Every day, Clark Seif Clark professionals are deployed across the nation helping both large and small customers resolve health & safety, industrial hygiene, environmental and indoor air quality issues.
At a moment's notice, Clark Seif Clark can send their experts anywhere they are needed. No matter if it's in response to a hurricane, wildfire, flood, tornado or other natural disaster, Clark Seif Clark is ready to help and can respond in no time at all.
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OSHA Top 10 Citations for 2019 and Preventing Injuries, Fatalities and Costly Noncompliance Penalties
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Protecting the health and safety of the U.S. workforce has improved over the years, but as recently as 2017, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) reports that 5,147 workers still died on the job. In addition, countless more were injured on the job or developed occupational diseases.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing "safe and healthful working conditions" for their employees. To protect workers, there are a number of OSHA regulations that are enforced by the agency. Each year,
OSHA releases a list of the 10 most frequently cited safety and health violations for the fiscal year to help build awareness of areas that need to be given more attention.
OSHA's preliminary Top 10 list for 2019 includes:
- Fall Protection - General Requirements (6,010 violations)
- Hazard Communication (3,671 violations)
- Scaffolding - General Requirements (2,813 violations)
- Lockout/Tagout (2,606 violations)
- Respiratory Protection (2,450 violations)
- Ladders (2,345 violations)
- Powered Industrial Trucks (2,093 violations)
- Fall Protection - Training Requirements (1,773 violations)
- Machine Guarding (1,743 violations)
- Eye & Face Protection (1,411 violations)
"This list represents almost 27,000 citations issued by OSHA,"
said Zahid Iqbal, MPH, CIH and Technical Director at Clark Seif Clark (CSC). "Each one can potentially be in the tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention the health and safety of numerous workers and even nonemployees that may have been in jeopardy. At CSC our industrial hygiene and safety professionals are available to assist with developing, training, implementing, managing, and assessing occupational health and safety programs for all types of companies and institutions. These services create a culture of workplace safety that has been shown to improve morale, raise productivity and significantly reduce costs."
CSC also recently sponsored an educational video discussing OSHA's Top 10 Citations for 2019 that can be seen here:
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| OSHA Top 10 Citations for 2019 |
To learn more about this or other industrial hygiene, occupational, environmental, indoor air quality, health and safety services,
please visit
www.csceng.com
, email
[email protected]
or call (800) 807-1118.
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Exposure Risks to Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA)
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The first recorded nosocomial outbreak of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the United States occurred in 1968 in Boston, Massachusetts. This infection was traditionally associated with hospitalization or other health care-associated risk factors, but this is no longer the case.
MRSA is a type of staph bacteria that can be found on some people's skin or in their nose. For those who develop an infection, it is resistant to many antibiotics.In recent years, health care providers have observed MRSA infections in an increasing number of people who lack traditional health care-associated risk factors. These people appear to have community-associated (CA) infections.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH),
CA-MRSA infections are defined as infections in people with no history of the following risk factors within the year prior to the MRSA culture date:
- Hospitalization or surgery
- Permanent indwelling catheters or percutaneous medical devices
- Residence in a long-term care facility
- Dialysis
- MRSA culture <48 hours after hospital admission
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports the infectious bacteria is usually spread in the community by contact with infected people or things that are carrying the bacteria. Anyone can get MRSA and the risk increases with activities or places that involve crowding, skin-to-skin contact, and shared equipment or supplies. Aside from medical patients already receiving care that were the traditional populations considered at risk; athletes, daycare and school students, inmates, and military personnel in barracks are considered to be at higher risk of developing CA-MRSA.
"When addressing CA-MRSA it is important to start with education,"
said
Derrick A. Denis, Vice President of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) for Clark Seif Clark
(CSC). "
Education as an initial step goes a long way towards demystifying what is often a distressing issue. People are calmed and can make sound decisions when they understand the ubiquity of
Staphylococcus aureus
and the MRSA strain. They are also personally empowered to reduce the incidence of infections by learning to practice good personal hygiene and basic wound care. Institutions are comforted knowing they have the power to proactively protect occupants with regular cleaning and effective disinfection of their buildings and equipment."
The IEQ professionals at CSC provide this form of environmental education along with consulting and testing for MRSA and many other superbugs. Proactive education and prevention can reduce the frequency and severity of incidents of MRSA, but inevitably there will be infections that warrant a response from employers and/or property managers. When this occurs, CSC develops quick and concise responses to reported infections to address both the anxieties and the tangible issues related to pathogens. As an educational resource, CSC also recently sponsored a video about CA-MRSA that can be seen here:
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| CA-MRSA: Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus |
To learn more about this or other microbial, environmental, industrial hygiene, indoor air quality, health and safety services,
please visit
www.csceng.com
, email
[email protected]
or call (800) 807-1118.
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About Clark Seif Clark: CSC was established in 1989 to help clients in both the public and private sectors address environmental issues. CSC is a leading provider of these services with multiple offices along the western seaboard and southwest. The company believes in science-based protocols and has a strong background in engineering making them the preferred environmental consultants to healthcare facilities, architects, schools, builders, contractors, developers and real estate professionals.
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