Vol 5., No. 2, Feb 2004

Contents

• Thoughts & Quotes
• John Deere Recalls Compact Utility Tractors
• Farm Safety Day Camp Reminder
• Eye Safety PowerPoint Now Available
• Most Frequent OSHA Citations
• OSHA Reporting Requirements for Job-Related Injuries and Illnesses (Changes Begin Feb 1, 2004)
• Talking about Disasters: Guide for Standard Messages
• About Safety News & Notes

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THOUGHTS & QUOTES

So why doesn't anyone tell us about this?" This was the question one of my students asked me after I shared with my university safety class the story of my son Philip's battle with testicular cancer. I share the story with my college-age students because they are in the peak years -- approx. ages 17-25 -- for TC. Please share this information with men in your families, or the men that you work with or teach. If you can work to get coaches to talk about it and, for example, provide PSAs, that would be great! In a lot of high schools and colleges guys listen to what the coaches have to say. Two excellent Web sites with more info about TC are: Testicular Cancer Resource Center US Food & Drug Administration

Just a note about Philip's situation: He was diagnosed Nov. 4, 2002 at the age of 21. He was a senior in electrical engineering at Iowa State University in Ames. The previous August, he had been here in Florida, working out at the gym, looking the picture of health, and feeling fine. He even had his picture in the October 7 issue of Sports Illustrated -- along with several hundred students at Iowa State University who stormed the goal posts after beating Nebraska -- there he is front and center! Shortly after the game, he started feeling sick with a bad cough and bronchitis-like symptoms. Initial diagnosis was bronchitis. When he did not respond to antibiotics, he went to a different clinic. Based on other symptoms at that point, he was X-rayed and found to have a mass in his chest and tumors in his lungs. He started chemo the next day. He went through several rounds of chemo, and in August, surgery was required.

At that time, his treatment was transferred to Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis (the same place where Lance Armstrong was treated by the 'gurus' of TC). He ended up having a portion of his lung removed. Following surgery, cancer was found to still be present. Still at Indy, he was given two more rounds of intense chemo which included stem cell harvest and infusion in the bone marrow transplant unit of the hospital. Chemo treatments were completed in November. He returned to school for Spring semester, and at present, everything is in the normal range and he is doing very well.

He informed me last week that he is playing Intramural Ice Hockey! (...some things a mom just doesn't want to know!)

When in Indy Philip commented to his transplant nurse that there wasn't a ribbon color for TC (e.g., pink for breast cancer etc.) -- but then who thinks of these things anyway!!!! She asked him what he thought it should be and after thinking about it, decided it should be 'platinum with a blue stripe!' Platinum because that is the key ingredient in the chemo and blue because 'it's a guy thing'! Let's rally to support the 'Platinum and Blue'!!

The point of all this is that TC can and all too frequently does hit guys at the age when they think they are invulnerable. So don't be shy about passing along the info.

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John Deere Recalls Compact Utility Tractors

In the course of your outreach work, please spread the word (if you have not already) that, as of Dec 23, 2003, John Deere has recalled the following tractors:

Reason for the recall: "An internal failure may occur within the Hydrostatic Transmission preventing the transmission from returning to neutral after the pedals are released. This can allow unexpected movement or cause the tractor to continue moving, creating a possible risk of injury to the operator or a bystander."

Please find full details at: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml04/04527.html

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Farm Safety Day Camp Reminder

Just a reminder for counties that may be interested in conducting a Progressive Farmer sponsored Safety Day Camp. Applications are due in July -- check out the Progressive Farmer Farm Safety Day Camp site for more information and to decide if you are interested. Feel free to call me with any questions you may have.

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Eye Safety PowerPoint Now Available

We have assembled a PowerPoint presentation on eye safety for use at a recent safety training. The complete presentation is available for download at the Florida AgSafe Web site.

Right-click on this link to download Protect the Eyes from Harm.

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Most Frequent OSHA Citations

This may be of help when making safety plans for your facilities and employees. Visit the OSHA Web site to understand what you need to do to be in compliance.

The most frequently cited OSHA violations for 2003:

* These standards can be found on the EDIS Web site's OHSA Page.

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OSHA Reporting Requirements for Job-Related Injuries and Illnesses (Changes Begin Feb 1, 2004)

OSHA regulations require employers to post a summary of the total number of job-related injuries and illnesses that occurred on an employer's establishment. Agricultural establishments with 10 or fewer employees are exempt from this requirement. The details are in the message below.

