February 2010 - The Pump Handle - The Network of Care

DART rates and worker safety

In a post last week (and previously) I’ve mentioned the limitations of using “days away and restricted time” (DART) incidence rates as an adequate metric of an employer’s health and safety performance. This seems especially true...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 8:04 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Chemicals Policy, OSHA

NYT Budget Graphic is Worth a Thousand Words

The New York Times has translated President Obama’s 2011 budget into an interactive graphic that shows at a glance where our money’s going. With totals of $738 billion each, National Defense and Social Security account for one-third of the block. Medicare...

Published Tue, Feb 02 2010 3:17 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Healthcare

Peer review problems: just in the Nature of things

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure The Nature blog, The Great Beyond, has an interesting although not surprising report of accusations on BBC that a cabal of researchers has been impeding publication of important stem cell research to help themselves...

Published Wed, Feb 03 2010 6:21 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Science

More on the Importance of Agencies

Following Tim Dickinson’s Rolling Stone article about what Lisa Jackson is accomplishing at EPA, John B. Judis publishes a piece in the New Republic about the Obama “revolution” going on as Obama appointees at multiple federal agencies enthusiastically...

Published Thu, Feb 04 2010 11:10 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Regulation, Environmental Protection Agency, OSHA

Random thoughts on CDC’s swine flu effort: epidemiology and surveillance

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure We still don’t know if we are experiencing a lull in flu or the virus has burned itself out for the season, but it’s as good a time as any to reflect a bit on where we’ve been and where we...

Published Fri, Feb 05 2010 7:58 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Influenza

Portland Models Cycling Planning

Portland, Oregon is already a model city in many ways, including an impressive public transit system and a high rate of bicycle commuting. Now, reports Joseph Rose of The Oregonian/Associated Press, Portland’s City Council is poised to approve a $613...

Published Fri, Feb 05 2010 7:52 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health

Energy Plant Explosion Kills Five

Yesterday afternoon, a massive explosion at an under-construction Connecticut power plant killed five workers and wounded several more. Workers at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown, CT were reportedly purging a natural gas line, and the explosion was...

Published Mon, Feb 08 2010 12:14 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH

Your home is your (dangerous) castle

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure Most people feel safe at home, but statistically it’s not the safest place to be, at least in terms of being injured (here injury includes not only trauma but poisoning, but if we restrict it to trauma...

Published Tue, Feb 09 2010 8:38 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Safety

Is Middeltown Mayor speaking for OSHA?

Officials from state and federal agencies have begun investigating the cause of the deadly explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown, CT that took the lives of Peter Chetulis, Ronald J. Crabb, 42, Raymond Dobratz, 58, Chris Walters, 42, and Roy...

Published Tue, Feb 09 2010 1:16 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, OSHA, US Chem Safety Board

Diagnosing Shortfalls in the Diagnostic Manual

The American Psychiatric Association has just released draft revisions for the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) for a two-month comment period. (The DSM-5 will be published in May 2013.) Because mental...

Published Wed, Feb 10 2010 4:42 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Health

When old folks get the shaft

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure Being over 65 I’m an older adult, according to the author’s definition (as reported in the press release, at least), and like everyone else I frequently take elevators. Maybe not as frequently as...

Published Thu, Feb 11 2010 7:10 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Safety

Faces of diacetyl danger

Reporter Anietra Hamper of Columbus (OH)’s WBNS puts names and faces to the serious health consequences linked with exposure to the butter-flavoring agent diacetyl. In part I of her six-month investigation, Common Food Flavoring Changed Lives Forever...

Published Fri, Feb 12 2010 10:27 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Flavoring Workers' Lung (Popcorn/Diacetyl), OSHA

MSHA sets a low bar for mine operators

MSHA’s Assistant Secretary Joe Main announced at public events last week in Austin, TX and Charleston, WV his “Rules to Live By” campaign. It’s described as “a new outreach and enforcement program designed to strengthen efforts...

Published Mon, Feb 15 2010 10:21 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Mining, Safety

North Carolina to get new State Lab. Hope it isn’t a public health hazard.

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure Congratulations, North Carolina. You are getting brand new $52 million facility for your State Public Health Laboratory and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, each in separate wings of a 220,000 square foot...

Published Wed, Feb 17 2010 6:23 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety

Health Insurance Premiums Jump – and Remind Us Why We Need Reform

Healthreform.gov has compiled examples of some insurers hiking their premiums by scary amounts (footnotes omitted): Anthem Blue Cross of California announced that its individual market premiums would rise by as much as 39 percent in the coming months...

Published Thu, Feb 18 2010 4:56 PM by The Pump Handle