Workplace stress worries one-third of employees, research reveals
Gareth VorsteR
taken from www.personneltoday.com

One third of full time employees have health concerns resulting from the levels of stress caused by their jobs, research has found.

A survey of more than 2,000 people commissioned by insurer Legal & General (L&G) found that a quarter of respondents said they were generally stressed at work, while two in 10 complained that they worked too many extra hours. A quarter admitted to never taking a break at work.

“We have demonstrated that with the early intervention of the most appropriate support to help an absent employee, whether that is career counselling, stress management, cognitive behavioural therapy, (CBT) or a physical evaluation, we have been able to get over 50% of absent employees back into work in the first year,” she added.

Stressed’ workers told toughen up by leading health expert
16 October 2009 11:48

Workers have convinced themselves they cannot cope with their daily grind and suffer from stress, according to a leading health expert.

David Wainwright, from the University of Bath, said the phrase ‘work stress’ should be banned, according to a report in the Metro.

In a speech to the Royal Society of Medicine, he outlined how a ‘generational shift’ has made people today far softer than their grandparents. He accepted work could be “challenging”, but said modern-day professionals were too quick to hit the panic button.

Wainwright said people were “actually incredibly resilient” and should toughen up.

But Neil Shah, director of the Stress Management Society, said it was rubbish to compare people’s lives 60 years ago to modern society. “People don’t switch off, you’re always working, we don’t have any downtime.”

Earlier this week, it emerged that a retired NHS manager has been paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for a stress-related injury after a West Midlands hospital trust “reluctantly” accepted it had no choice but to pay

Ongoing health management control by cost monitoring through tracer indicators

Objective. To determine the operational cost of a hospital’s surgical unit, compare those results with standards, and determine the incidence of the costs; to produce an effective methodology for this purpose that can be applied to all kinds of medical units using any low-cost widely available computer database system, with that methodology being utilized for ongoing management control.
Methods. This study was carried out in 1999 in the Orthopedics and Traumatology Unit of the “Domingo Funes” Public Hospital, in the province of Córdoba, Argentina. Of the 817 patients who underwent diagnostic or therapeutic procedures in that unit during the year, we selected the 154 of them who were hospitalized and required surgical or instrumental procedures. The study used the tracer event method described by Kessner. Through a consensus process, medical specialists and health economists selected and defined these indicators, which were categorized in relation to their complexity (high, medium, limited, or none). Direct and indirect costs were assessed in order to study their contribution to total cost. Total cost was estimated using nine variables that were applied to the different tracer events.

Results. The largest portion of total cost, both real and standard, was based on the “bed-day” variable. Of this bed-day cost for all tracer events, 51.2% was due to an indirect cost of “social hospitalization” (keeping patients hospitalized for such reasons as transportation difficulties or delays in receiving requested medical supplies) and 48.8% to a direct cost of true therapeutic hospitalization. This bed-day cost was 117% higher for the real costs as compared to the standard costs. The indirect costs of social hospitalization and of therapeutic supplies made up nearly half of the total real cost. Excluding the indirect costs, the real cost of all the tracer events exceeded the standard cost by only 6.4%. Including the indirect costs of social hospitalization and of therapeutic supplies, the real cost exceeded the standard cost by 39.8%. The amount spent on medical staff and support personnel represented just 11.5% of the total cost.

Discussion. Suggestions are provided in various areas, including solutions for the high cost of social hospitalization and therapeutic supplies, the cost-control benefits of creating protocols for procedures and treatments, and the rational utilization of technology in order to improve efficiency and reduce risks. The wider application of this procedure is recommended for cost-management control in all hospital units carrying out surgery or other medical procedures.

NANOMATERIALS

TAKEN FROM http://ohsonline.com/

By Armand CoppotelliAug 01, 2009

Nanomaterials: The Unseen Enemies

A study by the University of Massachusetts Lowell noted latex and nitrile gloves have thinner areas (intrinsic voids) where nanoparticles tend to accumulate. By Armand CoppotelliAug 01, 2009

