Thanksgiving Safety Tips

To keep Thanksgiving fire-free, the public should follow these ten tips.
1. Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling or broiling food. If you leave the kitchen even for a short period of time, turn off the stove.

2. If you are simmering, baking, roasting, or boiling food, check it regularly, remain in the home while food is cooking, and use a timer to remind you that you’re cooking.

3. Be alert. You won’t be alert if you are sleepy, have taken medicine or drugs, or consumed alcohol that makes you drowsy.

4. Keep anything that can catch fire—potholders, wooden utensils, food wrappers, towels or curtains—away from your stove top.
5. Make sure your sleeves are out of the way when cooking. Wear tighter fitting clothing with shorter sleeves.

6. Have a “kid-free zone” of at least 3 feet around the stove and areas where hot food or drink is prepared or carried.
7. Never hold a child while cooking, drinking or carrying hot foods or liquids.

8. Turn the handles of pots and pans on the stove inward to avoid accidents.
9. Keep pets off cooking surfaces and nearby countertops to prevent them from knocking things onto the burner.

10. Test your smoke alarms by pushing the test button. Replace batteries at least once a year.



Source

Safe Quality Food Manufacturing

Nut allergy is one of the most common food allergies among children and adults and is the leading cause of death from food-induced anaphylaxis. The researchers say more than 3 million people in the United States report being allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, or both. Tree nuts include almonds, cashews, coconuts, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, and walnuts, among others.


Patients with nut allergies are often advised to avoid nuts entirely, from not eating nuts to not even touching products manufactured in facilities that may have been exposed to nuts. “Treatment of nut allergies with dietary avoidance should include education for both adults and children on identification of peanuts and tree nuts,” the researchers say in a news release.
(source: Web MD Article)
Its imperative food manufacturing organizations follow the proper safe quality food procedures to do their part to protect people against potentially life threatening food allergies.  Summit's Food Allergens: Prevent Cross Contamination is one of many food manufacturing safety programs available from Summit Training Source.
http://www.safetyontheweb.com/

OHS Magazine Article Quotes Summit

Online Training's Many Benefits


While the time savings vary greatly, a rough estimate is that safety managers spent 40 percent of their time delivering training in the pre-online era and now spend 10 percent of their time on it.
By Jerry Laws Nov 01, 2010

Read full article here >>

Two out of Five Drivers Admit to Falling Asleep at the Wheel, Finds AAA Foundation Study

Two out of Five Drivers Admit to Falling Asleep at the Wheel, Finds AAA Foundation Study

OSHA encourages major retailers to provide crowd management measures to protect workers during Black Friday, other sales events

Check out Summit's Retail Safety program at http://www.safetyontheweb.com/products/detail.asp?ProductID=1498

OSHA News Release: [11/03/2010]
Contact Name: Dianna Patterson or Jason Surbey
Phone Number: (202) 693-1898 or x4668
Release Number: 10-1520-NAT

US Labor Department’s OSHA encourages major retailers to provide crowd management measures to protect workers during Black Friday, other sales events

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is encouraging CEOs of 14 major retail companies to take precautions to prevent worker injuries during Black Friday and the holiday season's other major sales events. Toward that end, OSHA has sent a letter and fact sheet on "Crowd Management Safety Tips for Retailers" to the CEOs.

In 2008, a worker was trampled to death while a mob of shoppers rushed through the doors of a large store to take advantage of an after-Thanksgiving Day Black Friday sales event. The store was not using the kind of crowd management measures recommended in OSHA's fact sheet, which is available online at https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/Crowd_Control.html.

"Crowd-related injuries during special retail sales and promotional events have increased during recent years," said Assistant Secretary for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. "Many of these incidents can be prevented by adopting a crowd management plan, and this fact sheet provides retail employers with guidelines for avoiding injuries during the holiday shopping season."

The fact sheet provides employers with recommended elements for crowd management plans. Plans should include having trained security personnel or police officers on-site, setting up barricades or rope lines for pedestrians and crowd control well in advance of customers arriving at the store, making sure that barricades are set up so that the customers' line does not start right at the entrance of the store, having in place emergency procedures that address potential dangers, and having security personnel or customer service representatives explain approach and entrance procedures to the arriving public.

OSHA also recommends not allowing additional customers to enter the store when it reaches its maximum occupancy level and not blocking or locking exit doors.

For a copy of the letter sent to the CEOs and a list of the retailers they represent, visit http://www.osha.gov/ooc/blackfridayletter.pdf.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, OSHA's role is to promote safe and healthful working conditions for America's men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, outreach and education. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov/.

Exclusive Survey: 36 States Address Greenhouse Gases from Sprawl, Building Construction

Exclusive Survey: 36 States Address Greenhouse Gases from Sprawl, Building Construction

Summit Wins Top Honors from OH&S Magazine New Product of the Year Awards

Grand Rapids, MI- Summit Training Source is proud to announce top honors from the Occupational Health & Safety magazine, which held its second annual New Product of the Year contest at the 2010 National Safety Conference in San Diego. Summit surpassed competition to win the award in the product category for Best Online Training with its product line Summit Elements. Summit Elements are short video clips and graphics that you can purchase, download, and use to customize any training presentation.

The New Product of the Year contest recognizes innovation, quality, and excellence in customer service by many leading manufacturers in the safety and health industry during one of the biggest U.S. trade show of the year. Every entry in the 2010 contest was a product introduced to the market between Aug. 2, 2009, and July 2, 2010. This second annual contest attracted a new high of 42 products in 17 award categories, with an independent panel of three highly qualified judges choosing the winners.

Summit Elements joins the long line of Summit’s award winning programs. More than 45,000 industry leaders worldwide trust Summit training programs to protect their most valuable resources from risk, danger, and loss. With more than 600 environmental, health, and safety training titles in multiple formats, Summit provides proven content that delivers the business results expected in today’s competitive global environment.

Learn about Summit Elements at http://elements.safeytontheweb.com/

Find out more information on Summit’s products today by visiting http://www.safetyontheweb.com/ or call 800.842.0466.

Workplace Safety Rules a Part of Notre Dame Death Probe (Manfuacturing.net)

http://www.manufacturing.net/News/2010/11/Safety-Workplace-Safety-Rules-A-Part-Of-ND-Death-Probe/

Pontiac Out of Business After 84 Years (from Manufacturing.net)

http://www.manufacturing.net/News/2010/11/Automotive-Pontiac-Out-Of-Business-After-84-Years/