HEALTH - Avoid eating fish with mercury

What the Heck CAN You Eat?

A recent study from the University of North Carolina confirmed that fresh fish can be toxic.

The study found that one in five women of childbearing age tested had high enough levels of mercury to cause neurological damage in babies. The fish that these women had been eating were poisoned by mercury that ended up in lakes, streams, and oceans.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recommends that you avoid fish with the highest mercury levels (for example, swordfish, shark, grouper, king mackerel, marlin, and tilefish). And pregnant women should be especially careful. Their report can be found at http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp .

According to the NRDC, mercury-safe fish include catfish, freshwater trout, wild Alaskan salmon, sardines, flounder, tilapia, and shellfish like shrimp.

One health expert, Jon Herring, writes, "Mercury accumulates in the tissues over time, and is highly toxic, even in small amounts. There are enough fish that are safe to eat that it only makes sense to enjoy those, and avoid the ones that are known to be contaminated."

You can test the mercury levels in your body with a $25 hair-sampling kit from the Sierra Club. Their information can be found at http://www.sierraclub.org/mercury/get_tested/ .

By Michael Masterson [Early to Rise, Copyright ETR, LLC, 2004]

Submitted by Atlanta Federal Safety & Health Council

HOUSEHOLD SAFETY - Lawn Mowing Safety Tips

Lawn Mowing Tips

Before beginning your grass cutting chore this summer, take a few moments to review some safety mowing tips.

- Ensure that cutting equipment is in good condition and is provided with proper machine guarding.

- Clear areas to be mowed of stones and other debris. These can be ejected with great force through the discharge chute.

- Wear safety toe shoes or metal toe guards when operating power mowers and powered hedgers.

- Wear eye protection (goggles or safety glasses with side shields or a (face
shield) when operating power mowers, when there is danger from flying rocks, dirt, etc.

- Wear earplugs or earmuffs if equipment has been identified as producing hazardous noise levels.

- Be sure the grass is dry. Wet grass is slippery underfoot and can clog both the discharge chute and the blades.

- To prevent exposure to carbon monoxide fumes, always start gasoline powered equipment outdoors.

- Never adjust or leave the machine without stopping the motor. Injuries often occur when operators attempt to unclog the discharge chute while blades or the motor is running.

- Always watch your footing, particularly on slopes. Steer a hand mower across slopes, never up and down. Then if the machine gets out of control, you will be out of the way.

- To protect your feet, always keep the mower flat on the ground. Never lift, tilt, or pull it toward yourself. Never raise the mower to use it to trim the tops of shrubs or hedges.

Submitted by Atlanta Federal Safety & Health Council

TRAFFIC SAFETY - Motorcycle Helmets

DEATHS RISE WITH REPEAL OF HELMET LAW

NINETEEN-year-old Sean Matthew Graves was hunkered down on his 1995 Honda CRB motorcycle, with the warm night breeze whipping through his short, light-brown hair. Only two minutes from home, he was speeding north on the inner lanes of Roosevelt Boulevard when his bike hit a curb about 45 feet north of Oxford Avenue.

Graves lost control of the lightweight bike and was thrown 170 feet. He hit a light standard and slumped onto the grassy medial strip. His motorcycle continued on 262 feet. About an hour later, at 2:20 a.m. on June 24, Graves, of Devereaux Avenue near Castor, was pronounced dead at Frankford-Torresdale Hospital.

Graves' death was one of 17 fatal or near-fatal motorcycle accidents in Philadelphia in the first seven months of 2004 - seven more than last year over the same period.

In all of last year, Philadelphia had 17 fatal or near-fatal motorcycle accidents, most attributable to lack of helmet use. If the trend continues, this year promises to be the bloodiest for motorcycle riders in decades.

Graves' mother was inconsolable when police notified her of her son's death.

"I killed him! I killed him! Arrest me! I bought [the motorcycle] for him! It's my fault!" Nadia Graves, a widow, said she had bought her son the bike only six days earlier.

Nearly a year ago, Gov. Rendell signed the repeal of a mandatory-motorcycle-helmet law. Under the law, signed Sept. 4, bikers who have been riding for two years may ride without helmets. Those with less than two years' experience must wear helmets, unless they complete an optional motorcycle safety course, which has a waiting list of two or three months.

Sean Graves was not eligible to skip the helmet under either rule. But he was among thousands of riders who choose to ride without helmets, legally or not, since state law was relaxed.

Nadia Graves said she had noticed that Sean had left without his helmet that day, and made a mental note to talk with him about it when he came home.

"There are helmets for Rollerblading and riding regular bikes. I just don't understand why they don't require it for motorcycles," she said.

