On the heels of last year’s H1N1 scare, manufacturers are taking a closer look at how to avoid wide-spread workplace absenteeism and productivity declines if faced with another flu pandemic.

According to a recent survey conducted by Kimberly-Clark Professional, 87 percent of manufacturing industry professionals polled said they are concerned about declines in productivity at their workplace due to absenteeism or presenteeism related to a flu pandemic.

“Small and large industrial companies alike are challenged to maintain high output even when workers are healthy and productive,” says Marianne Santangelo, Senior Customer Marketing Manager, Kimberly-Clark Professional. “This can be difficult when large numbers of workers are out with colds or the flu. The need to keep workers productive is one of the reasons Kimberly-Clark Professional has launched the Healthy Workplace Project, to help employees in a variety of workplaces understand, eliminate and prevent the spread of cold and flu germs.”

In fact, 46 percent of those polled in the survey said that their organization has been impacted in the last 18 months by employee absenteeism or productivity declines related to flu outbreaks or other contagious illnesses.

Preventing the Spread of Illness
While concerned, manufacturing companies appear to be prepared for this year’s cold and flu season. Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of the industrial workers polled noted that their company or facility has a program or strategy in place to try to limit the transfer of germs in the workplace. The vast majority (97 percent) pointed to hand hygiene education as the primary tactic employed, while about 78 percent said employees are prompted to go home or stay home if sick.

Not leaving it up to chance, almost 43 percent of those polled said that supervisors are encouraged to recommend that sick employees go or

The first high-resolution X-ray computed tomography (CT) symposium hosted by the phoenix|x-ray product line of GE’s Inspection Technologies business has proved an eminent success, attracting more than 120 delegates from 20 countries. With papers presented by 34 speakers and with a further 14 poster presentations, the symposium took place in Dresden, Germany, from 31 August to 2 September.

Technical integrity and asset assurance expert iicorr has announced new contracts worth almost £1 million. The majority of the work has been secured by the firm’s specialist Inspection & Corrosion Services team. The contracts have been placed by oil and gas operators Fairfield Energy and OMV, plus leading energy industry services companies Oceaneering and Schlumberger.

AGR Field Operations has announced the latest version of the TD-Scan advanced ultrasonic software. Version 18.01 was released at the beginning of September 2010 and is bursting with new features which strengthen the existing well-known package.

As the ability to accurately size and monitor discontinuities in welds is of utmost importance for various industries, including oil and gas, renewable energy and construction, companies require certification of their inspectors to be able to perform a professional and reliable welding inspection.

Nikon Metrology has announced that Chesapeake Testing has ordered a combined 225-450 kV microfocus X-ray and computer tomography (CT) system.

BINDT has launched its video – ‘The Unseen World of NDT’, now available on DVD, YouTube and on the BINDT website.

It is probably not commonly known that before Steve Lavender came into NDT he was working on one of the most innovative reclamation schemes of the day.

TWI, together with its project partners, has recently completed an EC collaboration funded FP6 project called FlexiRiserTest (COOP-CT-2006-032680). The work undertaken in this 2.5 year project has resulted in the development of a new prototype inspection system for the inspection of flexible risers.

Jaguar Land Rover engineers are looking to a future in which virtual reality supports all stages of new vehicle development, from initial design through engineering and testing to final market launch. This includes the introduction of a unique ‘virtual garage’.