Older Workers To Outnumber Younger Employees For The First Time

Whether out of economic need or simply a desire to continue working, many baby boomers aren’t leaving their jobs anytime soon.

In fact, many workers 55 and older are staying in the workforce. By year’s end their numbers will surpass those who are aged 25 to 34. And the trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future — until 2020.

via Older Workers To Outnumber Younger Employees For The First Time.

Healthy Aging Over 50

Healthy aging is a hot topic for baby boomers everywhere. Whether you’re concerned about weight gain, sex drive or chronic diseases, the key to healthy aging is a healthy lifestyle. Eating a variety of healthy foods, practicing portion control and including physical activity in your daily routine can go a long way toward promoting healthy aging. Better yet, its never too late to make healthier lifestyle choices.

via Healthy aging – MayoClinic.com.

Stop the Strain at Work

Overexertion has long been among the leading causes of nonfatal workplace injuries, and attempts to combat it continue to be a burden on employers and their pocketbooks.  An estimated 3.5 million overexertion injuries occur every year, most of which are from excessive lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling or carrying. Back injuries are the most common form of overexertion in the workplace and can result in huge costs. According to a 2010 report from the Boston-based Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, in 2008, overexertion cost businesses $13.4 billion in direct workers’ compensation costs – accounting for more than 25 percent of the overall $53.4 billion national burden.

via 6 11 Stop the Strain.

How can you lose weight and keep it off for good?

How can you lose weight and keep it off for good? Successful dieters in the National Weight Control Registry, a group of 10,000 people who have lost 30 pounds or more and maintained that loss for a year or more, have developed many weight-control strategies. For instance, they:

  • Follow a low-calorie, low-fat diet of about 1,800 calories a day.
  • Keep track of food intake.
  • Count calories, carbs or fat grams or use a commercial weight-loss program to track food intake.
  • Walk about an hour a day or burn the same calories doing other physical activities.
  • Eat breakfast regularly, often including whole grains and low-fat dairy products.
  • Limit dining out to an average of three times a week, and fast food to less than once a week.
  • Eat similar foods often and dont splurge much.
  • Watch fewer than 10 hours of TV a week.
  • Weigh themselves at least once a week.

via Obesity could affect 42% of Americans by 2030 – USATODAY.com.

Buckle Up – Even in the Back Seat

Unbuckled occupants “become a back-seat bullet” in a crash, says Pam Fischer, state highway traffic safety director. In collisions, experts say, unbelted passengers in the back seat continue to move at the same rate of speed as the vehicle they’re in until they hit something — seat back, dashboard, windshield or people in the front seat. Yet many view the back seat as somehow safer.

via States expand seat belt laws to cover rear-seat riders – USATODAY.com.

Hidden Danger: Furniture Tip-Overs

Top safety tips to help prevent tip-over hazards

  • If a piece of furniture is unstable or top-heavy, secure it to a stud in the wall using brackets, braces, anchors or wall straps. Large items such as TVs, microwaves, fish tanks, bookcases, heavy furniture and appliances can topple off stands and fall on children.
  • If you have a newer, flat screen TV, make sure it’s properly anchored to the wall.
  • Read the manufacturer’s instructions for tips or warnings regarding placement of your TV or furniture.
  • Keep heavier items on lower shelves or in lower drawers.
  • Don’t keep remote controls, candy, toys or other items that attract children on top of furniture, as your child might be enticed to reach for these items.
  • Supervise young children at all times.

via Hidden Danger: Furniture Tip-Overs.

Heat Stress – What Employers Can Do

Employers should take the following steps to protect workers from heat stress:

  • Schedule maintenance and repair jobs in hot areas for cooler months.Schedule hot jobs for the cooler part of the day.
  • Acclimatize workers by exposing them for progressively longer periods to hot work environments.
  • Reduce the physical demands of workers.
  • Use relief workers or assign extra workers for physically demanding jobs.
  • Provide cool water or liquids to workers.
  • Avoid alcohol, and drinks with large amounts of caffeine or sugar.
  • Provide rest periods with water breaks.
  • Provide cool areas for use during break periods.Monitor workers who are at risk of heat stress.
  • Provide heat stress training that includes information about: Worker Risk Prevention Symptoms, the importance of monitoring yourself and coworkers for symptoms, treatment and personal protective equipment.

via CDC – Heat Stress – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.

Too Much Sodium Is Bad For Your Health

Most Americans Should Consume Less Sodium (1,500 mg/day or less). Most of the sodium we consume is in the form of salt, and the vast majority of sodium we consume is in processed and restaurant foods. Too much sodium is bad for your health. It can increase your blood pressure and your risk for a heart attack and stroke. Heart disease and stroke are the first and third killers of men and women in the United States each year.

via CDC – DHDSP – High Blood Pressure and Sodium.

The Cost of Risk Formula

For those that run a business the “cost of risk” formula needs to be understood and managed because it directly effects the bottom line.

The formula looks like this:

Cost of Risk = Insurance (transfer risk to an insurance company by paying a premium) + Retention and Deductibles (The business portion of any loss of uninsured loss) + Inside Admin Costs (internal staff the handle safety training, claims handling, etc) + Outside Services ( Loss Control, Outside Experts, Health Coaches, Employee Assistance Plans) + Indirect Costs (Loss of productivity, Loss of Key Salesman resulting in Lost Customers, Absenteeism)

This formula is like gravity… it’s there whether you like it or not. Manage it and you thrive but mismanage it will cause you to fall hard.

Young Worker Safety and Health

In 2010, there were approximately 17.5 million workers less than 24 years of age, and these workers represented 13% of the workforce. Young workers have high occupational injury rates which are in part explained by a high frequency of injury hazards in workplaces where they typically work (e.g. hazards in restaurant settings associated with slippery floors and use of knives and cooking equipment).  Inexperience and lack of safety training may also increase injury risks for young workers. And, for the youngest workers, those in middle and high schools, there may be biologic and psychosocial contributors to increased injury rates, such as inadequate fit, strength, and cognitive abilities to operate farm equipment such as tractors.

via CDC – Young Worker Safety and Health – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.