Vol. 10, No. 9, October 2009

 Contents

 

 

 

THOUGHTS & QUOTES

…42,000 steps...

In last year’s November issue of SN&N, I wrote about my son Philip running in his first marathon. Well, the kid did it again. This year he ran in the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis on October 4th. He completed it in 4 hours and 16 minutes. He goes through the disciplined training and then runs one marathon… just to say he did it! His time at the halfway mark was 2 hours and 9 minutes, implying that he was pretty consistent over time.

It was about this time of year in 2002 that Philip was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and began a year-long journey of surgeries and courses of chemotherapy -- talk about a marathon! So running 26+ miles is more than a personal victory, it's also a celebration of overcoming incredible odds. That's part of what the platinum and blue ribbon you see on every Safety News & Notes symbolizes.

The ribbon also symbolizes awareness. This is a good time to remind young men to get informed about TC. Tell them that the peak ages for this disease are 17-26. Send them a link to Philip's Story, and have them check out the highlighted resources.

42,000 steps? That's the average number of steps a runner takes in a marathon. I am sure that we can draw some safety analogies from that and say that safety is achieved through taking steps that are steady and consistent over time.

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Teen-age Girl Shares Story about Having Her Arm Wrapped around the PTO

Her jacket is torn; her Mustang Track and Field sweat shirt is shredded and bloody. But Kristi Ruth still has her arm, and it still works -- sort of. This Iowa 4-Her and (now) farm safety advocate is a farm injury survivor. Kristi tells a story of courage about her recovery from a PTO entanglement. A new DVD, My Name Is Kristi: A Farm Safety Story, produced by Iowa State University Extension that tells the story of Kristi's injury and her courageous recovery can be viewed on-line. This is a great ‘first-person’ story that helps drive home the need for safety and that it ‘can happen to me’.

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Farm Safety Association Manuals

http://www.farmsafety.ca/pages/manuals.html

Canada’s Farm Safety Association has several manuals that are available to download. Included are:

  • Silo Safety and Incident Prevention
  • Preventing Farm Incidents Caused by Moving Parts
  • Stretches & Postures at Work (English & Spanish)
  • ATV Safety for Agricultural Workers
  • Safety in the Landscape Industry
  • On Guard! -- Machine Guarding and Shielding

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Pediatric Poisonings

The upcoming holidays, should be a time of fun, but the change in routine can lead to some unexpected situations. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) points out that child poisoning is most likely when parents or caregivers are off their guard or distracted. A change of routine, the pressure of holiday activities, or visits to new places can all provide opportunities for children to access places or materials they would normally not. A recent article in Pediatrics* reported that over half of all poisonings involved prescription drugs. Cleaning products were a distant second.

Medicines pose special problems becuase they are usually designed to be taken orally, they resemble candy, and they are often kept in accessible locations.

The AAP offers tips to help prevent these incidents and how to respond if they do.

* Unintentional Child Poisonings Treated in United States Hospital Emergency Departments: National Estimates of Incident Cases, Population-Based Poisoning Rates, and Product Involvement
Robert L. Franklin, MS and Gregory B. Rodgers, PhD
PEDIATRICS Vol. 122 No. 6 December 2008, pp. 1244-1251
(doi:10.1542/peds.2007-3551)

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Furniture and TV Tip-over Education Campaign

During the holidays when kids may be visiting, remember there are hazards in the home that many may not think about.

For young children, the home (and farm) is a playground, and while many parents childproof to ensure that their home is as safe as possible, some may not be aware that TVs, furniture, and appliances are hidden hazards lurking in every room. The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that in 2006, 16,300 children aged 5 and younger were treated in emergency rooms because of injuries associated with TVs, furniture, and appliance tip-overs. Between 2000 and 2006, CPSC received reports of at least 134 deaths. Additionally, CPSC is aware of at least 30 media reports of tip-over deaths since January 2007 involving children 5 and younger.

CPSC has initiated a campaign with materials to inform the public about this hazard, especially with the holidays approaching when many families will acquire new appliances and furniture.

The campaign includes:

  • An on-line PSA video -- The Tipping Point (English and Spanish)
  • A safety alert -- The Tipping Point: Preventing TV, Furniture, and Appliance Tip-Over Deaths and Injuries (English and Spanish)
  • A poster -- Are Your TVs, Furniture and Appliances Secured? (English and Spanish)

It might also be helpful to review other childproofing resources:

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Video About Texting While Driving

The loss of just one life is too many. This is the philosophy of Zero Fatalities. "It's a goal we can all live with. It's the ONLY goal we can all live with." This site is meant to be a one-stop information resource and collaboration of numerous Utah safety campaigns targeting the prevention of numerous types of traffic injuries and fatalities.

Of particular note is their new video (can be viewed on-line) which looks at the serious consequences of texting while driving. In the featured incident, the texter side-swiped an oncoming vehicle, causing it to spin into the path of another vehicle. Two men lost their lives at the scene. Reggie Shaw, the young man who had been texting survived, but his life was shattered -- he now lives with the knowledge that he took two lives. His sentence was 30 days in jail and 200 hours of community service, but the incident led to the passage of a tough texting-while-driving law. Under the new law, Reggie would have served up to 30 years and been fined up to $20,000.

Studies show that talking on a cellphone while driving is as risky as driving with a 0.08 blood alcohol level, and that texting while driving doubles that risk.

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And the Sign Says…..

 

 

Suggested by Safety Stuff #459, October 6, 2009
http://www.makesafetyfun.com/

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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.