Scanning for Hazards!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

How are your job sites looking?  Are there any safety hazards in your work areas?  Are there employees performing tasks unsafely?  The OSHA construction safety standards, which also means OSHA laws, have a requirement called Accident Prevention Responsibilities.  Under this subpart, the OSHA regulations state that the employer shall provide for frequent and regular inspections of the job sites, materials and equipment.  So what does this mean that we/you should be doing.  This means that all employees should be frequently scanning their work areas for hazards and if hazards are identified, we/you need to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate the hazards and/or to reduce the risk of the hazards.  For example, when you arrive in the morning at your job site, you shouldn't just immediately grab a metal stud, a sheet of drywall, your taping bazooka, your paint spray gun, etc. and jump right into working with out assessing your work areas for hazards.  What you should do is walk your work area and try to identify hazards.  Ask yourself - what in here could hurt me or others, how could I get injured performing my tasks in this area, am I wearing the necessary personal protective equipment?  If there are no hazards, then all good.  If a hazard is identified, then you need to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate the hazard and/or to reduce the risk of the hazard if it cannot be totally eliminated.  If the hazard is not within our scope or control and if you cannot easily eliminate the hazard, then you need to remove yourself from the hazard and report it to your Foreman.  The Foreman will then notify his/her Superintendent and the general contractor so a hazard abatement plan can be implemented.  In the meantime, the Foreman and Superintendent need to worn all employees that could be affected by the hazard to stay clear of the hazard until it is eliminated.  These procedures not only apply to when you first arrive to work in the morning.  These procedures apply to when you begin a new task or when you move to a different area of the job site.  Also, job sites are fluid and hazards can pop up at anytime.  Employees should be visually assessing their work areas for hazards throughout the day.  It's really pretty simple and it really doesn't take much time at all.  Just be aware of your surroundings and if hazards are present, do something about them to eliminate them.

If you have any questions about this, please contact your Superintendent our our Safety Director, Peter Graham.

Have a Safe Day!

2015 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Order Forms Due in by 12/17/15!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees,

Just providing a reminder that we mailed out the 2015 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Catalogs on 11/27/15 to all employees that participated in this program.  If you participated in this program, you should have received in the mail a catalog, an order form and a cover letter which explains your incentive point total and instructions on how to order items from the catalog.  The cover letter explained that we are looking to receive all order forms from our employees, no later than Thursday, 12/17/15.  We use a company called American Outfitters to full fill your orders.  They will prepare your orders and we will be picking up your items from them.  We will be distributing your items to you at our February Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting.  If you are not in attendance at that safety meeting, we will deliver your items to you at a job site in the weeks to follow.  If you are not working for I.D.I. at that time, we will contact you and you can pick up your items at our Barrington office location.

We want to thank all of our employees who participated in this program as this demonstrates your commitment towards your own personal safety, your commitment towards your loved ones who care about you coming home safely from work and your commitment to International Decorators.

If you have any questions about our Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Program, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689 or by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com.

Have a Safe Day!

2015 Safety Incentive Catalogs Are In The Mail!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

We hope you had a terrific Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

Just letting you know that our 2015 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Catalogs are going out in today's mail to all employees that participated in this program.  If you participated in this program, you will be receiving a catalog, an order form and a cover letter which explains your incentive point total and instructions on how to order items from the catalog.  The cover letter explains that we are looking to receive all order forms from our employees, no later than 12/17/15.  We use a company called American Outfitters to full fill your orders.  They will prepare your orders and we will be picking up your items from them.  We will be distributing your items to you at our February Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting.  If you are not in attendance at that safety meeting, we will deliver your items to you at a job site in the weeks to follow.  If you are not working for I.D.I. at that time, we will contact you and you can pick up your items at our Barrington office location.

We want to thank all of our employees who participated in this program as this demonstrates your commitment towards your own personal safety, your commitment towards your loved ones who care about you coming home safely from work and your commitment to International Decorators.

If you have any questions about our Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Program, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689 or by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com.

Have a Safe Day!

Volunteer Quarterly Safety "Make-Up" Meeting on Tuesday, 11/24/15 at 4:00pm

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

As you all know, we held our 4th volunteer quarterly safety meeting of 2015 on Saturday, 11/14/15. We offer a volunteer make-up meeting for those that could not attend the regularly scheduled safety meeting either due to working for I.D.I. on the Saturday of the meeting or due to unforeseen circumstances, etc.

The volunteer quarterly safety make-up meeting is being held on Tuesday, 11/24/15 at 4:00pm at our Barrington office in our warehouse. The safety training topic is called: "Making Safety Personal."

We are asking everyone to help spread the word to all of our employees so they have the opportunity to attend.

Also if you are planning on attending, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham, no later than Monday, 11/23/15 at 3:00pm to let him know as we need an approximate head-count for the meeting as we have to prepare materials and for chair rental purposes. Peter can be reached by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com or text to (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Final Reminder - Next Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting This Saturday, 11/14/15!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

Just sending out one last reminder that our final volunteer quarterly safety meeting for 2015 is being held this Saturday, 11/14/15 at 7:00am at the office. 

The topic of this safety meeting is:  Making Safety Personal!

We want to get back to the basics of safety and what safety truly is all about.  Safety is about you going home at the end of the day to your loved ones in the same condition as you were before you left for work.  To have a truly positive safety culture, we all need to care about one another and make safety personal. 

