[Health/Safety] Katrina workers

1. If you're going, get a tetanus booster if you do not know you've had one in the past 10 years. Me, I'd get one anyway. Getting a Hepatitis A vaccination is also a good idea if you've not had one. Federal employees can contact their local Federal Occupational Health Clinic who may (no guarantees, folks) be able to provide. County public health agencies may also have vaccine, but your best bet is a Travel Medicine clinic.

2. WISER is a free program for palmtops and Windows PCs which can help you identify Bad Stuff. You know the Rule of Thumb for toxic material, right?

1. If you're downwind, move and get upwind.
2. Hold out your arm, fully extended.
3. Raise your thumb.
4. If your thumb does not fully cover the toxic material, you're too close.

3. The Specialized Information Services Division of the National Library of Medicine has compiled an index of links to potentially useful information for emergency response teams who are dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The posted information includes Environmental Cleanup and Recovery, Drinking Water, Food Safety, Farming and Agriculture plus other items of merit.


4. And, if you have idle time and a web connection, Plucker (open source freeware) lets you collect HTML pages from a website and turn them into something a PDA can read when stored in memory or on memory chip. Could be handy if your team has to tote around other health & safety info.