Public Health Commons^™

Book Review 2 Optimize Your Life! The One-Page Strategic Planner By Bernhoff A. Dahl, M.D., William C. Mcpeck

William C. McPeck

This is my personal review of Optimize Your Life! The One-page Strategic Planner by Bernhoff A. Dahl and published by Wind-Breaker Press in 2003.

Metal Fabrication Shop Owner Dies When Crushed By Falling Steel Plate, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Other

On December 15, 2003, a metal fabrication shop owner died when a 4,000 pound steel base plate fell on him. While inside the shop building, the work crew of least three men, including the owner, fabricated a 10’x 20’ steel base plate to be used at a water treatment plant. The base plate was to house or serve as a bas anchor a large water pump. After welding connectors and channel iron beams to one side of the plate, the crew pushed the plate through a bay door with a forktruck to an outside area in back of the shop. …

Evaluation Of The Biological Sampling Kit (Biskit) For Large-Area Surface Sampling, Mark P. Buttner, Patrica Cruz, Linda Stetzenbach, Amy Klima-Comba

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Current surface sampling methods for microbial contaminants are designed to sample small areas and utilize culture analysis. The total number of microbes recovered is low because a small area is sampled, making detection of a potential pathogen more difficult. Furthermore, sampling of small areas requires a greater number of samples to be collected, which delays the reporting of results, taxes laboratory resources and staffing, and increases analysis costs. A new biological surface sampling method, the Biological Sampling Kit (BiSKit), designed to sample large areas and to be compatible with testing with a variety of technologies, including PCR and immunoassay, was …

Book Review 1 The New Science Of Selling And Persuasion: How Smart Companies And Great Salespeople Sell By William T. Brooks, William C. Mcpeck

William C. McPeck

This is my personal review of The New Science of Selling and Persuasion: How Smart Companies and Great Salespeople Sell by William T. Brooks and published by Wiley in 2004.

38 Year-Old Construction Laborer Dies When Trench Walls Collapse, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Other

On November 3, 2003, a 38-year-old male construction laborer died when the unprotected 8-foot high walls of the trench he was working in collapsed. The decedent was working for a subcontractor who was contracted by a construction company to remove old gas, storm and sanitary sewer lines and install similar new lines. The old abandoned 6-inch diameter gas line was a high pressure, 300 – 320 psi gas line in 10-inch steel casing and was 600 feet long. There were five employees at the job site employed by the subcontractor; a foreman who was a certified competent person, a lab …

Laborer Dies When Caught In Arms Of A Skidsteer Loader, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Other

On September 19, 2003, a 23-year-old male laborer (decedent) died when he became caught in the activated arms of a skidsteer loader. A work crew consisting of a contractor and 3 laborers had spent the day installing fence on a dairy farm. Earlier in the day, the contractor had borrowed a skidsteer from the farm owner. The work crew used the skidsteer to set fence posts in the ground. At the end of the work day (approximately 4:00 PM), the contractor instructed the decedent to return the skidsteer to the barn area. From the work site, the decedent drove the …

Licensed Electrician Dies When Electrocuted By 480volts, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Other

On July 4, 2003, a 36-year-old male lead electrician died after being electrocuted with 480 volts of electricity. A crew of five licensed electricians were working at an automotive supply manufacturing facility running wires to connect service for two air conditioning units (3-phase; 480 volts; 30 amp and 35 amp) and service for a lighting panel (3-phase; 277/480 volts and 200 amps). The manufacturing facility had been shut down for the holiday, and besides a facilities office worker in the facilities main office, the five men were the only workers at the site and had complete control of the facility …

Workers Crushed By Vehicles, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Kentucky Haz Alerts--Motor Vehicle

To prevent motor vehicle repair injuries:

• Ensure that vehicles are positively restrained from moving with chocks.
• Do not place jack stands under potential moving vehicle parts.
• The space under a jack-suspended vehicle should not be entered unless suitable vehicle support stands are utilized.

Trabajadores Aplastados Por Vehículos, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Kentucky Haz Alerts--Motor Vehicle

Para prevenir lesiones relacionadas con la reparación de automotores:

1. Asegúrese de que los vehículos estén firmemente inmovilizados con tacos.
2. No coloque los soportes bajo partes del vehículo que se puedan mover.
3. No se debe ocupar el espacio entre un vehículo suspendido con gato y el suelo a menos que se haga uso de bases de soporte adecuadas para el mismo.

