According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC, unintentional carbon monoxide (CO), poisoning is responsible for hundreds of deaths each year. This is especially important to remember for small business owners who have employees on site.

A new report from Safewise looks at the safest and most dangerous states when it comes to CO poisoning with the goal of identifying the risks and finding solutions. The report contains some important facts you will need to keep your employees safe.

Being able to identify and mitigate the causes of CO poisoning is especially important because this is an odorless and colorless gas with deadly consequences. Often times people are only aware of CO poisoning because of the symptoms, which also highlight the critical importance of knowing what the symptoms are.

As the temperature dips and small businesses across the country start firing up their heaters, this is a good time to make sure they are in perfect working condition.

Rebecca Edwards, who wrote the report for Safewise, emphasized the need to be more aware of CO poisoning.

Edwards goes on to say, “This is one of the most preventable tragedies there is. Regardless of your state’s track record for CO poisoning incidents, there is plenty you can do to minimize (if not eliminate) your chances of falling victim to this covert killer. Know the signs and symptoms, and follow good practices to keep you and yours out of harm’s way. And, for goodness’ sake, run out and get a CO detector if you don’t already have one.”

SafeWise used CDC data from 1999 to 2016 for both accidental carbon monoxide poisoning and accidental poisoning from vapors and gases. The rankings were based on state laws that require residential CO detectors and local CO poisoning tracking programs.

The researchers were able to determine which states had the lowest and highest CO poisoning-related deaths per 1,000 people. Because of unreliable data, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Washington DC were not included in the rankings.

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Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Statistics: State Rankings

According to the report, death from CO poisoning was high in states with a combination of high altitude and northern latitude. The top five states had a mean elevation of 1,900 feet or higher.

Wyoming was first with 0.401 deaths per 100,000 followed by Alaska at 0.37, Montana at 0.356, North Dakota at 0.321, and Nebraska at 0.309.

The states with fewest deaths were led by California at 0.058 per 100,000. This was followed by Massachusetts with 0.058, Virginia at 0.083, New Jersey at 0.085, and New York rounding the top five with 0.096.

Most Common Causes of CO Poisoning

In the US, the most common causes of CO poisoning come from engine driven tools at 42%. Heating systems were next with 34% followed by consumer products at 19% and other multiple products at seven percent.

Additional CO poisoning stats:

• There is an average of 439 deaths per year from accidental, non-fire-related CO poisoning.
• Poison control centers get more than 680 calls per year about CO poisoning on average.
• Fire departments responded to an average of 72,000 CO poisoning incidents each year between 2006 and 2010.
• No one is immune to the dangers of CO poisoning.

Signs and Symptoms

Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless. If you don’t have a detector in place, the only way to know might be recognizing the signs and symptoms of CO poisoning.

They are:

• Dizziness
• Headache
• Weakness
• Upset stomach
• Confusion
• Chest pain
• Vomiting
• Loss of consciousness

If you and any of your co-workers in your place of business or family members in your home start experiencing these symptoms, quickly get outside to get some fresh air and call 911 or emergency medical help.

Preventing CO Poisoning

According to Safewise, the best way to prevent accidental CO poisoning is by installing a CO detector in every level of your home or place of business.

A CO detector works just like a smoke alarm. When it senses CO, it will sound an alarm. And just like a smoke alarm make sure it is powered properly. This means checking the batteries every year like you would your smoke detector.

Safewise also recommends the following measures to lower your risks of CO poisoning:

• Give heating systems an annual check-up from a certified technician.
• Hire a chimney sweep to inspect and clean your chimney once a year.
• Prohibit use of portable, flameless heaters inside your house.
• Only buy gas appliances that come with a seal from a national testing agency (like Underwriters Laboratories).
• Vent gas appliances properly.
• Don’t use your gas stove or oven to heat your home.
• Never use portable gas appliances (like a camp stove) inside the house.
• Remember that generators are outdoors-only. Keep them outside and at least twenty feet away from all windows, doors, and vents (that includes the garage!).
• Don’t run your vehicle inside an attached garage—even if the door is open. And always open the door of a detached garage before running your car.

You can read the full report on Safewise here, and the CDC has an FAQ page about CO poisoning here.

Image: Safewise

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Shipping costs go up every year and for small businesses it means losing a bigger chunk from their bottom line. The Pitney Bowes SendPro C200 is a comprehensive shipping and mailing solution which will automate the shipping process and save you money while doing it.

This is a fully integrated all-in-one solution designed to simplify shipping and mailing from a single station. There is no more guess work in your small business. You are ready to process your mail and packages for shipping with SendPro C200.

As the company says, you will be able to identify, locate, communicate, ship and pay enabling the full commerce continuum of today’s physical and digital retail ecosystem.

Small businesses will have access to the latest features that were only available to large enterprises – at a reasonable price.

The Pitney Bowes SendPro C200 makes small business workflow more efficient while lowering shipping costs.  The device can be rented starting at $36.99 per month.

Pitney Bowes SendPro C200

As an all-in-one unit, the Pitney Bowes SendPro C200 is controlled with a large color touch screen connected to Pitney Bowes Commerce Cloud. This allows you to get the latest information on all shipping costs across carriers, so you can find savings with USPS, UPS or FedEx depending on the shipping service you choose.

