May 14, 2023 | Accident prevention, Work Injuries
Workers in many different fields like to make use of personal headphones. This lets them listen to things like music and can help pass the time. However, they might not be a safe option depending on your job. It’s important to know when wearing these headphones might become a risk to your safety…
Personal Headphones: Risk vs. Reward
Limiting outside noise
Personal headphones can help you block out any outside noise or distractions. This can help when it comes to focusing more on the work you’re doing. However, it could also mean you don’t hear important audio cues around you. This could lead to you accidentally getting hurt because you were unaware of what was happening around you.
Headphones can also have a small noise-canceling effect on their own. This can lead some to think that they can be used in place of special noise-reducing headphones or earplugs. However, this is actually not the case. OSHA notes that these headphones aren’t as effective as specialty ones.
Snags and tangles
Another issue with personal headphones is the chance of them catching or snagging on something. This can already be annoying when it happens outside the workplace. However, it could also be quite dangerous when you’re working.
For example, if you have to do a lot of moving around at your job, then your headphones could easily catch on to something. This is especially true if your work involves any kind of machinery. Overall, it’s not worth the added risk to wear headphones when doing this kind of work where you want to be as safe as possible.
Potential benefits
It isn’t a bad idea to wear personal headphones at every workplace, however. It mainly depends on the job you’re doing. If you work in a more desk/office-type of job, then you might be able to wear headphones depending on your workplace rules. Compared to other office safety risks, headphones probably won’t be too much of a hazard.
Here, headphones can be especially helpful if you have a hearing problem. They can help you hear a bit better if you have to make phone calls or listen to audio. They can also help if you have something like tinnitus. Having something like music or soft noise playing can help those with tinnitus keep their mind off of the ringing.
Apr 23, 2023 | Accident prevention, Work Injuries
A repetitive strain injury is an injury that occurs from doing the same motion over and over again. Examples of these include carpal tunnel, bursitis, and tennis elbow. This type of injury can occur from tasks at work. However, there are ways you can prevent or minimize the chance for this type of injury.
Repetitive Strain Injuries: What Are They
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel is a condition that causes numbness, tingling, or weakness in your hand. This repetitive strain injury is caused by repetitive motions. These include motions like typing, or any wrist movements that you do over and over again. For example, people who work in dentistry have a high risk of carpal tunnel due to repetitive wrist movements while working. Also, you increase your risk when your hands are lower than your wrists while doing the movement.
The typical symptoms of carpal tunnel are not pleasant. For example, burning, tingling, or itching numbness in your palm and thumb or your index and middle fingers are symptoms. Other symptoms are weakness in your hand and trouble holding things, shock-like feelings that move into your fingers, and tingling that moves up into your arm. Proper ergonomics can help reduce the risk of this injury, but wrist braces are a good early treatment.
Bursitis
Bursitis is inflammation or irritation of a bursa sac. These are fluid filled sacs that are all over your body. Bursitis is common around major joints like your shoulder, elbow, hip, or knee. This repetitive strain injury can be caused from workplace activities including carpentry, painting, and scrubbing.
Common places for bursitis to happen are your elbow, shoulder, hip, thigh, buttocks, knee, achilles tendon or heel. This injury can cause pain, and you may notice your joint is red, stiff or swollen. Take breaks often when you’re making the same motions over and over again, and use good posture. If you start to have pain, stop, and see your doctor.
Tennis Elbow
Another repetitive strain injury is tennis elbow. This is a painful condition that usually comes from repetitive use of the muscles and tendons of the forearm and the elbow joint. Surprisingly, only 5% of tennis elbow injuries come from tennis.
Some workplace activities that could lead to tennis elbow include painting, working on cars or on an assembly line or playing a musical instrument. Other examples include kitchen work, such as cutting with a knife, or cutting trees with a chainsaw. This may cause your elbow to be sore. Treatment usually includes rest, ice, and over-the-counter pain medications. However, if the problem gets really bad, surgery may be needed.
