The Price of ‘Made in China’

Today's post was shared by Jon L Gelman and comes from www.nytimes.com

HERE is a symbol of China’s assault on the American economy: the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Brooklyn and Staten Island. This landmark, which opened in 1964, is North America’s longest suspension bridge. It’s also in urgent need of renovation. Unfortunately, $34 million in steel production and fabrication work has been outsourced to China.

How did this happen? The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says a Chinese fabricator was picked because the two American companies approached for the project lacked the manufacturing space, special equipment and financial capacity to do the job. But the United Steelworkers claims it quickly found two other American bridge fabricators, within 100 miles of New York City, that could do the job.

The real problem with this deal is that it doesn’t take into account all of the additional costs that buying “Made in China” brings to the American table. In fact, this failure to consider all costs is the same problem we as consumers face every time we choose a Chinese-made product on price alone — a price that is invariably cheaper.

Consider the safety issue: a scary one, indeed, because China has a very well-deserved reputation for producing inferior and often dangerous products. Such products are as diverse as lead-filled toys, sulfurous drywall, pet food spiked with melamine and heparin tainted with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate.

In the specific case of bridges, six have collapsed across China since July 2011. The...

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Healthcare Workers: Protect Yourselves!

Today's post was shared by Safe Healthy Workers and comes from www.cdc.gov

Healthcare workers may be at risk for exposure to vaccine-preventable diseases. Getting vaccinated is an important step to keep yourself, coworkers, patients, and family safe.

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk for exposure to serious, and sometimes deadly, diseases. If you work directly with patients or handle material that could spread infection, you should get appropriate vaccines to reduce the chance that you will get or spread vaccine-preventable diseases. Protect yourself, your patients, and your family members. Make sure you are up-to-date with recommended vaccines.

The term "healthcare workers" includes physicians, nurses, emergency medical personnel, dental professionals and students, medical and nursing students, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, hospital volunteers, and administrative staff.

Recommended Vaccines for Healthcare Workers:

Hepatitis B Vaccine

If you don't have documented evidence of a complete hepatitis B vaccine series, or if you don't have an up-to-date blood test that shows you are immune to hepatitis B (i.e., no serologic evidence of immunity or prior vaccination) then you should:

• Get the 3-dose series (dose #1 now, #2 in 1 month, #3 approximately 5 months after #2).
• Get anti-HBs serologic tested 1–2 months after dose #3.

Flu (Influenza) Vaccine

Get 1 dose of influenza vaccine annually.

MMR (Measles, Mumps, & Rubella) Vaccine

If you were born in 1957 or later and have not had the MMR vaccine, or if you don't have an up-to-date blood test...

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Truck Drivers Not Revved Up About New Safety Rules

Today's post was shared by NIOSH Transportation and comes from www.cnbc.com

The federal government thinks long-haul truckers like Bryan Spoon need more rest.

But with the Department of Transportation's new rules forcing drivers to take longer breaks and cut back on hours behind the wheel, Spoon thinks the government has created a solution looking for a problem.

"I wish the government would just quit trying to fix something that's not broken," he said on a recent rest stop in Columbia, Mo., after hauling a load of construction materials on the 48-foot Great Dane flatbed behind his 2009 Volvo 780.

"If I get any more breaks out here I won't be able to make a living," he said.

Starting Monday, drivers like Spooner will have to stick to a schedule that requires taking a 30-minute break in the first eight hours of driving, cut the maximum workweek to 70 hours from 82, and "restart" those 70 hours with a 34-hour break once a week.

The rules are part of a program by the Obama administration to make U.S. highways safer by reducing the number of truck accidents and fatalities. The program also includes a safety rating system that shippers can review when they chose a new carrier, with the goal of prodding the trucking industry to further improve the safety of its drivers and equipment.

"The updated hours of service rule makes three common sense, data-driven changes to increase safety on our roadways and reduce driver fatigue, a leading factor in large truck crashes," said Anne Ferro administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration,...

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At Too Many Hospitals, a Revolving Door

Today's post was shared by The New Old Age and comes from newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com

Jessie Gruman can’t remember the number of times she’s been hospitalized for cancer. The list of the conditions she’s had over almost 40 years is daunting: from Hodgkin’s lymphoma to cancers of the cervix and lung.

But Ms. Gruman, 59, can’t forget her experience three years ago, when it was time to leave the hospital after having her stomach removed, a consequence of gastric cancer.

Ms. Gruman was alone; her husband was on his way to this hospital but hadn’t yet arrived. This is all she remembers a nurse saying before she was shown the door.