When the outside environmental skin hazards are visible ones, such as a mechanic’s contact with grease, it is obvious when the contaminant needs to be removed. When the environmental skin hazards are not visible to the eye–for example, working with nanomaterials–it is not obvious when the skin’s natural barrier has been compromised. A new word in the vocabularies of many safety managers and industrial hygienists, “nanomaterial” defines a particle between 1 and 100 nanometers (nm) and can be composed of many different base materials (carbon, silicon, and metals such as gold, cadmium, and selenium).1 While respiration of such nanoparticles is of great concern also, this article briefly addresses hand protection from these “sight unseen” contaminants. Choose the Right Glove Industry publications recommend PPE (gloves) when working with nanoparticles for this reason: “the ability of nanoparticles to penetrate the skin is uncertain at this point, gloves should be worn when handling particulate and solutions containing particles.”2 Standard guidelines in choosing the right glove holds true when working with nanoparticles, such as good chemical resistance against the materials being handled and proper fit. Some suggest wearing two pairs of gloves. 2 A study by the University of Massachusetts Lowell noted a lack of standardized test methods to test the efficacy of protective gloves against nanomaterials. This study also noted latex and nitrile gloves have thinner areas (intrinsic voids) where nanoparticles tend to accumulate. These thinner areas might be vulnerable to penetration by nanoparticles if used under unfavorable conditions, such as stretching (elongating) the gloves, extended wear time, or severe tear situations.3 NIOSH has identified engineering controls and personal protective equipment (PPE) as one of 10 critical topic areas as guides to address gaps in knowledge, strategies development, and providing recommendations in regard to nanotechnology. This includes the evaluation and improvement of current PPE. Until more data are available, the use of good industrial hygiene practices, including providing both PPE and hand washing facilities, should be continued.4 Ensure Proper Hand Washing One need only look at local and world news to hear current statistics of the H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak, amateur and professional sport participants undergoing treatment (often life changing, such as amputation) for MRSA, and other “invisible” enemies attacking our epidermis. Luckily, our best defense is just a wash basin away. According to Erica Odom of CDC, “Hand hygiene or hand washing is the single most important thing that you can do to help prevent the spread of infection and to stay healthy and well.”5 Most of us consider hand washing to be a routine, automatic action and never give much thought or attention to the task. Reviewing the steps ourselves, and educating employees to those steps, takes only moments and can prevent many illnesses leading to days away from the job:

1. Apply hand cleanser to hands.

2. Wet hands with tepid (moderately warm) water and work cleanser into a lather.

3. Vigorously rub together all surfaces of lathered hands, including fingers, nails, and around cuticles, for at least 15 seconds. This is the most important step: The friction, in combination with the cleanser’s surfactant, will help to remove dirt and microorganisms.

4. Rinse hands thoroughly under running water to remove all lather.

5. Dry hands thoroughly with a paper towel. Leaving soap residue on the skin and incomplete drying contribute to dermatitis. Turn faucet off with towel. How long is 15 seconds? As taught to young children, it’s the time it takes to sing the “ABC Song” or “Happy Birthday.” Teens are taught to judge the time by the chorus of their favorite song, repeating it twice. Often, the use of tepid–not hot–water is questioned. Hot water can be too uncomfortable to the skin to facilitate proper washing. Warm water is better tolerated by the skin and increases the time spent in the cleansing experience.

Build an Energy-Efficient House.

By Jackie Craven, About.com

The most energy-efficient houses function like living things. They are designed to capitalize on the local environment and to respond to the climate. Australian architect and Pritzker Prize-Winner Glenn Murcutt is known for designing earth-friendly homes that imitate nature. Even if you live far from Australia, you can apply Glenn Murcutt’s ideas to your own home-building project.

1. Use Simple Materials

Forget the polished marble, imported tropical wood, and costly brass and pewter. A Glenn Murcutt home is unpretentious, comfortable, and economical. He uses inexpensive materials that are readily available in his native Australian landscape. Notice, for example, Murcutt’s Marie Short House. The roof is corrugated metal, the window louvres are enameled steel, and the walls are timber from a nearby sawmill.

PAST TENSE

USE 1 Completed Action in the Past

Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind.

USE 2 A Series of Completed Actions

We use the Simple Past to list a series of completed actions in the past. These actions happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on.

USE 3 Duration in Past

The Simple Past can be used with a duration which starts and stops in the past. A duration is a longer action often indicated by expressions such as: for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year, etc.

USE 4 Habits in the Past

The Simple Past can also be used to describe a habit which stopped in the past. It can have the same meaning as “used to.” To make it clear that we are talking about a habit, we often add expressions such as: always, often, usually, never, when I was a child, when I was younger, etc.

USE 5 Past Facts or Generalizations

The Simple Past can also be used to describe past facts or generalizations which are no longer true. As in USE 4 above, this use of the Simple Past is quite similar to the expression “used to.”

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BIOTECHNOLOGY

‘Dexterity in action is the best evidence of application of technology’

Bhagavadgeeta [Chapter II, Stanza 50]

Biotechnology is an exciting area of human endeavour that encompasses a range of

sciences and technologies. They include -chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics,

molecular biology, genetics, microbiology,plant and animal cell culture, fermentations,

chemical engineering, biochemical engineering and process engineering. The

multidisciplinary nature of biotechnology is thus self-evident. Like the proverbial

elephant as recognised by the four blind men, biotechnology means many different

things to different people. Although variously defined, it is a new biological

approach to a wide range of industrial processes

Biotechnology as an activity has existed since ancient times. Then what is new?

The present excitement in biotechnology Is because we have begun to understand

and manipulate biological systems at the molecular level. As Arthur Kornberg put it

“DNA and RNA provide the script, but the enzymes do the acting”. Our ability to achieve controlled modifications of DNA is known as recombinant DNA technology.

These selective changes to DNA allow us to impart new/modified messages in a

variety of species. With this powerful tool at the molecular level, we are able to express

a desired property in a macromolecule, a bacterium, a cultured cell or an entire

organism.