Each field employee who attends this volunteer safety training session will earn 400 safety training incentive points for our current year. This is our final volunteer quarterly safety meeting for 2015 and your last chance to earn volunteer safety training incentive points. We will be mailing out our safety training incentive catalogs to our employees homes in December so that you can redeem your volunteer safety training incentive points.

Please help spread the word.

Should you have any questions, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689 or at pgraham@4idi.com.

Have a Safe Day!

From the "I Caught You" Series

At International Decorators, we have a habit of catching our employees working safely. Below are a few action shots of our employees being caught in action working in a safe manner.

Great job everyone! You are helping us to live up to our safety mission statement which is:

"Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It."

 

Painter, Dan Settles was caught wearing the appropriate PPE and wearing a safety harness as he was preparing to get in a boom lift!

 

Carpenter, Chris Ondera was caught appropriately using fall arrest equipment while installing a mount for exterior light fixutes.  Great job Chris with your fall protection plan and implementation!

 

Acoustic carpenter, Bruce Rehfeldt was caught making good safe choices while in a scissor lift.  Guardrail closed, feet on the platform floor & of course Bruce is wearing the appropriate PPE!

 

Taper, Ismael Davila was caught pole sanding while wearing a 1/2 mask respiriator to protect him from nuisance dust.  Ismael was trained, medically evaluated and fit tested on his respirator in August.  Great job - Ismael!

 

Acoustic carpenter, Matt Larson was caught with his baker scaffold wheels locked while installing gasket on the ceiling grid.  Great job - Matt!

 

Framer, Keith Rehn was caught working safely in a boom lift.  Of course Keith is wearing a safety harness and appropriately tied off to the manbasket's fall protection anchorage point.  There is one concern though - he's wearing a Green Bay Packers hard hat which could be considered by some to be a hazard.  Great job with safety - Keith!

 

Below shows our employees caught be trained on Powder Actuated Tool Safety and Respirator Safety at our August Safety Meeting!

 

Have a Safe Day!



Next Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting - Saturday, 11/14/15!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

We have scheduled our next volunteer quarterly safety meeting and it will be held on Saturday, 11/14/15 at 7:00am at the office.  We have inserted a safety meeting notice letter into this weeks employee paycheck envelopes.

As we get closer to the meeting date, we will provide more information as to the safety training topic.

Each field employee who attends this volunteer safety training session will earn 400 safety training incentive points for our current year.  This is our final volunteer quarterly safety meeting for 2015 and your last chance to earn volunteer safety training incentive points.  We will be mailing out our safety training incentive catalogs to our employees homes in December so that you can redeem your volunteer safety training incentive points. 

Should you have any questions, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689 or at pgraham@4idi.com.

Have a Safe Day!

Orange Tape on All 3-Pronged Electrical Tools & Extension Cords Today, 10/1/15!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:

We began a new quarter today, 10/1/15 for our Assured Grounding Program. We are to switch over our cords from the previous quarter's red tape to orange tape.  To all Safety Coordinators - please help keep our employees safe and help keep us OSHA compliant by following our assured grounding program. Please inspect, test and color-code with orange tape all extension cords and 3 pronged electrical tools.  All extension cords and tools need to be visually inspected. If you see any defects in the cords such as bare wires, severe kinks, missing or damaged ground prong, the cord pulling away from the plug end-housing, etc., then that tool or cord would need to be immediately removed from service and reported to the lead person. If your tool/cord passes the visual inspection, your next step is to test the cord with a receptacle tester. First, you should test the oulet that you will be plugging your cord into to ensure that it is properly wired. You should see 2 yellow lights lit up on your tester and the red light should be off. This means the outlet is working appropriately. Next, plug your cord into the outlet and then test the cord with the receptacle tester. Again, you should see the same light pattern as mentioned above and this would mean the cord passed the test and it is good and safe to use. Any other light pattern means that there is a problem with the cord and the cord needs to be removed from service and reported to your lead person. If the cord passes the visual inspection and the cord tester test, you should then remove the previous quarter's red electrical tape and install the orange electrical tape about 1" down from both plug ends. Your cord is now in compliance with our 4th quarter's Assured Grounding Program. The orange tape shall remain in place from 10/1/15 through 12/31/15. You are not quite done yet! All employees now need to visually inspect all electrical cords and tools on a daily basis and if any defects are found, the cord or tool needs to be immediately removed from service.

Thank you for taking the time to ensure your electrical tools and cords are in safe working order. Your actions may prevent one of our family members from sustaining an electrical shock type injury or worse yet and electrocution. If you have any questions regarding our Assured Grounding Program, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham, at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting - Attendance, Etc. w/ Photos!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees,

International Decorators held our 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting of 2015 on Saturday, 8/22/15 and the make-up safety meeting on Tuesday, 9/15/15.  The safety training topics were Powder Actuated Tools including operators licensing for all carpenters, framers, drywall hangers & acoustic carpenters and we provided Respirator Training and Fit Testing with all painters and tapers.  We again had an awesome turnout at our volunteer quarterly safety meeting as we had a total of 137 field employees in attendance which was a 77% show-up rate.  For our Safety Coordinators, we had 40 in attendance for a show-up rate of 83%!  We have the best employees!

