Safety in Pop Culture

For those of you that watch the show Glee, last night’s episode was a shocker.  At the end of an already suspenseful episode called “On My Way”, the main star ‘Quinn’ is caught in traffic and is running late to meet her friend  ’Rachel’.  As she begins to text her that she is on her way, her car is hit by a truck, leaving the audience to wonder if she will survive.

Along with several social issues covered on Glee last night, this episode brings to light all too well the trend of many accidents dealing with distracted driving that have been happening in recent years in the United States.  With tremendous innovations in handheld technology, distracted driving is on the rise and has already caused countless tragedies.  We hope that accidents like the one shown on the show can be avoided with increased driver awareness on the subject.

Summit’s program Forever & Ever: The Consequences of Distracted Driving is based on real life situations that show how one wrong decision can drastically change the lives of everyone involved forever, leaving an impactful and lasting message to compel drivers of all ages in realizing that nothing is more important than operating a vehicle safely.

If you are interested in learning more about distracted driving, check out the U.S. Government’s official website dedicated to distracted driving.  CDC’s distracted driving website also has some scary statistics that you should know about next time you site behind your wheel with your handheld device.

For the full article summarized above, click HERE.

 

Have a safe day!

No-Injury Accident at World Trade Center Site

Thursday morning, several tons of steel unexpectedly came crashing down onto a construction site at the World Trade Center site in New York City. The Tishman construction company reported that amazingly no one was hurt in the accident.  Tishman, the local fire department and the Port Authority, which owns the site, are now carrying out a joint investigation.

CNN reports that the 60 foot steel girders collapsed after a cable on a crane lifting them snapped, and according to Gothamist, the steel girders fell 40 stories before landing on top of an unoccupied loading truck.  While Tishman did not release official numbers, construction workers at the site tell the NYDN they estimate the girders weighed between 30,000 and 40,000 pounds each.

Once completed, the 72-story building, which will face the World Trade Center memorial park, according to CNN.

To read the full article, click HERE.

 

Valentine’s Day Safety!

Thinking about safety on one of the biggest romantic holidays of the year is most likely not on your mind – but it should be. There can be many unseen dangers lurking in your romantic plans, so make sure to celebrate Valentine’s Day in the comfort of safety.  Take a look at these safety tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to keep your valentine happy and healthy.

• Be healthy… with your heart. February is American Hearth Month, and Valentine’s Day is a great time to start taking steps to be heart-healthy.
• Be Nutritious… Consider making a healthy meal for Valentine’s Day.  Serve food lower in salt and fat content, provide mroe fruits and vegetables, and make less sugary sweets.
• Spread love… not germs.  Protect yourself from the cold and flu, and prevent sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies.
• Be prepared… for travel. Take all the necessary items for a road trip, a cruise, or other vacations.
• Drink responsibly… moderation is key.  Alcohol increases your risk to many harmful effects and is the third cause of preventable deaths.
• Be safe… Watch the heat source of a romantic dinner, candles, or a cozy fire.  Use seat-belts, life vests, and helmets if you are planning on potentially risky activities.
• Be sensitive… Consider that your valentine may have allergies, asthma, diabetes, or other health conditions.  You can be sensative to your valentine by finding out if certain foods, flowers, pets, stuffed animals, or other items might affect their health.

To read the full article and more details for these tips, click HERE.

Have a safe Valentine’s Day!

Risky Coffee Pots Recalled

Coffee lovers beware: If you brew your cup-a-joe at home or in the office, make sure your coffee maker wasn’t one of the millions that have been recalled in the United States and Canada after reports of the brewers spraying hot liquid, coffee grounds, or tea leaves onto people.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says there have been 140 reports of problems with the Tassimo single-cup brewers dousing people, including 37 cases involving second-degree burns. In one incident, a 10-year-old girl from Minnesota was hospitalized with second-degree burns to her face and neck.

