Drowsy Driving Collisions

Statistic
“NHTSA estimates that approximately 100,000 crashes each year are caused primarily by driver drowsiness or fatigue. In 1998, drowsiness and fatigue contributed to 1,400 crash-related fatalities.” – US Dept. of Transportation


Introduction
Many studies have been done that show “fatigue” or driving while drowsy can play a major role in accidents.

Normal “tiredness” can be caused by three categories of stress factors:

1) physical environment – exposure to extreme temperatures and even vibration or noise
2) physical condition - poor or inadequate sleep, medications and alcohol, or medical conditions that interfere with sleep such as sleep apnea
3) prolonged periods of emotional upset (anger, fear, frustration, etc.)

Employees who drive as part of their job are exposed to many of these factors every day.

Avoiding “Fatigue”
Although getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis is best and seems obvious, there are many things that keep us from ideal sleep patterns. Here are some tips that should help:

1. Proper Nutrition - Do your best to eat a well-balanced diet that includes a reasonable balance of the major food groups.
2. Adjust Your Sleep Environment - Check for noise, poor ventilation, high or low temperatures, and bedding firmness, etc.
3. Maintain Fitness - plan your exercise program to build your stamina. Trainers at your fitness center should be able to help you adjust your program.
4. Reduce Any Excess Weight – Any excess pounds can contribute to poor sleep quality or lack of sleep.
5. Adjust Your Sleep Pattern - Experiment by sleeping more or less, going to bed earlier or later, to discover proper sleep time.
6. Time Management and Relaxation – Planning your days and nights to avoid stress and rushing can be helpful.
7. Reduce Caffeine. Caffeine is a drug that may overstimulate the body and mind, interfering with sleep and increasing anxiety.
8. Quit Smoking and Avoid Alcohol – Both nicotine and alcohol can interfere with sleep, especially when consumed near bedtime.

Warning Signs
Most people cannot tell when they are falling asleep while driving. Recognizing the warning signs that sleepiness is overcoming you include:

• You find yourself drifting from your lane or tailgating
• You miss signs or drive past your exit
• You have trouble keeping your eyes open and focused
• You yawn frequently or rub your eyes repeatedly
• You can’t keep your head up
• You daydream or have wandering, disconnected thoughts
• You drift off the road and hit the rumble strips

If you recognize any of these symptoms, you could be in danger of falling asleep.

Coping with “Drowsiness”
If you must drive despite your best efforts to avoid drowsiness – what options do you have? Several research organizations have published tips on dealing with fatigue:

• www.sleepfoundation.org
• www.nhtsa.dot.gov
• www.aaafoundation.org

Here’s their advice:

1. Sleep – even a short nap can help (followed by exercise to wake up). Make sure you use a secure rest area – not the side of the road where another vehicle might collide with you.
2. Exercise – get out of the vehicle and walk, stretch and move your body to wake up. Take driving breaks to stretch your legs and get your blood moving, heart pumping, etc.
3. Caffeine – As a short-term fix, caffeine can help to wake you up, but don’t rely on it to get you through a long drive – its effects usually wear out after the first couple of cups of coffee.
4. Companions - When possible, travel with a companion who will stay awake with you to monitor your driving and talk to you.
5. Timing - Try to avoid “sleepy” times of the day – after dark and especially after midnight are peak times for your body to decide to sleep – and when most “drowsy driving” crashes occur.


Check out the web sites mentioned above for even more tips and helpful information. Have a good, safe night!

Drowsy Driving Is Dangerous!
• Prepare for night driving by getting enough sleep or by improving the quality and duration of your sleep patterns
• Recognize the warning signs of Drowsy Driving – nodding off, excessive yawning, etc.
• When you must drive, take naps, exercise and for short term use – some caffeine may help.


This information provided by B&B Ice, Inc, "The Clear Choice!" Please visit our website www.bnbice.com or call us at 409-727-5714. We only have Ice & Water for you!

Useful Water Facts

Here are the facts about the water crisis. Every day, thousands of people die from lack of access to clean water. The safe water issue is intimately linked to hygiene education and proper sanitation, which is why we take an integrated approach to bringing safe water to the world’s poor. This page is broken into the following sections:

1. Water
2. Sanitation
3. Impacts on Children
4. Impacts on Women
5. Impacts on Productivity
6. What Can You Do?
7. Water in the News
8. Lesson Plans
9. Resource Links

