I wanted to share this poem with you.

 

"I chose to look the other way I could have saved a life that day, but I chose to look the other way. It wasn't that I didn't care, I had the time, and I was there. But I didn't want to seem a fool, or argue over a safety rule. I knew he'd done the job before, if I called it wrong, he might get sore. The chances didn't seem that bad. I've done the same, he knew I had. So I shook my head and walked on by, he knew the risks as well as I. He took the chance, I closed an eye, and with the act, I let him die. I could have saved a life that day, but I chose to look the other way. Now every time I see his wife, I'll know I should have saved his life. That guilt is something I must bear, but it isn't something you need share. If you see a risk that others take, that puts their health or life at stake. The question asked, or thing you say, could help them live another day. If you see a risk and walk away, then hope you never have to say, I could have saved a life that day, but I chose to look the other way."

                                                -unknown

Simply look out for yourselves and for each other.

 

 

This next story comes to us from Paul Ceccarelli. How he dealt with his First Aid situation.

 

"It was a nice fall day in October of 2004 when I decided to tackle my next homeowner project. It was time to replace the windows in the front of my house. Now, this is a project that seemed relatively easy to me, since I had been doing carpentry work on and off for over 25 years.

So out come the old windows and time to get ready to put in the new ones, but wait...the new windows are a little bit smaller. No problem, I'll just cut a few 2 x 4's and back in business.

So I have a 2 x 4 on the saw ready to cut and then a second later my arm is in the chop-saw getting cut. It only took a second and now I had an arm that was cut clear to the bone. Since I have been through First Aid Training, I did not panic and put direct pressure with a towel immediately. I called for my wife to grab more towels and to stay calm. I had no use of my hand at this point, but we managed to control the bleeding.

I was rushed to the hospital where I received over 35 stitches. After months of rehab I know have 98% use of my hand."

 

Thanks to Paul for sharing this story with us. I want to add a personal note to this story. If you don't know Paul is my farther. When I received the phone call I was on Cape Cod working. I had to drive 110 miles home to install windows so they could come home from the hospital to a weather tight house. I kept all my appendages!

So recently I have asked some associates, friends and fellow net workers to offer stories of their personal experiences dealing with or wittnesing a First Aid Emergency.

So this first story comes to you from Joe Holm:

"Last November, I was coaching my son's elementary school basketball team, and one of the players was cut pretty badly over the eye. As we were scrimmaging, one of the players who had not played before, and confused football for basketball in the rules dept, fell on top of one of the players, driving his face into the hardwood floor. The player who had his face  planted, happened to be wearing Rec spec's ( thankfully, not his glasses ) and they were driven into his eyebrow. After he sat up, there was a little blood dripping down his face, but not too bad. I removed his rec spec's and the flood began! He had a slice right across his eyebrow!! And oh by the way, it was my son... I panicked for a quick second, then reached for my "medical kit"... which consisted of one icepack, and some gauze... I went through the gauze in about 30 seconds, and had paper towels and the icepack on it to keep the swelling down and try to stop the bleeding. I was the only adult in the gym, so I had to get someone back to the gym to finish the practice so I could take my son to the hospital. He thankfully required no stitches, just glue, which he proudly showed off the next day at school with his black eye. I think the experience was more upsetting for me than it was for him. "

First off, thanks to Joe for sharing this story. Sounds like Joe did a great job handling this situation, especially because it was his own kid. Parents often time have that initial "freak-out" reaction which does not help the situation. I am happy to hear your son is ok and thank you for sharing.

The American Heart Association has released some facts and statistics that are directly related to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. I want to share some of these facts with you. For the complete list you can visit the AHA site.

About 75 to 80 percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen at HOME. This means having someone trained in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) can make a substantial difference for the survival rates of a loved ones.

Approximately 310,000 of all annual adult coronary heart disease deaths in the United States are suffered outside the hospital setting and in hospital emergency departments. Of those deaths, about 166,200 are due to sudden cardiac arrest.

These are some very important reasons why we still need people to have CPR training. With response times for medical professionals, EMT's and Paramedics, taking anywhere from 6 to 20 plus minutes, depending on location and time of day, it now becomes vital for a bystander to help with CPR.

 In addition, the use of Automated External Defibrillators (AED's) have also been playing a vital role in saving lives due to sudden cardiac arrest. This is why many companies and communitieshave introduced AED's to their safety programs.

 In closing, I ask that you ask yourself one question, and if the answer is NO than please consider going through a training course.

 If someone collapsed in front of you right now, would you know how to react?

No matter how neat and orderly your warehouse may appear, the trained safety eye can see that it is rife with opportunities for accidents and injuries. For example, stacking materials improperly or lack of forklift experience could lead to injuries and fines. You don't know what you don't know. Proper training is key in anywork place to prevent hazards.

A warehouse poses many different jobs and tasks that you need to be prepared for any potential accident or injury. Warehouse operations are governed by numerous OSHA standards including rules for walking and working surfaces, regulations governing the selection and use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and material handling and storage rules.

Here are some basic tips to safety:

--Make safety a priority in everything you do while working in the warehouse.
--Wear appropriate PPE, such as gloves, safety shoes, eye protection, and hard hats.
--Keep alert to hazards, and correct or report them when you see them.
--Pay attention to warning signs and signals-and obey them.
--Watch where you're going and focus on what you're doing.
--Pay attention to what others are doing as well. Especially keep an eye out for forklifts and other hazardous equipment.
--Stack and store materials properly so they're stable, secure, and don't create any kind of hazard-including a fire hazard.