Also being recalled after 21 reports of problems are some 4 million packages of the coffee maker’s “T-disc”, the plastic disc that holds the coffee or tea, which can burst while brewing, according to the commission. CPSC says the plastic discs of coffee can become clogged, rupture and spray hot liquid. In Canada, a 2-year-old girl suffered second-degree burns to her face.

Consumers can contact the company at 866-918-8763 for more information or visit its website at http://www.tassimodirect.com.

To read the full article, click HERE.

SAFETY LEAVES THE WORK-ZONE

We all know that your body functions better on fresh food, but what about when you have those unhealthy, fatty cravings?  Fast food isn’t the best food nutritional-wise, but it can be a tasty, fast meal if you are ever inclined to dine at these restaurants.  But did you know exactly what you were eating when you had that hamburger or taco?  Well, now you know what you WON’T be eating anymore… ammonium hydroxide.

McDonald’s has recently confirmed that it has eliminated the use of ammonium hydroxide — an ingredient in fertilizers, household cleaners and some roll-your-own explosives —  in its hamburger meat, a.k.a. “pink slime”, which consists of spare beef trimmings that have been treated with ammonium hydroxide to make them safe and at least semi-palatable.  Taco Bell and Burger King have also reportedly repudiated the “slime”.

The company denied that its decision was influenced by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver from a months-long campaign by to get ammonium-hydroxide-treated meats, like chicken and beef, out of the U.S. food supply.  But it acknowledged this week that it had stopped using the unappetizing pink goo — made from treating otherwise inedible scrap meat with the chemical — several months ago.

Besides being used as a household cleaner and in fertilizers, the compound releases flammable vapors, and with the addition of certain acids, it can be turned into ammonium nitrate, a common component in homemade bombs. It’s also widely used in the food industry as an anti-microbial agent in meats and as a leavener in bread and cake products. It’s regulated by the U.S. Agriculture Department, which classifies it as “generally recognized as safe”.

While the government considers it safe, it certainly does not look anything like ground beef.  What’s worse is that it’s not on nutrition labels, so the only way to avoid the possibility of eating it would be to choose fresher products or cook your food at home.

Read the full article HERE.

If you are interested in food safety, Summit has a list of food-related safety programs that you can take a look at HERE.

Have a safe day

Deadly Florida Pile-up

Early Sunday morning, a pile-up along an interstate highway in Florida near Gainesville has killed at least 10 people and sent 18 more to nearby hospitals, police said.  Smoke mixed with fog caused at least six tractor-trailers  and 10 cars were  to be involved in the pile-up.

The crashes occurred around 4 a.m. in both the north and southbound lanes of Interstate 75, on a low-lying stretch south of Gainesville that became enshrouded in fog and smoke from a fire at nearby Paynes Prairie. Visibility was near zero when the accidents occurred.

Skeleton frames and melted vehicles remain at the scene, with wreckage strewn for almost a mile.   Investigators are looking into the cause of the fire, which started Saturday and has now consumed over 62 acres.

To read the full story, click HERE.

SAFETY LEAVES THE WORK-ZONE

Summit is proud to live in the city that became the first in the country to add fluoride to its municipal water system 67 years ago today, a public health triumph quickly duplicated elsewhere despite Cold War hysteria that fluoridation was part of a communist plot to poison the water supply.

The City Commission approved the sodium fluoride application on January 25, 1945 at the red-brick Monroe Avenue Water Filtration Plant.  Before the fluoridation began, 32,000 city school children, plus control groups of 8,000 kids in Muskegon and Aurora, Ill., were given complete dental examinations. After eight years, the Grand Rapids kids showed reductions of 50 to 70 percent in tooth decay rates.

Today, more than two-thirds of public water systems use fluoridation to promote healthy teeth.

Wired Magazine today featured Grand Rapids’ role in what the Centers for Disease Control named one of the nation’s 10 great public health achievements of the previous 100 years.

Thank you Grand Rapids!

 

Read the full article HERE.

SAFETY LEAVES THE WORK-ZONE

 

Is is really safe out there on the slopes?

