Friday, March 29, 2019

5-Minute Morning Safety Huddles!

Good morning to all IDI employees,

Most of you are about to start working this morning and you might have a lot on your plate.  We all have a lot of stuff going on in our lives both at home in our personal lives and in our work lives.  IDI is busy.  When we are busy, we all have added risk and this risk is controllable by planning, caring and looking out for each other.  We have a required procedure in place called the 5-Minute Morning Safety Huddle.  This safety huddle is all about you!  It is about helping to ensure that each of us lives up to our safety mission statement - "Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!" The 5-Minute Morning Safety Huddles are a vital part of our safety culture and maybe even more vital when we are busy.  Performing a solid safety huddle at the beginning of your work shift will help to start the day on the right foot with safety.  The safety huddle is to get everybody on the same page with safety so we are proactive and not being reactive.  The safety huddle is only as good as you make it.  The safety huddles should be lead by our Safety Advocates and lead field supervisors, however, we need all employees engaged, involved and giving input.  You should be discussing any job site hazards that anyone has identified and discussing means & methods that we can implement to eliminate or reduce the hazards to an acceptable level or risk.  The safety huddle shall include a task hazard analysis.  The employees shall plan their tasks for the day, discuss the hazards of the tasks and what measures you are taking to prevent injury or health hazards due to the tasks and conditions.  Examples are; what equipment and materials will be needed to perform the task safely, how to use the equipment safely, PPE to be worn, inspecting electrical cords, inspecting equipment, using safety rails on scaffolds when required, locking scaffold wheels, safe ladder usage, fall protection planning, guards in place on saws and tools that require them, reporting open holes/trenches in the floor, overhead hazards, struck by hazards, etc.

Make today's morning safety huddle count!

Have a Safe Day!

Thursday, March 28, 2019

Green Tape on All Extension Cords & 3-Pronged Electrical Tools as of 4/1/19!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:

We begin a new quarter on, 4/1/19 for our Assured Grounding Conductor Program and we are to switch over to green tape.  To all Safety Advocates/Lead Field Supervisors - We need your help to keep our employees safe and to help keep us OSHA compliant by following our assured grounding conductor 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 field supervisor.  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 field supervisor. 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 Conductor Program. The green tape shall remain in place from 4/1/19 through 6/30/19. You are not quite done yet! All employees now need to visually inspect all electrical cords and tools on a daily basis before use and if any defects are found, the cord needs to be immediately removed from service.

If you do not have green tape, please ask your Superintendent and they will coordinate getting it to you.

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, an electrocution. If you have any questions regarding our Assured Grounding Conductor Program, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham, at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!