Rapid Influenza Diagnostic Tests (RIDTs) not only useless but harmful

You think that you may have H1N1 so you do what you’re supposed to do and go to see your doctor. He runs a test and tells you that the test is negative, that you don’t, in fact, have H1N1; that you just need to go home and drink plenty of liquids and take some [...]

Understanding Hazardous Chemicals (Part 1)

Hazardous Chemicals are an integral part of our lives. Whether we are talking about the workplace or the home, hazardous chemicals and substances are present. If you’ve ever had to childproof your home, you were probably suddenly made aware of how many harmful chemicals you actually had in your home. From cleaning supplies to hair [...]

Continued exposure to BPA linked to Male Sexual Dysfunction

A new study reported by Oxford Journals (www.oxfordjournals.org) and available in a downloadable pdf here, a link has been found between bisphenol-A (BPA) and adverse effects on male sexual dysfunction.
BPA is present in many plastics, epoxy resins and polycarbonates from plastic drinking bottles and baby bottles to some dental sealants. Routine urine tests have found [...]

New Additions to Z359 Fall Protection Code

Slide 1
The updated Z359 fall protection standard went into effect on Monday, Nov. 16th, 2009 and includes the addition of three major sections, sections 6, 12 and 13.
ANSI/ASSE Z359.6-2009 is entitled “Safety Requirements for Personal Fall Arrest Systems (PFAS)”. This section was written primarily for engineers who design fall-protection systems, specifically travel-restraints, vertical fall-arrest systems [...]

Finally, some good news in the H1N1 scare

Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology reported this week that previous flu infections may, at least to some degree, provide a level of immunization against H1N1.
That’s good news for a flu that is forecast to infect almost 50% of us before it’s all said and done (the regular seasonal flu, in [...]

Flu Shot Finder

Need a H1N1 shot? Are you around children under 6 months? Are you in one of the other high risk categories? You need the flu shot but can’t figure out where to find anyone who has any of the vaccine that is in such high demand that there’s a shortage?
Google to the rescue once again!
Google [...]

Poor Record on OSHA Record-keeping

Federal investigators, at the request of congress, started looking at OSHA’s record keeping this past year and the results weren’t all that great.
According to GAO (Government Accountability Office), the investigative agency of congress, OSHA fails to interview workers as a follow-up to incident reports from companies. This means that they are almost exclusively using data [...]

Emergency paid sick leave to be guaranteed?

Rep. George Miller, D-California and Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-California want to make sure that you stay home if and when you get H1N1 and don’t instead, go to work and infect others.
I have talked about this here on this blog in the past; it doesn’t do a lot of good to tell employees to stay [...]

Yeah! That’s Safe! Not!

Okay, it’s been a while so here’s another collection of photos…
(These photos taken from http://thereifixedit.com/)

Prepare now or pay later

One of the hardest things that we have to deal with as parents is watching our children suffer the consequences of not being prepared. If they don’t prepare for the test, they flunk. If they don’t get ready in time in the morning they end up being late and suffering the consequences (assuming you don’t [...]