Netcare medicals.

 

People you want to know when you get hurt....NETCARE 911!

 

The indusmed team did medicals on the Paramedics  of Netcare 911,  and when asked, why are you doing this, most of them said: 

"We just really want to help people".

 

They are not only skilled, but have amazing hearts.... for people!

 

 

 

 

admin can be fun........

People come in all sizes and shapes, we love them all!

                                                               ............indusmed

                          THANK YOU
Indusmed would just like to thank Kobus Herold and Neurtrog for their kind hearts in giving Tehila Shelter some of their amazing product:  organic fertilizer!  Helping making this world a better place.

We're Still Blogging

We've been so busy with doing medicals, we haven't been able to blog much. But watch this space!!!

Sr. Nel even had an opportunity to hold a small kid during doing medicals in Philippi.

 

Remember to watch out website for our full array of services.

 



Dagga and Height Workers

There is a substantial amount of dagga-users in the Western Cape, in my experience and according to reports. What is concerning is the attitude of the employers towards this problem, as they do not seem to realise the safety implications hereoff.

Please take a look at the psychological and physical changes that occurs with dagga usage.

AKA: DAGGA/CANNABIS/GRASS/POT/GHANJA/DOPE

Dagga is a chemical substance that leads to physical and psychological changes.

Physical changes:

Increase in heart beat
Dry mouth
Light headedness
Tremors
Loss of body co-ordination

Possible psychological changes:

Mood swings (happy - down)
Illusions:

The brain interprets something real as different, for example: a stick as a snake

Perceptual disorder which can lead to fear and paranoia


Duration of effect on body: smoke: 2-4 hours
eat : 5-12 hours

THE KEY REQUIREMENTS FOR HEIGHT WORKERS:

To be able to work at great heights, without risk of falling
To be able to cope with the physical demands of climbing up and down as well as performing the manual tasks of the job
To be able to cope with working on the scaffolding without having to use a toilet frequently
.
EXCLUSIONS FOR HEIGHTS

Disorders of thought and judgement
Disorders impairing level of consciousness: substance abuse, epilepsy, blackouts and diabetes that is uncontrolled
Disorders that impair balance
Medicines that impair awareness or concentration (antihistamines, neuropsychotropics, anticonvulsants, strong pain medications)
Disorders of musculoskeletal system

Pics from location

indusMED team working next to the N1.

Welding

 

 WELDING FUMES (OSHA, United states department of Labour)

ROUTES OF EXPOSURE

Exposure to welding fumes can occur through inhalation and eye contact.

TOXICOLOGY

Exposure to welding fumes from mild steel: - development of benign pneumonconiosis. - Condition is reversible

- No respiratory signs may be present at the the time the pneumonconiosis is discovered

Metal fume fever: - fever

• chills

• headache

• nausea

• shortness of breath

• muscle pain

• metallic taste in the mouth (Rom 1992)

Infertility: -highest among stainless steel welders(Rom 1992;IARC 1990)

-

Carcinogenic to humans(IARC 1990)

ACUTE EXPOSURE: - eye, nose and throat irritation

• fever

• chills

• headache

• nausea

• shortness of breath

• muscle pain

• metallic taste in mouth

CHRONIC EXPOSRE: - respiratory effects including coughing

• weezing

• decreased pulmonary function

NEVER EAT, DRINK, SMOKE, APPLY COSMETICS OR TAKE MEDICATION IN AREAS WHERE WELDING FUMES ARE GENERATED.

ALUMINUM Welding: Chronic exposure to high concentrations of fumes causes severe

pneumonconiosis

Chest x-ray taken in 1995, 4 months before

death, showing severe fibrosis. Hilar adenopathy was never

mentioned in radiologic reports.

43 Year old African-American worked for a shipbuilding factory as an aluminum weld-grinder for 16 years. After that he worked as an arc welder for 8 years at a different company. His PPE WAS A HANDCERCHIEF TIED AROUND HIS FACE.

Recent Workshop presented by Sr. Nel

…on the importance and background of medical surveilance in South Africa. She presented it to an institute of health and safety representatives and consultants. View the slideshow below:

The importance of medical histories

55 year old male received audiometric test: plh 14.3. The graphic indicated that he suffered from noise-induced hearing loss. He was working for the current employer only a year, so the question then is where he suffered this hearing loss.

An occupational health history, indicating exposure to hazards and duration of said exposure is very important, because you must ascertain where the damage occured. Therefore an entry and exit medical examination is vital, as this can indemnify your company from possible claims arising from employees' occupational injuries occurring elsewhere.

Some updates:

- We were recently commissioned to perform medical tests on the applicants for the 2010 FIFA World Cup official drivers. Medicals included ECG's, cholesterol tests, drug testing, audiometry, lung-function, special vision screening, physical examination and occupational and medical histories. We were working under the direction of an Occupational Medical Practitioner.

- We performed audiometric tests for Paarl Media Group in beautiful Paarl, being surrounded by vineyards and lovely countryside.

Our mobile clinic truck, affectionately called "Melady", decided to give us a teabreak at the friendly Dunlop service centre across the road... the flat tyre was seen to efficiently and we were on our way again soon.

- "Melady" is currently receiving a face-lift from panel-beaters and by next week she will sport brand new look, with brand new signage, botox, nip and tuck!

Till next time.

Fw: Why an occupational history is important

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Nellie Nel

To: BLOG

Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 8:59 AM

Subject: Why an occupational history is important

55 year old male received audiometric test: plh 14.3. The graphic indicated that he suffered from noise-induced hearing loss. He was working for the current employer only a year, so the question then is where he suffered this hearing loss.