We want to thank all of you who took time out of your busy lives to attend this volunteer safety meeting for the sake of yourselves, those working around you and for your loved ones. You are helping International Decorators to live up to our Safety Mission Statement which is: "Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It."  Your volunteer attendance is what helps us to sustain our overall positive safety culture. We as a team are only as good as our weakest links so the more people involved at our volunteer quarterly safety meetings and the more involved with looking out for each other, the potential to have fewer employees sustaining injuries is much better. 

We also want to send out a huge thank you to our guest trainers who voluntarily gave us their time and expertise in helping us to prevent injuries and health hazards from occurring to our employees.  We couldn't do what we do without people like you!!!!! 
Carl Palm - ITW/Ramset, Jeremy Adorjan - Hilti, Steve Lefaver - Painters District Council #30 & Ozzy Nunez of 3M

Carl Palm - ITW/Ramset

Jeremy Adorjan - Hilti

Ozzy Nunez - 3M
 



Steve Lefaver - Painters District Council #30

Above left is I.D.I.'s Founder - Tony Pintozzi Sr. & Above right is Co-owner - Bill Preston



 

 

Have a Safe Day!

Final Reminder - Volunteer Quarterly Safety Make-up Meeting, Tuesday, 9/15/15 at 4:00pm!!!!!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

This is a final reminder that we are holding our volunteer quartlerly safety make-up meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, 9/15/15 at 4:00pm at the Barrington office. 

As you all know, we held our 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting of 2015 on Saturday, 8/22/15. We offer a volunteer make-up meeting for those that could not attend the regularly scheduled safety meeting either due to working for I.D.I. on the Saturday of the meeting or due to unforeseen circumstances, etc.

The volunteer quarterly safety make-up meeting is being held on Tuesday, 9/15/15 at 4:00pm at our Barrington office. We will be providing Powder Actuated Tool Safety Training for all carpenters, framers, drywall hangers and acoustic carpenters. As a separate group, we will be providing Respirator Training and Respirator Fit Testing for all painters and tapers. Our painters and some tapers already have a half mask and/or full mask respirator and we need for you to bring your respirators with you. All painters and tapers need to come to the meeting clean shaven on the areas of your face where the respirator seals to your face so that you can be fit tested on your respirators. So this means that you could have a mustache and/or a goatee type beard as long as the your facial hair does not interfere with the respirator seal. It is critical that you arrive at the meeting ready for fit testing. If you want to get a pretty good idea ahead of time as to where a respirator would come into contact with your face; just put a dust mask up to your face and that should help you to know where you cannot have facial hair. If you have any questions about facial hair and fit testing, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

We are asking everyone to help spread the word to all of our employees so they have the opportunity to attend.

Also if you are planning on attending, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham, no later than Monday, 9/14/15 at 5:00pm to let him know as we need an approximate head-count for the meeting as we have to prepare materials and for chair & table rental purposes. Peter can be reached by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com or text to (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Don't Leave Drywall on Drywall Carts Unattended!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees,

We are just putting out a reminder to all of an I.D.I. best practice.  We cannot leave drywall on drywall carts unattended for long durations of time, such as overnight, as there is a risk of the drywall tipping and falling and seriously injuring someone.  You should only stack the amount of drywall on drywall carts that you will be using during your shift.  At the end of your shift, any drywall that is still on your drywall cart shall be removed from the drywall cart and stocked flat of the ground or on cribbing on the ground.  This doesn't only apply to drywall carts.  We cannot be leaving drywall stacked on its side leaning against walls, etc.  All drywall needs to be stacked flat on the ground or on cribbing on the ground when it is left unattended for long durations of time.  Lastly, if you are leaving drywall on a drywall cart for a short duration, for example (when going on lunch break), you should roll the drywall cart into an area where it is safe & secure and away from other contractors or the public so that the drywall isn't at risk falling on someone. 


Should you have any questions about the above, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Volunteer Quarterly Safety "Make-Up" Meeting on Tuesday, 9/15/15 at 4:00pm

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees,

As you all know, we held our 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting of 2015 on Saturday, 8/22/15. We offer a volunteer make-up meeting for those that could not attend the regularly scheduled safety meeting either due to working for I.D.I. on the Saturday of the meeting or due to unforeseen circumstances, etc.

The volunteer quarterly safety make-up meeting is being held on Tuesday, 9/15/15 at 4:00pm at our Barrington office.  We will be providing Powder Actuated Tool Safety Training for all carpenters, framers, drywall hangers and acoustic carpenters.  As a separate group, we will be providing Respirator Training and Respirator Fit Testing for all painters and tapers.  Our painters and some tapers already have a half mask and/or full mask respirator and we need for you to bring your respirators with you.  All painters and tapers need to come to the meeting clean shaven on the areas of your face where the respirator seals to your face so that you can be fit tested on your respirators. So this means that you could have a mustache and/or a goatee type beard as long as the your facial hair does not interfere with the respirator seal. It is critical that you arrive at the meeting ready for fit testing. If you want to get a pretty good idea ahead of time as to where a respirator would come into contact with your face; just put a dust mask up to your face and that should help you to know where you cannot have facial hair. If you have any questions about facial hair and fit testing, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

We are asking everyone to help spread the word to all of our employees so they have the opportunity to attend.

