workers Archives - Mediarabe

Venture-Backed ‘Sentinel Occupational Safety’ Introduces ‘Safety as a Service’ for hazardous and confined space workers

October 14, 2020

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SafeGuard by Sentinel Occupational Safety

With SafeGuard, a safety manager can oversee the health and safety status of multiple workers simultaneously, including their location, various physiological health indicators, hazards, and stressors.

Aptima Ventures and Accelerant fund spin-off of technology developed for US Air Force
Sentinel’s SafeGuard offering provides ‘Safety as a Service’ to monitor and protect workers in dangerous industrial environments
Patented fusion engine combines sensors, data, and AI for personalized real-time monitoring and alerting

WOBURN, Mass., Oct. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — With millions of workers injured and killed annually in hazardous industrial workplace environments, Sentinel Occupational Safety Inc., a new venture-backed startup, is introducing its ‘Safety as a Service’ platform known as SafeGuard™ to improve workplace safety through more preventive oversight.

Worcester workers targeted in scam; 13 new COVID-19 deaths

October 13, 2020

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WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — More than 550 employees in Worcester, Massachusetts, have been targeted in a nationwide unemployment insurance benefits scam, city officials say.

The scam involves identity thieves using the victims’ personal information to file claims for unemployment benefits.

The city received about 40 fraudulent claims from March to mid-August, Dori Vecchio, the city’s human resources director told The Telegram & Gazette. Since then, more than 500 have come in, she said.

Employees in every department have been targeted. About 100 people who work for the fire department and another 100 who work for the schools have been affected. The city employs about 6,800.

“Several high-ranking officials and elected officials in the city have been compromised,” Vecchio said.

Schools Superintendent Maureen Binienda said she has been targeted three times.

Security experts say much of the fraud appears to be committed by scammers using personal information stolen from earlier commercial

Protecting educators and health care workers through strategic state stockpiles

October 12, 2020

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As of this writing, 922 U.S. health care workers have died fighting COVID-19, with nearly one-third lacking adequate amounts of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the initial months of the disease’s outbreak. In those early months, global supply chain issues and the rapid depletion of Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) resources illustrated serious gaps in America’s pandemic preparedness. Today, we continue to feel the ramifications as parents, educators and students face an uncertain return to the classroom.

In the future, these shortages could be avoided through the creation of something similar to the SNS: Strategic State Stockpiles.

States need to play a larger role in pandemic preparedness to “fill the gap” if, and when, the federal government is unable to do so. They can build independent emergency medical stockpiles mirroring the SNS, but with an emphasis on low-cost, high-yield items such as PPE and portable ventilators. This would allow states to

Pandemic forces mental health care workers to embrace online therapy

October 12, 2020

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| Health Facts

doctor computer — Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Until recently, online therapy was a bridge too far for many practitioners in mental health care. But then came COVID-19. Because psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists could no longer treat their clients face-to-face, they switched en masse to online video platforms. In many cases it turned out to work better than expected, according to new research by the Eindhoven University of Technology. Among other things, many therapists are positive about the effectiveness of the therapy, the experienced flexibility, the lower threshold for contact and the lack of travel time. But there are disadvantages too, and online therapy doesn’t work for everyone.

In recent decades, more and more tools have been developed for remote therapy. Previous research has shown that this online form of treatment—also known as eMental Health—is on average as effective as face-to-face treatment, despite the distance between practitioner and client.

Nevertheless, up till now many

Support and intervention needed to protect wellbeing of health care workers after Ebola outbreak

October 12, 2020

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Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 12 2020

As we approach a second wave of COVID-19 researchers are looking at what can be learnt from countries affected by the Ebola outbreak in order to better safeguard the mental health of health care workers in the UK and across the globe.

A recent report (link is external) by researchers from the ARISE consortium (link is external) and REDRESS project has outlined some of the psychological challenges faced by health staff in crisis situations, and the importance of early support and intervention to protect mental health and wellbeing.

Psychological support for health workers should be built into the COVID-19 response and subsequent emergency responses, the report published in the British Medical Journal has said.