You may also want to encourage growers to make sure they are current with licensing for crew leaders, farmworker housing, and farmworker transportation. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation is checking to make sure establishments subject to these licensing requirements are in compliance.

Text of the OSHA Notice:

OSHA Injury/Illness Summary Reports-Post Feb. 1: Beginning February 1, employers must post a summary of the total number of job-related injuries and illnesses that occurred last year, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Employers are required to post only the Summary (OSHA Form 300A)-not the OSHA 300 Log -from Feb.1 to Apr. 30, 2004.

The summary must list the total numbers of job-related injuries and illnesses that occurred in 2003 and were logged on the OSHA 300 form. Employment information about annual average number of employees and total hours worked during the calendar year is also required to assists in calculating incidence rates. Companies with no recordable injuries or illnesses in 2003 must post the form with zeros on the total line. All establishment summaries must be certified by a company executive.

The form is to be displayed in a common area wherever notices to employees are usually posted. Employers must make a copy of the summary available to employees who move from worksite to worksite, such as construction workers, and employees who do not report to any fixed establishment on a regular basis.

Employers with ten or fewer employees and employers in certain industry groups are normally exempt from federal OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping and posting requirements. A complete list of exempt industries in the retail, services, finance and real estate sectors is posted on OSHA's website <http://www.osha.gov/>

All employers covered by OSHA need to comply with safety and health standards and must report verbally within eight hours to the nearest OSHA office all accidents that result in one or more fatalities or in the hospitalization of three or more employees.

Copies of the OSHA Forms 300, 300A and 301 are available on the OSHA Recordkeeping Webpage in either Adobe PDF or Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet format.

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Talking about Disaster: Guide for Standard Messages

Talking about Disaster: Guide for Standard Messages is a great resource that is FREE for your use in creating Public Information, messages, articles or handouts. There are NO copyright issues, it's from the federal government.

Here are the first two paragraphs from the introduction that describe the purpose and intent of this publication:

This guide has been developed to assist anyone providing disaster safety information to the public. The information is based on historical data for the United States and is appropriate for use in the United States. Some information may not be applicable in other countries. Users of this guide may include emergency managers, meteorologists, teachers, disaster and fire educators, public affairs/public relations personnel, mitigation specialists, media personnel, and/or any other person in the severe-weather, earthquake, disaster, or communications communities. The safety information is intended for dissemination to the general public. If you would like more in-depth or scientific information, please contact your local emergency management office, local National Weather Service office, local American Red Cross chapter, state geological survey office, or the National Fire Protection Association.

We recognize that it is important for all agencies to deliver consistent disaster safety messages. As a result, the messages in this guide have been reviewed and approved by these national organizations, which work to deliver disaster preparedness information to the public. Following each message are explanations, statistics, or reasons that reinforce the credibility of the message and that correct myths and misinformation

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SAFETY NEWS & NOTES is an e-mail newsletter prepared by Carol J. Lehtola, Extension Agricultural Safety Specialist and team leader for the Prevention and Preparedness: Agricultural Safety & Disaster Management program. Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, UF/IFAS. If you have safety- or disaster-related questions or ideas that you would like to share with other agents, please contact Dr. Lehtola. If you know someone interested in receiving this newsletter, we will gladly add them to the e-mail list. Past issues of Safety News & Notes are archived on the Florida AgSafe Web site.

BE AWARE!

BE ALERT!

BE ALIVE!

Florida AgSafe Web site: http://www.flagsafe.ufl.edu

The Disaster Handbook: http://disaster.ifas.ufl.edu

National Agricultural Safety Database: http://www.cdc.gov/nasd

Web Site Listing

Web sites that appear in this issue of Safety News & Notes

• American Red Cross, Local Chapter Locator: http://www.redcross.org/where/where.html
• EDIS Web Site OSHA Page: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/TOPIC_OSHA_Standards
• John Deere Tractor Recall: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml04/04527.html
• National Fire Protection Association: http://www.nfpa.org/catalog/home/index.asp
• OSHA Web Site: http://www.osha.gov/
• OSHA Recordkeeping Web Page: http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/
• Progressive Farmer Farm Safety Day Camps: http://kea.ae.iastate.edu/about/default.asp
• Protect the Eyes from Harm PowerPoint Presentation: http://www.flagsafe.ufl.edu/powerpoint/eyesafety.ppt
• Talking about Disaster: Guide for Standard Messages: http://www.disastereducation.org/guide.html
• Testicular Cancer Resource Center: http://tcrc.acor.org/
• US Food & Drug Administration: http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/196_test.html

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