Also if you are planning on attending, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham, no later than Monday, 9/14/15 at 5:00pm to let him know as we need an approximate head-count for the meeting as we have to prepare materials and for chair & table rental purposes. Peter can be reached by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com or text to (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Final Reminder - Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting, Saturday, 8/22/15 at 7:00am

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees,

Just sending out a final reminder that our next Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting will be held this Saturday, 8/22/15 at 7:00am at our Barrington office. This safety meeting will be a little different than our typical safety meeting as we will be breaking out into 4 separate groups.

We are going to be providing safety training on Hilti powder actuated tools and ITW Ramset powder actuated tools with all carpenters, framers, drywall hangers and acoustic carpenters. Half of the group will train for 45 minutes with Hilti and the other half will train for 45 minutes with ITW Ramset. Then we will take a 10 minute break and the groups will swap sessions. This way, we will get all employees in these sessions licensed on all the powder actuated tools that we use.

We will be providing respirator training and respirator fit testing with all painters and tapers. Our painters and some tapers already have a half mask and/or full mask respirator and we need for you to bring your respirators with you. The tapers that do not have a half mask respirator will be provided with one at the safety meeting. We will break the painters and tapers out into 2 groups also. One group will be provided with respirator training while the other half or other group is being fit tested on their respirators. We will then take a 10 minute break and the groups will swap sessions.

All painters and tapers need to come to the meeting clean shaven on the areas of your face where the respirator seals to your face so that you can be fit tested on your respirators. So this means that you could have a mustache and/or a goatee type beard as long as the your facial hair does not interfere with the respirator seal. It is critical that you arrive at the meeting ready for fit testing. If you want to get a pretty good idea ahead of time as to where a respirator would come into contact with your face; just put a dust mask up to your face and that should help you to know where you cannot have facial hair. If you have any questions about facial hair and fit testing, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

We will be mailing volunteer safety meeting notices to your homes next week. We will continue to advertise this safety meeting over the next month. Please help spread the word to all of our employees as we do not have every single employee's e-mail address.

Should you have any questions in regards to this upcoming volunteer safety meeting, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Safety - Back on Track!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

Just letting you know that we have worked over 200 consecutive days since our last lost-time injury which occurred on 1/23/15.  During the past 200 days, we have worked a total of 206,698.00 hours.

We just want to keep everyone in the loop on the safety pulse and safety culture at I.D.I.  Great job everyone on looking out for eachother's well being and for performing each task that you do in a safe manner.  We want to put information out, such as this message, to help avoid complacency when it comes to your safety.  We cannot let our guard down against safety and we need to keep safety at the forefront of our minds with each task that we perform.  This is in part as to why we provide 4 volunteer quarterly safety meetings each year.  We believe that getting everyone together 4 times a year helps to keep us all on the same page with safety, helps keep safety at the forefront and helps sustain a positive overall safety culture at I.D.I.  And most importantly, we believe that it helps us to live up to our Safety Mission Statement which is: "Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!"

Our 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting is being held at our Barrington office on Saturday, 8/22/15 from 7:00am to 9:00am.  We hope to see you at the meeting. In the meantime, have a Safe Day!

Next Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting on Saturday, 8/22/15

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees,

We just want to inform you that our next Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting will be held on Saturday, 8/22/15 at 7:00am at our Barrington office.  This safety meeting will be a little different than our typical safety meeting as we will be breaking out into 4 separate groups. 

We are going to be providing safety training on Hilti powder actuated tools and ITW Ramset powder actuated tools with all carpenters, framers, drywall hangers and acoustic carpenters.  Half of the group will train for 45 minutes with Hilti and the other half will train for 45 minutes with ITW Ramset.  Then we will take a 10 minute break and the groups will swap sessions.  This way, we will get all  employees in these sessions licensed on all the powder actuated tools that we use. 

We will be providing respirator training and respirator fit testing with all painters and tapers.  Our painters and some tapers already have a half mask and/or full mask respirator and we need for you to bring your respirators with you.  The tapers that do not have a half mask respirator will be provided with one at the safety meeting.  We will break the painters and tapers out into 2 groups also.  One group will be provided with respirator training while the other half or other group is being fit tested on their respirators.  We will then take a 10 minute break and the groups will swap sessions.

All painters and tapers need to come to the meeting clean shaven on the areas of your face where the respirator seals to your face so that you can be fit tested on your respirators.  So this means that you could have a mustache and/or a goatee type beard as long as the your facial hair does not interfere with the respirator seal. It is critical that you arrive at the meeting ready for fit testing.  If you want to get a pretty good idea ahead of time as to where a respirator would come into contact with your face; just put a dust mask up to your face and that should help you to know where you cannot have facial hair.  If you have any questions about facial hair and fit testing, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689. 

We will be mailing volunteer safety meeting notices to your homes next week.  We will continue to advertise this safety meeting over the next month.  Please help spread the word to all of our employees as we do not have every single employee's e-mail address.

Should you have any questions in regards to this upcoming volunteer safety meeting, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

 

Have a Safe Day!

Back Injury Prevention - Tool Box Talks

Who has not heard the basics of back injury prevention? At the same time, who has applied these principles to every day work? Many people understand the basics of safe lifting, but fail to perform these basic practices on a regular and consistent basis. The following is a summary of the basics:

· Bend your knees and keep a straight back when you lift.

· When you bend down to pick up a tool, bend your knees.

· You should NEVER bend at the waist to pick up anything (or even to tie your shoes).

· Keep your stomach muscles in shape. This will help maintain proper posture while lifting, and ultimately reduce your chance for a back injury.