With the SendPro C200, you are always up to date with shipping rates.

When you are ready to ship a package, you can weigh it on the integrated scale, select your carrier, compare delivery service and print a shipping label.

Before you send the package, you can verify the address across all three carriers to make sure you are shipping the item to a legitimate location. And once it is shipped, you can track it with secure access from your computer or mobile app so you can keep your customers informed until they get their package.

If you are sending letters or flats, the SendPro C200 can print postage and seal envelopes in one step processing at up to 40 envelopes per minute.

As part of the Pitney Bowes system, you will be able to get discounts with USPS retail rates and negotiated discounts. And as a certified provider of UPS, Pitney Bowes can help you with UPS savings on next day air, ground and residential.

The fact that the SendPro C200 lets you choose between carriers has become even more important with the announcement of a planned rate increase by the USPS beginning Jan. 27, 2019.

If approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, the change would raise the price of a First Class Mail Forever Stamps from 50 to 55 cents while First-Class metered letters would rise in cost from 47 cents to 50 cents — still a 5 cent savings over stamps.

Meanwhile, additional ounces for First-Class letters will decrease from 21 cents to 15 cents. However, product prices for mail services are expected to see a 2.5 percent hike while Priority Mail increases by 5.9 percent and Priority Mail Express by 3.9 percent.

With Pitney Bowes’ new product, clients can save money despite the rate changes by using it to choose the least expensive option amongst a variety of carriers.

Growth of Shipping

According to the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index, the total number of shipped parcels globally grew by 17% in 2017 to 74.4 billion. In the US, it was up by 8% to 11.9 billion.

This growth is in great part being driven by ecommerce, which has made shipping an integral part of small business operations, and one that gets more expensive every year. Mailing and shipping costs therefore are becoming a growing concern.

In an exclusive interview with Small Business Trends, Chris Giles, Vice President of Global Product Management, at Pitney Bowes, gave our small business audience some of the ways they can save on shipping earlier this year.

The three ways a small business can do to save on shipping are by being accurate when calculating rates, always seeking out discounts, and making the right selection of carrier.

Weigh your mail with a scale so you don’t overpay on shipping packages. The SendPro C200 has a built-in scale and is digitally connected so all rates are always up to date.

Carrier discounts for volume are often lower than you might think. Pitney Bowes has pre-negotiated a 3 cents postage discount with the USPS. When you are shipping through an authorized vendor or are shipping a volume of mail, you can get discounts that are often up to 39% off the retail rate.

With SendPro C200 you can switch between carriers to get the best price for the type of package, destination and delivery time you need. The same package going to Maine will cost three different amounts depending on whether you select USPS, UPS or FedEx — and USPS isn’t always the cheapest option. Check the rates to make sure you are getting the best one.

Bottom line: When it comes to saving money on shipping, the Pitney Bowes SendPro C200 does it all.

Photo: Pitney Bowes

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A new survey from Voxbone reveals the phone is still the preferred technology for staying in touch for remote workers. This might be somewhat surprising considering the popularity of text and IM, but a phone call is hard to beat to quickly get your point across; especially with complex subject matters.

The Remote Worker Survey is the first edition of Voxobone’s look into how the growing number of this workforce keeps in touch. As a company specializing in business communications, understanding the way companies communicate with their remote workforce is one of the reasons for this survey.

For small businesses whose workforce is also increasingly made up of freelancers working remotely, it is just as important to find out the most efficient communication technology. This includes not overlooking the old and reliable phone.

As Ash Hekmat, who wrote the blog on the survey data, said “It’s easy to overlook the humble phone line when you’re thinking about the technologies that help your business achieve success. But doing so is a big mistake.”

Voxbone carried out the survey with the participation of 500 people across the US to determine how the remote worker landscape looks like in 2018.

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Communicate With Remote Workers

Effective communication has always been critically important in business, but for people working remotely, it is especially important.

The survey says 40% of Americans work with remote employees. And without a reliable form of communication, it means missing opportunities for new jobs and even losing existing jobs.

As to their preferred mode of communication, the phone came in the top position with 29% of the respondents. This was followed by text at 13%, IM at 10%, and video at 7%.

When it is time for a conference call, they said they prefer using a phone because of the reliability it provides. For 60% of them, the quality of the service they use is average or worse when conducting a video conference.

Some of the issues they face are poor sound quality, time lag or pixelation, dropped connections, and lack of international dial-ins. The challenges highlight the need to more effectively address this growing workforce.

Addressing the Increasing Number of Americans Working Remotely

The 7th Annual State of Independence (PDF) report from MBO Partners, which provides technology for independent workers, says there are 41 million Americans who now work independently.

The report says these are adults of all ages, skill, and income levels working across a wide range of industries as consultants, freelancers, and contractors on a temporary or on-call basis. And they are working to build businesses, develop their careers, pursue passions and/or to supplement their incomes.

For small business in the communications, finance, insurance, and technology segment, this workforce provides new opportunities. Addressing the specific needs of remote workers is one way your company can differentiate itself.

Image: Voxbone

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