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Archive: Jun 2018

How to Keep Your Dog Calm this 4th of July

With the 4th of July coming up, it’s hard not to get excited about heating up the barbecue, hanging out with friends and family, and watching the fireworks! But for our dogs and other pets, it can be a very scary time, so we can’t forget to take steps in order to ensure their safety this 4th of July season!

With almost 30% of dogs getting “lost” and at least 40% experiencing noise anxiety, July 5th becomes one of the busiest days of the year for shelters.

So how can you help keep your dog calm this 4th of July?

  1. Keep identification tags current – it’s as simple as it sounds! Make sure your dog is micro chipped or has a proper I.D. tag. On the slight off chance that your dog escapes from you, it’ll be much easier for you to find them and bring them home.
  2. Do NOT take them to the fireworks show – as beautiful as the fireworks seem to us, they can be frightening and cause anxiety for our pets, especially being so close to it. Instead, it’s safer for them to stay in the comfort of their home
  3. Dog calming techniques – even if your dog is left at home, it is very likely that the sound of fireworks will still scare them, so there are a few dog calming techniques you can try at home to comfort your pup. Take them for a long walk prior to the night hours to help them burn off any extra energy or anxiety they may be experiencing, try giving your dog a warm bath, or even give them some Benadryl (be sure to check on correct dosage!). You can also play calm music, and be sure to have some sort of white noise (like a fan, television, etc.) going to help drown out more of the sound.
  4. Stay calm yourself – seeing our best friends freak out can be scary to us, too! But, it’s important to make sure that we stay calm and be there to comfort our dogs in any way that we can. The best thing you can do is remain calm, and give your dog a safe, and quiet (as possible) environment.
  5. Don’t feed your pet “table food” – leaving your pet outdoors without watching them can lead to them picking up food laying on the ground, like beer, chocolate, onions, salt and avocados. As much as we love our dogs and want them to have a treat every now and then, this can actually make them sick and can be hazardous. Not keeping an eye on them if they are outside is also a recipe for them to get scared and successfully run away.

OSHA Cracking Down on Failure to File Electronic Injury Reports

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered its inspectors to crack down on employers who failed to electronically file their 300A, 300 Log and 301 injury report forms.

Because of confusion over implementation of the rule, OSHA said that for 2017, employers who came under the regulation only needed to file their 2016 form 300A. The deadline for filing their 300A forms containing 2016 data was then set for July 1, 2017, which later was postponed to December 15 and then again to December 30.

During the lead-up to the December 30 deadline, 60,000 accounts were created on OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application on its website and more than 214,000 of the 300A forms were submitted. However, this fell far short of the 350,000 submissions (excluding state plans) that OSHA had expected to file.

According to OSHA, a little more than a third of workplaces that were required to respond did not file the reports. As of January 1, 2018, OSHA no longer accepted the 2016 data and it’s now too late for those employers who did not do so to submit their 2016 form 300A.

In February 2018, OSHA instructed its compliance officers to initiate inquiries into whether workplaces had electronically filed their 300A forms for 2016. If the compliance officer learns about an employer’s failure to file, OSHA will issue an other-than-serious citation. The maximum penalty for each other-than-serious violation can be as high as $12,934.

But, OSHA only has six months from December 15th, 2017 to issue citations to those employers who are found to have failed to electronically file the required information. That means their deadline to issue citations is June 15, 2018.

They agency also said that it will conduct a mass mailing outreach to employers who did not submit their 300A forms to inform them further of their obligations under the regulation. In addition, OSHA confirmed that it intends to use the data gathered from these forms to develop inspection-targeting similar to its site-specific targeting.

At the time OSHA developed the electronic reporting rule, the agency declared its intention was not to publish personally identifiable information that is normally included on forms 300 and 301. Under the new administration, OSHA has come to the conclusion that in reality it can’t guarantee the non-release of personal information. For this reason, OSHA is unable to publish the injury and illness data. And since they cannot publish it, none of the potential benefits derived from publication of the collected data would be realized.

OSHA reportedly plans to advance a proposal to eliminate the electronic filing requirements that employers with 250 or more employees must electronically submit their OSHA 300 logs of work-related injuries and illnesses, and 301 injury and illness incident reports. Only the 300A summary of work-related injuries and illnesses would be filed in that manner.

In anticipation of the new rule, for the time being OSHA is not accepting electronic OSHA 300 logs or 301 forms. Instead, only two types of establishments are expected to continue submitting 300A summary forms electronically: those with 250 or more employees, as well as those with between 20 and 249 employees in high-hazard industries who are expected to submit their calendar year 2017 summaries by July 1, 2018. After that, beginning in 2019 and for every year afterwards, these worksites would be required to submit the information by March 2.

 

Tips for Road Construction Season

Nothing puts a damper on a family outing quite like stop-and-go traffic. Budding excitement and anticipation all but disappear when orange “Road Construction” signs and flashing arrows indicate changing traffic patterns and delays. However, If you’re proactive, there are ways to limit the road construction blues this summer. These tips can help you brave road construction season and enjoy all the fun things you planned.

1. Stay Informed

Most of the frustration with road construction occurs because motorists don’t expect it. Travel plans don’t always take into consideration construction projects along the intended route. To avoid this frustration, stay on top of road construction projects in your area.

Follow your state’s construction projects by visiting your Department of Transportation’s website. This way you can plan an alternate route to avoid construction, or just know that you may hit some traffic slowdowns along the way. Also, look at local city or community websites, as well as major attraction websites. They often post the most current travel information for potential visitors and tourists.

DOT Websites

Iowa
Illinois
Indiana
Minnesota
Wisconsin

2. Be an Advocate For the Road

If you run across a pothole, there’s a pothole app for that. As an example, in the City of Milwaukee, you can use an app to post pictures and locations of potholes that require repair. In addition, many local communities offer hotlines or online submission pages to report concerning road conditions. Sometimes it’s as easy as snapping a photo, tagging your location, and posting it directly to the local public works department for repair consideration.

The key takeaway here is you can be an advocate to help improve the roads. Municipalities can’t fix what they don’t see. If you see a road issue, be an advocate and report the problem so it can be repaired.

3. Stay Positive and Think Safety

Road construction for motorists means orange cones, blocked lanes, and slow traffic. But remember, the contractor’s job is to keep the roads safe for you, your family, and your vehicle. They repair deficiencies in the road, lay new smooth surfaces, and help make your travel easier in the long run.

So as you travel this summer, think about the long term positives of road construction and about the safety of road workers. They’re passionate about their jobs and they want to work in a safe environment each day. As a motorist, this means you should always follow road speed signage and traffic pattern changes, and overall, be cognizant of worker safety.

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