there were 154 deaths from contact of this type and frequently involved workers who were unaware of the presence of the lines or of the amount of current they carried. If you have power lines in proximity to your work location where employees or vendors might be working near them with ladders or other conductive tools or equipment, download the information sheet here.

Recall of Dewalt Cordless Drills...The CPSC has announced a recall of several models of cordless drills due to potential overheating of the trigger switch. The drills were sold between June 2006 and December 2007 for between $180 and $280. For details, click here.

MetLife Survey Has Safety Implications...For the first time in the five-year history of the MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends, "retaining employees" became the most frequently cited "most important" objective of employers offering benefits. Overall, 55 percent of participating employers rated employee retention as one of their most important goals in assembling a benefits program, and half ranked controlling health and welfare benefits costs as a top objective. These two goals are top-of-mind for all companies, from the very largest to the smallest. What's interesting about these findings that drew input form over 1,000 employee benefits and HR managers and another 1,000 plus employees is that an effective safety process that includes the active participation of employees is one of the best ways to keep good people. It's also a great way to keep people injury-free at work and at home.

The data for wellness are impressive. According to MetLife, more than one-fourth (28 percent) of all employers - and nearly half (49 percent) of companies with 500 or more employees - offer some type of a wellness program as a workplace benefit. Additionally, the study reveals that 17% of employers offer health insurance credits for employees following wellness guidelines such as exercise, nutrition, check-ups, and disease screenings. Nearly one-third of employers with 500 or more employees (31 percent) are offering these wellness credits. For a copy of the full study report, click here and log in (for free).

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Lawrence H. "Chip" Dawson
Dawson Associates
Rochester Business Alliance Coordinating Consultant for HSE
6 Saddle Ridge Trail
Fairport, NY 14450-9584
(585) 425-1639