TSS News – April 2022

SAFETY NEWS

April 2022

CEO Notes

It’s almost GO TIME for Alaska tourism! Communities in this area are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the cruise ships. That brings about the spring cleaning of the streets, sidewalks and storefronts. Seasonal workers have started to move in and train for their summer jobs. The preparations are well underway and the staff of TSS has been busy providing the necessary documents for employers and employees to get to work. It’s required that all federal license holders have a negative drug screen PRIOR to beginning work. As a nationally accredited Third Party Administrator for Drug and Alcohol programs, we can manage your drug screening program wherever your employees are located. This means you can have your employees tested and approved before they even arrive in your area to begin work, allowing them to hit the ground running…and you aren’t paying for them to sit and wait for their test results. In other words, time and money savings!

August 2021

Summer is also the time that the Drug and Alcohol Program Auditors like to visit. An audit should not be frightening, especially if you are working with us and following the regulations. The Designated Employer Representative of every company should take our annual training (DER Training) to keep up with changing regulations or recommendations. We’ll train you on record retention, how to notify employees of drug tests, and so much more. Our Audit Ready Management System (ARMS) simplifies the record-keeping, allowing you to hand over your book with confidence. Contact Operations Manager, Ginny Clay, to learn more about ARMS and how to deploy it in 2022. (Download ARMS here.)

For those of you with FAA operations, my friend, Greg Henderson (former FAA Drug Program Manager) is now offering training across the nation. If you are ready to dig deep and learn all the ins and outs of managing your workplace program, he’s your guy. Here is his current schedule. EVEN BETTER, we have an opportunity to have Greg visit SE Alaska toward the end of the summer. If that interests you, please contact me immediately. If we have enough participation, Greg will gladly accommodate us.

As the weather gets warmer, you'll notice more motorcycles and farm traffic on the roads and more kids outside. Distracted driving causes death and injury daily.

National Safety Council estimates show that our roads are the most dangerous they've been in years; on a typical day, eight people are killed and hundreds more are injured in distraction-affected crashes. I personally think the near-miss rate is astronomical. I see it every day and I only drive three miles to my office, each way. The number one culprit? YOUR PHONE. Put it away. The life you may save is YOURS. If you are going to be a driver, be a responsible one. We’ve got an article in the newsletter, share it around, talk with your young drivers and lead by example. If you see reckless behavior, get the plate and report it. We’ve got to do better.

Best regards,

Renee Schofield

Counterfeit Pill Alert

In September, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a rare public safety alert about fake prescription drugs flooding the U.S. market. These counterfeit pills are mass-produced by criminal drug networks and can contain lethal amounts of fentanyl or methamphetamine.

In this infographic, the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America vividly illustrates what this trend means to our communities.

CADCA recommends the following strategies to help communities reduce the surging number of overdoses associated with these pills:

Activate anti-drug youth coalitions and create peer-to-peer campaigns.
Plan and implement Drug Take Back events.
Ensure first responders in your community have access to naloxone kits.
Promote good samaritan laws (so that people will step in and help when they see someone in trouble (overdosing) without fear of legal repercussions.)

Learn more at www.cadca.org.

Multitasking and Driving Don't Mix

When you are sitting in traffic during the morning commute, on your way to an appointment or rushing through your day, it’s tempting to use the time you are stuck in the car to multitask. Grabbing a bite to eat, checking your phone or fiddling with the radio all are all dangerous distractions that put you and others on the roads at risk.

This is why the slogan for National Distracted Driving Awareness Month is #JustDrive.

Did you know that 66 percent of drivers were distracted within six seconds of a crash? Or, that on a typical day, about 700 people are injured in distracted driving accidents?

As part of their efforts to reduce the number of distracted driving incidents, the National Safety Council, AAA, EndDD.org and other organizations are urging the public to commit to disconnecting from any electronics while driving in April.

Tips for Staying Safe on a Ladder

A ladder is one of the basic tools we all have and use in our homes or at work. It is also commonly a cause of injuries and sometimes even death.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), more than half a million people are treated for ladder-related injuries every year in the United States and about 300 people die from these injuries. The estimated annual cost of ladder injuries is $24 billion, including work loss, medical, legal, liability, and pain and suffering expenses.

Ladder accidents, however, can be prevented when portable ladders are used appropriately, and users follow common safety recommendations.

Safety Tips

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has developed a ladder safety guide that includes some of the following user recommendations:

If you feel tired or dizzy, or are prone to losing your balance, stay off the ladder.

Do not use ladders in high winds or storms.

Wear clean slip-resistant shoes. Shoes with leather soles are not appropriate for ladder use since they are not considered sufficiently slip-resistant.

Grain Bin Accident Prevention

It may surprise people to learn that farms are among the most hazardous workplaces. Not only agricultural workers but also their family members who live on the farm are at significant risk for fatal and nonfatal on-the-job injuries.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, each year about 500 agricultural workers in this country die in farming accidents. Most of these are associated with farm vehicles and equipment. In recent years, there has also been an increase in grain bin entrapments and fatalities.

According to a 2020 article in the Wisconsin State Farmer, in 2017, 23 grain entrapments and 12 deaths were recorded; in 2018, 30 grain entrapments and 15 deaths were recorded; and in 2019, 38 grain entrapments led to 23 deaths. Total grain entrapments rose by 65% over that 3-year period.

This is a concerning spike, although experts acknowledge that it may in part be linked to weather conditions that did not allow grain to fully dry during those years.

When Accidents Happen

Farmers typically store grains such as corn and soybeans in elevated bins from the time of harvest in the fall or early winter to use as feed or to sell in the spring or summer. In a typical year, the grain is air-dried during storage and, when needed, an auger stirs the dry grain so they flow steadily from the bottom of the bins onto a conveyor.

To keep the grain flowing, farmers sometimes must enter the bins to break up clumps or clogs. With one miss-step they become entrapped and are quickly unable to escape.

Why Drug Test?

As a Consortium/Third Party Administrator that manages drug testing programs for businesses and organizations, our safety specialists at TSS are sometimes asked why we consider drug and alcohol testing essential to workplace safety.

The best answer may be another question: Do you really want the people driving your trucks, operating your heavy equipment, or even climbing a ladder or working on a hot stove to be high, drunk or hungover from using drugs?

Testing is probably the best deterrent for keeping employees who are impaired, intoxicated or out of it from putting their or other people’s safety at risk in the workplace.

Yet even with testing, the prevalence of substance use among the American workforce is highly concerning.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article reporting the results of the newest Quest Diagnostics Drug Test Index, positive drug tests among U.S. workers have hit a two-decade high.

Of the more than six million general workforce urine tests performed by Quest Diagnostics Inc. last year, there was an increase of more than 8% from 2020. That figure is up 50% since 2017, the article reported. The increase is driven by positive marijuana tests.

Meanwhile, labor shortages and the legalization of recreational marijuana in certain states is causing some businesses, that are not federally mandated to test, to stop testing for marijuana altogether.

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interactive online training courses, TSS offers a wide range of options that can help you reach your professional development or safety learning goals.

If you don't see a course you need on our website, our team of safety specialists are more than happy to customize a training, or series of trainings, for you. Just let us know how we can help.