Water
• 3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease. (11)
• 43% of water-related deaths are due to diarrhea. (11)
• 84% of water-related deaths are in children ages 0 – 14. (11)
• 98% of water-related deaths occur in the developing world. (11)
• 884 million people, lack access to safe water supplies, approximately one in eight people. (5)
• The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns. (1)
• At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease. (1)
• Less than 1% of the world’s fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use. (12)
• An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the typical person living in a developing country slum uses in a whole day. (1)
• About a third of people without access to an improved water source live on less than $1 a day. More than two thirds of people without an improved water source live on less than $2 a day. (1)
• Poor people living in the slums often pay 5-10 times more per liter of water than wealthy people living in the same city. (1)
• Without food a person can live for weeks, but without water you can expect to live only a few days. (4)
• The daily requirement for sanitation, bathing, and cooking needs, as well as for assuring survival, is about 13.2 gallons per person. (3)
• Over 50 percent of all water projects fail and less than five percent of projects are visited, and far less than one percent have any longer-term monitoring. (10)
Sanitation
• Only 62% of the world’s population has access to improved sanitation – defined as a sanitation facility that ensures hygienic separation of human excreta from human contact. (5)
• 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation, including 1.2 billion people who have no facilities at all. (5)
• The majority of the illness in the world is caused by fecal matter.(9)
• Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection. (9)
• At any one time, more than half of the poor in the developing world are ill from causes related to hygiene, sanitation and water supply. (9)
• 88% of cases of diarrhea worldwide are attributable to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient hygiene. (9)
• Of the 60 million people added to the world’s towns and cities every year, most occupy impoverished slums and shanty-towns with no sanitation facilities. (8)
• It is estimated that improved sanitation facilities could reduce diarrhea-related deaths in young children by more than one-third. If hygiene promotion is added, such as teaching proper hand washing, deaths could be reduced by two thirds. It would also help accelerate economic and social development in countries where sanitation is a major cause of lost work and school days because of illness. (6)

To learn more about the advantages and benefits of B&B's daily Ice-Water Delivery Service, please call today: 409-727-5714 or 337-433-7806 or visit us at www.bnbice.com.

OUTSIDE WORKERS: REDUCTION OF HEAT RELATED ILLNESS

GENERAL

These procedures provide the minimal steps applicable to most outdoor work situations and essential to reducing the incidence of heat related illnesses. in working environments with a higher risk for heat illnesses (e.g., during a heat wave, or with severe working or environmental conditions), it is everyone's duty to exercise even greater caution and additional protective measures beyond what is listed in this document, as needed to protect employees. Additional protective measures include:

1. Increased employer vigilance for frequent water consumption and symptoms of heat illness for non- acclimatized employees or during the first 2 weeks on job, and for all employees during heat waves or prolonged high heat stress conditions.

2. Graduated work schedule and greater opportunities for cooled work breaks for first 2 weeks on job.

Replenishment Procedures

1. The Supervisor should ensure at least 2 quarts per employee at the start of the shift. Employees will replenish as needed by way of clean portable water at jobsites, service stations or other means.

2. The Supervisor should monitor water containers every 30 minutes and encourage employees to report to low water levels, warm or dirty water.

3. The Supervisor should remind employees to drink water prior to starting their shift and give reminders throughout the shift to drink water.

4. The Supervisor should hold meetings in the morning to remind workers about the importance of frequent water consumption.

5. Water containers should be placed close to or, where accessible in the immediate work area.

6. The Supervisor should retrain employees during a heat wave or if it is observed that employees are not drinking enough water.

ACCESS TO SHADE

Access to rest and shade are important preventive steps to minimize the risk of heat related illness.

1. Employees shiouldl have access to the office or construction trailer, or other building with air conditioning.

2. Vehicles with air conditioning are also acceptable for the purpose of providing shade.

ACCESS TO A PREVENTATIVE RECOVERY PERIOD

Every morning there should be a short meeting to remind workers about the importance of rest breaks and the location of shade.

PROCEDURES FOR RESPONDING TO SYMPTOMS OF POSSIBLE HEAT ILLNESS

Each employee should be informed that emergency medical services will be provided hould they become necessary. Procedures for contacting emergency medical services should be posted at the job site. If necessary employees should be transported to a point where they can be reached by an emergency medical service provider. Procedures should be posted at the job site. Clear and precise directions to the work site should be provided as needed to responders. Directions should be posted at the job site.

TRAINING

Training is critical to know how to respond to possible heat related illness and to assist with obtaining emergency assistance without delay. All employees should receive heat illness prevention training prior to working outdoors, particularly newly hired employees.

Supervisors should be trained prior to being assigned to supervise outdoor workers. On hot days, and during a heat wave, supervisors should hold short meetings to review this important information with workers.

