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JLG® ClearSky Smart Fleet™ turns connectivity into interactivity

 
Next-generation IoT system digitizes daily processes, adds capabilities, streamlines logistics and provides actionable, on-demand machine insights.




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Safety on the digital highway: Cybersecurity in freight trucking

As technology plays an ever-greater role in the shipping and logistics industry, bad actors have found new ways to infiltrate every part of a freight company. Here’s how trucking companies can protect themselves against cybercrime.




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Combilift launches Combi Safe-Lift to address forklift overloading

The new device includes an anti-overload sensor and an alarm to alert operators of potential risks.




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Memorial Day is the fourth most dangerous holiday for driver fatalities

The research highlights the average number of fatalities that normally occur per month and per day of the month and compares these figures with the average number of fatalities during each national holiday. 




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Elevating construction equipment safety: Strategies that deliver

Actions to reduce risk can range from using sensors for better construction fleet management to holding periodic training sessions about emerging issues.




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Implementing a Safety Management System (SMS) in aircraft maintenance operations

It seems like aircraft incidents have become more frequent, whether it’s a crash or disappearance. This should catch the attention of aircraft facilities and manufacturers.




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Fourth of July: America's second deadliest driving holiday

Driving during a national holiday is always a risk. Stay safe out there!




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Optimizing vehicle maintenance for safety and compliance

In the manufacturing and construction industries, proper vehicle maintenance is not just about keeping the wheels turning.




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Young people are being overlooked in opioid misuse prevention programs

Researchers at the National Safety Council and the University of Michigan found that about one in 20 adolescents ages 10 to 17 and one in 10 young adults ages 18 to 25 report prescription opioid misuse, based on a new review published in Preventive Medicine. However, effective intervention programs are not in place to address prescription opioid misuse among young people, and NSC and University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center researchers are urgently calling for evidence-based prevention programs to be developed and tested.




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Mesothelioma linked to asbestos in talcum powder

Thirty-three cases of the asbestos-related lung cancer mesothelioma draw attention to talcum powder as a non-occupational source of exposure to asbestos, according to a study in the January Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. "Our findings strongly suggest that asbestos exposure through asbestos-contaminated cosmetic talc explains cases once deemed idiopathic or 'spontaneous,'" according to the report.




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AHA: President’s proposal to eliminate FDA tobacco oversight risks public health

“We strongly oppose the administration’s proposal to create a separate government agency to oversee tobacco products. This unfortunately comes from an administration that has repeatedly placed the needs of the tobacco industry on equal footing with public health.




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Mail-order limb, rerouted nerve, and prosthetic hand grips like the real thing

Doctors met a patient at a surgical center outside Boston to invent a new operation, a way to perform arm amputations that might allow patients to move their prosthetic hands more like real ones. The right arm resting on a blue surgical drape before them came from a cadaver; it’s just the limb, ending at the shoulder. It came from the Anatomy Gifts Registry. Devising a new operation is like re-engineering the anatomy.




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Rodeos take a toll on hands & arms

In rodeo, it’s not really a matter of if you’ll get injured, but when and how badly. Last year, a major shoulder injury that tore six of the eight tendons in his riding arm took one rider out of competition for several months. Every rider who competes in professional rodeos carries a catalog of their injuries.




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Blood donations critical in fight against cancer

The American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society have partnered to launch a Give Blood to Give Time campaign to raise awareness on how blood donations help patients fighting cancer. Chemotherapy and radiation, used to treat cancer, can damage the body's ability to generate healthy blood cells and cause potentially life-threatening conditions. Blood transfusions from generous donors help to provide patients with critical clotting factors, proteins and antibodies needed to help their bodies fight back.




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CDC confirms 14th case of 2019 novel coronavirus in U.S.

The CDC yesterday confirmed another infection with 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States in California. The patient is among a group of people under a federal quarantine order because of their recent return to the U.S. on a State Department-chartered flight that arrived on February 7, 2020. All people who have been in Hubei Province in the past 14 days are considered at high risk of having been exposed to COVID-19 and subject to a temporary 14-day quarantine.




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A high-fiber diet may counteract the harmful health effects of pollutants

Research from the University of Kentucky’s Superfund Research Center (UK-SRC) shows that a diet high in fiber could possibly reverse the adverse effects that environmental toxins have on cardiovascular health. The findings are part of UK-SRC’s “Project #1,” which examines how nutrients affect toxicity caused by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in vascular tissues.