Dr. Eric Zager, a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, said, "It was a bad idea to repeal that helmet law."

"It was the biggest step backwards in trauma care in years," said Zager. "The only people it's going to benefit are the people on transplant lists. Helmets and seat belts have been proven to save lives and reduce health-care costs."

Charles Umbenhauer, a lobbyist for Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education of Pennsylvania, said it's unfair to blame the repeal on the increase in deaths. He said more bikers are getting hurt or killed because more people are riding motorcycles, and because Pennsylvania is drawing bikers from New Jersey and New York, where helmets are mandatory.
"A helmet does not prevent an accident," contended Umbenhauer, a Harrisburg-area resident who has been riding a motorcycle since 1968 and who said he wears a helmet 25 percent of the time.

"The problem is and always has been that there are a certain number of people riding motorcycles who are irresponsible. Any motorcycle in the wrong hands is a dangerous situation."

In 2001, only one person of the 127 motorcycle fatalities in Pennsylvania was not wearing a helmet (0.7%).

In 2003, 38 bikers killed in the 171 motorcycle fatalities in Pennsylvania were not wearing a helmet, according to PennDOT (22.2%).

Nationally, the number of motorcycle deaths has increased each of the past five years including an 11 percent boost in 2003, when fatalities rose to 3,592.

Ray Tyson, spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, attributes this rising death toll to increased motorcycle sales and the repeal of helmet laws in several states.

"There's been a fairly substantial increase in fatalities in every state that has repealed its helmet law," including Florida, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, Tyson said. The number of motorcycle-accident deaths in Louisiana doubled in two years and Texas is not far behind.

"In no state [that has repealed the helmet law] has their safety record improved," he added. NHTSA plans to study the impact of Pennsylvania's no-helmet law.

"We think wearing helmets and protective gear - clothing, boots, gloves - is the way to prevent serious injury and death," said Tyson.

"It's the same reason why we don't have the Philadelphia Eagles playing the Dallas Cowboys without protective gear. Both are risky activities," he added.

Zager concurs. "The road comes a lot faster to your head than the Dallas Cowboys," said the doctor. "When the brain hits the ground, there's a rapid deceleration," Zager explained.

The doctor explained that the brain hits one side of the skull, then bounces in the opposite direction, causing severe bruising of the brain. This is called a severe hemorrhagic contusion.

Often there is an acute severing of the nerve-cell processes. This frequently causes severe neurological damage and death. The brain swells and there's usually delayed additional injuries.

"No doubt helmets can help to reduce the injuries," Zager said.

Since 2001, there's been an explosion of new bikers - 16,000 - on Pennsylvania roads, after increasing by only about 1,000 a year before that. Many more bikers drive without motorcycle licenses.

"There's more bikes on the road. And these are the cheaper bikes, easy to buy. And the insurance is cheaper," said Police Captain Bruce Capriotti.

Cops call the bikes "crotch rockets." They have small handlebars; you crouch over them. They have big engines but weigh much less than the standard Harley Davidson, whose drivers tend to be more mature and careful with their expensive investment than other motorcyclists.

Indeed, the lightweight Hondas, Yamahas, Kawasakis, Suzukis - cycles built for speed - are most popular with young, new bikers.

"Like Sean Graves, most bikers in serious accidents are new drivers," Capriotti said. "Kids 20 years old think they're immortal, " said Capriotti. "But with these bikes, there's no room for error."

Of the 17 bikers killed or seriously injured in Philadelphia so far this year, 11 were in their teens or 20s.

Umbenhauer, the lobbyist for Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education, said he chooses not to wear a helmet because it's uncomfortable and detracts from the riding experience.

"People don't buy a motorcycle because they're concerned about safety. You buy it to have fun, and if you're wearing a helmet, it cuts down on that fun."

Connie Greenberg, 50, a biker from Sicklerville, N.J., said she doesn't wear a helmet when she rides if she doesn't have to.

"I take it off as often as I can," she said. "I think it should be a right of choice. The whole idea of being on a bike is the freedom," she said. "Wearing a helmet just drags you down."

Juan Diaz, 38, of New Castle, Del., disagrees. He said he always wears a helmet for his safety, even though he legally doesn't have to.

"Those that don't," he said, "I think are fools."

By Kitty Acaparella

Submitted by Atlanta Federal Safety & Health Council

SAFETY AWARENESS - Attitude and Training

Safety is a State of Mind and Proper Training

“We become what we think about.” – Earl Nightingale

“The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack.” - Morihei Ueshiba


The realization that we become what we think about was the pivotal force in Earl Nightingale's life, lifting him from a life of grinding poverty to helping him spawn an international radio show and become a pioneer in the industry of motivational recordings.

Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, was one of history's greatest martial artists. Even as an old man of eighty, he could disarm any foe, down any number of attackers, and pin an opponent with minimum injury to his opponent.

What have these two distinguished gentlemen to do with safety? Nightingale emphasized the idea that we, as individuals, have the capability to choose our own thoughts and attitudes. Ueshiba instructed his students that training is not an event in of itself but a way of life. Controlling our attitudes and living in constant training are at the crux of creating a safe environment.

When we are new at a task, most of us are tentative and cautious. We don’t want to mess up and we certainly don’t want to get hurt. When we’re still new at a task, we tend to have an inquisitive and heightened awareness and we tend to pay attention to instruction. We approach new tasks with a “beginner’s mind” and are eager to receive proper training.

With increased knowledge and familiarity with a task, (whether it be driving a car, using a band saw, cooking steaks on the grill, even walking down a couple of flights of stairs with an armful of publications) comes increased confidence. This increased confidence is beneficial, up to a point. A natural inclination for all of us when we become proficient at a task is to start to lose respect for the hazards inherent in the task. While familiarity may not always breed contempt, it does tend to lead to carelessness.

As our proficiency and confidence increase, two thought patterns start to insidiously creep up on us:
1) An attitude of overconfident carelessness.
2) The all-knowing feeling of “Been there, done that. I already know all I need to know about this task and I don’t need to know anything more”.

What makes these two paradigms so clandestine and treacherous is they both work on an almost subconscious level. If we are not aware of the formation of these attitudes within ourselves, they will take over before we realize it, cloud our judgment and misdirect our actions.

Awareness of our present attitudes and the knowledge that we can control our attitudes is the first step in creating a safe environment for ourselves. Whenever we start to feel that we are total masters of a specific task, it is precisely the time to remind ourselves that, while we may be good at what we do, we have yet more to learn. We need to remind ourselves that accidents are most likely to happen to the beginner and the one who “knows it all”.

In fact, it is well documented that pilots are most vulnerable to mishaps when they have 0 to 100 hours flight time (beginner) and when they have between 1000 and 1500 hours flight time (“know-it-all” hotshot). This phenomenon is most likely true in all industries.

Continuous training and review of the basics is the other half of the equation for maintaining a safe environment. Vince Lombardi, the coach of the winning Green Bay Packers, always started the training season with a football in his hands telling his players, “Gentlemen, this is a football”. Lombardi knew that a continuous review of the basics was essential in crafting a championship team. That’s the way we need to approach the tasks we do – review the basics. Train continually. Tighten up the slack.

One form of training that military aviators participate in is the “what if” game.

“What if you have just taken off from an airfield and a bird is suddenly sucked into your number 2 engine causing the engine to flame out. What are you going to do now, dude?”

The object of this training is to have a course of action already predetermined. Another form of training is to review the operator’s manual before using a piece of equipment. Still another is to take a look at pertinent safety regulations on a regular basis. Different situations require different methods of training but the idea is to continually review the tasks that are to be performed, understand the hazards involved, and take appropriate action. Build a culture of continual training. A solid training plan not only increases our proficiency but also makes for a safer environment.

So let’s take our cues from these two masters – Earl Nightingale and Morihei Ueshiba. Realize that the thoughts and attitudes we choose will make huge differences in our outcomes and that constant training will keep us sharp. We realize that we will never be entirely free from accidents. This big, goofy, wonderful world of ours is just too full of imperfections and unpredictability. But if we cultivate our attitudes toward safety and continually train at the tasks we must do, we will have done much to minimize injury and damage in our homes and work places, making it a safer place for ourselves and others.

Copyright 2005 © Tom Vaughan

Submitted by Atlanta Federal Safety & Health Council

INTRODUCTION to the Southeast Federal Safety Council blog

The purpose of this blog is to serve as a repository for safety articles that can be used by members of the Southeast Federal Safety Council to craft newsletters and safety awareness programs for their own agencies.

New articles pertaining to safety and health issues are welcome and can be submitted to thomas.vaughan@dobbins.af.mil for posting. We will give credit to your council chapter for each article submission. Please put a general category that the article is about in the title block; for example, ergonomics, confined spaces, home electrical, etc, as well as a more specific title. An example might be - Automobile Safety: 10 Tips for Long Distance Driving. That will make it easier to search and find a particular article that others can use for their safety programs.

Comments to the article postings are welcome, particularly if you have amplifying or supporting information concerning the subject of the article.

All postings are for informational purposes and should not be accepted as policy for your particular agency and cannot substitute for specific technical instructions. This is a basic service provided in the interest of increasing safety awareness within the Federal workforce.