· When lifting and moving a load, shift your feet, rather than twisting your back.

· Remember the 10:1 ratio for lifting improperly – A straight-legged lift of 20 pounds will apply over 200 pounds of force on your vertebrae and disks in your lower back. (This is why you must bend your knees to lift.)

·      When something is too large, too bulky or too heavy to lift by yourself, perform a 2-man lift or use some sort of equipment to assist you with the lift.

Prevention –

· Stretch your legs and back before you start to work.

· Think of proper lifting technique before you begin a lift.

· Establish a clear travel path before you begin your lift.

· Get help with the lift

· Communicate with eachother when performing a 2-man lift.

· Remind your co-workers of proper technique of lifting.

 

(This article was from the Chicago Construction Safety Council's Safety Blog.)

 

Have a Safe Day!

 

OSHA Construction 30-hour Course - Online for $115.00

Good afternoon I.D.I. employees,

As you all know, as part of our 2015 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Program, we offer 100 safety training incentive points per hour for safety training courses taken outside of our company. If anyone is interested in taking the Construction OSHA 30-Hour course online over the internet, it is now being offered through the Lake County Contractors Association (LCCA) for $115.00. This is the lowest price that we have found anywhere. LCCA is now offering this to its members only at this low price. I.D.I. is a member of LCCA. If you do want to enroll in this online course, you need to contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham as he has register you. 

Why should you enroll in the OSHA 30-hour Construction Safety Course? For starters, this course provides a good solid foundation of safety training. You will be provided with 30 hours of construction safety training that can help you to sustain a long-term healthy & injury-free career in the construction field. This course may just save your life! The OSHA 30-hour course is not just good for you as far as work goes as it teaches invaluable life skills that you can take with you and use anywhere for the rest of your life as this card never expires. This course also looks terrific on a trade person's resume. Many employers are getting choosier when it comes to seeking out new hires and having your OSHA 30-hour card is what may make you the front runner.

Another reason we are encouraging participation in an OSHA 30-hour course is that we are bidding work to general contractors that require us to man their projects with employees that have taken this course within the past 3 years. By taking this course, you make yourself more valuable to a Superintendent when they are choosing their work crews for various job sites. I also want to mention that if you do take this course; that it does not guarantee that you will work but it does make you a more viable option.    

Lastly, if you have taken the OSHA 30-hour course and if you have not provided us with a copy of your card, please send a copy of your card to Peter Graham so we can document this on your I.D.I. safety record.

Make yourself standout in the crowd!

If any employees want to take this course or if you have any questions about this course, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at pgraham@4idi.com. Just send Safety Pete an e-mail and he will contact you.

Unfortunately this course is not yet being offered in Spanish at the $115.00 price.

Have a Safe Day!

Using a Utility/Razor Knife Safely!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

We recently had an employee sustain a puncture type injury and laceration to his left hand while using a utility knife while trimming drywall overhead.  Fortunately this was a no lost-time injury, however, the employee had multiple sutures and was placed on one-handed work restrictions which we are accommodating. 

We want to report out on incidents like this to help prevent reoccurrences from happening to other employees. 

We had installed drywall on ceilings with 24" x 48" openings for light fixtures.  Apparently we were provided with the wrong size measurements for the drywall openings and had to go back and cut them open slightly larger.  Our employee was performing the work while on a 6' portable step ladder.  He had his left hand holding onto the overhead drywall grid to help get leverage and support.  He had his fingers holding onto the overhead grid and his left palm was exposed.  He was using a utility knife in his right hand to trim the opening to make it larger.  He was pulling the utility knife in the direction towards his left palm.  The utility knife slipped off the drywall and he stabbed the palm of his left hand with the razor end of the utility knife.  He sustained a puncture type wound and a subsequent laceration which required multiple sutures.  Fortunately there was no tendon or nerve damage. 

The following are the corrective measures that our company came up with to help prevent this from happeing to you. 

The first corrective measure that would have prevented this injury in the first place would be for I.D.I. to have been provided with the correct measurements for the drywall opening for the light fixutres.  If we had the correct measurements we would not have had to gone back to create a larger opening.  The second measure to help reduce the risk of the task would be to perform the work from a baker scaffold or a scissor lift.  This type of equipment provides a more stable surface to get better leverage from and would be safer as an employee could fall after a stabbing type incident like this.   The third measure is; when using a utility knife, cut away from your body.  Don't have body parts, such as fingers and hands in the line of fire meaning in the direction of the of the way the utility knife blade is cutting towards.  After completing your drywall cuts, secure the utility knife in your tool pouch with the blade pointed down towards the bottom of the pouch.  Do not leave the utility knife with an exposed blade unattended.  Lastly, gloves provide a layer of protection from laceration type hazards.  If gloves can be worn and don't create a greater hazard, then gloves would be recommended to help reduce the risk of injury. 

Below is a photo showing how trimming drywall should not be done as your hand is in the line of fire with the utility knife.