Apr 9, 2023 | Accident prevention, Driver Safety
Winter in the South is pretty unpredictable. Will we South and North Carolinians get a season of ice? Rain? Maybe a little snow? We never can be too sure, although we usually get at least one good snow in the South. For this reason, it’s important that a solid technique for driving safely in snow be well within your wheelhouse. But what steps can you take, besides staying home, to keep yourself safe when outside looks more like a winter wonderland than normal?
Driving Safely in Snow: Tips for Winter Trips
Look Further Ahead
When it’s cold and wet and frosty, you might find yourself focusing solely on the road ahead of you. After all, there are immediate dangers to account for. But, force yourself to take turns between looking closely and looking further ahead. You might see brake lights, patches of black ice, a car accident, wet spots, or another unexpected roadway obstruction. For these reasons, driving safely in the snow starts with thinking clearly, being on high alert, and looking at the road conditions around you. They can change rapidly.
Be prepared to skid and slide
No matter how dedicated you are to driving safely in the snow, a little bit of skidding and sliding is very common in this type of weather. Prepare for this possibility and understand the best ways to combat the problem. Drive slowly, don’t slam on the breaks, turn your hazards on, and remain calm. Review your front and rear wheel skidding techniques. Being from the South, we don’t experience this type of weather all that often so it can be scary. If you’re not prepared to deal with it, there’s no shame in staying home, asking for a ride, or walking to your destination if it’s close by!
Don’t fall for false senses of security, such as four wheel drive
Lastly, and most importantly, don’t put your faith into one function, feature, or item more than you put into your own ability to drive safely in show. Four-wheel drive, snow tires, or snow chains are fantastic tools for increasing safety. But don’t expect them to do the work for you. You have to remain focused, attentive, and cautious when driving— even if you have some mechanisms in place to make that trip just a bit safer. You never know when these safety features might fail you.
Dec 27, 2022 | Accident prevention, Driver Safety
Modern tech has helped to make driving easier and safer than ever. However, aside from the technology that’s in your car, there’s also car gadgets to consider. These gadgets can not just make your next drive easier to do, but also more enjoyable as well…
Car Gadgets: Helpful Solutions
Hands-free devices
Some of the most popular car gadgets are hands-free devices and software. While smartphones are very useful, they can be dangerous when behind the wheel. Still, plenty of people use their phones to play music or for GPS directions. As a result, they’re not sure how they can find a safe way to use their phone’s features.
This is where hands-free compatibility comes in handy. Many modern cars will allow for you to connect your phone via Bluetooth, an app, or a charger. This will allow you to do things on your phone through your car’s touchscreen or steering wheel. Not only is this easier, it’s also safer than having to hold your phone and drive at the same time.
Rear entertainment systems
Driving with kids can always be a bit of a struggle. It can be hard to keep them occupied, especially on longer trips. While smartphones and tablets can help, it may be that you don’t have enough for everyone to use, or that they’re too young. In this case, it can be handy to make use of some car gadgets.
In particular, rear entertainment systems can work wonders for keeping the kids busy. Many modern ones will allow for you to stream directly from a phone or tablet onto them. That way, everyone can watch without having to strain their necks. Some cars even have individual ones built into the back of the seats!
Multi-device chargers
One of the worst things is when your devices die while you’re still in the middle of a long trip. Eventually, things like your phones, tablets, and laptops will need to recharge. While this may be no issue with just a couple of passengers, it can be a problem when you have a lot. This is why multi-device chargers are becoming very handy car gadgets.
These chargers will let everyone be able to charge their devices at once. This is great not just for the convenience, but also for avoiding arguments. You won’t have to worry about trying to fight over who charges what while also trying to keep your attention on the road!
Sep 18, 2022 | Accident prevention, Personal Injury
In what is being described as a ‘record avalanche’ of early votes, the polls have been seemingly busier than usual during this season of early voting. Here in Charlotte, voting stations are available city wide. Bank of America Stadium is acting as a polling station so you can social distance and cast your early vote. But, with numbers on rise both in terms of voters and COVID-19, how do you practice early voting safety in this time that requires special consideration? The good news is that by going early, you’re already taking the first step.
