12/3/2018 Our nation – especially in the West – has been experiencing an increased number of wildfires. According to temperature records from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (aka NOAA), 14 of the 20 largest wildfires in California have occurred over the past 15 years. At the same time, the western US has experienced some of its warmest temperatures on record, with 10 of the past 15 years among the warmest years on record. Read more…
11/26/2018 In recent years, genetically modified organisms or GMOs, have become a term that has entered the American lexicon. We can go to our supermarkets and see certain foods that are labelled “No GMOs” as an indication that the product inside the package is assured to be something for which our health shall not be compromised. Through brief conversations with various people, it seems that most of us think that products that do not contain Read more…
11/19/2018 Don’t want to put a damper on anyone’s Thanksgiving, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced a multistate outbreak of salmonella associated with raw turkey products. To complicate matters, this recent health concern is linked to a bacteria strain that is resistant to any antibacterial drugs, thereby compounding the health effects on humans. Just as an FYI, according to the CDC, when two or more people get the same illness Read more…
11/12/2018 It should not be surprising when organizations such as the AAA forecast that the days immediately before and after Thanksgiving and Christmas are some of the busiest travel days of the year. And while many Americans will take to the sky and wind up waiting in airport terminals for hours due to delays and cancelled flights, many of us will be traveling on our nations’ highways. And as is typical for this time of Read more…
11/5/2018 Where did this year go! Hard to believe but the 2018 Holiday season is here and already, so many of us kids (adults??!!) have celebrated Halloween. And while we are looking forward to having great times with family and friends, it is important that we all keep safety in mind. It’s not that S&H professionals want to put a damper on everyone’s good time, but rather; we want to ensure that your holidays remain Read more…
10/29/2018 Hexavalent chrome? How’s that different from regular chrome? First of all, Chrome – or chromium – is a chemical element with the symbol Cr and atomic number of 24. It is the first element in group 6 in the periodic table, making it a refractory metal, of which molybdenum (Mo), tungsten (W), and seaborgium (Sg) are also in this group. Refractory metals are extremely resistant to heat and wear. As a transition metal, chromium’s Read more…
10/22/2018 Over the past few years the Eastern seaboard – from Florida to Boston and even on the Gulf coast – we have witnessed numerous communities devastated by tropical storms and Hurricanes. Most recently, Michael overwhelmed the Florida panhandle and, in spite of all the warnings from weather stations and emergency services, imploring those in the path of these torrential weather systems to leave and seek shelter far away, there were many who, for whatever Read more…
10/15/2018 Earlier this year, a legal decision was announced, declaring that Roundup, the most popular weed killer in the world, gave a former school groundskeeper terminal cancer. The groundskeeper, 46 years old, applied Roundup weed killer 20 to 30 times per year as part of his job. He testified that during his work, he had two accidents in which he was soaked with the product. The first accident happened in 2012. Two years later, in Read more…
10/8/2018 I recently become a certified instructor for first aid/CPR and AED use. As part of my instructor’s course, film clips were presented that illustrated various scenarios of different types of medical emergencies. In every display the qualified individual appears on the scene and takes control of the situation by first assessing the injured person, followed by instructing bystanders to “Call EMS and get a first aid kit and AED!” I couldn’t help but ask Read more…
10/1/2018 Materials handling is a topic that encompasses both manual and equipment operations. Presently, OSHA regulations address only the latter. 29 CFR 1910, subpart N, Materials Handling and Storage (for General Industry operations) and 29 CFR 1926, subpart H, Materials Handling, Storage, Use and Disposal (for Construction Industry); both have a focus on heavy equipment, with no information or process for managing proper manual handling or materials transfer. While OSHA promulgated an ergonomics standard on Read more…