Whatnot At Work

Cell Phones Double As Breathalizer

Some companies in Japan are using cell phones with built in breath testers to make sure their employees are not driving under the influence.

The new system, which uses NTT DoCoMo's FOMA third-generation cell phone equipped with a breath analyzer, is easy to use. First, the driver makes a video-phone call to his or her company and breathes into the analyzer connected to the cell phone. The video image showing the driver blowing into the analyzer and data regarding the alcohol concentration on his or her breath are transmitted to the company and confirmed by computer there.

Donut Tampering

An employee at a supermarket was caught on film sticking pins into donuts in the employee breakroom fridge. One employee was injured when he bit into one of the donuts. The employee has been charged with a felony for food tampering.

Wig Safer Than Bicycle Helmet

A researcher at the University of Bath found that drivers crowd bicyclists with helmets, leave extra space for those without helmets, but leave the most space for women (or men with a blonde wig). He found that drivers get 3.3 inches closer to helmeted pedalers and gave an extra 5.5 inches for the wigged bicyclist. As the researcher explains it, drivers assume if the bicyclist is wearing a helmet then he is part of the "lycra-clad street warriors" group and thus fair game. During his study, he was hit twice by vehicles - both times while wearing a helmet.

"We know helmets are useful in low-speed falls, and so definitely good for children, but whether they offer any real protection to somebody struck by a car is very controversial," said Walker. "Either way, this study suggests wearing a helmet might make a collision more likely in the first place."

The safest bet is to wear a blonde wig when commuting, although, even women bicyclists encounter insane drivers now and then (as this bicycle courier can attest to after an enraged driver jumped out and attacked her).

Sleep Deprived Medical Interns As Dangerous As Drunks

In 2003, new rules set limits to the amount of consecutive hours an intern can work after a study found interns were routinely working 70 hours in a row. This was dangerous for both the patients and the interns. The limits were put in place because sleep deprived interns make many more medical mistakes.

These findings build on previous research and the growing awareness that sleep-deprived first-year doctors in training (interns) working traditional 24-hour shifts make many more serious medical errors and crash their cars more often than those whose work is limited to 16 consecutive hours.

A recent study found that 83.6% of interns are breaking the new rules and are still working dangerously long hours. The new study also finds that the sleep deprived interns are 61% more likely to accidentally stick themselves from needles, potentially exposing themselves to HIV, hepatitis and other diseases. According to the chief of sleep medicine at Harvard and Brigham and Women's,

"There are serious consequences to these work hours. They are just as impaired as if they had three shots of whiskey. Working these marathon shifts is a 19th century tradition that has no place in 21st century medicine."

Locked Inside

An 85 year old customer was locked inside a bank vault in Zurich for four hours.

the director of the bank's safe allowed the woman into the vault on Monday before closing it punctually at 4:30 p.m. local time, with the woman still deep in study of her documents.

She remained so still that she even failed to activate either the motion detector or the attached camera

Pesticide in Soda

What are your employees drinking?

India is threatening to ban both Pepsi and Coca Cola from their country because tests show both Pepsi's and Coke's soda contain high levels of pesticides and that the levels are increasing dramatically. According to the Center for Science and Environment, Pepsi sodas contain 30 times more pesticide now than they did in 2003 and Coke contains 25 times more than in 2003.

The court order followed the release of a report by the Centre for Science and Environment, a non-government body, which contended that 11 brands sold by the two soft drinks makers contained high levels of pesticide residues. The organisation said that samples from 12 states showed that Pepsi products contained 30 times more pesticides than in 2003, when a similar study was conducted. Coke samples had 25 times the amount of pesticides as three years ago.

The results from the 2003 test caused a ban of soda in schools across the country. They were replaced with fruit juices.

Schools banned colas, and fruit juice sales boomed as yoga gurus reminded people of the value of healthy drinking.

Replacing your soda machines with juice machines in the workplace might be a simple and inexpensive way to boost the health and productivity of your workforce.

California has a health initiative to encourage healthy workplace options. Their site has lots of resources and brochures for companies to encourage healthy habits at no cost: vending machine options(pdf), healthy meeting options(pdf), how to energize your workday(pdf), as well as health statistics(pdf) in the California workplace.

One Third Of 911's Real

Only a third of the 911 calls made in California are for real emergencies.

Some of the more ridiculous calls include people who can't find their cars at the mall, lost their keys, are stuck in traffic and want to know what's holding them up, or have a baby that won't stop crying.

They also get a fair share of prank calls. The dispatchers have to take every call seriously, and all these false alarms have their impact. It raises costs, it slows response times to real emergencies and it clogs the lines for those real emergencies.

It might be a good idea to remind employees that 911 is for emergencies and only emergencies dealing with public safety. Before calling 911, ask yourself if your call needs an ambulance, police, or firefighters. If not, call someone else.

Laptop Explodes At The Office

BoingBoing has some pictures and background on a laptop battery that exploded at work. According to the post, the exploding battery phenomenon is not restricted to laptops - there is an account of a PDA doing the same thing, along with links to other occurrences.

Forced To Disrobe

A postal worker forced a coworker to disrobe and walk around the office. He was angry that she passed over his spouse for a promotion. The worker spent 8 months in jail and the victim just settled her lawsuit against him for an undisclosed sum.

And in Japan, a woman was awarded 550,000 Yen for a sexual harassment suit against her boss who made her pluck his beard whiskers. Yuck!

Incomprehensible Signs

A collection of incomprehensible workplace safety signs.