personal inury

Published on: May 25, 2018

Will School buses finally be equipped with seat belts and automated brakes?

For years safety advocates have recommended that school buses be equipped with 3-point seat belts to protect children from injuries or deaths in case of a bus accident. Yesterday the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) joined in by recommending for the first time that all US School buses be equipped with lap and shoulder belts.

Based on previous studies, The NTSB also recommended that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration mandate automatic emergency braking systems for all American school buses.

States such as New York, New Jersey, Florida and Louisiana that already have buses equipped with lap belts should also upgrade to lap and shoulder belts.

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Published on: May 15, 2018

Risks of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning for Key-less Vehicles Owners

By GGCRBHS&M

Multiple owners of key-less cars have been dying of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning after mistakenly thinking that their car had stopped running. In most scenarios the car owner parks the vehicle in the house garage and takes the wireless key fob thinking that the car has shut down while it hasn’t. Overnight the garage and the house fills with odorless carbon monoxide gas, leaving the owner and other potential house residents dead or severely injured.

There are no exact records of how many people have died or how many people were left with serious injuries such as brain damage after inadvertently leaving their car running but 24 deaths nationwide were reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration since 2006 when the first known case occurred. 70 year old Jeanette Colter, a Florida resident who left her Toyota Avalon running in the garage ended up collapsing and dying between her kitchen and her living room. Her 89 year old husband died in the bedroom.

In 2009 after several other similar accidents were reported, the Society of Automotive Engineers formed a panel to develop recommended practices to address key-less ignition hazards. In 2011, the group recommended an externally audible or visual alert or automatic shut off of the engine if all doors are closed and the key fob is not present. That same year the NHTSA proposed a new rule with similar recommendations.

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Published on: November 8, 2017

Deadline set to December 1st for Electronic reporting of injuries and illnesses to OSHA

By GGCRBHS&M

Employers who are required to fill what is commonly called the “OSHA Log” have to submit their 2016 injury and illness data electronically by December 1st. The original deadline was July 1st but OSHA announced in May that the deadline would be postponed. OSHA didn’t provide any specific date at the time.

This requirement complies with OSHA final rule to “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses” that was released last January. This final rule requires that all employers who need to file OSHA Form 300A, file the form electronically. Employers that have 250 or more employees as well as employers with 20 to 249 employees that are working in risky sectors such as the construction industry must all file this form. In 2018 the deadline for 2017 data will be July 1st and in 2019 as well as all the following years, the deadline will be March 2nd. Employers can now go online anytime to access the Injury Tracking Application and login to file Form 300A electronically. Paper filings are not accepted anymore by OSHA.

As part of the new rule, the information provided will be released in standard open format on OSHA website to encourage employers to improve work safety and to enable research. Researching data related to injuries and illnesses can help identify and mitigate workplace safety hazards.

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