For more about heat related illness visit our website or call 409-727-5714 for a safety presentation. Continue to follow us on facebook and twitter. We are "The Clear Choice!" B&B Ice & Water

B&B Ice & Water: "Our Story"

Clearly, the Bentons are doing something right. Forty years and three generations of Paul Roman Bentons have taken a dairy delivery business, founded on Procter Street in Port Arthur in 1969, and grown B&B Ice and Water, the largest independent distributor of Reddy Ice in the nation, and more recently, a water provider.

Roman, the third Paul Roman, son of “Paul” Roman, Jr., and father of Paul Roman, IV, age 5, met at the sales and marketing offices of the multi-facility operation at 5649 Gulfway Drive in Groves, dressed in his work clothes – shorts and pullover – to methodically talk about what’s most important at B&B – safety.

Before a question could be asked about the history of the company, Roman launched into the safety procedures B&B follows to ensure workers at industrial sites not only drink enough water but bacteria free water that is odorless and tasteless.

Providing water to industrial sites is a fairly new service for B&B and one might say Roman is excited about it. Each Paul Roman seems to have expanded the family owned and operated business to some extent appreciating year-after-year growth and the venture into water service is Roman’s project.

Reluctantly, Roman offers some information about the founding of his family’s business only with the promise that safety can also be woven in throughout the story.

First there was Paul Roman Benton who bought Townsend Dairy and began delivering products to mid-county residents. His son, “Paul” Roman Benton, Jr., joined forces with his dad, and they began manufacturing bagged ice in the 70s. By the time Paul, who was a state football player for Port Neches Groves High School, was a senior in high school, he was essentially running B&B. For a decade or so the company delivered both dairy and ice to schools, residents and local businesses “I think by the early 80s the dairy business got too competitive but the ice business continued to grow at a nice rate,” said Roman. “In 1985 Dad opened up a Reddy Ice distributorship in Florida, and we moved there. I was 8.”

It was at that time in the 80s that B&B in Mid-County stopped manufacturing ice and began distributing it for Reddy Ice. The company’s founder, Paul Roman, Sr., continued operating the Mid-County distributorship while Paul Roman, Jr. established the Tampa, Florida location where he still resides and manages that business.

Paul Roman, III, graduated from high school in Florida, attended classes at Florida State University and then went to work for Mutual of Omaha selling insurance. “Off and on I always thought about working in the family business,” said Roman. “Then when I went a couple of weeks without getting a commission check, I knew I wanted to go that route.”

Roman came on board with B&B in 1998. His grandfather had passed away two years previously and his father was managing both the Southeast Texas and Tampa businesses from Florida. The ice distributorship in the area had steadily expanded to cover Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana, east of Lake Charles to Kirbyville and Crystal Beach.

Satisfied that he has shared the history of the company, Roman again brings up the topic on the forefront of his mind – safety. “Throughout the history of our company it’s been our goal to try and bundle safety, convenience and cost savings,” says Roman. “That’s why on the two biggest projects in this area - Total and Motiva – every sip of water was from us.” Water? Thought B&B was in the ice business? Similarly to how the previous generation expanded services to include ice, Roman’s generation has remained flexible and vigilant in the marketplace realizing a need for water.

“In business, you’re only one event away from selling everything you have and one event away from someone doing it better,” said Roman. “There was an event in Arizona in 2002 that changed our business forever and put us in the water business.” That year there was an outbreak of a Norwalk-like virus at the Thunderbirds Golf Club in Phoenix, Ariz. A total of 84 cases were connected to water jugs used at the course, resulting in the death of one teenage golfer. As a result more strident OSHA regulations were implemented requiring sanitization of water coolers in public locations like golf courses as well as businesses. B&B Ice, under Roman’s leadership, immediately saw the need to become B&B Ice and Water. Already established delivering ice to restaurants, grocery and convenience stores and petrochemical plants, B&B merely expanded its offering to include safe drinking water in spigot containers.

Now finally, Roman is allowed to talk about what he has wanted to talk about the entire interview. How B&B Ice and Water ensures safe drinking water to its customers including Valero, Chevron Philips, Kellogg Brown and Root, EnGlobal, Mason Construction, to name a few. “We have the whole process on our website,” said Roman. “We have an entire assembly line to wash and sterilize the water coolers every day, and we use a filtration system to make sure that the water is bacteria free.”

Roman walks through the day-to-day process. Around 4:30 a.m. crews meet to load water and ice for delivery. Water, of bottled water quality, and ice is put in yellow and red Igloo coolers and loaded on trailers. All deliveries are completed between 8:30 and 9 a.m. Crews return with coolers from the previous day and prepare for the next day’s water and ice delivery. They run the water cans through a Jackson 66-inch conveyor washer with 180 degree sanitizing rinse certified by the NSF guaranteed to kill bacteria. They then process water through a double filter to ensure it is bacteria free using a commercial 24- inch carbon filter for taste and a high intensity ultraviolet water purifier to kill bacteria.

