Winter has its own special set of challenges. One of many is walking safely when you suspect ice might be underfoot. It’s not always possible to spot the stuff, as anyone who has ever skidded on “black ice” can readily attest. Ice can cause serious falls, resulting in broken bones and nasty gashes, and even […]
A new study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has determined that active natural gas wells in Pennsylvania employing fracking technologies put expectant mothers at a significantly higher risk of premature birth and of generally having high-risk pregnancies. The research findings were published online at the end of September, 2015, in the […]
Consider the bright colors and the adventure of flying you get without being stuck in a cramped middle seat—that might be why hot air ballooning, either as a passenger or as a spectator, makes a lot of people happy. From the famous Albuquerque festival in October, which draws thousands from all over the world, to […]
You may have read about IKEA offering free wall-anchoring repair kits for their chests and dressers after two children died. In all, IKEA recalled about 27 million items. The fact is, every 24 minutes a tip-over accident involving a TV or other furniture injures a child in the U.S. That’s one child dying every two […]
Having been a wrestler in high school, the sport is near and dear to my heart. But the practice of wrestling does carry risks. (I myself had to switch to boxing after developing a back injury.) For example, in Ohio, a high school wrestler suffered a stroke while actively practicing for a national competition. And […]
On May 12, 2015, Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC), the stretch of tracks that run from Washington, DC, to Boston, suffered one of its worst accidents ever. Amtrak Train 188 derailed and overturned in Philadelphia’s Port Richmond neighborhood, killing eight people and injuring over 200. More than 240 passengers were on the train at the time […]
A report recently released by CRICO Strategies, a division of the Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions, focuses on medical malpractice cases brought because of diagnostic errors. CRICO maintains a database with information about more than 300,000 malpractice cases, both open and closed. For this study, they analyzed more than 23,000 malpractice cases […]
Would you leave a bottle of bleach within the reach of a toddler? Parents know to store household chemicals behind locked cabinet doors or on a high shelf, aware and wary of accidental poisonings that befall curious children. And yet, too many parents are leaving containers of significantly more toxic and enticing liquids where children […]
It’s not unusual to be driving down the highway when you suddenly hear emergency sirens and glimpse flashing lights as an ambulance streaks past, carrying an accident victim to the nearest trauma center. You might wonder about the circumstances, maybe even offer up a little prayer for the person inside. What you should be praying […]
ENDUI . . . No, it’s not pronounced on-dou-ee and it’s not a fancy French sausage. It’s pronounced end-dee-you-eye and it’s an app newly developed by the Maryland Highway Safety Office as one more weapon in the arsenal intended to save lives which could be taken by drunk drivers. ENDUI is an app which can […]