Here is a prescription for pain medication. Don’t drive if you take it. Call your surgeon if you have a temperature or are worried about anything. Go see your doctor in two weeks. Do you want a flu shot? I can give you one before you leave. If you need a wheel chair to take you to the door, I’ll call for one. If not, you can go home. Take care of yourself. You are going to do great!

What wasn’t communicated to Ms. Gruman: Here’s a number to call if you have any questions. Here’s the medical expert who’s in charge of your follow-up care and how to reach him or her. Here’s the plan for your care over the next month, and here’s the plan for the next six months.



Or this: You’re going to experience a lot of challenges when you get home. Here are the three or four concerns that should be your priorities. Here’s what your caregiver needs to know to...

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The Unanticipated Consequences of Postponing the Employer Mandate

Today's post was shared by NEJM and comes from www.nejm.org

The Obama administration's decision to postpone implementation of the employer mandate is the latest in a series of delays and alterations of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But postponing the mandate — which requires larger employers to offer lower-income workers health insurance coverage similar to that available in the new insurance exchanges, on equal and affordable financial terms — may create large ripple effects. The good news is that as compared with instituting the mandate as planned, postponing it should barely increase the number of uninsured Americans after ACA implementation. But it affects other provisions, particularly the individual subsidies for purchasing insurance, and creates distorted incentives that may leave the government paying significantly more than planned.

More than 90% of Americans who obtain private health insurance today receive it through employers, but the centerpiece of the ACA's effort to make coverage more attractive to the uninsured focuses on insurance exchanges for individuals purchasing coverage directly. However, because both consumers and employers can in principle finance or obtain private health insurance in either setting, ACA provisions had to be compatible with both coverage channels. Moreover, the legislation created tax-financed subsidies for buying insurance only through the exchanges while relying largely on regulations and mandates to deal with employment-based coverage. Inevitably, this grafting of a new...

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Crumbling American Dreams

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

Andrew Borowiec for The New York TimesThe demolition of the old Port Clinton Middle and Jefferson Elementary Schools in Port Clinton, Ohio.

My hometown — Port Clinton, Ohio, population 6,050 — was in the 1950s a passable embodiment of the American dream, a place that offered decent opportunity for the children of bankers and factory workers alike.

But a half-century later, wealthy kids park BMW convertibles in the Port Clinton High School lot next to decrepit “junkers” in which homeless classmates live. The American dream has morphed into a split-screen American nightmare. And the story of this small town, and the divergent destinies of its children, turns out to be sadly representative of America.

Growing up, almost all my classmates lived with two parents in homes their parents owned and in neighborhoods where everyone knew everyone else’s first name. Some dads worked in the local auto-part factories or gypsum mines, while others, like my dad, were small businessmen. In that era of strong unions and full employment, few families experienced joblessness or serious economic insecurity. Very few P.C.H.S. students came from wealthy backgrounds, and those few made every effort to hide that fact.

Half a century later, my classmates, now mostly retired, have experienced astonishing upward mobility. Nearly three-quarters of them surpassed their parents in education and in that way advanced economically as well. One-third of my classmates came from homes...

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OSHA reminds outdoor workers of dangers of heat-related illnesses

Today's post was shared by US Dept. of Labor and comes from www.mywesttexas.com

Fall may be close, but Texans continue to experience summer temperatures, including a recent string of triple-digit days.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is urging employers to emphasize the hazards of heat illnesses to their employees who work outdoors. The agency has launched a public awareness campaign amid the warm temperatures about the consequences, whether heat stress, dehydration, heat stroke or death, that extreme heat can have on those working outdoors.

OSHA is investigating the death of an oilfield worker in Big Spring in early June as heat-related. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said in 2011, the most recent data available, Texas saw nine heat-related workplace fatalities and workers missed 600 days away from work due to heat-related illnesses.

Anthony Zacniewski, Health, Safety and Environment Director with Abilene-based Bandera Drilling, said rig moves were an issue during hot weather. Before the company built a comfort trailer in 2008, he said, there were four heat-related incidents.

"We have trained our personnel in hydration and breaks," he said by email. "During the extended hours of moving a rig, we bring out our comfort trailer. It is equipped with refrigerated air for cooling off. It is also stocked with water, Gatorade and fruit."

Since the trailer was implemented, he said, the company has not experienced one heat-related incident.

As part of its heat awareness campaign, OSHA is stressing three words: Water, Rest and Shade. Those working...

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