Tag Archives: overuse

Eye Protection, General Safety Issues, Hearing Protection

RINGING IN THE FACTS ABOUT CELL PHONE OVERUSE (GUEST INFOGRAPHIC)

Our thanks to Ashley O’Connor for this infographic, which depicts potential health effects of excessive mobile phone usage. Basically, it shows different health problems we may get from over using our mobile phone.  First and foremost, as Ashley says, please do not use your cell phone to text while you are driving!  I will admit that I am among the 67% that checks my cell phone even if it hasn’t rung!  However, I am not addicted to using the phone or tablet. Most folks will tell you that they sometimes find it irritating to visit person to person with someone who is texting on their phone rather than participating in the conversation. Food for thought! pb

Ergonomics, General Safety Issues

FIVE TIPS TO PREVENT COMMON JOINT INJURIES (GUEST POST)

Are you looking after your joints? As the places in our bodies where bones meet, joints are essential for everyday movement. They are also very susceptible to damage and injury.  According to statistics from safeworkaustralia.gov.au, chronic joint conditions or strains of joints represented 40% of employees who received work-related compensation in 2010.

Some of the most common joint injuries include sprains and strains in the back, knee, wrists, ankles, wrists and elbows. Inflammatory joint conditions can also be very painful and sometimes debilitating. Examples of these include arthritis, bursitis, carpal instability, tendonitis and plantar fasciitis.

Here are five pointers to help you prevent common joint injuries. These can be applied effectively in the workplace but are also relevant for everyday activities like gardening and home maintenance.

Don’t overuse body parts that are already injured

Already suffering from pain and inflammation in your joints? Avoid putting undue strain on those affected areas. When working with an injury you need to keep in mind that tired sore muscles will not be working at optimal levels of strength. Trying to work through the pain can often cause further damage.

Correct lifting techniques

When heavy or awkward lifting is involved as part of your job make sure you know and use correct lifting techniques. These include bending at the knees and hips so that, instead of your back to taking the strain, your major muscles do the hard work instead.

Companies should have a manual detailing safe lifting on hand for staff to read.

Avoid repetitive movements for long periods and take a break

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is a potentially debilitating condition resulting from overusing mainly upper body parts (hands or elbows) to perform a repetitive task, such as typing, clicking a mouse, or work on an industrial chain). Vary your work tasks so that you get a break between those tasks that might lead to RSI.

Keeping a prolonged sitting or standing position can also lead to joint inflammation conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis and plantar fasciitis. Contact your OHS representative to report your problems or concerns and ask to get a more ergonomic work desk or seat. Consult an occupational therapist who can come to your workplace and help you set up your workstation correctly.

Keeping fit outside of work

Maintaining a healthy body weight and exercising including strengthening exercises can help to reduce stress on joints. Stretching is equally important to keep muscles supple and relaxed.

Incorporate stretching as part of your daily routine. At work it’s optimal to get up from your workstation and take a short stretch every 20 minutes.

Know your limits

Depending on your age, size and physical fitness your joints will be able to undertake various amounts of strain. Stop at the first sign of pain or irritation in your joints. Know when a task is too much for you and avoid undertaking those tasks that push you too far

Working within a range of motion and not over extending your joints helps to prevent common injuries such as sprains, strains and the onset of problems such as Bursitis.  Work related injuries will often require a discussion between your doctor, rehabilitation counsellor and employer.

Even normal, healthy joints deteriorate over time. It’s important to protect your joints and maximise their use, mobility and function now to save you a world of pain later in life.

While the best treatment is prevention, if detected early there are many options to help with joint pain such as physiotherapy, chiropractic treatment or massage. With the rise in popularity of natural alternatives you can also find many other natural ways to help with joint injuries such as the OSMO Patch which can help decrease swelling and inflammation.

 Author Bio: Danniel Jacques holds a B.Med.Sci from UNSW and is passionate about joint health and the benefits and importance of exploring natural alternatives in health care.  Google plus page – https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/109883296254635691947/106413800886668779908/

Note: Texas America Safety Company and Blog4Safety want to thank Danniel for this valuable information.  Taking care of your joints at a young age will benefit your body as time and age progress.  Added support of joints, such as elbows, knees, and back may be needed to help protect those joints that are overused. pb

General Safety Issues

SEVEN BAD HABITS KIDS PICK UP FROM TWITTER – Guest Post

Today, we are featuring an article sent to us by Martina Keyhell, with becomeananny.org/blog.  Not too long ago, Martina sent us a some tips about bad habits that teens pick up from Facebook.  Here is her take on Twitter:

“Social media forums have some real up sides, we can’t deny that. When it comes to staying in touch with far-flung friends and family and being up to speed with all the latest and greatest in news and gossip, it’s been a real blessing to have social networking sites like Twitter. We just wish that some kids didn’t suffer from some side-effects of overuse. Don’t know what we’re talking about? We’ll explain. Here are seven bad habits that kids pick up from Twitter:

  1. Poor Grammar – We’ve seen this from chat room usage, text messaging, and IM’s; so it’s nothing that’s really new. The 140-character limit and Twitter’s wildly popular platform just seem to exacerbate the problem to a far greater degree.
  2. Time Management – Let’s be frank, this isn’t just a problem for kids, but it poses a greater threat to them, since they haven’t yet learned to balance their time between work and leisure to the extent they will need to as adults.
  3. Following Celebrities – On the surface, and with proper balance, there’s nothing inherently wrong with corresponding with celebrities. In fact it’s one of the great things about Twitter. The danger is in placing more emphasis on the posts of the famous, re-tweeting every little blurb as though it were sage wisdom, all just because of the person’s celebrity status.
  4. Public Venting – It’s good to have outlets for our anger and frustration, so long as they are safe and private. The trend these days apparently is to go to your profile and launch into a thoughtless tirade when the mood swings. Not a wise or healthy habit and one that can end up backfiring on you.
  5. Loss of Originality – This isn’t a widespread thing, but it’s something we are seeing more and more often. Re-tweets are another form of showing approval, like a thumbs-up or a like. Used in that way, they’re vaguely useful and certainly harmless enough.  The difference is that re-tweets at times almost seem like recitations, with RT’ers supplanting original thought in favor of aping whatever post happens to be popular at the time.
  6. Auto-Following – In this context, it’s more or less seen as a polite reciprocation of a friendly gesture. It can be done automatically with an app, or manually on a tit-for-tat basis. The thing is, following someone should be based on individual merit, as determined by the follower, on a case-by-case basis. Kids need to establish these parameters and values in their lives now, and not toss them aside in a social networking environment.
  7. Blurring the Lines – This is a virtually universal issue, in that it affects people of various ages, backgrounds and occupations. There seems to be little if any distinction for so many of us, between our personal and professional lives, as we embrace these social media sites.”

Thanks, Martina, and if I may add to your #7.  This issue does affect many different persons, in all walks of life.  It is very irritating to see a politician during session supposedly listening to the person speaking, (maybe the subject is important to the rest of us!), but during that time he/she is Tweeting!  This happens in all walks of life., as well.  We need to pay attention to things that are important to others, and then share our news on the social network of choice.