US Labor Department's OSHA issues compliance directive to address flu prevention for health care workers

/PRNewswire/ -- For the protection of frontline health care and emergency medical workers at high risk of infection, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today issued a compliance directive to ensure uniform procedures when conducting inspections to identify and minimize or eliminate high to very high risk occupational exposures to the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus.The directive, which closely follows the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) guidance at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu, is available online at https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/Directive_pdf/CPL_02_02-075.pdf.

"OSHA has a responsibility to ensure that the more than nine million frontline health care workers in the United States are protected to the extent possible against exposure to the virus," said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab. "OSHA will ensure health care employers use proper controls to protect all workers, particularly those who are at high or very high risk of exposure."

In response to complaints, OSHA inspectors will ensure that health care employers implement a hierarchy of controls, and encourage vaccination and other work practices recommended by the CDC. Where respirators are required to be used, the OSHA Respiratory Protection standard must be followed, including worker training and fit testing. The directive also applies to institutional settings where some workers may have similar exposures, such as schools and correctional facilities.

The CDC recommends the use of respiratory protection that is at least as protective as a fit-tested disposable N95 respirator for health care personnel who are in close contact (within 6 feet) with patients who have suspected or confirmed 2009 H1N1 influenza.

Where respirators are not commercially available, an employer will be considered to be in compliance if the employer can show a good faith effort has been made to acquire respirators.

Where OSHA inspectors determine that a facility has not violated any OSHA requirements but that additional measures could enhance the protection of employees, OSHA may provide the employer with a hazard alert letter outlining suggested measures to further protect workers.

The 2009 H1N1 influenza is transmitted via direct or indirect person-to-person spreading of infectious droplets passed when an influenza patient coughs, sneezes, talks or breathes. Transmission occurs when expelled infectious droplets or particles make direct or indirect contact with the mucus membranes of the mouth, nose or eyes of an uninfected person. The OSHA directive and other guidelines show steps to eliminate the hazard.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

Stonebranch Chosen as Finalist for Atlanta Business Chronicle's Best Places to Work

PRNewswire/ -- Stonebranch(R), Inc., www.stonebranch.com , the innovation leader in Enterprise Systems Management, has been recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of Atlanta's Best Places to Work.

Independent research firm, Quantum Market Research conducted anonymous employee surveys to tabulate the results. Best Places to Work winners rank high based on numerous topics including, manager effectiveness, trust in senior leaders, alignment with goals and team effectiveness, among other criteria.

Wolfgang Bothe, CEO of Stonebranch, Inc., said, "We are very proud to be selected as one of Atlanta's Best Places to Work. Our year-over-year successful growth in the marketplace begins with the skill and hard work of our employees. It is very gratifying to know that our employees are proud of their workplace."

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

Limited Interaction Among Generations in the Workplace Identified as Key Indicator of Coming Skilled Worker Crisis

BUSINESS WIRE--There is increasing debate about the changing economy, shifting workforce demographics and, of course, over the reality of a future skilled worker shortage. Randstad USA’s annual 2008 World of Work survey, however, uncovers a critical factor that will contribute to a very real talent shortage. According to Randstad, the four generations of workers that comprise the U.S. workforce, Gen X, Gen Y, Baby Boomers and Matures, rarely interact with one another and often do not recognize each other’s skills or work ethic.

As a result, U.S. businesses risk a shortage of skilled labor – not because of the lack of manpower in the wake of retiring Baby Boomers, but because of the limited transfer of knowledge. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Gen Ys in today’s workforce (79.8 million) outnumber Boomers (78.5 million) who are perceived as retaining the bulk of working America’s institutional brain trust.

With this pending generational shift in the workplace, businesses need to focus on building professional relationships with their employees while developing employees’ skills, something Randstad calls “employership.” Central to successful employership is encouraging employee collaboration to achieve company goals, which relies, in part, on employers recognizing employee value, cultivating mutual respect and generating trust throughout the organization. Randstad’s 2008 World of Work survey suggests that companies which maintain an ongoing focus on employership, regardless of demographic or economic changes that impact the workplace, are better able to successfully meet employee expectations and achieve business goals.

