I notice them around this time of year, as school goes back after the summer – kids laden down with much more than I ever had to carry. Sadly, this can lead to chronic back problems later in life, so if you’re a parent, teacher, or caregiver, please remember that kids should not be expected to carry more than 10 to 15 percent of their own body-weight in backpacks.
Author Archives: Susan
At the SafetyCommunity.com site, members post photos and join groups that discuss ergonomics, construction, health care, machine safety, mental well-being, hearing protection, gas detection, fall protection, e-learning, and more. Why isn’t this great resource more popular?
A reader helped his boss change a light bulb in an awkward spot, two stories up on the underside of a catwalk. Two workers lowered the boss in a harness, using a rope, a D-ring, and human muscle. This was their solution to having no ladder, no scaffolding, and no lift high enough to change the bulb.
People who work with the public are exposed to everyone’s cold and flu. Couriers are at risk of infection when they touch letters and packages from sick people, as a bike courier posted on Facebook recently. She described the inconsiderate behaviour of a customer.
Here’s a story from someone who worked on a film set 10 years ago. She said she inhaled smoke on set and from a nearby paint warehouse – though she didn’t realize it at the time. A couple of years later, she thinks the exposure caused rhinitis – but good luck making a claim with a production company that doesn’t exist any more.
Four pedestrians were killed and three were seriously injured by cars in Vancouver within 10 days this summer. So far in 2011 (seven months into the year) there have been 12 pedestrian fatalities. In all of 2010, nine pedestrians were killed.
The media has reported bear attacks here in BC and now I’m trying to keep this information in perspective as I prepare for my first camping trip of the summer. I won’t allow my fear to ruin my enjoyment of the woods, so I’m reviewing some bear safety tips that I’ll share with you.
“Some of these guys are literal artists,” said John Gilder, re: the high skill level of participants at the 14th Annual BC Forklift Rally at the Cloverdale Agriplex on Saturday June 25th, 2011. He said some of them are artists using machines that are like extensions of their bodies.
A construction worker at a coffee shop told me he declined a safety mask because he had lots of nose hair to protect him. I wanted to whip out my lap top and show him the Silicosis Exposure video from WorkSafeBC.
When you enter the “Cone Zone,” you should reduce your speed, pay attention, and be respectful of the roadside workers and their workplace. That’s the message from Work Zone Safety Alliance.
