Health Precaution during Monsoon Season

First showers of monsoon are heartily welcomed by everyone after

experiencing the scorching heat of the summer. However, the rains
bring along with them a multitude of health problems. Our body
whose immunity has already been reduced due to the dehydration
during the summer season becomes more susceptible to the diseases
normally associated with this season. The diseases normally
associated with this season are malaria, dengue, jaundice,
gastrointestinal infections like typhoid and cholera, and also the
viral infections like the cold and the cough. So it is very important to
boost our immunity and take proper precautions against these
diseases during the rainy season.
Follow the following guidelines to maintain health and safety
during the rainy season and enjoy this beautiful season to the
fullest:
 Monsoon diseases are mostly water-borne. Therefore our first
concern should be drinking pure, boiled and filtered water. Avoid
drinks and ice that is not made from the properly purified and
filtered water.
 Do not allow the kids to play in stagnant water.
 Do not enter air-conditioned room with wet hair and damp clothes.
 Dry your feet and hand with soft dry cloth whenever they are wet
and keep the surroundings dry and clean.
 Food poisoning during the rainy season is very common. Eat only
homemade and well-cooked food. Avoid food from the vendors.
 Throw out the food having strange odor or mold. Eat raw vegetables
and fruits only when properly washed and freshly peeled. Food
should not be kept open as it attracts insects and bugs.
 Take a balanced and protein rich diet. Avoid seafood and all dairy
products until they have been properly pasteurized.
 Avoid fruits and vegetables that have been pre-cut or peeled and
kept in open. Always remember that raw chopped vegetables and
fruits get spoilt fast.
 Staying Safe during the Rainy
Season (Monsoon)

The rainy season is upon us once again. While we appreciate the rain
and what it can do for the India, precautions should be taken to
ensure safety for you and you co-workers. Below, you will find
safety tips on Staying Safe during the Rainy Season:

Training & Development

Slips & Falls
 Wear appropriate footwear with solid support and slip
resistant soles.
 Don’t be in a hurry; avoid slipping on wet sidewalks or
walkways by taking slow, short steps.
 Avoid walking through puddles no matter how shallow they
appear.
 Avoid using wet stairs; use the elevator during the rainy
season.
 If you do use the stairs, never walk the stairs with your hands
in your pockets, and always use the handrails.
 Be alert to water that may be tracked in around doorways; be a
leader in safety by cleaning up wet hazards.
 Make sure that there are entry matt’s in the doorways so
workers can dry their feet before entering.
While Driving
 Wear appropriate footwear with solid support and slip resistant soles.
 Give yourself more time for heavy traffic due to rain.
 Obey the speed limit and drive slower in the rain; the roads are very
slick when wet!
 Maintain an extra distance between you and the vehicle in front of
you.
 Make sure that the windshield wipers are in proper working order;
change the wiper blades before the rainy season arrives.
 Make sure that the defroster is in proper working order; keep the
dash clear so as to not block the defroster.
 Turn on your headlights while driving during rainy weather.
 Do not drive around road barricades; they are there for your safety,
the road or bridge may be washed out.
 Avoid driving into flooded areas; if your vehicle stalls in rapidly
rising floodwaters, abandon it immediately and climb to higher
ground.
 Driving Tips for Monsoon
The monsoon has arrived but along with it comes many diseases and
somewhere down the line, the doctors would be a happy lot. It would be
more like a ration shop line outside a doctors clinic. Come to think of it,
the summer vacations are yet to end and before hand, kids going to
school would have a nice time skipping their school periods and stuff.
However did you ever wonder that your car, which has served you
faithfully all these years may need some looking into? Well, if you didn’t,
then now is the right time for it. The roads become all the more full of
slush and all those potholes would be choked with water and grime. Here
are some Indian drives tips on what all preventive measures you need to
take care of before your car goes into an epileptic shock.
First come the wipers of the car. It is the most neglected part of a car
and people tend to think that it would work fine in any given season.
However, the wipers need their fair share of attention in the monsoon.
Just after every drive, cleaning the wipers would be of great help. Many
a times the preluded summer causes some twigs or branches to be
caught in the wiper blade section. This would cause the wipers to work
with less efficiency to their performance. The blades of the wiper
shouldn’t have cuts in them. If they do have it, then it would be advised
to get them replaced at the earliest. If not done, they may hamper your
vision in torrential rains by leaving swirl marks. Also carry stacks of
newspaper with you. Cleaning a glass with newspapers ensures that no
swirl marks are left. If you are of the paper conservationist types, then
opt for tobacco powder. Rubbing tobacco on the windscreen doesn’t
allow water droplets to form a patch and hence optimum visibility is
maintained. Also another important point is to keep the washer fluid
topped up always. It’s a great life saver equipment in the monsoons.
If you are the sort of careless drivers who ding their cars more often
and care less about getting it repaired, then now is the right time to
get it repaired. Scratches in the surface paint and stuff means that an
ideal situation for rust to creep in. Do get this treated before your car
becomes a rust scapegoat. Even though its raining, do ensure that you
clean your car once in a week since the accumulated dust and grime
would promote corrosion. Also keep the car covered with its parking
cover and also make sure that it is tied down. It is often noticed that
during rainy season, heavy winds tiptoe their way into the equation.
The last thing you would want to see is your car cover blown away in
the gale and your car being exposed to the elements. The tail pipe (s)
of the car need to be treated to anti rust treatment since they are one
of the first parts which would be caught in this crossfire.
Now comes the turn of the tyres. In a wet climate and especially in the starting few
days, road going car tyres find it difficult to grip the road due to limited friction.
This means that there are chances that your vehicle would be a bit imbalanced.
Learn to check out the tread life left in your tyre. It should be sufficient enough
and by sufficient, we mean about 2-3 mm. Ensure that the tyre pressure is
maintained as recommended in the manual. Get the wheels aligned properly before
torrential rains start.