How-to Practice Early Voting Safety during COVID-19: Safety in Numbers
Wear a mask
There are a few different things that you need to do in order to both follow CDC guidelines and to practice early voting safety. The first step we encourage is wearing a mask. While many public spaces currently enforce this mandate— you might find that you can sometimes slip through the cracks. Even in those instances, we encourage you to wear your mask. As we mention above, the number of early voters is at a record high. This means that even on a slow day or during an hour you might think to be slow, you might still find yourself in quite a long line or big crowd. Wear a mask, be aware, and keep your distance even if there is no one close by telling you to do so.
Hand Sanitizer is essential
Many polling places are skipping stickers this year and instead opting for pens with a stylus. Exercising the pen versus sticker option keeps you from having to touch as many different things. While this is absolutely a helpful and mindful step for North Carolina to take, it doesn’t fully eliminate the sanitation issue. So, keep hand sanitizer in your pocket or bag. Use sanitizer after every step of the process and hope others do the same. Early voting safety starts the same way as any other situation does— by keeping your hands and spaces clean and sanitary.
Consider mailing in your ballot
If you want to avoid the polling places altogether, consider choosing the mail-in ballot option. Mail-in ballot locations are located all over the city. All you have to do is drop your ballot in the box and go on with your day— easy as that! Many people feel wary of this option for any number of reasons. But, if you feel confident in doing so, mail-in voting a great way to practice early voting safety. Just make sure you are aware of the deadlines and that you have filled your ballot out properly.
Don’t let COVID-19 deter you from casting your vote!
I hope that through this article we have proven to your that early voting safety is possible! Whether it’s by mail, at a location in the coming weeks, or on election day. No matter how you vote, it is absolutely possible to protect yourself and others to the best of your ability. Vote safe, sanitize, find the best method for you, and practice your civic duty. We wish you a safe and healthy holiday season in this difficult time.
Apr 1, 2022 | Accident prevention, Work Injuries
There are workplace hazards that come with operating heavy machinery. Some examples of this type of equipment are cranes, front-end loaders, skid loaders, bulldozers, forklifts and tractors. Due to the size and weight of these pieces of equipment, they can be very dangerous. In fact, according to OSHA, about 404 people in America die each year in heavy equipment accidents. They also say the failure or misuse of heavy equipment is one of the top 10 causes of workplace fatalities. If you operate heavy machinery, it is important to know what to do and not do to best keep you safe.
Operating Heavy Machinery: Things to Know
Training
The first step to safely operating heavy machinery is to be properly trained. This may be a long, involved process, but it is essential for safety. Each person using this equipment should be trained and certified on using the equipment. Even if it is just on how to do a simple task, training is so important due to the nature of the machines. Regular refresher training is good to do every few weeks.
Take it Slow
Another thing to consider when operating heavy machinery is to take it slow and safe. If you are on a tight deadline to finish a project, you may feel the need to go fast. Do not fall into a trap where you skip safety steps and rush. This could lead to you making mistakes. Employers should not try and rush workers while they are using these heavy machines. Errors when using big, heavy equipment could turn into life threatening mistakes. Rushing is not worth the risk of hurting yourself or someone else.
Communication
When operating heavy machinery, it is so important to communicate on the job site. For example, make sure that all workers in the area know when a vehicle is occupied and in use. Have others keep an eye out and keep any dangerous areas around the vehicle clear. Communication also applies to creating clear guidelines for operating procedures. This way everyone is on the same page.
Remove Distractions
Distractions bring in another dangerous element when operating heavy machinery. Phones and headphones should not be used or allowed while using these heavy machines. Construction sites can be dangerous on their own. There are many hazards, including people moving around. A distracted machinery operator may not pay attention or notice people around them, or other hazards.
By following these guidelines, you will be safer while operating heavy machinery. They are not hard steps to follow, but can make a huge difference in workplace safety.