Odorless and tasteless water is nearly as critical as bacteria-free water because workers won’t drink foul water, which can lead to another health issue – heat illnesses. “Because of our carbon filters no matter what type of fluctuations from the City, it doesn’t matter, we get a consistent taste-free water,” said Roman. “It could be technically bacteria-free but if the water has a bad taste, guys won’t drink it and it can become a serious health concern.”

According to OSHA every year thousands of workers become sick from exposure to heat and some die. Therefore, B&B Ice and Water offers seven-day a week service with multiple cooler sizes and flexible ordering. The have no minimum order and don’t require long-term contracts. The company’s goal is simply to ensure sufficient coolers on site to keep workers hydrated.

Another health concern occurs when businesses try to provide water coolers independently. B&B’s Sales and Marketing Manager Eric Wright says they’ve seen all kinds of company efforts to provide employees with water but most are either unsafe or expensive or both. “We’ve seen buckets of water just sitting out in the open,” said Wright. “Some provide bottled water but that gets expensive and is not great for the environment. We not only remove the liability but offer a safer more economical alternative.”

B&B Ice and Water implements the same common-sense services to their water services as they have in their ice distribution for the past 40 years, daily timely delivery and cooler/freezer maintenance. Water services are offered at one flat rate per every cooler. In addition B&B owns, maintains and stores the coolers, as well as delivers and lifts the 80-pound water jugs; they have water tested on a regular basis by a third party.

Just as the previous generation of Bentons saw the ice business exceed the dairy business a few decades ago, this generation of Bentons has watched the water business surpass the ice business. “We’ve done nothing but grow year after year,” said Roman. “My first year here – 13 or 14 years ago - $750,000 in annual sales; this year sales are $6 million.”

What will the next generation of Paul Roman’s appreciate? Steam? Dry ice? The current regime says “fuel.” “We have contracts now with Sprint and Verizon to provide generator fuel for diesel generators,” said Roman. “We serve as an emergency response company during hurricanes, ice storms, blizzards, tornadoes, basically using our distribution system and being in the right place at the right time.”

The emergency response operation is primarily a venture of the Florida branch of B&B. Roman is content to grow the ice and water business right here in Southeast Texas. Benton success is as clear as B&B’s ice and water; Roman thinks the future is transparent, too. “Our water business is just beginning to catch on,” said Roman. “The future of B&B is expanding the water business and making sure it’s accepted widely.”

Contact B&B Ice and Water at 409-727-5714 or visit them on the web at www.bnbice.com. Be sure and note the tab on “safety.”

The Iceman Cometh....Part Four

Continued…..

The coolers that come off the line are sealed with Ultimate Safety seal tape so tampering can be detected prior to consumption. The spigots on the coolers are sealed with a shrink-wrap cover for additional protection.

In addition to clean, cool water, B&B provides multiple coolers that contain water or Gatorade. For those who want the electrolytes in Gatorade without the sugar, B&B also provides sugar-free water with electrolytes.

Benton is third generation operator in this family business, which is descended from the old Townsend Dairy on Proctor Street in Port Arthur. He has built this specialty water business over the past decade – one customer at a time.

To learn more about the advantages and benefits of B&B's daily Ice-Water delivery service, please call today: 409-727-5714 or 337-433-7806.

The Iceman Cometh....Part Three

Continued…..

Sanitary water provision is important, and not just because OSHA regulations require it. Contaminated water and sanitary conditions are both causes of the infection with E. Coli, Hepatitis A, Salmonella and Typhoid Fever.

The danger is illustrated by an outbreak of a Norwalk like virus at the Thunderbirds Golf Club in Phoenix, Ariz., in 2002. A total of 84 cases were connected to water jugs used at the course, resulting in the death of one teenage golfer.

B&B Ice Owner Roman Benton stated “Our message to plant operators is that we will take the ice and water business off your hands. We tighten the process to reduce your liability.”

To be continued in next BLOG……

The Iceman Cometh....Part Two

Continued…..

Benton’s operation is a sophisticated one, with coolers moving down an assembly line where they are completely sanitized before moving on to be filled with ice and water. The water is treated with a carbon filtration process using ultraviolet light.

The ice is delivered daily from Reddy Ice, a member of the International Packaged Ice Association and largest producer and distributor of packaged ice in the United States. B&B in turn is the largest Reddy Ice distributor in the nation and serves retail clients in Florida, Texas and Louisiana.

Its operation supplying oil refineries and petrochemical plants in Southeast Texas is another example of the vast network of companies that dominate the economy of the region and serves as a clear reminder of the economic benefits that flow from their operations.

To be continued in next BLOG……