Categories: Emergency response, Health care, Personal protective equipment
March 31st, 2008 8:06 am ET -
Administrator
Personal protective technology includes devices such as respirators, chemical-resistant clothing, hearing protectors, and safety goggles and glasses that provide a barrier between the worker and an occupational safety or health risk. NIOSH has a longstanding involvement in this field which was further solidified in 2001 with the formation of the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) in Pittsburgh, PA.
NIOSH is committed to ensuring that its research is relevant and making a difference in the lives of workers. As such, in 2005, NIOSH asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to form a standing committee to provide strategic guidance in addressing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) issues for workers. One issue the committee deemed of high importance is PPE for healthcare workers in the event of pandemic influenza.
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Categories: Bloodborne pathogens, Health care
March 17th, 2008 8:33 am ET -
Walter Alarcon, MD, MSc
Each year an estimated 385,000 needlesticks and other sharps-related injuries are sustained by hospital-based healthcare personnel; an average of 1,000 sharps injuries per day. Healthcare workers are at risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens such as hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus and HIV if they come in contact with a patient’s blood. Surgical personnel such as surgeons, nurses, surgical technicians, and anesthesiologists are at risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens if they receive a percutaneous injury (a penetrating injury to the skin) from sharp surgical instruments.
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Categories: Mining, Training
March 3rd, 2008 11:23 am ET -
Elaine T Cullen, PhD
How do you take miners miles below ground to teach them how to protect themselves from some of the most dangerous hazards in the mining industry without endangering their safety or ever leaving the comfort and security of the training room? The answer, training videos.
Videos have proven to be an excellent training tool. They offer the ability to provide information about the work environment, especially dangerous work environments, without putting the trainee at risk. When properly executed, videos are much more interesting than the “talking head” lectures that often make up a training session. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has a number of videos available on its website covering a variety of topics such as stress, violence on the job, and TB respiratory protection. The majority of videos deal with mining topics.
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Personal protective technology includes devices such as respirators, chemical-resistant clothing, hearing protectors, and safety goggles and glasses that provide a barrier between the worker and an occupational safety or health risk. NIOSH has a longstanding involvement in this field which was further solidified in 2001 with the formation of the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) in Pittsburgh, PA.
