2. Be Smart About Your Heart!
Be Smart About Your Heart!
Make the Healthy Choice the
Easy Choice
Choose Fruits and Vegetables
Increase Your Physical Activity
Participate in UCOP's Active For
Life Program
4. National Safety Council
2001 Statistics
Home
– 33,300 Deaths (One Every 16 Minutes)
– 8 Million Injuries (One Every 4 Seconds)
Work
– 4900 Deaths (One Every 107 Minutes)
– 3.7 Million Injuries (One Every 9 Seconds)
Motor Vehicles
– 44,000 Deaths (One Every 12 Minutes)
– 2.3 Million Injuries (One Every 14 Seconds)
6. Three Most Common
Causes of Home Injuries
Slips and Falls
Poisoning
Fire and Burns
7. Slips and Falls
Annual Home Slip & Fall Statistics:
– 6000 Deaths
– 5.1 Million Injuries
Elderly (Age 65 and Over)
– Leading Cause of Home Injury & Death
– >4,700 Fall-Related Deaths
– >1 Million Admitted to Hospital
Emergency Rooms for Treatment
Related to Falls
8. Slips and Falls
Lights at Top & Bathroom
Bottom of Stairs – Non-Slip Strip or
Hallways & Dark Areas Rubber Mats in Tub
of Home Well-Lit at – Grab Bars
Night with Night – Wipe Up Spills &
Lights Splashed Bathwater
Promptly
Stairs & Steps Slipping/Tripping
– Hand Rails
Hazards
– Free of Clutter
– Uneven Surfaces
– Baby Gates – Home 3/8 Inch Rise – Can
with Infants/Toddlers Cause Someone to Trip
– Cords & Wires
– Throw Rugs with Non-
Skid Backing
9. Slips and Falls
(Continued)
Use Sturdy Step Clean Up Spills,
Stools for Water & Grease
Reaching Wellness/Exercise
Follow – Improve Balance
Medication Low Heel Shoes
Instructions – Comfort
– Some Cause – Balance/Non-Slip
Dizziness – Lead
to a Fall
10. Fire and Burn Prevention
Working Smoke Alarms
– Replace Batteries at Least Once a Year
– Test Each Month – Push the Test Button
Lower Water Heater Temperature to
<120oF 120 F
O
Fire Drills
– Know How to Escape – Two Exits out of
Each Room & Designated Outside
Meeting Place
– Escape Plan – Practice Twice a Year
11. Space Heaters
Do Not Use with Extension Cords
Place on Level, Hard and Non-Flammable
Surface and Keep Away From
– Rugs, Bedding, & Drapes (At Least 3 Feet Away)
– Children, Pets, and Sleeping Persons
– From Water (Electrical Heaters)
Do Not Leave On When You Sleep
Turn Off When You Leave the Area
Use Space Heater Which Meets Latest Safety
Standards & Certified by Underwriters
Laboratory
– Automatic Shut-Off
– Proximity Sensor Shut-Off
12. Kitchen Safety
Combustibles Away Use Care in
from Stove Top Removing the
– Dishtowels, Curtains, Cover From
Potholders, Paper, etc. Recently
Pot Handles Turned Microwave Item
Inward – Steam Burns
Storage of Sharp Slipping, Tripping
Objects – Knives, Hazards in
Cleavers, etc. Kitchen
ABC Fire Extinguisher – Water, Grease,
Mats, Cords &
Wires
13. Kitchen Safety (Continued)
Stove or Range Bolted to Wall or Floor
Avoid Storing Heavy Items on Top
Shelves
Young Children in Household – Child
Safety Locks on Drawers & Cabinets
Food Safety
– Refrigerator: Label & Date All Foods
– Prevent Food Poisoning: Safe Food
Temperature Range – Below 40OF and
Over 140OF
– Food Expiration
14. Kitchen Electrical Safety
Kitchen Plugs - Ground-Fault Circuit
Interrupter (GFCI) Type
– Test Monthly
Plug in Light to GFCI
Press Test Button – Light Should Go Out & Reset
Button Should Pop Out
Press Reset Button – Light Should Go Back On
Counter Top Appliances Located Away from
Sink & Cords Away From Hot Surfaces
Appliance Electrical Cords in Good
Condition?
