MEMIC Safety Experts

Maureen Anderson, MEMIC's Manager of Ergonomics discusses ergonomic risk factors and controls, body mechanics, assessment tools, and how future technology may shape our process for creating ergonomic solutions.

A team from the Maine Department of Labor discusses the overall challenge of young worker safety, what might be driving the injuries, and strategies for business to prevent them.

Episode Resources:

• Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor: Prohibited Occupations for Non-Agricultural Employees
• Child Labor Violations Continue to Rise in Maine
• Child Labor Bulletin 102 - Child Labor Requirements in Agricultural Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act.PDF
• Maine Department of Labor - Workforce Resources for Schools and Students
• Maine Department of Labor - SafetyWorks!
• Follow the Maine Department of Labor on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

New techniques, evolving technologies, and collaboration at the federal level have created tools like the National Incident Command System for organizing collaborative responses across agencies to large scale emergencies from natural disasters to terrorist attacks (domestic and foreign).

Episode Resources:

• Command under attack: What we've learned since 9/11 about managing crises (theconversation.com)
• How the 9/11 attacks changed emergency response (miami.edu)
• 9/11: A timeline of the September 11 attacks visualized | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
• https://www.tsa.gov/videos/911-events-unfold-0
• FDNY Report_final.doc (mass.gov)
• Microsoft Word - WTC_PENTAGON_OBSERVATIONS_A.doc (nrt.org)
• National Incident Management System (fema.gov)
• https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/nims
• https://training.fema.gov/emiweb/is/icsresource/assets/ics%20review%20document.pdf
• Home | Maine Emergency Management Agency

OSHA's new proposed clarification for PPE in the Construction standard reinforces that PPE MUST FIT. Failure to follow this simple statement is one the reasons why workers are injured when they believe they are protected. PPE shouldn't just be provided, it MUST fit the worker properly to function as it was designed!

Joining me on the podcast to reveal the problems with poor fitting PPE and what can be done about it is Allison Short, Safety Management Consultant with MEMIC.

Episode Resources:

• DOL Proposal for Clarification of the Construction PPE Standard, 1926.95 : https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/national/07192023
• OSHA's page on Women in Construction: https://www.osha.gov/women-in-construction/ppe
• NIOSH article on PPE Fit in the Construction Sector: https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2023/03/06/ppe-fit-construction/
• ASSP's 2019 article on Fixing the Fit of PPE: https://www.assp.org/news-and-articles/how-can-we-fix-the-fit-of-personal-protective-equipment
• European Trade Union Institute article: https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/ez_import/Hesamag_12_EN-34-37.pdf
• Business Insider article on Ukrainian uniforms: https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-rushing-women-uniforms-after-sizing-infection-complaints-military-war-2023-7
• Neurosurgeon Dr. Grunch's tik tok video on radiation protection: https://www.tiktok.com/@ladyspinedoc/video/7246906972279377198
• The Center for Construction Research and Training – great list of vendors, by clothing type, for construction PPE: https://www.cpwr.com/research/research-to-practice-r2p/r2p-library/resources-for-stakeholders-and-researchers/construction-personal-protective-equipment-for-the-female-workforce/

Bees can swarm around trash areas in the summer, but businesses should be able to eliminate or reduce the bee population around dumpsters through good waste and trash management practices, dumpster and trash area maintenance, and staff training.

Heat stress occurs when environmental conditions, physical activity, and your own personal risk factors combine to cause your core temperature to rise in a manner where your body begins to struggle to compensate or regulate.

It's the season for property maintenance. Workers behind mowers or with a string trimmer in hand are common sights across the nation. Training for staff assigned these jobs is usually weighted toward equipment operation and safety. However, knowing "what" you are "mowing" can be just as important.

Workplace Safety and Injury Prevention can be like trying to build a puzzle without the picture on the box. All the pieces connect together, but in order for it to be a seamless picture, they have to connect in a particular way and order. As a safety professional, you may have all the pieces but not the big picture on the box, or you have the picture but can make the pieces fit together.

Joining Peter on the podcast to help paint a picture of the workplace injury prevention puzzle is Terry Dussault corporate Environmental Health and Safety professional and founder of Yellowknife Consulting Services in Southern California.

On this, our 100th episode of the MEMIC Safety Experts Podcast, I spend an hour with MEMIC President & CEO, Mike Bourque, as we talk about what has changed during our 30 years in business, how MEMIC continues to innovate around workplace safety, and why a carrier's role in workplace safety should be as a partner with the employer and the agent. Check it out on memic.com/podcast.