Please contact our Safety Director, Safety Pete with any questions at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Red Tape on All 3-Pronged Electrical Tools & Extension Cords as of 7/1/15!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:

We begin a new quarter on Wednesday, 7/1/15 for our Assured Grounding Program.  We are to switch over our cords from green tape to red tape. To all Safety Coordinators - please help keep our employees safe and help keep us OSHA compliant by following our assured grounding program. Please inspect, test and color-code with red tape all 3 pronged electrical tools and extension cords. All electrical tools and cords need to be visually inspected. If you see any defects in the cords such as bare wires, severe kinks, missing or damaged ground prong, the cord pulling away from the plug end-housing, etc., then that tool or cord would need to be immediately removed from service and reported to the lead person. If your tool/cord passes the visual inspection, your next step is to test the cord with a receptacle tester. First, you should test the oulet that you will be plugging your cord into to ensure that it is properly wired. You should see 2 yellow lights lit up on your tester and the red light should be off. This means the outlet is working appropriately. Next, plug your cord into the outlet and then test the cord with the receptacle tester. Again, you should see the same light pattern as mentioned above and this would mean the cord passed the test and it is good and safe to use. Any other light pattern means that there is a problem with the cord and the cord needs to be removed from service and reported to your lead person. If the cord passes the visual inspection and the cord tester test, you should then remove the previous quarter's green electrical tape and install the red electrical tape about 1" down from both plug ends. Your cord is now in compliance with our 3rd quarter's Assured Grounding Program. The red tape shall remain in place from 7/1/15 through 9/30/15. You are not quite done yet! All employees now need to visually inspect all electrical cords and tools on a daily basis and if any defects are found, the cord needs to be immediately removed from service. 

Thank you for taking the time to ensure your electrical tools and cords are in safe working order. Your actions may prevent one of our family members from sustaining an electrical shock type injury or worse yet and electrocution. If you have any questions regarding our Assured Grounding Program, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham, at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

 

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees,

 

I attended a safety seminar last week on hearing protection.  The keynote speaker on hearing protection was a woman named Theresa Schulz from Honeywell Safety Products.  Theresa is a Past President and active member of the National Hearing Conservation Association and has many other credentials including a PhD.  Theresa was very informative on hearing protection and she knows her stuff.  Below is some helpful information on hearing protection that was provided.

 

Foam earplugs offer more protection from noise than earmuffs?  Answer = TRUE…
...with one qualifier: properly fit roll-down foam earplugs offer more protection than the typical earmuff. Bigger is not necessarily better in terms of blocking noise in the ear; a well-fit earplug seals the ear canal from hazardous noise, and is less likely to allow “acoustical leaks” than an earmuff. This is evident in the higher attenuation values of foam earplugs. But to achieve that good fit, a user must follow basic rules for proper insertion:

1) Roll the earplug into a small crease-free cylinder
2) Reach over the head to pull up and back on the ear to straighten the ear canal
3) Insert the earplug deeply
In fact, a poorly fit foam earplug actually offers little or no protection from noise.

Below is a video to demonstrate the correct way to insert foam earplugs.

 

 

The following is more information that was provided:

 

It's not safe to put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear?  Answer = FALSE!
You may have heard it from mom, but she may have had hearing loss! It is true we should not try to clean inside our own ears by inserting cotton swabs, erasers, pen caps, paper clips or the like. But when it comes to protection from hazardous noise, earplugs are designed to be a safe distance from the sensitive eardrum, even when deeply inserted. Mom would be proud of you for protecting your hearing!

If you have any questions, please contact our Safety Director, Safety Pete at pgraham@4idi.com.

 

Have a Safe Day!

Volunteer Quarterly Safety "Make-Up" Meeting - 6/17/15 at 4:00pm (Ladder Safety!)

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

As you all know, we held a volunteer quarterly safety meeting this past Saturday, 6/6/15. We offer a volunteer make-up meeting for those that could not attend the regularly scheduled safety meeting either due to working for I.D.I. on the Saturday of the meeting or due to unforeseen circumstances, etc.

The volunteer quarterly safety make-up meeting is being held on Wednesday, 6/17/15 at 4:00pm at our Barrington office. The safety topic for this meeting is Ladder Safety!

We are asking everyone to help spread the word to all of our employees so they have the opportunity to attend.

Also if you are planning on attending, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham, no later than Tuesday, 6/16/15 at 5:00pm to let him know as we need an approximate head-count for the meeting as we have to prepare materials and for chair rental purposes. Peter can be reached by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com or text to (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Final Reminder - Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting, Saturday, 6/6/15 at 7:00am (Ladder Safety)

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

Just putting out a final reminder that our next volunteer quarterly safety meeting is being held this coming Saturday, June 6th from 7:00am to 9:00am. We have finalized our safety training topic and it is going to be on Ladder Safety. We have had a few incidents over the past couple of months involving employees incorrectly using ladders, which fortunately did not lead to any injuries. We will have a representative from Werner Ladders at our meeting helping out with this safety training session.

Ladder related fatalities are one of the number one killers in construction. It is difficult to find current exact data on how many construction workers died involving a ladder, however, in 2011 there were a total of 34,500 employees of companies who sought medical care for ladder related injuries. There were 15,460 employees of companies who had lost-time injuries involving ladders and 113 ladder related fatalities. We don't want for our employees/family members to become one of these statistics.

Please mark your calendar for June 6th at 7:00am. The meeting will be held at our usual location at our office located at 28059 W. Commercial Ave., Barrington, IL.

Final note - our last 2 volunteer quarterly safety meetings went way past 9:00am and that can be aggravating to those who expect to get out of there by 9:00am. We understand this aggravation and we will ensure that our June 6th meeting is over by 9:00am.

