When enjoying a meal, few take the time to consider all the steps it took to bring each of the ingredients from farm to dining table. Whether or not the food was prepared in your kitchen, at a restaurant, or in a retail setting, the main components of the dish were either harvested or raised from somewhere.
In the context of modern labor, workplace eye injuries have become nearly as common as slips and falls. According to the CDC, about 231,100 emergency room visits per year are due to work-related injuries to the eyes or face. Eye injuries alone cost businesses over $300 million per year in worker’s compensation payments, medical expenses, and lost productivity; in addition, around 20% of work-related eye injuries result in temporary or permanent vision loss.
In order to avoid these consequences, employers must do their best to prevent workplace eye injuries from occurring in the first place: by 1) assessing hazards, 2) using proper eye protection, and 3) encouraging worker compliance.
I would like to make a confession. I, a licensed Athletic Trainer and certified strength and conditioning specialist, have a hard time staying motivated and making it to the gym. My problem is not that I don’t know what to do (as pointed out by my credentials) but actually finding the time or drive. It wasn’t until I watched a TEDtalk that I realized my perception was skewed. The truth, I discovered, is that good health and fitness can be achieved throughout my day. I could get cardio from walking my dog around the neighborhood. Or, I could improve my muscular endurance when I’m carrying my groceries in or lifting my laundry up and down the stairs. I began to examine my daily activities. I realized that my health and fitness is not solely dependent on the time I spent at the gym. In actuality, it is the accumulation of my day and the healthy habits I create. So, being the goal oriented person that I am, I’ve decided to look for a way to track exactly how much activity I experience throughout my day. How could I continue to up my activity if I can’t track it or create an accurate benchmark? (more…)