Ua61/6 Newsletter Issue 4, Wku Institute For Rural Health Development & Research

WKU Archives Records

Newsletter created by and about the Institute for Rural Health Development & Research. This issue contains:

• Simpson, Staci. Letter from the Director
• Institute for Rural Health Development & Research Impact Statement
• Mobile Health Unit Conference Attended
• WKU Mobile Health & Wellness Unit
• Kentucky State Fair Project
• Health House of Horrors
• Wilson, Richard. Faculty Presents at American Public Health Association Conference
• New Interdisciplinary Program: WellWorks
• Health Fair Event for Migrant Workers Held
• Local Interventions to Encourage the Enhancement of the Health of the Rural Elderly
• Jones, Susan. Predicting the Use of Personal Respiratory Protection Among Workers in Swine Confinement Buildings
• The …

How Much Weight Is Too Much For Manual Lifting : Determining A Weight Limit Guideline For Team-Effort Lifting Tasks, Piyush G. Chapla

Theses

Manual material handling is the primary cause of musculoskeletal injuries, which includes injuries related to lower back, at the workplaces in the U.S. Of all the manual material handling tasks, lifting has been the leading contributor to lower back injuries. These injuries may be induced by several risk factors associated with lifting tasks, weight of the object being lifted being one of them.

Weight limit guidelines have been developed by various groups recommending the weights that workers can lift safely without sustaining injuries. However, these guidelines are aimed to serve individual lifting tasks. Even though team lifting is a common …

Determination Of The Efficacy Of Two Building Decontamination Strategies By Surface Sampling With Culture And Quantitative Pcr Analysis, Mark P. Buttner, Patrica Cruz, Linda Stetzenbach, Amy Klima-Comba

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

The efficacy of currently available decontamination strategies for the treatment of indoor furnishings contaminated with bioterrorism agents is poorly understood. Efficacy testing of decontamination products in a controlled environment is needed to ensure that effective methods are used to decontaminate domestic and workplace settings. An experimental room supplied with materials used in office furnishings (i.e., wood laminate, painted metal, and vinyl tile) was used with controlled dry aerosol releases of endospores of Bacillus atrophaeus (“Bacillus subtilis subsp. niger,” also referred to as BG), a Bacillus anthracis surrogate. Studies were performed using two test products, a foam decontaminant and chlorine dioxide …

Homicides In The Workplace, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Kentucky Haz Alerts--Other

To prevent workplace violence:

• Assessment for workplace violence risks should be done in all workplaces.
• Workplaces should have policies that clearly delineate that violence is not appropriate during any workplace interaction and violence policies should mirror other workplace policies in terms of strategies for reporting and investigation of incidents, and progressive discipline.
• A clear and consistent reporting system for workplace violence should be in place and every worker should understand how it works.
• Safety training should be attended by employers, supervisors, and employees.
• Policy, training, and employee assistance for domestic violence should be implemented in collaboration with community service providers.

Homicidios En El Lugar De Trabajo, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Kentucky Haz Alerts--Other

Para prevenir la violencia ocupacional:

Una valoración de los riesgos de violencia ocupacional deberá ser llevada a cabo en todos los lugares de trabajo.

Los lugares de trabajo deben implementar políticas que aclaren que la violencia no es apropiada durante ninguna interacción laboral; de igual forma las políticas sobre violencia deberán reflejar los procedimientos del lugar de trabajo en términos de estrategias para reportar e investigar los casos y la progresión de la disciplina.

Un sistema de reporte de la violencia laboral claro y consistente deberá ser implementado en el lugar de trabajo, y cada trabajador deberá comprender como funciona. …

Osha Laboratory Safety Standard 29 Cfr 1910.1450 And Achieving Compliance In The Microelectronic Laboratory, Danielle M. Digironimo

Theses

This thesis is a practical application of occupational exposures to hazardous substances in a microelectronics laboratory. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard for the safety in laboratories is (29 CFR 1910.1450). The application is a demonstration of the implementation of the standard in a university setting. Hazards that exist in laboratory settings are very complex and the task of providing a safe workplace can become increasingly complicated. A laboratory can and does impose different health and safety concerns that a standard industrial workplace setting might not have. The need for a laboratory safety standard program to be implemented …

