Ebola outbreak

Africa
Africa
Ebola crisis: Five ways to avoid the deadly virus
27 August 2014 Last updated at 00:35

Ebola is one of the world's most deadly viruses but is not airborne, so cannot be caught like flu. Medical experts say avoiding it should be quite easy if you follow these tips:

1. Soap and water

Wash your hands regularly with soap and clean water - and use clean towels to dry them. This can be difficult in slum and rural areas where there is not always direct access to clean water - but it is an effective way to kill the virus. Ordinary soap is all that's needed.

Shaking hands should also generally be avoided, Dr Unni Krishnan of Plan International told BBC Africa, because Ebola spreads quickly when people come into contact with an infected person's body fluids and symptoms take can take a while to show. Other forms of greeting are being encouraged, he says.

2. No touching

So if you suspect someone of having Ebola, do not touch them. This may seem cruel when you see a loved one in pain and you want to hug and nurse them, but body fluids - urine and stools, vomit, blood, nasal mucus, saliva, tears, sperm and vaginal secretion - can all pass on the virus.

An infected person's symptoms include fever, muscle and joint pain, sore throat, headache and fatigue - followed by nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, which may include blood.

Encourage them to seek help from a medical professional or health centre as soon as possible. It is also advisable not to touch the clothes or bedclothes of Ebola patients - and Medecins Sans Frontieres advises that such sheets and even mattresses be burnt.

3. Avoid dead bodies

If you think someone has died from Ebola, do not touch their body, even as part of a burial ceremony. When someone has died, you can still catch Ebola from their body as it ejects fluids that make it even more contagious than that of a sick person.

Organise for a specialised team to deal with the body as quickly as possible as it is risky to leave a dead body for any length of time in a cramped living area.

4. No bushmeat

Avoid hunting, touching and eating bushmeat such as bats, monkeys and chimpanzees, as scientists believe this is how the virus was first transmitted to humans.

Even if a certain wild animal is a delicacy in your region, avoid it as its meat or blood may be contaminated. Make sure all food is cooked properly.

5. Don't panic

Spreading rumours increases fear. Do not be scared of health workers - they are there to help and a clinic is the best place for a person to recover - they will be rehydrated and receive pain relief.

About half of the people infected in the current outbreak have died. There have been cases of medics being attacked and people being abandoned when they are suspected of having Ebola - even when they are suffering from something else.

A belief in irrational traditional remedies has also exacerbated the spread of the virus.

"Prevention is the best way to deal with Ebola, so stop rumours and do not panic; it is possible to reduce the suffering and save lives," Dr Krishnan says.

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD):

Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 55%
Incubation period is two to 21 days
There is no vaccine or cure
Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host

For more updates on Ebola, you down a BBC podcast issued twice a week on the latest health advice about the virus.

welcome back

Hello HSE people, we are back online back and better

Does every hazardous situation need a safety sign?

Does every hazardous situation need a safety sign?

It is a common myth that every hazardous situation requires a warning sign.
Warning signage  is useful when there’s a major hazard that is also being controlled in other ways -  as an additional control.
But that doesn't mean you should add a sign for every trivial hazard.  In fact, using too many signs means no one will take much notice of them.

Source: UK HSE, 2007.
And where there are major hazards you should never just rely on warning signage - take practical steps to deal with the hazards using the "hierarchy of control".
If you do need a sign, make sure it is correct for the hazard and that it is clearly visible.

Power Socket Safety Tips

Power Socket Safety Tips

 safe use of  power sockets.  Read below for the key tips on this topic:
●  Block unused outlets with a solid cover plate or childproof caps. Few electrical safety tips are more important when you have young children in the house;
●  Ensure that all wall-mounted power sockets ("outlets") are encased with solid, secure plates so that all the wiring is enclosed;

●  Do not overloading power sockets or outlets with large numbers of extension cables and temporary power box's;;

●  Never place anything into the power socket holes except for the appropriately-sized plug; and

●  Always install a residual current device (RCD) or ground fault circuit interrupter in your home and office.

Failure to Lock-out, Tag-out

Graham Marshall - Saturday, April 21, 2012

A failure to de-energize equipment being worked on, and then to use lock-out, tag-out (LOTO) to ensure the equipment cannot be accidentally or deliberately re-started is at the root of many serious accidents.
In this incident investigation, a marine engineer was working on an air-compressor unit which he failed to de-energize and LOTO. 
Whilst his hands were in the "danger-zone" around the compressure, the units fan auto-started, rotated at high speed and impacted his fingers.
The engineer was fortunate this time to not have his fingers or whole hand amputated.
While the incident investigation summary suggests a mental risk assessment is not a good tool, I'd suggest that a run-through the job using  the Think 6, Look 6 hazard management process would have identified the hazards (kinetic energy in the fan) and the triggers (failure to de-energize the unit, failure to apply LOTO to the unit, and potential of the unit to go into auto start-up).
A very simple analysis would have identified for the engineer the controls which were then required.
I'd suggest a risk assessment on paper is next to worthless, if you're not applying the systematic approach of