 

An occupational health history, indicating exposure to hazards and duration of said exposure is very important, because you must ascertain where the damage occured. Therefore an entry and exit medical examination is vital, as this can indemnify your company from possible claims arising from employees' occupational injuries occurring elsewhere.

 

Some updates:

 

- We were recently commissioned to perform medical tests on the applicants for the 2010 FIFA World Cup official drivers. Medicals included ECG's, cholesterol tests, drug testing, audiometry, lung-function, special vision screening, physical examination and occupational and medical histories. We were working under the direction of an Occupational Medical Practitioner.

- We performed audiometric tests for Paarl Media Group in beautiful Paarl, being surrounded by vineyards and lovely countryside.

 

Our mobile clinic truck, affectionately called "Melady", decided to give us a teabreak at the friendly Dunlop service centre across the road... the flat tyre was seen to efficiently and we were on our way again soon.

 

- "Melady" is currently receiving a face-lift from panel-beaters and by next week she will sport brand new look, with brand new signage, botox, nip and tuck!

 

Till next time.

 

URL:www.indusmed.co.za
c: 0741872289

Why an occupational history is important

55 year old male received audiometric test: plh 14.3. The graphic indicated that he suffered from noise-induced hearing loss. He was working for the current employer only a year, so the question then is where he suffered this hearing loss.

 

An occupational health history, indicating exposure to hazards and duration of said exposure is very important, because you must ascertain where the damage occured. Therefore an entry and exit medical examination is vital, as this can indemnify your company from possible claims arising from employees' occupational injuries occurring elsewhere.

 

Some updates:

 

- We were recently commissioned to perform medical tests on the applicants for the 2010 FIFA World Cup official drivers. Medicals included ECG's, cholesterol tests, drug testing, audiometry, lung-function, special vision screening, physical examination and occupational and medical histories. We were working under the direction of an Occupational Medical Practitioner.

- We performed audiometric tests for Paarl Media Group in beautiful Paarl, being surrounded by vineyards and lovely countryside.

 

Our mobile clinic truck, affectionately called "Melady", decided to give us a teabreak at the friendly Dunlop service centre across the road... the flat tyre was seen to efficiently and we were on our way again soon.

 

- "Melady" is currently receiving a face-lift from panel-beaters and by next week she will sport brand new look, with brand new signage, botox, nip and tuck!

 

Till next time.

 

URL:www.indusmed.co.za
c: 0741872289

Recent Height Medicals

Physical disabilities like monocular vision can cause injuries. If it was professional driver, the Road and Traffic Regulation state that such a person must have peripheral vision in both eyes, but in this case, his occupation is of such a nature that there is no legal restriction and in 30 years his healthy eye adapted well and he is able to perform his job safely.

Also, our company's web domain has been registered as http://www.indusmed.net/ . You can still reach us at http://indusmed.blogspot.com/ as well.

Organic fertilizer business

The beauty of mobile occupational health is traveling to different industries, even beautiful farms. Neutrog, a farm outside Philadelphia, produce organic fertilizer. Medical examinations is conducted on the factory farm workers annualy.

The Value of a Height Medical

Balance reflex test: left side, normal function.

Unable to lift left leg, due to hip injury, causing him to lose his balance.

This disability is a serious safety hazard for a person working on heights, such as scaffolding.

If a height medical was not conducted on this worker, serious accidents could have happened, but since he has been declared restricted from working on heights, this has been avoided.

Clubbed Fingers

This is a great example of clubbed fingers. It is often associated with chronic pulmonary illness, cyonitic heart disease, sub-acute bacterial endocarditis or ulcerative colitis.

This patient was a 50-year old female presenting with TB-symptoms, a chest X-ray was done, showing infiltration of the upper lobes. The radiologist suggested TB. The patient was referred to the clinic where the TB doctor re-X-rayed her chest, and found it not to be a case of TB. Sputum tested negative and the patient was referred to medical out-patients at tertiary hospital.

At present she is still presenting with TB-symptoms and was exposed to an infected patient. She is a long time smoker, also suggesting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as a possibility.

This condition was detected during occupational health medical surveillance (baseline medical examination). It is important to know the reason for her condition, to prevent a deterioration in her condition due to possible exposure at her workplace, or in case of a bacterial tuberculosis, spreading to other workers.

Machine Operators tested

On Saturday we had to do some medicals at our resident site, Wilson's Transport, De Beer Street, Sacks Circle, Bellville South, for a client whose machine operators are spread out over the Cape Peninsula and not able to be at one site during the workweek. In such instances we have the client bring the patients to our resident site for tests:

Snellen test...

One of the clerks confirming some information on the patient's medical history.

BMI's were calculated...

Blood-pressures are monitored...

Audiometry testing taking place.

Spirometry (lung function test) is an essential part of medical surveillance. Tests are captured with specialized software and equipment, directly to laptop for quick reference and archiving.

Chest examination for abnormalties in the heart and lungs.

Special vision screening is required by the Road and Traffic regulations for operators

Well-controlled blood sugar levels are essential for fitness to work and should be monitored.

Despite the cold weather, we had lots of fun, practicing our Xhosa, and ensuring a healthy workforce!

Contact Sr. Nel at nellie@ohscare.co.za  for further information on medicals.

Some of the first images of a recent job

Explaining the lung-function test to the patient...

The patient completing the test...

Patient about to start audiometry testing...

Soundproof booth for testing

All we need is 220V power.

The Indusmed mobile unit, containing all the facilities to do lung-function tests, audiometry tests, general medical tests and vision screenings.

Contact Sr. Nel at nellie@danienel.co.za to book your medicals!

Welcome!

Prepare for some interesting tidbits from our experience, research and tips for a safe and productive work environment.

Watch this space!