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Weekly News Round-up

The coronavirus continues to claim victims; new incidents at Chevron’s Richmond, California refinery and OSHA launches a website to help it commemorate its 50th anniversary. These were among the top stories featured on ISHN.com this week.




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Sitting more is associated with higher heart disease risk in older women

Longer sitting times were associated with higher levels of heart disease risk among overweight and obese post-menopausal women overall, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the open access journal of the American Heart Association.




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Excess costs for obese employees vary between industries

Although obese employees incur higher direct and indirect costs, the extent of obesity-related costs tends to be lower in some industrial sectors — including healthcare, reports a study in the February Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Dominique Lejeune, MSc, of Groupe d'analyse, Ltée, Montréal, QC, Canada, analyzed variations in the relationship between obesity and healthcare and other employee costs.




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EPA takes a step in PFAS Action Plan

The EPA has proposed “regulatory determinations” for two chemicals whose presence in drinking water has raised alarm among the public and health experts. The agency is proposing to regulate two contaminants perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) – but not six others: 1,1-dichloroethane, acetochlor, methyl bromide, metolachlor, nitrobenzene, and RDX.




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Here’s the latest on the coronavirus outbreak

The respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus that was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China has now been detected in 32 locations internationally, including cases United States. The virus has been named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”).




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Acoustic panels reduce the roar at a solids dewatering plant

The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority in Albuquerque, New Mexico operates a 76-million gallons per day (rated capacity) wastewater treatment plant that treats a daily average of five million gallons of sewage from New Mexico’s largest city and its surroundings.




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Slow, steady increase in exercise intensity is best for heart health

For most people, the benefits of aerobic exercise far outweigh the risks, however, extreme endurance exercise – such as participation in marathons and triathlons for people who aren’t accustomed to high-intensity exercise – can raise the risk of sudden cardiac arrest, atrial fibrillation (a heart rhythm disorder) or heart attacks, according to a new Scientific Statement published in the Association’s premier journal Circulation.




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NSC unveils comprehensive plan for presidential candidates to combat opioid misuse

The National Safety Council (NSC), in partnership with more than 50 organizations and companies nationwide, released a comprehensive, inclusive strategy to address opioid misuse that all presidential candidates – regardless of party – should either adopt in full or use to close gaps in existing plans and policies.




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Four tips to prevent & reduce musculoskeletal disorders

No magic pills make musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) disappear, yet risk, human resources and safety departments continue to buy into programs and systems that do not affectively aid in helping employees deemed the “walking wounded.” 




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The OSHA “willful” mysteries

Many of the OSHA cases that cite “willful” violations present mysteries. The mysteries are why the alleged violations were categorized as willful. These charges are not a mystery to OSHA, but they are mysteries to readers of citations. Since the penalty for a willful violation can be over $130,000, there should not be any mystery about such charges.




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Health groups join forces to help Americans control blood pressure

In a move toward meeting goals for better cardiovascular health in the United States over the next decade, the American Heart Association (AHA) is joining the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Hypertension Control Roundtable (NHCR)® along with other founding members in a public, private and non-profit collaboration committed to increasing blood pressure control rates to 80% by 2025.




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Health groups urge Supreme Court to uphold Affordable Care Act

Patient and health advocacy groups representing millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions are applauding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear arguments in the case of Texas v. United States this term. The case is the latest court challenge to the health care law known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The groups filed an amicus brief urging the Court’s swift action and citing the detrimental impacts and uncertainty patients would face were the case left at the lower court level.




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For older adults, more physical activity could mean longer, healthier lives

Two studies demonstrate that older adults may be able to live longer, healthier lives by increasing physical activity that doesn’t have to be strenuous to be effective, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention | Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions 2020. The EPI Scientific Sessions, March 3-6 in Phoenix, is a premier global exchange of the latest advances in population-based cardiovascular science for researchers and clinicians.




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Colorectal cancer burden shifting to younger individuals

The burden of colorectal cancer is swiftly shifting to younger individuals as incidence increases in young adults and declines in older age groups, according to Colorectal Cancer Statistics 2020, a publication of the American Cancer Society. A sign of the shift: the median age of diagnosis has dropped from age 72 in 2001-2002 to age 66 during 2015-2016.




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Weekly news round-up

Firefighters’ deaths lead to a lawsuit against a construction company; nurses get the recognition they deserve and new studies show what we’ve known all along: staying active can help you live longer.




