Tidbits – 11/05/07

Fewer US Workers Got Hurt/Sick on the Job in 2005
The rate of non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses throughout the United States dropped slightly in 2005 compared to 2004. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says the rate among private industry employers was 4.6 per 100 equivalent full-time workers, compared to 4.8 per 100 in 2004.

Still, according to BLS, 4.2 million non-fatal injuries/illnesses occurred in private injury workplaces in
2005 – including 2.2 million that involved either days away from work, job transfers or restricted duties,
or a combination of those.

Recent Mining Fatalities: Year to date there have been 56 fatalities in mining 26 in Coal and 30 in Metal/Non-metal compared to 67 (43 in Coal and 24 in Metal/Non-metal) at this time last year. Please remind employees to work safely now that days are short and the weather is changing. Focus on the task as hand…Safety Pays!

How True
“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” Norman Vincent Peale

The Great American Smoke-out
This year the Annual Smoke-Out is scheduled for November 15th, 2006. This is an excellent time to quit smoking. Smoking is an addiction, so quitting may not be easy. However, there are several smoking cessation programs out there and help may be also be available through your company EAP. Here are a few reasons to quit:
-Annually, more than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. are from smoking related illnesses.
-If all women quit smoking during pregnancy, about 4,000 new babies would not die each year.
-Among infants to 18 months of age, approximately 300,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia are attributed to secondhand smoke, annually.
-Quitting smoking cuts your risk of lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, other cancers, lung diseases and respiratory illnesses.

Go for the optional side air bag
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) estimates 2,000 lives could be saved, annually, if
every vehicle had this safety feature. A recent study found that side airbags providing head protection
cut a driver’s death risk by 37%. Those protecting the chest and abdomen also cut the risk of death by more then 25%. Side-impact airbags have been around since the mid-1990s and roughly 80% of new
cars sold have them available as standard or optional equipment. Pickup trucks lag behind passenger cars with side airbag available only in about 50% of the new pickups on the market.

Quote of the week: Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt