Proforma Safety Blog

Business Travel Has Health Risks, Says This Study

Posted by proforma on April 30, 2011  |  No Comments

With businesses becoming increasingly global, it seems more of our family and friends are traveling on business, with deleterious effects on their health. Those who travel extensively — 20 days per month — reported high rates of obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.

A study recently published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine used data on more than 13,000 employees. As the amount of travel increased, so also did the rates of less than good health. Extensive travelers were 92 percent more likely to be obese, and 260 percent more likely to rate their health as fair to poor, compared to light travelers (one to six nights per month).

Traffic and Your Heart

Posted by proforma on September 22, 2010  |  No Comments

This news item in the University of Texas Health Science Center Health Leader offers such useful information that we repeat it in its entirety to avoid any problems with clicking through to their e-newsletter.

Traffic and Your Heart

City traffic is tough on the nerves. It could also be hard on the heart.

In a recent study, nearly 1,500 heart attack survivors were asked about what they had been doing in the four days before their heart attacks. About 8% said they had been stuck in traffic a few hours prior to the attack. The lingering effects of traffic seemed to be worse in women and those with the chest pain known as angina (American Heart Association epidemiology meeting, March 2009).

So what’s the connection between heart attacks and traffic?  Researchers have developed two leading theories involve anger or stress, and air pollution. Navigating through heavy traffic makes some people mad, especially if they are surrounded by drivers cutting in and weaving out (think I-45 North at 4:30 p.m.) Others get stressed. Anger and stress have been linked to spasms of coronary arteries, the sudden disruption of cholesterol-filled plaque, and the initiation of unstable heart rhythms, any of which can trigger a heart attack.

Air pollution is the other primary suspect. Billions of tiny exhaust particles spew from car and truck tailpipes every day. In heavy traffic we breathe in these microscopic motes by the million. Once we do, they can cause inflammation, promote the formation of blood clots, destabilize cholesterol-filled plaques, and contribute to heart-rhythm abnormalities.

In Houston, traffic is an inevitable part of travel. But the odds that being stuck on the Southwest Freeway at 5 p.m. will provoke a heart attack are really quite low, so this study shouldn’t be cause for alarm. But it does suggest that playing relaxing music while in heavy traffic might not be a bad idea, and that it’s wise to pay attention to chest pain if you’ve recently done battle on Houston’s highways at rush hour.

Checking Your Blood Pressure?

Posted by proforma on February 25, 2010  |  No Comments

Whether you already have high blood pressure or just want to monitor for it, you should know some basics about home monitoring devices or drugstore monitoring machines. Cardiologist Samuel W. Casscells, the John Edward Tyson Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the UT Medical School, offers the following advice in the recent issue of Health Leader.

Checking your own pressure at home with a monitor can give you a reliable read, but he advises you bring the monitor to your next doctor’s visit and ask the staff to check it against their monitor. If the two align, you’re in good shape to test at home.

If you use monitors in drugstores, malls, grocery stores, he advises the following:

• Sit in the waiting chair for a few moments before you put your arm in the cuff, as your pressure may have a higher reading from walking or pushing a shopping cart.
• Machines in public areas may not be serviced and recalibrated regularly, so take two readings several minutes apart. If they are wildly different, the machine may need calibration.
• The monitor—especially the digital variety—is very sensitive, so you must remain completely still while you are checking your pressure. Avoid moving, sneezing, laughing or talking, or your reading will register higher.

Are Back Belts Preventing Strain and Injuries?

Posted by proforma on March 20, 2009  |  No Comments

Because of limitations of the studies that have analyzed the use of back belts in the workplace, NIOSH says the results cannot be used either to support or to refute the effectiveness of back belts in injury reduction, according to this post. Instead, NIOSH and medical professionals advocate ergonomics and back safety training.

With new workers across a range of industries donning back belts every year, it’s important for employers to remind them of the limitations.

Proforma Safety calls Health and Hygiene Stand Down; requests removal of personnel

Posted by proforma on March 20, 2009  |  No Comments

Mike Arnold, president of

Tags:confined space, health, HSE representation, hygiene, oilfield worker, safety, stand down, work stop order, Workplace Safety

Filed Under: Workplace Safety