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OSHA Renews Alliance with the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography
WASHINGTON - The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) renewed its 2004 alliance with the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS) to continue working to protect sonographers' health and safety, particularly by reducing or preventing work-related musculoskeletal injuries.
"We expect that the next two years of this alliance will be as successful as the first two," said Assistant Secretary for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke Jr. "Sonographers and other healthcare employees are benefiting from this relationship and we look forward to our continued association with an organization that is so committed to ensuring that workplace safety is a priority."
"The OSHA and SDMS alliance has made a real difference in getting the 'prevention message' out to sonographers on how to reduce one's risk of incurring a work-related musculoskeletal injury," said Donald F. Haydon, CAE, chief executive officer, SDMS. "The alliance has helped promote a nationwide awareness of the importance of addressing ergonomic issues to help reduce the number and severity of injuries among the country's sonographers."
Through the alliance, OSHA and SDMS developed a sonography module for OSHA's Hospital eTool and SDMS has added information on the Alliance Program and the OSHA and SDMS alliance to several SDMS ergonomic presentations. Joan Baker, Founder, SDMS, worked with the Joint Commission on Accreditation for Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and Joint Commission Resources (JCR), another Alliance Program participant, to develop an article, "Preventing Occupational Injury Among Diagnostic Medical Sonographers."
The article was published in the March 2006 edition of JCR's monthly newsletter, Environment of Care and she gave a presentation, "Ergonomic Hazards in Ultrasonography," that included ergonomic hazards associated with the sonography profession, SDMS' best practices and information on the OSHA and SDMS alliance at the May 25, 2006 OSHA Journal Club.
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