Generational Divide

Although Boomers and Matures have much to offer Gen Y in regards to knowledge and experience, 51 percent of Boomers and 66 percent of Matures report little to no interaction with their Gen Y colleagues. And three of the four generations say they have little to no interaction with the most experienced workers – Matures (Gen Y, 71 percent; Gen X, 67 percent; Boomers, 58 percent).

“The workplace is on the verge of real change,” said Eric Buntin, managing director, marketing and operations for Randstad USA. “At Randstad, we believe companies that enact a culture of ‘employership’ can successfully navigate the changing workplace, regardless of economic and demographic shifts. By focusing on and encouraging the professional contributions of all employees, employers can help close the knowledge gap by instituting ways for each generation to recognize their strengths and value to all colleagues.”

Softening Expectations

Despite being perceived as the overly-demanding generation, Gen Y, along with all employees, is lowering expectations. Specifically, Gen Y is establishing more realistic views of the workplace, and their once idealistic job expectations are maturing. “The declines among Gen Y’s expectations regarding hard and soft benefits are, on average, more dramatic than among employees as a whole, perhaps because Gen Y’s expectations started out higher and more out of reach,” said Buntin. “In fact, Gen X and Boomers are actually somewhat more interested in soft benefits than younger generations.”

According to the survey, when it comes to staying in current jobs, employees from each generation associate varying levels of importance toward soft benefits.

Soft Benefits	Gen Y and Decline since 2006		Gen X		Baby Boomers		Matures
	Percentage points
Satisfying work	59%, -21		65%		71%		81%
Pleasant work environment	57%, -28		69%		70%		82%
Liking the people they work with	57%, -17		65%		62%		70%
Challenging work	42%, -17		52%		59%		71%
Flexible hours	44%, -11		48%		51%		46%

Closing the Gap

The survey shows that each generation sees itself as playing a distinct role in the workplace and, for the most part, employees describe the personality of coworkers’ in their same generation with fondness. It is their view of colleagues’ work ethic and abilities that is in question. For example, traits such as makes personal friends at work (49%), sociable (48%) and friendly (35%) are among those which Gen Y workers are most likely to use to describe coworkers in their generation. However, only 29 percent of Gen Y workers rate their generation as competent.

Gen X workers describe coworkers in their cohort as capable of interacting well with all age groups. “Based on their self-described generation personality, Gen X has the potential to bridge the generational gap between the youngest and oldest generations of workers,” said Buntin. “Leveraging this knowledge about generational strengths and value is part of employership, and something employers should act on to be a great place to work.”

Top Ranked Terms Used to Describe Coworkers in Same Generational Cohort
Gen Y Chief Friendship Officers		Gen X The Doer		Baby Boomer Moral Authority		Mature Moral Authority
Makes personal friends at workplace Sociable Thinks out of the box Open to new ideas Friendly		Confident Competent Willing to take responsibility Willing to put in the extra time to get a job done Ethical		Strong work ethic Competent Ethical Ability to handle a crisis Willing to take on responsibility Good communication skills		Strong work ethic Ethical Committed to the company Competent Confident

For more information or for a copy of Randstad’s 2008 World of Work survey results, please visit www.us.randstad.com.

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States on behalf of Randstad USA between December 14, 2007 and January 16, 2008 among 3,494 U.S. adults (age 18 and older), among whom 1,295 were employers and 2,199 were employees. The sample for employees consisted of U.S. residents who are currently employed full-time or self-employed in a company with at least five employees. The employer sample consisted of U.S. business professionals who make or strongly influence strategic Human Resources decisions and have been doing so for at least six months. The employee universe is segmented into three categories: small (5-49 employees), medium (50-499) and large (500 or more) companies/organizations; and four generational categories born between the respective years: Gen Y (1980-1988), Gen X (1965-1979), Baby Boomers (1946-1964) and Matures (1900-1945).

The data from this survey was weighted to “match the characteristics of” and to remove potential biases so that the data is “projectable to the population of interest.” Propensity Score weighting, a proprietary weighting technique, was used to adjust for differences between the online population and the offline population to ensure that the data is representative of the general populations in question.

With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 3,494 adults, of whom 1,295 are employers and 2,199 are employees in the United States, one could say with a ninety percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.4 percentage points. The sampling error for employers is +/- 2.3 percentage points, and for the employees is +/- 1.8 percentage points. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.