If you have any questions about this meeting or about safety in general, you are encouraged to contact our Safety Director, Safety Pete at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Painting Company Cited for 30 Violations, Fined $199,000 Following Fall Fatalities

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:

Please see the article below.  This is why we preach safety - so that all of our family members can: "Go Home Alive and in The Same Condition as You Arrived, Your Loved Ones Count On it!"

 

April 27 — Two painters killed in a fall in Ohio might have survived if they had been provided safety equipment, according to the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has issued proposed fines of $199,000.

The painters, who worked for V&T Painting LLC, died when an electric suspension scaffold failed and they fell from a Southwest Ohio Regional Water District water tower they were painting in Butler County, OSHA said in a statement April 22.

Following the October 2014 deaths, OSHA investigators identified 17 serious safety violations at the site, as well as 13 others at a nearby V&T Painting work site.

At the time of their deaths, the painters weren't wearing safety harnesses, the Butler County Sheriff's Office said. They fell about 100 feet.

Ken Montgomery, OSHA's Cincinnati-area director, said in the prepared statement that "making sure protective equipment is in use and working properly is a common-sense way to save lives and prevent injuries. Companies that put their workers dangerously high above the ground must provide protection to stop their falls."

OSHA inspectors found that, apart from failing to protect its workers from falls, V&T used scaffolds that weren't designed by a competent person; the scaffolds' U-bolts weren't installed correctly; and damaged wire ropes, slings, electrical cords and other faulty equipment were in use.

In addition, the company didn't inspect rigging equipment and scaffolds before use or conduct regular job-site inspections, OSHA said. The company also failed to train workers about fall protection equipment and standards.

Suspension scaffold support devices didn't rest on surfaces capable of supporting at least four times the load imposed on them, the agency found, nor were they inspected for visible defects by a competent person before each work shift.

OSHA has directed the Farmington Hills, Mich., company to correct all of its serious safety violations by June 2.

V&T Painting declined to comment to Bloomberg BNA on the citations.

OSHA said falls continue to be a leading cause of death for construction workers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bebe Raupe in Cincinnati at braupe@bna.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jim Stimson at jstimson@bna.com

Source: Bloomberg BNA

From the "I Caught You" Series

At International Decorators, we have a habit of catching our employees working safely. Below are a few action shots of our employees being caught in action working in a safe manner.

Great job everyone! You are helping us to live up to our safety mission statement which is:

"Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It."

Rodrigo Galvan was caught working safely on a ladder while tied off with fall arrest equipment using a Spider Bolt concrete fall protection anchor, retractable lanyard and safety harness.


Great job - Rodrigo!

 Jamie Martinez was caught doing the exact same thing as Rodrigo mentioned above.

You guys are doing it right!

Also, great job to Reynaldo Lagunas for coming up with this fall protection plan for this challenging situation!

Nelson Martinez was caught appropriately tying off with fall arrest equipment while working on a roof that has a low parapet wall.

Nelson is using a Standing Seam Roof Anchor as his 5,000 lb fall protection anchorage point along with a 30' cable retractable.       Great job Nelson!

Framer, Vince Cavanaugh, was caught working safely on a concrete roof while building a parapet wall.  Vince had some help with his fall protection planning from our "Competent Fall Protection Person," Kent Cutshall. Great job with planning and implementation - gentlemen!

 Drywaller, Jose Perez was caught using a portable A-frame step ladder in a safe appropriate manner.  Alejandro has the spreader arms fully open and in the locked position and he is standing on the ladder at a safe rung level height.  Jose remembered that you cannot stand on the top 2 steps of portable step ladders!

 Our tapers at Centegra Hospital have installed rebar caps over the end of their mud mixing paddles to serve as impalement protection.

Great job - Gildardo, Rafael, Fernando and the rest of your crew!

Filimon Mendez was caught safely tying off with fall arrest equipment while climbing in and out of a shaft at Centegra Hospital.

I asked Filimon what he was doing and he said - "Safety Pete, I am just hanging around."

This is what International Decorator's safety culture is all about and it is our employees/family members that make it happen!

Have a Safe Day!

I.D.I. to Participate in National Fall Prevention Stand-Down on 5/11/15!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) is promoting to all construction companies to participate in a National Fall Prevention Safety Stand-Down.  The purpose of the Fall Prevention Safety Stand-Down is to raise awareness of preventing fall hazards in construction.  Fatalities caused by falls from elevation continue to be a leading cause of death for construction workers, accounting for 302 of the 828 construction workers that died at work in 2013.  Those deaths were preventable!

What is a Fall Prevention Safety Stand-Down?  A Safety Stand-Down is a voluntary event for employers to talk directly to employees about "Fall Hazards and to reinforce the importance of the "Fall Prevention."

OSHA is promoting this Fall Prevention Safety Stand-Down on billboards in the Chicago Area.

I.D.I. will be participating in this Safety Stand-Down and here is how: 

On Monday, 5/11/15 we are advising all Safety Coordinators to gather our crews and to all perform the same fall protection toolbox talk.  The toolbox talk that we want everyone to perform is in your Safety Coordinator Manuals.  It is under the Fall Protection tab of your manual, it is toolbox talk # FP8 and it is called:  What is Fall Protection?  After gathering your crews and performing the toolbox talk, have our employees, including yourself, sign the toolbox talk signature roster and turn that into our Safety Director as usual.  We in turn have to advise OSHA as to how many employees participated in the Stand-Down.  OSHA's goal is to have 1 million construction workers participate in the Stand-Down. 