toolbox

Managing Hazards During Construction

Graham Marshall - Wednesday, July 25, 2012

According to the WA Department of Mines and Petroleum, there is more than AUD $180 billion worth of resource projects in development in Western Australia.
These mega-projects are expected to create more than 50,000 new construction jobs.
But the construction phase is a dangerous time for workers.
Accident statistics for the minerals sector have shown a consistently high proportion of fatalities and injuries associated with construction activities.
This is mainly because construction workers undertake such a high-number of potentially higher-risk tasks and jobs.  Examples of these higher-risk jobs include:
• Lots of driving of light-vehicles and heavier mobile-equipment;
• Scaffolding;
• Tilt up or precast construction;
• Electrical work;
• Working at height;
• Using cranes;
• Work in excavations;
• Working with hazardous substances; and
• Using elevated work platforms (EWPs).
The requirement to perform such a high number of potentially higher-risk jobs is also then compounded by other management issues.  These include:
• Tight deadlines for project completion;
• An inexperienced workforce;
• Large numbers of workers concentrated in relatively small area's; and
• The potential for poor contractor management systems.
Risk management during the construction phase of project development has always been a priority target for  the Risk Management Tool Box.
For almost 15-years we've been reviewing and revising customer management systems to improve compliance capacity and capabilities, and add value by raising awareness of the hazard and risk management process.
Our experience and expertise during the construction phase is focused on the following:
• Improving the internal systems and processes deployed to manage risk by our customers, especially focussed on procedures, job safety analysis and appropriate risk assessments and planning;
• Empowering construction workers with the required safety competency needed to effectively promote OHS requirements during construction;
• Helping workers, supervisors and managers to identify and manage common construction hazards; and
• Providing behaviour-based hazard observation programs to ensure everyone is involved in managing the hazards they face at work.
Feel free to get in touch if it sounds like we have anything to offer!

At work introducing a HSE Intervention Program.


In the field - but not the oilfield!

Rockin' the Bakken

Graham Marshall - Monday, August 01, 2011

One of our customers who is working the oil-patch in the Bakken (ND) and who is using our HSE Observation Program to enhance worker participation and intervention has sent me a copy of the July Edition of Talkin' the Bakken Magazine.

Our client in ND tells me that he is using the cover of the magazine as a tool-box training aid in order for workers to identify a number of "at-risk" practices shown on the cover photograph.

Take a look at the image below and see how many "at-risk" practices that you can identify. 

We reckon eight issues to observe is a fairly easy target. .

You can find out more about our HSE Observation Program by clicking the "Behaviour Safety Tools" button at the top of the page.

Safety Observation Program Data Management

The successful introduction of any Behavioral Based Safety initiative relies on good information management.
You might have the best BBS process for observations but if the information collected during observations is not handled appropriately, the whole program will be fatally weakened.
Leaders, managers, supervisors and workers participating in any BBS program need to be able to input, capture, analyze, access and report on information for easy decision support. 
The information system behind any BBS programm needs to be inherent flexible with a framework providing the most comprehensive information management capabilities.
Below are some features that I would recommend to be essential for data management for any BBS program to stand a chance of success:

• One centralized database for company-wide BBS information management.

• Ability for organizational customization for site-specific HSE observations and user security.

• Ensure consistent BBS information management process across your organization.

• Information management program should provide real-time tracking of HSE observations.

• Should provide the ability to identify areas requiring HSE improvement within the organization.

• The BBS information management system should assist in establishing organization strategic HSE plans, HSE training needs and other long-term HSE commitments.

• The information management system should allow a wide range of data analysis to be performed. 

• Should allow for relevent reports to be created for appropriate stakeholders using available BBS information

It's certainly been a pleasure to be friends with the excellent HSE Professionals

Best regards as you move forward with your HSE culture in coming years.


 

Presenting Meaningful Behavioral Safety Data

Graham Marshall - Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Today's special BBS topic is all about data - recording it and presenting it in meaningful ways.

One of the fundamentals of BBS is that it relies on a form of what psychologists have called "posted feedback". 

The posted feedback  approach to behaviour modification has a long history in psychology.  In the OHS arena, posted feedback allows workers, supervisors and managers to track changes over time and to see if targeted goals are being met.

In our BBS program, we have created a simple to use database that allows HSE observation data to be entered.  Importantly, the data entry method is idiot-proof as we've created a system that allows only the correctly observed HSE information to be recorded. 

This helps to eliminate errors during HSE data entry.  Furthermore, a huge benefit you'll find with our program is that each time the data from a HSE observation is entered into the database, the system automatically updates and generates all of the graphs and charts that are used for posted feedback.

This also eliminates the chance for error when it comes time to look at and review the information outputs of the HSE Observation Program.

So let's get started and look at some data output from our program. 

When you open the attached presentation, you'll find four slides.

The first slide  shows the simple administrative data we collect.

The second slide shows issues of HSE concern that may need fixing.  This information allows you to focus your efforts on real "at-risk" concerns.

The third slides shows the hazad potential and the potential incidents that could occur within the workscope being observed.  Once again, this allows a more focussed approach to specific hazard mangement.

The final slides shows important information about breaches of Golden Safety Rules.  This data allows for urgent rectification of serious HSE-critical concerns.

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Health and Safety Awareness Posters

Health and Safety Awareness Posters

Graham Marshall - Saturday, January 08, 2011

HSE Posters should be part of any Health and Safety Program.
They provide visual memory joggers to employees and contractors who are reminded about hazards, risk assessment tools and the controls available to stay safe at work.
As such, safety, health or environmental awareness posters can be designed with many important messages and form part of your Health and Safety Program.
Safety Awareness posters are a visual reminder and they help re-enforce the health and safety training that employees and contractors receive on a regular basis throughout the year.
Below are some of the areas of the work place where safety awareness posters should be put up.

• Toilets.  Visitors often have a few spare moments to take in the important safety messages!

• Hazardous chemicals storage areas. Posters can remind employees how to handle hazardous substances with caution.

• Stairways.  Focus on Health and Safety Posters that ensure spills are cleaned up carefully anremi folks to use the hand-rails.

• HSE Notice Boards.

• Cafeteria.

Putting up safety posters makes a visual presentation about the safety culture of the organization.  To check out our hazard awareness posters, click the "Other Tools" button above.