I feel that one of the issues that indirectly affects safety in the warehouse environment is good housekeeping. Here is a list of good rules to follow:

--Don't leave items in aisles, on the floor, or perched insecurely on a surface.
--Clean up all spills immediately.
--Don't block sprinklers, fire exits, or fire extinguishers.
--Put items in their assigned places immediately rather than moving them from one stopping point to another.
--Don't leave box cutters or other sharp tools lying around. Retract their blades into the handles if the tool's design permits it.
--Keep cords and wires off the floor.
--Report loose or damaged flooring or other tripping hazards you can't fix.
--Dispose of all trash immediately in proper containers.

If you follow some of these simple guidelines you will create a safer workplace for everyone.

When I saw this article in the news today it really got to me. A 22- year- old young man was shot today when responding to a truck fire in a suburban area outside St. Louis. When he gets out of the firetruck a gunman opens fire and fatally struck Ryan Hummert and hitting two others including a police officer.

This is such a tragedy. This young man finished Fire Academy in March. He was dedicating himself to help others and this is  what one sick person did when he responded to put the fire out in his truck.

Our dedicated firefighters, EMTs, Police officers and Paramedics allow us to have a sense of safety knowing help is a phone call away. My hat is off to all of those heroes out there.

 

For the full article you can visit Fox News.

Construction supervisors in Massachusetts will soon have to attend continuing education courses in order to renew their licenses, due to a new law signed by Governor Patrick on April 10. The new law empowers the State Board of Building Regulations and Standards to develop requirements and approve courses of instruction to be offered by others for the continuing education of construction supervisors. This is a great way to encourage safety not only for the builders themselves, but the homeowners as well. The codes are always changing and unfortunately not all contractors go to renewal course. That means they might not have all the information needed to make all the right decisions. Also we are in the time of going "green" so learning about new products will allow homes and commercial property to be environmentally friendly. I am glad to see this happen. Electricians have had to get CEU credits for years now in order to maintain their license. Most of the time safety courses can be put toward CEUs for the licensing. Nice job to MA. for passing this bill.

The National registry of CPR collects data from in-hospital resuscitation events in more than 500 participating hospitals in the United States. In the latest publication, "Survival From In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest During Nights and Weekends"  the authors evaluated survival rates over a 7 year period for adults in-hospital cardiac arrest based on arrest time of day and day of week.

As expected the results showed that survival rates where worse during nights and weekends. The biggest areas of concern being operating room/postanesthesia care unit and the interventional catheterization laboratory. The differential did not hold true for the emergency or trauma units.

The authors believe that there are many factors that contribute to the decline at night and on the weekends. Some factors are Physicians perform psychomotor tasks less proficiently at night, experienced workers often times do not get scheduled on night shifts,  and fewer visitors means that the likelihood of detecting deterioration in an unmonitored patient is much less.

These are just a few reasons that are mentioned. The NRCPR believes that these stats can be fixed with additional training, such as mock codes and cardiac resuscitation simulation. Also with the addition of schedule changes taken into account alternating weekends and nights to boost proficiency.

You can follow this link to see the whole article.

Heat stroke kills over 4,000 people annually, and thousands more suffer heat-related illnesses and injuries every year. Heat illness occurs when the body retains more heat than it loses. Core temperature rises as a result. Workers are at greater risk of heat illness when they are dehydrated, not used to working in a hot environment, in poor health, older, or have had heat illness before.

Heat related illness usually have a starting point of dehydration and if ignored or accelerated can lead to heat exhaustion and eventually heat stroke. If you keep your body hydrated, you can generally keep yourself safe all summer long.

If you are someone who works in the elements or just enjoys the outdoors than DRINK FLUIDS!

Let me ask you this question, Have you ever been or are you thirsty right now?

If the answer to this questions is YES than you are or have been dehydrated. At the point that you are thirsty it is to late, it is going to be much harder to re-hydrate yourself. Preventative maitnence is the best way to go.

You have to put oil in the motor of your vehicle to keep it running smoothly and keep the internal parts lubed up. Water does the same thing for your body, you need to keep it lube up and running smooth by puttting fluids in it.

You can learn more about heat illnesses and other summer issues when you take a First Aid class. Learn how to take care of yourself and your family.

Happy Summer Everyone!

 

Effective August 1, 2008 at least one individual employed by the institution (including part time, volunteer or graduate assistant coaches, but not including student employees who are not members of the athletics training staff) certified in first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automatic external defibrillator (AED) use and familiar with the institution's emergency plan activation policies shall be present at each athletically related activity involving student-athletes.

Prior to this new legislation only the Athletic Trainer was required to be certified for practices and competitive events. Under the new guidelines more people must be trained. Now the requirement is for a greater range of activities.

An individual certified in first aid, CPR and AED must be present at any athletically related activity that is physical in nature and required by the institution (e.g., practice, competition, strength and conditioning training, weightlifting sessions).

This will also effect the non contact sports as well. An individual certified in first aid, CPR and AED must be present in practice situations like cross country runners practicing on a road course, rowers on the water or golfers on the golf course?

An individual must be present on site at each required athletically related activity to ensure adequate health and safety monitoring is being provided. Planned access to a qualified individual, such as a certified individual three to five minutes away from the court or field would not satisfy the intent. If a team splits its members into more than one group in order to conduct separate practice and conditioning activities in separate facilities, an individual employed by the institution and certified in first aid, CPR and AED must be present at each group's activities. The proposal's intent is to have certified individuals present at each athletically related activity site to ensure adequate presence for all student-athletes. It is not permissible for one person to split time between two different group‟s activities. The certified individual must be present the entire time the physical athletically related activity is conducted. For example, any practice should not start until the certified individual is present.

I commend the NCAA for doing this. They are creating a safer enviroment for all student athletes under all circumstances.  Kudos to the NCAA!