Let's work as a team to make this Safety Stand-Down a success by getting everyone involved and participating.  We thank you in advance for your help and for being a leader of safety.  Your efforts help us to live up to our safety mission statement:  "Everyone Goes Home Alive And In The Same Condition As They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!"  Should you have any questions, please contact our Safety Director, Safety Pete at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Ladder Safety - 6/6/15!!!!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees, 

As most of you know, our next volunteer quarterly safety meeting is being held on Saturday, June 6th from 7:00am to 9:00am.  We have finalized our safety training topic and it is going to be on Ladder Safety.  We have had a few incidents over the past couple of months involving employees incorrectly using ladders, which fortunately did not lead to any injuries.  We will have representative from Werner Ladders at our meeting helping out with this safety training session. 

Ladder related fatalities are one of the number one killers in construction.  It is difficult to find current exact data on how many construction workers died involving a ladder, however, in 2011 there were a total of 34,500 employees of companies who sought medical care for ladder related injuries.  There were 15,460 employees of companies who had lost-time injuries involving ladders and 113 ladder related fatalities.  We don't want for our employees/family members to become one of these statistics. 

Please mark your calendar for June 6th at 7:00am. 

Final note - our last 2 volunteer quarterly safety meetings went way past 9:00am and that can be aggravating to those who expect to get out of there by 9:00am.  We understand this aggravation and we will ensure that our June 6th meeting is over by 9:00am.

We will advertise this meeting further as we get closer to the meeting date.  If you have any questions about this meeting or about safety in general, you are encouraged to contact our Safety Director, Safety Pete at (847) 417-1689. 

Have a Safe Day!

Da Hawks Win!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

In case you live under a rock and just crawled out from under it this morning, the Blackhawks won a triple overtime thriller last night that ended around 1:30am in the morning.  Many employees of I.D.I. are Blackhawk's fans and many of the diehards may have stayed up until the very end of the game.  We could have some fatigued employees this morning.  For everybody's safety, we need to ensure that our employees are "fit for duty."  We are asking everybody to keep an eye on eachother today.  If you notice an employee is overly fatigued, drowsy, etc., please talk to that employee about stopping work and going home safely.  If you observe an employee working unsafely due to the fatigue, it should be reported to your job site supervisor or superintendent for the safety of the fatigued employee so that he/she doesn't get injured or injure somebody else.  Please help out our family members by keeping an eye on eachother for everybody's well being.  If you have any questions, you are encouraged to call our Safety Director, Safety Pete at (847) 417-1689. 

Go Hawks - Have a Safe Day!







Online OSHA 30-Hour Course for $115.00

Good afternoon I.D.I. employees,

As you all know, as part of our 2015 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Program, we offer 100 safety training incentive points per hour for safety training courses taken outside of our company.  If anyone is interested in taking the Construction OSHA 30-Hour course online over the internet, it is now being offered through the Lake County Contractors Association (LCCA) for $115.00.  The is the lowest price that we have found anywhere.  LCCA is now offering this to its members only at this low price.  I.D.I. is a member of LCCA. 

If any employees want to take this course or if you have any questions about this course, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at pgraham@4idi.com.  Just send Safety Pete an e-mail and he will contact you. 

Unfortunately this course is not yet being offered in Spanish at this price. 

Have a Safe Day!

Green Tape on All 3-Pronged Electrical Tools & Extension Cords as of 4/1/15!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:

We begin a new quarter on Wednesday, 4/1/15 for our Assured Grounding Program. We provided green tape for distribution to the Safety Coordinators at our volunteer quarterly safety meeting that was held on 2/28/15.  To all Safety Coordinators - please help keep our employees safe and help keep us OSHA compliant by following our assured grounding program. Please inspect, test and color-code with green tape all 3 pronged electrical tools and extension cords. All electrical tools and cords need to be visually inspected. If you see any defects in the cords such as bare wires, severe kinks, missing or damaged ground prong, the cord pulling away from the plug end-housing, etc., then that tool or cord would need to be immediately removed from service and reported to the lead person. If your tool/cord passes the visual inspection, your next step is to test the cord with a receptacle tester. First, you should test the oulet that you will be plugging your cord into to ensure that it is properly wired. You should see 2 yellow lights lit up on your tester and the red light should be off. This means the outlet is working appropriately. Next, plug your cord into the outlet and then test the cord with the receptacle tester. Again, you should see the same light pattern as mentioned above and this would mean the cord passed the test and it is good and safe to use. Any other light pattern means that there is a problem with the cord and the cord needs to be removed from service and reported to your lead person. If the cord passes the visual inspection and the cord tester test, you should then remove the previous quarter's white electrical tape and install the green electrical tape about 1" down from both plug ends. Your cord is now in compliance with our 2nd quarter's Assured Grounding Program. The green tape shall remain in place from 4/1/15 through 6/30/15. You are not quite done yet! All employees now need to visually inspect all electrical cords and tools on a daily basis and if any defects are found, the cord needs to be immediately removed from service.

Thank you for taking the time to ensure your electrical tools and cords are in safe working order. Your actions may prevent one of our family members from sustaining an electrical shock type injury or worse yet and electrocution. If you have any questions regarding our Assured Grounding Program, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham, at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!