The “Click It or Ticket” mobilization period will begin on Monday May 21 through June 3, 2012. “Click It or Ticket” is a cooperative effort among the five traffic safety-related departments under the state’s Business, Transportation and Housing Agency: the California Highway Patrol, Office of Traffic Safety, Department of Transportation, Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

According to the National...

May is here and temperatures are rising. It’s important to protect employees from heat stress, even if it’s not August. The Cal/OSHA regulation requires employee training, and they have developed an Employer Training Kit that contains nicely formatted and ready to print training resources....

When I train people, I ask for questions, comments and stories from my trainees. Sometimes, it can get off-subject, but most of the time great things are shared. And sometimes you get a gem that you can use in future training. I’m all about adding humor to a presentation as long as it is tasteful while following the topic and point I am trying to make. Last week I got a gem………

I was teaching a new defensive driving program that was developed...

The Ventura County Watershed Protection District is utilizing a remote-controlled device (Hard-Line Solution LP-401) used to clear storm drains and channels. No longer will employees need to crawl through storm drains to clear dirt, trash, and debris with their hands. The LP-401 can be operated from up to 200 feet away via a remote control that fits over the operator’s chest.

The County purchased the device to keep flood channels and storm drains open, while also keeping employees out of confined spaces within concrete box culverts. Here is more detailed information on the County’s use of the LP-401:

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The AAA Foundation website has a quiz that might give all of us a shock when the final results are tallied. Check to see if you are an aggressive driver at:

http://www.aaafoundation.org/quizzes/index.cfm?button=aggressive

The website also has other quizzes that you can access, such as:

• Drowsy Driving • Driving Safety Culture

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LinkedIn is a great way to connect with your peers to ask questions, share information, and share solutions. But just like having the being in a crowded rooms with many conversations happening at once, too much information means that you either miss something importation while trying to follow it all, or you just quit listening.

I'm a member of 33 LinkedIn groups, which could mean burial by LinkedIn messages. I learned the hard way. So let me share the ways to control how much information you received from LinkedIn.

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“In the News” Panel - Continued

The focus of our comments on all three articles seemed to center around the importance of communication. In the case of the Costa Concordia sinking, discussed the impact on the loss of the lack of communication from the parent company for the first 36 hours following the tragedy. What took them so long to make comment, to reach out to the victims? If it hadn’t been for the locals on the island the survivors would...

“In the News” Panel

IOSH put together a very interesting panel session for the second day of the conference. The panel consisted of: me, as President of the American Society of Safety Engineers; Andrew Cooper President-Elect of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering; Sue Pilkington, President of the Safety Institute of Australia; Malcolm McIntyre, Past President of IOSH; and Subash Ludhra, President of IOSH.

This session had the...

The Safety and Health Monster – Continued

The “safety and health monster” was a big theme at the conference. My fraturnal greetings supported IOSH’s position, and I was quoted in tweets sent out by the members of the audience. I said, “There is no “health and safety monster” here in the U.K., in the U.S. or worldwide. Smart companies know that the economic impact of investing in safety and health is a very positive one.” Andrew Cooper President-Elect...

The Safety and Health Monster

Apparently, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron believed that the UK’s safety and health regulations were unnecessarily complicated and were creating a burden on business. Of course IOSH, which represents professionals working in health and safety condemned his remarks.

Richard Jones, IOSH’s head of policy and public affairs, said: "Labelling workplace health and safety as a monster is appalling and...

IOSH Safety Conference

I attended the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) annual professional development conference and exhibition in Manchester, England from March 5th through 8th. IOSH is a sister organization to the American Society of Safety Engineers, so I attended to give fraternal greetings on the first day of the conference, as well as, taking part...

I was reading an article in my local newspaper about safe boating and how there have been two serious boating accidents recently in Santa Cruz and Channel Islands resulting in numerous fatalities. I am not a boating enthusiast, but I was surprised to read that there are several boater education courses offered for free from the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Specifically, the article identified a course “Suddenly in Command” which is a class designed for those not generally at the helm, but will help boaters to “be prepared” with the basics in case of an emergency.

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More on Pedestrian Safety

I mentioned in my last blog that my daughter and I had received several warnings regarding road-crossing safety in the UK. Apparently, the government has taken the issue to heart. They have the greatest “Wait” and “Cross with Care” signs. The “Wait” sign rather than being a red hand is the silhouette of a man with his hands on his hips. The “Cross with Care” sign is a stick figure walking. In addition to the lighted...

The Supreme Court on Monday (April 2, 2012) ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband. Jailers may perform invasive strip-searches on people arrested even for minor offenses. This decision resolved a conflict among lower courts about how to balance security and privacy. Before September...

This trip was to the United Kingdom to speak at the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH) Conference and Exposition. IOSH is a sister organization to the American Society of Safety Engineers. On the flight over my daughter had a brief conversation with the gentleman sitting next to her. He was American but had lived in London for two years. He warned us about the traffic...