15. Storage/Use of Chemicals
Gasoline & Flammable Liquids
– Store Only Small Quantities in Closed
Containers Labeled, “Gasoline”
– Do Not Store in Garage or Basement
with Appliances with Pilot Lights
Avoid Using Cleaning Products and
Flammable Liquids Around Open
Flames
Bleach & Ammonia
– Do Not Mix – Creates Chlorine Gas
16. Poisonings
Lock Up Poisons & Chemicals:
Away From Food and Out of
Sight & Reach of Children
Keep Chemicals in Original
Containers
Post the Poison Control Center
Phone Number:
– 1-800-222-1222
17. Carbon Monoxide
Fuel Burning Equipment – Install a
Carbon Monoxide Detector
Do Not Run Generators Indoors,
Including the Garage
– 32 Generator-Related Fatalities
Between October & December 2006
– >64 Generator-Related Fatalities in
2005
18. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Webpage - www.cpsc.gov
Recent Recalls (February 2007)
– IBM ThinkPad Notebook Li-Ion Battery
– Mirraco BMX Bike – Faulty Weld
– Sportcraft Inflatable Bounce House - Fan
– “Claudia Jublot” Children’s Rings (Sold at
Big Lots!) – High Lead Levels
– Children’s “Kidsite” Necklace & Earring
Sets (Sold at Kmart)–High Lead Levels
February was National Heart Month. You can be smart about safeguarding your heart by increasing your physical activity and choosing healthy food. According to the American Heart Association, over the past 20 years, only 20% of Americans got enough physical activity to make a difference in their heart health. And, although it seems like people are more active than they used to be, this trend hasn’t really changed. The benefits of increased physical activity are many and can substantially reduce your health risks. For instance, physical activity: Reduces the risk of dying prematurely from heart disease. Reduces the risk of developing diabetes. Reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure or helps reduce blood pressure in people who already have high blood pressure. Reduces the risk of developing colon cancer. Reduces feelings of depression and anxiety. Helps control weight. Helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints. Improves the quality of sleep. Helps reduce stress and provides some protection against stress. The UCOP Health Care Facilitator Program, in partnership with the American Cancer Society, launched a 10-week ”Active for Life” Campaign on March 6. The Active for Life program encourages employees to be more active and to eat healthier foods on a regular basis. Participants set personal goals and earn points for engaging in physical activity, eating fruits and vegetables, and for every 8 ounces of water that is consumed. Participants who enroll in the program will receive beneficial health tips, healthy recipes, newsletters, and wellness resources and information online at a dedicated UCOP Fightcancer.org website. Additionally, there will be walking tours and fitness demonstrations presented during the 10-week campaign. Watch your email for announcements of the events!
This month’s safety meeting topic is home safety.
In the work environment employees are always trained on how to prevent injuries in the workplace. But if we look at statistics from the National Safety Council, there are actually twice as many injuries and seven times more fatalities in homes, compared to the workplace in the United States.
There are numerous safety issues in homes which can lead to injuries. This slide gives lists some potential safety issues or locations of the house where injuries or accidents have a greater probability of occurring.
This safety training will focus primarily on the three most common types of home injuries: slips and falls; poisoning; and fire & burns. We will also focus on the locations in the house where some of these hazards are found – the kitchen and the garage.
Every year in the United States there are approximately 6000 deaths and 5.1 million injuries from slips and falls in the home. If you think about 5.1 million home-related slip/fall injuries in the U.S. This equals 1.7% of the U.S. population. If we extrapolate the 1.7% to the 2000 UCOP employees - that would calculate to annually, 34 UCOP employees may be accidentally injured in a home-related slip or fall. This training will is meant to create an awareness of the slip and trip hazards to prevent these hazards from occurring in your household. Falls in the home are the leading cause of home injury and death for the elderly. In the U.S., he Home Safety Council estimate over 4700 fall-related deaths and over 1 million hospital emergency room visits related to falls among the population over the age of 65. If you have an elderly person as part of your household, or are involved in the care/well being of an elderly parent or relative, take note of some of the preventive measures in this training to minimize their risk of falling.