In Sierra Leone and Liberia COVID-19 is the latest in a range of shocks to the health system which have included war and the Ebola outbreak. Researchers believe

Health care workers say it’s getting harder to get paid time off for COVID

October 12, 2020

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As a part-time nurse at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Megan Murphy has twice been forced to take a leave from work this summer while waiting to get tested for COVID-19.

On both occasions, Murphy had good reason to believe she’d been exposed to the virus and stayed home, as required by hospital policies, to limit spread of the disease. Each time, it took four to five days to line up an appointment and get the results.

Both tests came back negative. But a snafu delayed the results of Murphy’s first test and left her without enough paid time off to cover her second leave. As a result, she lost two days’ pay and has no sick time left.

“I’m still going to be honest” in disclosing future exposures, she said. “But my concern is, what happens when people can’t afford to have two days unpaid, and they

WHO, RGC and partners join forces to offer mental health support to migrant workers and vulnerable groups

October 11, 2020

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| Community Health

Num Samkhan and Nat Poung are two of the thousands of migrant workers who returned to Cambodia from Thailand because of COVID-19. Even though they are healthy and safely living with family, the months since their return have been stressful.

“I worry about not earning money to support my family,” Samkhan told Dr Yel Daravuth, Technical Officer at the World Health Organization (WHO), when asked about how COVID-19 has impacted his mental health. “I haven’t worked yet
since coming back from Thailand.”

Similarly, Poung has not been able to make a living since returning to Cambodia in May. Without a source of income, she has felt depressed and even thought about suicide. Receiving mental health support has been a crucial lifeline for her.

“When village health support groups visited to ask and talk about my mental problems and provided some solutions to make me feel better, I could smile,” said

Despite a family medical emergency, ‘Ya Fav Trashman’ holds a food drive for Philly’s frontline workers as COVID cases rise

October 11, 2020

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Terrill Haigler, more widely known as Ya Fav Trashman, the Instagram account he created to plead for hazard pay, masks and gloves for sanitation workers amid the coronavirus pandemic, continued his generosity Saturday as his mother fought for her life.

Haigler hosted a food drive for all frontline workers in Philadelphia — from the Streets Department and SEPTA, to the city’s many hospitals and emergency responders. The collection took place in the parking lot of the church he attends, the Voice of Praise Worldwide Ministries, on the 3500 block of Old York Road in the Logan section.

“The frontline workers sacrifice a lot to go to work every day, and I just wanted them to have one less thing to worry about,” Haigler said Saturday afternoon even as he bore his own worries.

Around 4 a.m., his mother, Jeanette, suffered a severe asthma attack. By the time the 53-year-old

Union Health Plan Dodges Film Workers’ Suit Over Virus Relief

October 9, 2020

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By Archive

Email Danielle Nichole Smith

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href=”https://www.law360.com/#”>Danielle Nichole Smith

Law360 is providing free access to its coronavirus coverage to make sure all members of the legal community have accurate information in this time of uncertainty and change. Use the form below to sign up for any of our daily newsletters. Signing up for any of our section newsletters will opt you in to the daily Coronavirus briefing.

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) —
The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income

Survey Reveals 80% Of Workers Would Quit Their Jobs For This

October 8, 2020

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Remote workers experience increased stress, anxiety and mental health issues. — Feeling the pressure of working from home.

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Mental health matters, for today’s remote workforce: a vast majority of workers (80%) would consider quitting their current position for a job that focused more on employees’ mental health. That’s according to a recent survey of 1,000 Americans, published by TELUS International. Research indicates that 75% of U.S. workers have struggled at work due to anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent world events. On the eve of World Mental Health Day, it seems that the coronavirus has created massive amounts of stress, anxiety and uncertainty for remote workers and leaders alike. Below you will find three things that companies can do, today, to help employees during this difficult time.

But first, consider other results and mental health responses from the survey:

4 out of 5 workers find it hard to “shut off” in the evenings
Over half of respondents

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