Hello Again Safety Stuff Subscriber,

It's my pleasure, as always, to pass on another brief dose of fun and unusual safety and health stuff.

My time with the leaders from the Artex Risk captive was a blast. Thank you Sue, for choosing me again. And a special thanks to Ernie for your craziness!

Today, I'm in Dubuque, IA getting ready to speak at the Iowa-Illinois 55th Annual Professional Development Conference & Expo tomorrow.

Welcome to the winners' club Lidia Dilley from STAR- Energy Services! You are this week's safety & health meeting/promotion idea winner.

Safety & health meeting/promotion idea winners get 25 Safety & Health Puzzles on CD which they can copy and give out to their employees. They also get a copy of Spice It Up! 52 Easy Ways to Turn Your Safety Meetings From Bland to Grand! If you'd like to purchase these helpful products just go to: www.makesafetyfun.com

If I publish your idea on how to use a prop to make a point, or some way to get your audience involved in a safety & health meeting, or an innovative way to promote safety & health on and off the job you'll win the puzzles and booklet.

Send your ideas to me at richard@richardhawkinc.com or click on the link at the bottom of this message.

Here's Lidia's contribution:

SAFETY IS NO GAMBLE

Hi Richard,

I enjoy your safety ideas and love the creativity. I work with four electric cooperatives as their safety coordinator. Here is my safety idea.

Safety is No Gamble--This game works for small groups of 4-6 players. To get people engaged during our safety training I created a deck of cards with the suits of Hazards, Safety Actions, Unsafe Acts and Reporting and then numbered them like a regular deck of cards 1,2,3 . . . J,Q,K. I then placed on each card a safety question related to that "suit". For example, one card for the Hazard suit said, "Name two tripping hazards in the workplace."

In each suit, however, was a card that said "ouch" and a card that said "sorry." If you got an ouch card, you were done for that round which represented getting hurt but not seriously and still able to come back to work. If you got a sorry card you were done for the game which represented getting seriously hurt and NOT able to come back to work. You also couldn't win the prize. We played four rounds of "21" with the object being to get as close to 21 without going over; A=1 or 11 and J,Q,K = 10. The rest equal their face value.

After each round, I let the people pick one of their cards to read out loud and answer. Then, we discussed it in the group. If you had gotten a sorry or ouch card, you still were given a card to participate in the discussion process.

To determine who wins, I created 12 chips for each person. These chips represented the safety things you were given or told about when you started work at the Cooperative. They were such things as Right-to-Know training, eyewash, safety manual, emergency action plan, fire extinguisher, etc. People could bet as much as they want with at least one chip minimum. The person with the most chips at the end of 4 rounds won the prize.

The feedback has been great and people were able to share safety concerns or bring up safety issues as well as learn more about the safety program.

TIDBITS

Bestselling medicines worldwide: cholesterol- lowerers, antidepressants, and ulcer drugs.

A Columbian company makes a stab-proof T-shirt. Price $500.

The plane truth: There are fewer deaths annually from skydiving than from bee stings.

Good News: Mosquitoes have trouble seeing you.

Bad News: They can smell you. They like carbon dioxide, and use your exhaled breath to track you down. This explains all those welts on your face when you've been out camping.

Good News: You cannot get the HIV virus from a mosquito.

Bad News: You can get malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and encephalitis from mosquito bites. They also transmit heartworms to cats and dogs.

Good News: You can take pills to prevent malaria.

Bad News: Not everyone has access to those pills. Mosquito-transmitted malaria kills one million people per year in Africa.

Good News: Mosquitoes rarely travel more than 300 feet from their breeding grounds.

Bad News: One mosquito averages 1,000- 3,000 offspring.

CHANGED MY LIFE IN MANY WAYS

Hello Richard,

The Vegas thing where you were part of the safety speaker showcase was realy good for me on many levels and you changed my life in many ways!

You hit home, in a fun way. I hope to be able to take some of what I got from you and teach my associates with the wisdom you imparted on us all in that two-day experience.

You showed me I could take charge and make a safety meeting fun and, I will try to spread the word (and your name)!

Ray Mopier
Verizon

If you'd like to get the same type of results at your next convention or employee day (or are looking for ways to improve your safety & health culture) contact Michele Lucia (972-899-3411 michele@richardhawkinc.com) or click on the link at the end of this email message.

If you'd like to see a video of yours truly go to my safety website www.makesafetyfun.com.

WARM UP

Spring and warm weather is near and for many of us that means more physical activity--including sports. Here's a brief article, that you're welcome to use, about the importance of "warming up" before you start playing.

If walking from your car to the court is the extent of your warm-up, don't be very surprised if one day your muscles rebel. A person's muscles, bones, ligaments and brain shouldn't be forced to perform without preparation. It's like starting your car on a cold morning and immediately racing down the highway at 100 mph.

A good warm-up sends blood to the muscles that you are about to exert, and prepares your body for physical stress. Choose a good all-purpose warm-up routine and add any exercises that are necessary for your particular sport.

For your muscles' sake, warm-up for at least ten minutes before revving your body.

Every year, millions of people who exercise or play sports sustain muscle injuries. Government specialists set the number of muscle injuries at 15 million a year. Most remain unreported. Only the severest are handled in doctors' offices or hospital emergency rooms.

According to the book Sports Health, one of the top six factors that predispose an athlete (professional or amateur) to multiple muscle strains is "Improper or incomplete stretching and warming up prior to exercise or competition."

So the next time, before you play or exert your body-- warm up!