Questions of safety are circulating through the ski and snowboard community as one of freestyle skiing’s top women, Sarah Burke, remains in critical condition today after a fall while training in Park City a few days ago.   This tragic accident has sparked an enormous outpouring of love and support for Burke, and not just from the ski and snowboarding community, but from the entire nation as well, contributing words of encouragement through social networks and throughout many publications.

Many unanswerable and heartbreaking questions still remain as to how and why this happened. Another superstar on the slopes, snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, recently talked about her emotions surrounding the incident in an insightful piece posted on ESPN Women.  She questions the risks of the sport, why Sarah was injured, and ultimately why professional riders are subjecting themselves to such dangers.

In part of her emotional response, she said, “Our job as pros is to walk a very fine line; be the best but stay healthy so you can continue to progress and be at the top. You can’t push the sport and yourself if you’re always hurt. Being at the top means never being satisfied with what you’re comfortable with — comfortable means you’ve stopped pushing and you’re either going to get passed or you already have been. But if you’re constantly pushing yourself, then you’re exposing yourself to falls and injuries. And that is the fine line I speak of”.  Read the full article here.

Skiing and snowboarding can  both be an extremely fun, but dangerous, sport.  From all of us here at Summit, we hope Sarah Burke makes a full recovery, and we ask you all to please take caution when heading out there on the slopes.

Here are some safety tips for skiing and snowboarding to try and stay out of danger’s way.

Have a safe day!

Cruise Ship Disaster

What should have been a luxurious and relaxing cruise turned into an over-night nightmare.  The cruise ship, The Costa Concordia, was on a trip around the Mediterranean when it hit a reef near the island of Giglio off Italy’s Tuscan coast and ran aground, creating a massive overnight rescue operation.

Around 8pm, passengers on the 951-foot (290-meter) cruise ship heard a roaring sound, which was, unbeknownst to anyone on board, a gaping 160ft gash being torn in the hull, allowing for a large section of the ship to be filled with water.   An emergency announcement took place, which was when the ship then shifted and tilted to the right, creating panic within.  Many survivors reported that from the collision to the rescuing, it was very “Titanic”- like.  The disaster has killed at least three people and has left up to 50 people missing. More than 4,000 people have been evacuated, and the captian was detained on criminal charges.

From a safety perspective here at Summit, we hate to see anything unsafe happen, especially where lives are lost.  We hope that future cruise ships can learn from this and take action to make evacuation plans more well-known and practiced more often; anything to provide a safer and more efficient response to unforeseen disasters like this.

Read more HERE from the ABC News report on the incident.

Click HERE for pictures of the cruise disaster.

Friday the 13th Safety Tips

Since it’s Friday the 13th, the day where ‘unlucky’ things are supposed to happen to you, we thought we’d share with you a little background on the infamous day, as well as some ‘safety’ tips to keep you out harm’s way – if you believe in the superstitions, that is.

First up: the number 13.  The number thirteen comes after the number of completeness – twelve – reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve hours of the clock, twelve gods of Olympus, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, etc., making the number thirteen irregular, transgressing this completeness.

 

Next: the day Friday.  Since at least the 14th century, Friday has been considered an unlucky day, in part because, according to Christian scripture and tradition, Jesus was crucified on a Friday.   Many professions have thought of Friday as an unlucky day to begin journeys or new projects, and Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s. 

Now you know why people think Friday the 13th is ‘unlucky’!  So, in Summit style, we decided to give you some safety tips to help you steer clear of anything unlucky, and I’m sure you’ve heard of these before:

1. Whatever you do… DO NOT spill the salt!
2. Stay away from ladders; going underneath them is unlucky.
3. Do NOT break a mirror!  …Unless you want 7 years of bad luck.
4. Avoid black cats crossing your path, and if it does; pet it.
5. Do not open umbrellas indoors.

If you have any other safety tips for Friday the 13th, or believe in any other superstitions about this ‘dreaded’ day, please share with us!

And, in case you were wondering, Summit has training videos that help you stay safe all year long – and it has nothing to do with luck! Check them out here!

Have a safe day