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Consider ergonomics to reduce materials handling

Warehouse hazards are often the cause of workplace accidents. Choosing the correct type of storage will greatly reduce the potential hazard in a facility. The correct storage medium will reduce improper lifting, reaching and travel distance to retrieve an item.




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For your health & wellness: Sleeping habits

Sleeping well, long enough and having regular bedtimes, in addition to meeting the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) guidelines, may help reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases.




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Hydration benefits: Why water is the essence of good health

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recommends drinking up to 3 liters of fluid a day. Water is vital for all cell function. It helps your brain to produce hormones and neurotransmitters, supports the lubrication of joints, keeps your skin cool through sweating or respiration, and your body to excrete waste.




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Understanding and reducing effects of stress on your health

Did you know that our body does not discriminate between sources of stress? It simply responds to the stress. So, whether the stress is coming from an actual event, or simply a thought, the body may react in a similar way. Now, in these times when there is so much uncertainty, stress can have a huge impact on our bodies.




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Focus on organizational and human factors impacting risk

Changes in safety and health approaches are needed both in and outside of government. Many established beliefs and assumptions concerning government operations currently are being re-evaluated and questioned. This reset presents an opportunity.




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Leaders: A purposeful presence can open up safety dialog

When I coach leaders, I often hear that the image of wallowing stays with them long after I’m gone - even when they don’t feel like wallowing! Ultimately, the thought of wallowing moves their thoughts to intentions, and then, purposeful actions.




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What legacy are you leaving?

We live, we love, we learn, and we leave a legacy.” This profound quotation from Stephen R. Covey has fueled my motivation to keep teaching at Virginia Tech well beyond retirement age and a comfortable pension.




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Provide employees with the tools to support your expectations

Expectations drive both the leader and follower. Various forms of research suggest that when leaders have higher types of expectations for their followers, those followers often live up to the expectations.




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Positive & negative workplace safety vibes

How do people get to a point where they fear safety? How can something like a checklist or an SOP or a safety manager create fear? Our body is equipped with automatic protective wiring that reacts to scary stimuli with a fear response.




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Leave a legacy of helping others

For the past 30 years, I’ve been driven to be the best and do the best I can – in nearly any context, personally and professionally. Along the way, I’ve discovered various dimensions of growth that have helped me succeed. I want to pass them on, and share them, so they might help you.




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A story of team defense: What is resilience leadership?

The hard part is getting teams to buy into the team vision to play selfless and trust that if they focus on all the intangibles, the scoring will come and at the end of the game the scoreboard will reflect their efforts.




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Safety directions need to be explicit

With more experience traveling the real world seeing safety programs in action (or inaction) I realized that words matter. They not only communicate, but they can shape the very approach you take to your safety programming. They can get you stuck or they can liberate your safety culture.




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‘Safety culture’ is a messy concept

The term “Safety culture” has become like the term “engagement” in popular management writings. There is no common agreement on the term. We are left with (mis)interpretations of terms like “safety culture,” which lead to haphazard attempts at changing organizations toward improvement.




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Want better safety outcomes? Try servant leadership!

Twenty-five years ago, as a young safety professional, I struggled to find a set of leadership practices I could call my own. In 1996, I wrote about many of the leadership practices I was already using but found more clearly established in Servant Leadership (Sarkus, 1996).




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Workers help craft the best safety rules

Rules are so easy to make that safety offices are often accused of being a “Rule Mill” because they continuously produce their rule-of-the month. Why do we create so many rules? One particular cog in our mill that causes us to create rules is incidents. When we suffer an incident, we want to throw every tool in the arsenal to keep it from happening again.




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Arc blasts can ruin hearing

Hearing loss isn’t the first injury that comes to mind when an arc fault occurs. The light and heat emitted by the massive electrical explosion – the arc flash – can cause life-threatening and life-altering burns to the skin, compression injuries and loss of limbs if workers are left unprotected.




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Personality tendencies impact performance

It wasn’t until recently that we started understanding that people with different personalities tend to naturally pay more attention to safety attributes like work environment, people, equipment, processes, etc. based on their personality tendencies.




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How do you assess risks? It hinges on leadership & culture

Not many people walk around throughout their day with a risk assessment in hand. We should, however, always have an informal risk assessment tool in our mind that allows us to perform at least a cursory assessment until we can dig deeper or in a more formal way.




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Leadership gaps & situational awareness

The knowledge gap within utilities, construction, and related industries is more of a growing concern than ever — especially when it comes to serious injuries and exposures.