What are ways to prevent accidental slips and falls in the home? At the top and bottom of stairs there should be adequate lighting to allow people to see where they are stepping. At night hallways and dark areas should be well-lit with night lights or motion triggered lighting. Stairs and steps should have hand rails for people to hold onto when walking up and down the stairs. Hand rails are especially important for senior citizens who may have walking and balancing issues. Stairs should be free of clutter to prevent accidental tripping. If there are infants and toddlers in the house, baby gates should be placed on the stairs to prevent the infant/toddler from climbing up and/or falling down the stairs. The bathroom should have non-slip strips or rubber mats placed in the tub to prevent accidental slipping. If there are senior citizens in the household, grab bars should be place in the bathroom to prevent accidental slips. Make it a habit to clean up spills or splashed bathwater immediately. Check your home for possible slipping & tripping hazards - Uneven surfaces with a rise as small as 3/8 of an inch can cause someone to trip. Look for unsecured cords and wires as potential tripping hazard . Throw rugs should be equipped with a non-skid backing to prevent accidental slipping.
To prevent accidental slips and fall: When reaching, use a study step stool; 2. If you are taking medication, follow the instructions on the label. Some medications cause dizziness, which could lead to a fall; Immediately clean up spills, water and grease; Get into a wellness/exercise program. If you are fit and healthy, it improves your balance; and lastly, Wear comfortable low heel shoes. These type of shoes will improve you balance and will not be prone to slipping.
Next we’ll discuss fire and burn prevention. Make sure your home has working smoke alarms. If you do not have a smoke alarm equipped with the 10-year lithium-ion batteries, make it a habit to annually replace your smoke alarm batteries. Each month, push the “test” button to make sure the smoke alarm is operational. To prevent accidental scalds from hot water, lower the temperature of your hot water heater to or below 120 O F. Establish twice a year fire drills. Develop and implement an escape plan for your home. Know how to escape out of every room in the house. Find 2 exits out of every room. Establish a designated meeting place outside the home where everyone is to meet following the emergency evacuation.
During the cold winter months improper use of space heaters can result in fires or asphyxiation from improper use. Do not use electrical space heaters with extension cords. Electrical heaters draw a lot of amperage and could eventually result in an electrical fire if the amperage is greater that the rating for the extension cord If you must use an extension cord, it should be rated at least #12 or #14 gauge (The lower the number the higher amount of wattage the electrical cord can carry). Never use a #16 or #18 gauge extension cord with electrical heaters. Place the space heater on a level, hard, non-flammable surface and keep the space heater at least 3 feet away from combustible materials such as rugs, carpet, bedding, and drapes. Keep the space heater away from children, pets, and persons who are sleeping. Never leave the space heater on when you fall asleep. Turn off the space heater when you leave the area. Only use space heaters which meet the latest safety standards, and heaters which are certified by Underwriters Laboratory (UL). The latest safety standard - Heaters also have an automatic shut off after a certain period of time and also have an automatic shut off if the heater is knocked over. Some of the newer heaters also have a proximity sensor and will turn off automatically if an item is too close to the heater.
Next we’ll discuss is kitchen safety. Due to the nature of operations in the kitchen, there is a greater possibility for accidental kitchen-related injuries from fires, burns, cuts, electrocution, and slipping/tripping. Keep combustible materials such as dishtowels, curtains, potholders, and paper away from the stove top. While cooking, turn the pot handles inward to prevent the pots from being accidentally knocked over. Use caution when you store sharp objects such as knives, cleavers, or other sharp/pointed objects. Make sure these items are stored in a manner to prevent accidental cuts or stabbings. Knives should not be stored on counter tops in households where there are children present. Children could climb onto the counter tops and the knives can fall on them. Place knives and forks faced down in the dishwasher in case a child or an adult may accidentally reach or fall into an opened dishwasher. Have a charged ABC fire extinguisher accessible in the kitchen. After microwaving an item, use care in removing the cover to prevent steam burns. Look for potential slipping and tripping hazards in the kitchen: water, grease, mats, cords, and wires.