An Ergonomic Assessment Of The Airline Baggage Handler, Stephen P. Salomon

Theses

A material or baggage handler is responsible for loading and unloading baggage and materials from inbound/outbound aircraft flights and transferring the materials to and from the baggage holding and sorting areas and back to the passengers or output source. Baggage handlers work in all types of inclement weather, all over the airport, and in-and-around the aircraft. The baggage handler's job entails repeated lifting pulling, pushing, squatting, twisting, kneeling, and stretching of the arms and back, which makes the baggage handler's job one of the more challenging material handling jobs to ergonomically assess and make corrections for. The aim of the …

Roofing Laborer Dies After 60-Foot Fall, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Falls

At 8:00 AM on the morning of October 7, 2003, a 33-year-old laborer, working for a roofing contractor, was removing debris from a commercial building roof when he slipped and fell 60 feet to the sidewalk below. There were 2 other laborers and the contractor at the work site that morning. It was the second work day at this particular job site and the three workers were to finish discarding bags of debris from the roof. The decedent and one of the laborers accessed the roof through the building interior, up a flight of stairs to a five-step ladder which …

Master Plumber Dies When Trench Collapses, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Other

On July 29, 2003, a 35-year-old, male master plumber died when an unshorn trench collapsed. Two employees from the contracting company were speaking with him at the time from the side of the trench. He had searched and diagnosed a water line leak when the walls of the trench collapsed. The plumber was employed by a plumbing company contracted by a commercial establishment to locate and repair a water leak. He died at the scene from asphyxia due to chest compression.

To prevent future occurrences of similar incidents, the following recommendations have been made:

Recommendation No. 1: Employers should train …

Predicting The Use Of Personal Respiratory Protection Among Workers In Swine Confinement Buildings, M. Susan Jones

Nursing Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to identify the variables that influence the frequency of personal respiratory protection (PRP) use by workers in swine confinement buildings (SCBs). The study was designed to answer four research questions: 1). What is the validity and reliability of the Personal Respiratory Protection Survey (PRPS)? 2). How frequently do workers in SCBs wear PRP? 3). How do demographics, occupational histories, and self-reported respiratory health histories influence the use of PRP in SCBs? and 4). What are the relationships of the constructs (benefits, barriers, susceptibility, severity, norms) to the use of PRP by workers in SCBs? …

Investigation And Calculation Of Dose Coefficients For Radionuclides Produced In A Spallation Neutron Source Using The Ensdf And Nubase Nuclear Databases, Yayun Song

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Dose coefficients are useful for risk assessment during the design and siting of accelerator-driven nuclear facilities including the Spallation Neutron Source. There are seventy-two radionuclides with half-lives equal to or greater than one minute that will be produced by the spallation of a mercury target for which no published dose coefficients exist. Out of these seventy-two, twenty-four currently have conflicting published nuclear data in the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data Files (ENSDF) and the NUBASE data files. In this research these twenty-four radionuclides have been studied. Because of missing ENSDF records, internal and external dose coefficients were determined for only six …

The Presence Of P22 Bacteriophage In Electrocautery Aerosols, Dale Stephenson, David Allcott, Michael Koch

Dale J. Stephenson

Electrosurgery units, including lasers and electrosurgical cauterizers, are commonly used for both inpatient and outpatient procedures. The generation of an aerosol plume, associated with the use of these devices, is a result of many factors including: 1) direct aspiration of blood and body fluids, 2) direct heating and vaporization of cellular fluid causing cells to explode, and 3) the carbonization of cells and cell fragments at high temperatures. Although initial studies have concluded that these plumes create only a malodorous nuisance, subsequent research suggests the presence of potential chemical and pathological hazards, including bacteria and virus. Most scientific research has …

Highway Construction Worker Dies When Struck By Semi-Tractor Trailer, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Motor Vehicle

At approximately 8:30 am on April 16, 2003, a 48-year-old male (decedent) highway construction laborer working in an interstate highway median, died when he was struck by an out-of-control double trailer (a semi-truck pulling two trailers). The laborer was speaking with the job foreman and another laborer in the median next to a grading machine. As the decedent looked toward the traffic, he saw a double trailer traveling on the right-hand shoulder swerve into the left-hand lane and drive into the median where all three men were standing. He told the other two to get out of the way as …

Construction Laborer Dies From Heat Stroke At End Of Workday, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Other