For the interiors, start with checking if all the lights are in working position. If you
have a slight doubt that anything out there looks like it would give way, then make
sure that you actually replace it before its too late. In the monsoon season,
visibility is a key factor as far as the driving part is concerned. The tail lamps and
the head lamps play an important part in this. After having done a satisfactory
check of the functioning of the lights, now, it is the turn of a neglected part and
that is the pedals of the car. Imagine you are going to drive your car and it has
been raining incessantly. The moment you put your feet on the pedal, your feel
slips because there is no grip in the pedals, then it would lead to a catastrophe. So
replaced the pedals if they have already lost their grip. Water Drain Hole is a small
plug which prevents the water from entering the car cabin. However since they
rarely come into action, many would have been damaged or even loosened off. Do
replace them as replacing them isn’t costly but replacing your upholstery would be.
A car has rubber beadings and mounts near the door frame. Their main purpose is to
prevent the rain water from coming in. Due to negligence, it happens many a times that
the beadings would have either worn out or don’t fit properly. Do some “DIY” or Do It
Yourself thing and get them fixed with a fevistick or take the car to an authorized
service station so that they can replace the beadings for you and put in fresh ones. The
beading is also instrumental in ensuring that no short circuits happen. The boot is more
prone to rust during monsoons as often boot beadings give way faster than the door
ones. Do have this checked. The water seeping inside the cabin means that there are
chances of a short circuit happening.

Do check the AC coils and related stuff to see that they are working properly. In a
humid country like India, condensation happens rather fast in a closed atmosphere. This
condensation result in the reduced visibility and thus accidents. In these times, the AC
unit comes in handy. It will remove the condensation which happens on the windscreen
and also on the side glass. Some cars come with heated outside rear view mirrors. The
ORVMs have an electric wiring to them which makes sure that the driver has a good
view of the vehicles behind him. Since the floor and upholstery start to smell after some
time, have a car air freshner handy. The freshner should be of the attaching types which
directly glue themselves to the AC vents. Avoid products like Ambipur since they
contain liquid in them and this may cause allergy and a bit of suffocation feeling.
Instead choose those air freshners which have a dry paper factor in them. The rear
wiper or heater should also be functioning properly.
If your car is facing the seasonal monsoon for the first time, then drive very slowly. The
wheels need some time to find traction on a wet surface. Start keeping a very safe
distance from the vehicle in front of you. During rainy season, even the brakes of a car
have hard time controlling the speed, so distances naturally multiply. Brakes need to be
checked into urgently before venturing out in the rains. If your car has ABS, then
ensure that its working properly since it turns out to be a life saver in wet conditions.
Aquaplaning often happens during monsoons and this means that your car would start
slipping when you least expect it to. This occurs when the tyres are left with minimum
traction. If you are about to cross a puddle, first and foremost, if possible, avoid
crossing the puddle. In the rains, since water is logged everywhere, you would never
know what is inside that puddle, whether it’s a manhole or actually something filled
with slush. Drive cautiously and maintain a steady speed. Keep the car in a lower gear
than you usually would. This is to be done so that the engine also assists the brakes in
retarding the motion of the car. During monsoons, the extremes of the road face the
problem of water logging, so during the monsoon season, as far as possible, drive
through the center of the road but do keep one thing in mind. If the road you are driving
through has got markings on it, then better avoid keeping the wheels on the marked
sections. The marked sections use paint and hence they have less traction as compared
to a tarred surface. If by any chance, water enters the exhaust, then don’t try to restart
the car. This would cause more damage. Simply push the vehicle to the side of the road
and call the manufacturer’s helpline number.
On the highways, try and maintain a steady speed. Don’t
try to do overtaking maneuvers unless you are cent percent
sure that this maneuver can be done safely. If you are
following a truck, then treat it as a hazard. Old trucks
plying on our highways have a common tendency to stall
without any warning. Plus the absence of functioning tail
lamps and other hazard indicators mean that the chances of
dinging one are very high. From a distance it is very hard
to make out if the truck ahead is actually in motion or if it
is stationary. If a tree branch remains dangled from the
sides of the truck, it means that the truck has broke down
and hence you have to find a way around it.
 When we share the responsibility for
safety in the workplace, everyone wins!!
Thank you

Amit Sharma