Surprise OSHA Inspection at Cook County Hospital Renovation - IDI Shined!!!!!

Good morning to all IDI employees,

I just thought that everyone should know this.  I received a phone call from the Regional Safety Manager for Walsh Construction on 12/18/18 advising that OSHA performed a surprise unannounced safety inspection on 12/18/18 at the Cook County Hospital Renovation project. We were advised by Walsh's Regional Safety Manager that International Decorators shined today!  He said that when OSHA showed up, most of the other subcontractors scattered and left the job site.  He advised that OSHA literally singled out International Decorators in their conversations with Walsh Construction about IDI's safety performance.

We want to send huge kudos out to Joe Vess and Bill Lichon for the safety leadership they are providing to our employees.  We also want to extend the same kudos to our employees that were onsite performing safely - Dwayne Arneson, Johnny Brennan, Alex Cardenas, John Mobley, Hugo Loya, Jose Angel Leal, David Lagunas, Luis Lagunas and Jaime Martinez.  

This is exactly what our safety culture is all about. Working safe because it’s the right thing to do all the time.  Other contractors made the choice to leave.  Joe and his crew didn’t even have that thought cross their minds as there was no reason to leave when you are already working safe and when you are prepared.

OSHA visits are just another reason that we provide the safety training that we do at our quarterly safety meetings along with the daily mandatory 5-minute safety huddles, Monday morning toolbox talk safety training sessions, weekly safety inspections by our Safety Advocates and Superintendents, 3 hour hands-on safety orientation with all new hires and other safety procedures.  

Again – great job; strike that; excellent job team!!!!!!!!

At the end of the day, it is all about our safety mission statement:  "Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!"

Have a Safe Day!

Next Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting on 2/16/19!

Good afternoon to all IDI employees,

Just getting the word out that our next volunteer quarterly safety meeting is being held on Saturday, 2/16/19 from 7:00am to 9:00am.
We have not yet selected the safety training topic.  As soon as it gets selected, we will be notifying everyone with e-blasts and safety meeting notices mailed to your homes.

We provide safety training through our volunteer quarterly safety meetings because we care about you, your loved ones and the health of the company.  We provide this training because of our safety mission statement:  "Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!"

We hope to see you on February 16th, 2019.  In the meantime, keep looking out for each other.  Take care of your brother's and sister's as we are all one family!

Have a Safe Day!

Happy Thanksgiving to the IDI Family!

Good afternoon to all IDI employees,

As you know, if you are an employee of IDI, you are considered family. 
We want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones!
We hope that everyone has a nice relaxing day, enjoy watching Da Bears, spending time with those that matter and giving thanks for everything we have. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Electrical Safety VQSM 11/17/18 - Photos of the Event

Good afternoon to all IDI employees,

As you know, IDI held our 4th volunteer quarterly safety meeting of 2018 on Saturday, November 17th.  IDI provided training on electrical safety which was presented by guest trainer, Tom King "The Coke Machine" who is the Safety Manager at Continental Electric.  Tom transmitted his safety knowledge to our employees in an "electrifying" way to help keep us all safe!

We all work with and around electricity daily at our occupation and at home.  We hope you found this safety training beneficial and that everyone had some take away's, tips and reminders of how to stay safe when working around electricity.

Superintendent, Brian Haese, also provided a lesson learned demonstration on how to cut Danbacking safely.  Brian reminded everyone to wear gloves when handling/cutting the Danbacking and to support the Danbacking on something stable like a gangbox, workbench, etc. when cutting it.

Safety Advocate/lead carpenter, Daniel Dominik, provided a demonstration on our assured grounding conductor program including how to inspect, test and color code our extension cords and electric tools that have a ground prong on the plug end. 

Thank you, Brian, Daniel and Tom on helping to keep our employees safe!!!!

We appreciate all of you taking time out of your busy lives to help make our safety culture the best in the construction industry.  We provide this training because of our safety mission statement and so that each and everyone of us can live up to it.  "Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!"

Lastly, we had another end of the meeting raffle in which we raffled off 1 paid vacation day to 3 separate employees and you had to be present to win.  The free paid vacation day winners were:
Painter - Angel Diaz, carpenter - Earl Bingman & carpenter - Miguel Lagunas
Like they say, "Safety Pays!"

Have a Safe Day!

Guest safety trainer, Tom King "The Coke Machine" in action at his best!

Safety Advocate/carpenter, Daniel Dominik demoing our Assured Grounding Conductor Program.                               Nice job - Daniel!  

Superintendent, Brian Haese - Demonstrating how to safely cut Danbacking!
Brian actually remembers how to use the tools?

Final Reminder - Next Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting - Electrical Safety on 11/17/18

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

We are just putting out a final reminder that our 4th and final Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting of 2018 is being held on Saturday, 11/17/18 at 7:00am at our Barrington office location.

The safety training topic will be on Electrical Safety.  Tom King, Safety Director for Continental Electric will be presenting the training.  Tom is an electrician who became involved with safety due to his passion for preventing injuries.  Tom knows his stuff when it comes to electrical safety.  This promises to be an electrifying meeting.  We look forward to seeing everyone on 11/17/18.  Please think about any electrical safety related questions you may have as this will be the perfect time to ask them.

In the meantime, be safe out there.  It's all about you and your loved ones!

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

See you at the meeting!

Orange Tape on All 3-Pronged Electrical Tools & Extension Cords on 10/1/18!

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

We begin a new quarter on 10/1/18 for our Assured Grounding Conductor Program. We are to switch over our cords from the previous quarter's red tape to orange tape.  To all Safety Advocates/Coordinators, please help keep our employees safe and help keep us OSHA compliant by following our assured grounding conductor 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 outlet 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 10/1/18 through 12/31/18. 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 need a roll of orange tape, please contact your Superintendent. If you have any questions regarding our Assured Grounding Conductor Program please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham, at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Next Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting - Electrical Safety on 11/17/18

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

We are just getting the word out that our 4th and final Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting of 2018 is being held on Saturday, 11/17/18 at 7:00am at our Barrington office location.

The safety training topic will be on Electrical Safety.  Tom King, Safety Director for Continental Electric will be presenting the training.  Tom is an electrician who became involved with safety due to his passion for preventing injuries.  Tom knows his stuff when it comes to electrical safety.  This promises to be an electrifying meeting.  We look forward to seeing everyone on 11/17/18.  Please think about any electrical safety related questions you may have as this will be the perfect time to ask them.

We will be mailing a safety meeting notice to all of our employees homes in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, be safe out there.  It's all about you and your loved ones!

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

See you at the meeting!

9/8/18 Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting - Photos of the Event

Good afternoon IDI employees,

We want to say thank you to all of you who attended our volunteer quarterly safety meeting that was held on Saturday, 9/8/18.  As you know, the safety training topic was on Power Tool Safety & Paint Spray Pump Safety and we had a terrific turnout for this event.  We feel this safety training session was a huge success because of the clear weather, our power tool and paint spray pump provider/partners and because of you, our employees for coming out in full force, for being engaged & for caring!

We want to extend a big thank you to our tool and paint spray pump provider/partners, Colony Hardware, DeWalt, Graco, Hilti, JC Licht & Makita.  We value our partnerships and the support you provide.  Thank you for helping to support our safety mission statement: "Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!"

We hope that this safety training session was beneficial to you and your loved ones.
Below are photos from the event.

Have a Safe Day!