On June 27, 2003, a 41-year-old, male laborer died from heat stroke one day after being taken to the hospital. The laborer was working on an addition to a factory sawing boards to make concrete forms. He worked until 5:00 pm that day and was in the parking lot on his way to his vehicle when he apparently collapsed beside his vehicle. A worker on the second shift at the factory was taking scrap material outside to a dumpster when he found the laborer on the ground. The factory worker returned to the plant and told his supervisor there was …

28-Year-Old Man Dies After Falling With Lift, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Falls

On June 27, 2003, a 28-year-old male sound technician died due to injuries received after falling approximately 50 feet from a lift. Three men (one chief sound engineer and two sound technicians) were sent to repair a sound system in a school gymnasium. Upon arriving and assessing the situation, the three diagnosed that a particular speaker, located in the rafters, should be removed from its location. Using a 30-year-old telescoping, self-leveling lift belonging to the school, the chief engineer used controls located at the base of the lift, to hoist the two sound technicians to the speaker in the rafter. …

Fatal Tractor Overturns: Don't Let Them Roll Over You!, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Kentucky Haz Alerts--Tractors/Logging

To prevent tractor injuries:

• All tractors should be equipped with a Roll Over Protective Structure (ROPS) and a seat belt.
• Tractors should be equipped with front-end counterweights and tractor wheels
• should be weighted to increase stability.
• Community farm safety training with safe operating procedures and hazard identification should be offered to novice or limited- experience operators.

Patient Handling Ergonomics, Paul Reichert

Theses

The incidence of musculoskeletal injuries among healthcare workers has been well documented in the medical and ergonomic literature. The epidemiological evidence demonstrates high injury rate among nurses, nurse's aides, therapists and other medical workers who frequently handle patients. The biomechanical research has shown large compressive forces developed in the lumbar spine performing various patient handling transfers that exceed the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health's recommended guideline. One of the most strenuous patient handling tasks is transferring the patient from bed to the chair and vice versa.

One of the objectives of this thesis is to design and conduct …

An Interdisciplinary Learning Experience Through Applied Clinical Practice With Community Volunteers, Dana Howell, Nancy Devine, Lisa Portsman

Dana Howell

Allied health professionals typically begin working on an interdisciplinary health care team immediately upon entering the workforce. Interdisciplinary health care teams are believed to be cost-effective, to result in better patient outcomes, and to lower staff burnout and turnover. Although teamwork often is standard practice in the workplace, allied health students may receive little to no formal training in working with other professionals while in school. Instead, it may be assumed that this knowledge is inherent or that developing the skills necessary to work as part of a team while on clinical affiliation or postgraduation is acceptable.

Communicating Severity Of Hazard With The Signal Word On A Safety Sign, Roger C. Jensen, Andrew M. Mccammack

Safety Health & Industrial Hygiene

An experiment examined five signal words on safety signs for effectiveness at communicating information about severity of a hazard. Perceived severity was rated by 59 college students for the signal words Deadly, Danger, Warning, Caution, and Notice. Results indicated that Deadly communicated the highest ratings for severity. Danger was second. Warning and Caution were tied for third. The lowest ratings were for Notice.

Comparison Of Student Versus Employee Test Populations For Warning Sign Research Based On Severity Ratings For Signal Words, Scott Thomas, Roger C. Jensen

Safety Health & Industrial Hygiene

Most studies of warning signs involve undergraduate students as subjects. This paper reports a direct comparison of findings from an undergraduate population and an employed population. The 48 employed subjects from this study were compared with 59 undergraduate subjects from a companion study. Subjects from both populations were shown the same signs and asked to rate the severity level connoted by each sign. The signs differed only in signal word. Results for each population indicated that signal word had a highly significant effect on severity ratings. When the two populations were compared for ratings of each signal word, the only …

An Interdisciplinary Learning Experience Through Applied Clinical Practice With Community Volunteers, Dana Howell, Nancy Devine, Lisa Portsman

Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy Faculty and Staff Research

Allied health professionals typically begin working on an interdisciplinary health care team immediately upon entering the workforce. Interdisciplinary health care teams are believed to be cost-effective, to result in better patient outcomes, and to lower staff burnout and turnover. Although teamwork often is standard practice in the workplace, allied health students may receive little to no formal training in working with other professionals while in school. Instead, it may be assumed that this knowledge is inherent or that developing the skills necessary to work as part of a team while on clinical affiliation or postgraduation is acceptable.