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Articles Tagged With: OSHA

  • Does med adherence affect work health?

    While medication adherence is a critical element in reducing the impact of illness, employers should view it as just one of many components that are needed in strategic employee health management initiatives.
  • Your role: Get smokers help, address relapses

    Occupational health should consider an employee's tobacco dependence as a "chronic relapsing condition," according to the Office of the Surgeon General's Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence clinical practice guideline 2008 update.
  • 'Violence is not part of anybody's job'

    After his cheek was fractured when a patient smashed a fist into his jaw in the emergency department, Jeaux Rinehart, RN, BSN, PHN, figured he'd had enough. He worked for 32 years as an emergency room nurse and loved it, but finally he could no longer tolerate patients hitting, yelling, cursing, or spitting at him.
  • OSHA records: Err on the side of documenting reportable injuries

    Is an injury covered by workers' compensation insurance? Does the worker's supervisor believe the injury didn't really happen at work? Did the employee see a health care provider?
  • Carpal tunnel: Is it work-related?

    If an employee reports carpal tunnel syndrome to his or her primary care physician, the provider may wrongly assume it's work-related and therefore, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)-recordable.
  • New OSHA requirements on chemical hazards

    Hospitals will need to retrain all their employees on chemical hazards when the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration finalizes its changes to the Hazard Communication Standard.
  • Beware of chemicals that penetrate skin

    The skin is a very effective barrier to hazards such as blood or body fluids. But because some chemicals can penetrate the skin, health care workers need to be aware of the risks and necessary protections, says Scott Dotson, PhD, CIH, an industrial hygienist with the Education and Information Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati.
  • Stairway to health: Design boost use

    When Union Pacific designed and built its new headquarters building in Omaha, NE, stairways of all things were a big part of the planning process.
  • Measles outbreaks laborious, costly

    When a single imported case of measles led to a small outbreak in Tucson, AZ, in 2008, two hospitals were forced to spend a total of some $800,000 to contain it, much of that related to ensuring the immunity of employees.
  • 'Green' movement makes hospitals safer

    Being greener is safer. As hospitals join the sustainability movement, they are making the workplace safer for their own employees.