HUMOUR IN UNIFORM
My first encounter with armed forces

After graduation in Dentistry, I was very keen to donn the olive green (OG). 'Catch them young' is the phrase used in armed forces all over but at the time of my entry into armed forces I was 27. I received a Demi Official (DO) letter from the adjutant of my first unit, briefing me about the unit location and how to reach the location. I intimated the arrival time of my train at Jammu and also wrote that I shall wear...

How do you answer a question from a safety inspector such as “Where is your health and safety program manual?” or “Where is the safety documentation on this injured worker?” Don’t know. Well, a safety inspector might answer you with a fine or even jail time for a business owner and manager. Recently a fine was issued for $70,000 to a greeting card shop’s owner. The greeting card shop had no health and safety plan in place and had no formal safety...

On a national retailer’s loading dock, a 450 pound compressor was being unloaded from a truck when the dolly on which the compressor was riding fell on a worker’s leg. The employee suffered a broken leg and a dislocated ankle. A safety inspector’s report showed that the retailer failed to ensure that material, articles or things, including the compressor, required to be lifted, carried or moved, shall be lifted, carried or moved in such a way and with such precautions...

A fitness club was fined $50,000 and the general manager was personally fined $25,000 in violations to health and safety regulations. Health and safety inspectors issued dozens of orders for such items as: personal protective equipment, hazardous chemical labeling, and a requirement to have a health and safety program in place. The club failed to comply and the health and safety inspector issued stop work orders. When the club continued to disregard the orders, the health and safety...

The US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 5,702 workplace related fatalities (around 4 deaths per 100,000 workers) and approximately 4.2 million incidents of workplace related non-fatal injuries and illnesses. This demonstrates the continuing need for OSHA programs and initiatives to ensure safety and health in the workplace.

Available data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) highlights the fact that non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses...

Directive 2002/95/EC, effective July 1, 2006, is not an EU law. Individual member states are to have their own regulations in line with the directive. The resultant variations from state to state, (including differences in verification and penalty clauses), pose difficulties for suppliers of electrical and electronic goods in developing compliance programs. For compliance suppliers have to guarantee that the entire unit is free (within threshold limit) of the six hazardous materials...

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Union aims at minimization of the impact of e-waste (discarded or end-of-life electrical or electronic equipment [EEE]), on the environment by increasing re-use and recycling and reducing the amount of WEEE going to landfills. It is closely linked to the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive 2002/95/EC which seeks to limit the presence of six hazardous materials in electrical and...

The primary responsibility of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is to develop and enforce health and safety standards that protect workers in the workplace. It has mandatory power to audit organizations for compliance of health and safety standards. OSHA conducts workplace inspections to make certain that employers are complying with the standards and providing a safe and healthful workplace.

OSHA inspectors, called compliance and safety officers, carry...

The RoHs directive restricts the use of lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), hexavalent chromium (Hex-Cr), poly-brominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) to maximum 1000 parts per million and cadmium to 100 ppm. The restrictions are on a homogeneous material basis, which means that they apply to any single substance that could (theoretically) be separated mechanically.

The restricted substances have traditionally found extensive usage in Industrial control...

It's hard to see why would want to be chief executive of Horn Nut Inc., retailer of vitamins and health food with problems galore. Since the death last September of founder David B. Shakarian, nutrition search in the company has been consumed by a power struggle between his son-in-law, David Lucas, and his handpicked successor as chief executive, Gary A. Daum.

Last November a federal grand jury indicted five employees for allegedly making false nutrition search claims about...