Continuing on with kitchen safety: Stoves or ranges should be bolted to either the wall or floor of the kitchen to avoid tip over hazards; Avoid storing heavy items on the top shelves. Heavy items could fall on you when you reach up to retrieve the item, or fall onto your head if you are in the kitchen during an earthquake; If you have young children in the household, - Install child safety locks on your drawers and cabinets to prevent the young child from getting into the drawers/cabinets. A young child could put items into his/her mouth and could be poisoned or choke on small items in the drawers/cabinets. Food safety tips – Label and date all food items in your refrigerator; To prevent food poisoning from bacteria (Salmonella, Listeria, etc.), the safe temperature range for food storage is below 40 O F and above 140 O F; Always check food items for their expiration date.
Electrical hazards in the kitchen could lead to electrocution or fires. To prevent accidental electrocution, the kitchen electrical plugs should be the ground-fault circuit interrupter type, or GFCI. A GFCI monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral .(i.e., the ground). If there is any imbalance , it trips the circuit . The GFCI senses a mismatch as small as 4 or 5 milliamps, and it can react as quickly as one-thirtieth of a second and shut off the current, and thus preventing a person from accidental electrocution. All GFCIs should be tested once a month to make sure they are working properly and are protecting you from a electrocution. To test a GFCI, first plug a night light or lamp into the outlet. The light should be on. Then, press the GFCI’s &quot;TEST&quot; button. The GFCI's &quot;RESET&quot; button should pop out, and the light should go out. If the &quot;RESET&quot; button pops out but the light does not go out, the GFCI is was improperly wired. Contact an electrician to correct the wiring. If the &quot;RESET&quot; button does not pop out, the GFCI is defective and should be replaced. If the GFCI is functioning properly, and the lamp goes out, press the &quot;RESET&quot; button to restore power to the outlet. Make it a habit to keep appliances away from the sink and electrical cords away from hot surfaces. Periodically inspect the electrical cords of the appliances to make sure they are in good condition. If the electrical cord is showing signs of wear or deterioration, either replace the appliance or have the electrical cord repaired.
The proper use and storage of chemicals is important to prevent fires and/or accidental poisoning. You should only store small quantities of gasoline in closed containers. Label the container “Gasoline:. Never store gasoline or flammable liquids in garages or basements where there are appliances or hot water heaters with pilot lights. Avoid using cleaning products and flammable liquids around open flames. Never mix beach and ammonia. If these two items are combined together, it will create chlorine gas. When inhaled, chlorine gas can cause pulmonary edema, which can result in severe respiratory illness. In a high enough dose, the chlorine exposure can be fatal. Chlorine gas was the “poison gas” used in World War I.
According to the United States Poison Control Centers, there are over 2 million accidental poisoning cases in the United States every year. To prevent accidental poisonings in your home, lock up your chemicals. Keep poisons away from where you store the food in you house. Keep poisons out of sight and out of reach of children. Keep chemicals in their original containers. Many accidental poisonings occur when chemical have been transferred to containers which normally contain food, and another person drinks what’s in the container. Post the poison control center phone number near the phone.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas which is a by-product of combustion. What is hazardous about carbon monoxide is that the hemoglobin in our red blood cells has a greater affinity to bind with carbon monoxide over oxygen. Therefore if there are high concentrations of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere, a person could die from asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen getting to the brain. If you have fuel burning equipment in you home, you should install a carbon monoxide detector in your home. Never run generators indoors or in the garage. Carbon monoxide can get into the house and asphyxiate the occupants in the home. During the last 3 month of 2006, there were 32 generator-related carbon monoxide fatalities in the U.S. In 2005 there were over 64 generator-related carbon monoxide fatalities in the U.S.
Lastly, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Their webpage is listed on this slide. Some recent CPSC recalls are: The long life lithium ion notebook battery for IBM ThinkPads – Found to be a potential fire hazard; The Mirraco BMX Bike was found to have a faulty weld in the front wheel. The weld could fail and cause the bike rider to fall; The Sportcraft Inflatable Bounce House was found to have a defective fan and plastic housing around the fan. The fan and housing could break and injury persons nearby; The Claudia Jublot Children’s Ring sold at “Big Lots!” have been found to have high levels of lead which children may accidentally ingest. The Kidsite necklace and earring sets sold at Kmart also have been found to have high levels of lead.