Red Tape on All 3-Pronged Electrical Tools & Extension Cords on 7/1/14!

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

All Safety Coordinators should have been provided a roll of red electrical tape. We begin a new quarter on Tuesday, 7/1/14 for our Assured Grounding Program. You are to 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 Ground Program. The red tape shall remain in place from 7/1/14 through 9/30/14. You are not quite done yet! You 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!

The Correct Way to Plug in a GFCI Pigtail!

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

Did you know that it makes a huge difference in how you set up and use a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) pigtail?  There is the OSHA compliant way, which is the correct way to use them and offers the best protection to our employees and there is an incorrect way.  Below should hopefully explain the difference.   

When using a GFCI pigtail, the GFCI pigtail is required to be plugged into the power receptacle first and then your tools or extension cords gets plugged into the GFCI.  The photo below illustrates the correct way to set up the GFCI.

The incorrect way is to plug in an extension cord to the power receptacle first and then to plug your GFCI into the extension cord.  Doing it in this manner exposes your employer to an OSHA violation and more importantly, it is exposing employees to an electrical shock or electrocution hazard because the extension cord itself is not protected by the GFCI because the GFCI protection occurs after where the GFCI is plugged in. The photo below illustrates the incorrect GFCI set-up. 

Below are the GFCI use instructions on the GFCI pigtail which states - DO NOT USE EXTENSION CORD TO CONNECT GFCI TO POWER RECEPTACLE.

Hopefully eveyone understands this article.  If there is any confusion or if you need clarification, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham.

 

Have a Safe Day!

400 Consecutive Days Since Our Last Lost-Time Injury!!!!!

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

Just to keep everyone in the loop - our consecutive days worked streak since our last lost-time injury remains in tact.  As of today, we have now worked 400 straight days since our last lost-time injury.  Our next safety milestone date is July 26th.  If we can continue our streak until July 26th, we will have broken our previous 15 year record of working 435 consecutive days between lost-time injuries.

Please continue to do your part and work safe!  If you see someone doing something unsafely, please stop them for their own safety and for the sake of their loved ones.

This is a win/win for everyone.  No lost-time injuries means that no one is having to go through the pain involved when a lost-time injury occurs. The true winners are our employees and their loved ones. 

We hope everyone has a terrific and safe weekend!

Have a Safe Day!

Captain Obvious - Weather Related Warning!

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

It's Captain Obvious here again to tell you that there is a potential for bad weather today.  If you have exterior work and if you see lightning, you need to seek shelter.  If you are on aerial lifts, on scaffolding, on roof tops, etc., you need to have an increased awareness of high winds.  Each job site location has different weather conditions and the winds speeds can vary at a job site itself depending on the side of the structure that you are working on.  If you are questioning whether or not you should continue to work due to poor weather conditions, then you should lean towards the side of caution and report the conditions to your lead field supervisor who should in turn report the conditions and potential work stoppage to their Superintendent.  Also, if you suspect or witness high wind speeds, please ensure that our exterior equipment and materials are secured so they cannot be displaced and injure someone; this is especially important at heights such as on scaffolding and roof tops.  If you have exterior scaffolding, you should remove the hooks planks from the scaffolding so they do not get loose or so they don't act like a sail causing the scaffold to tip.  Also, if the conditions are wet and if you have electric tools, you should be plugging into GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupters) and as always, ensure your electrical cords are in safe condition for use.  If at all possible, avoid using electric tools in wet conditions.

Please remember to communicate any weather related work stoppages with your Superintendent. 

Please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham with any safety related questions. 

Have a Safe Day!

Family Video of Why 2 Daughters Want Their Dad To Work Safe!

Good morning everyone,

Back in March, we asked the loved ones of our employees to write a letter or to submit a video as to why it is important for their loved one (International Decorator's, employee) to work safe. We received in a total of 5 letters and 4 videos of which all were unique in their own way and really hit it on the head as to why it is so important for our employees and for their loved ones sake, to work safe. We read the letters and showed the videos at our volunteer quarterly safety meeting which was held on 5/31/14.  In case you were not present at the meeting, below is one of the videos which was submitted by the daughters of Reynaldo Lagunas.  The daughters are Aylin age 6 and Anahi age 3.  Anahi wants her Dad to come home safe because "he is so handsome."  These girls are too cute and they sure love their Dad!

Enjoy!

Have a Safe Day!

OSHA Fall Prevention Safety Stand-Down (I.D.I.'s Results)

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

As you all know, we participated in the National OSHA Fall Prevention Safety Stand-Down on Monday, 6/2/14.  We appreciate all the Safety Coordinators getting involved and performing a fall protection toolbox talk training session with our employees in recognition of the Stand-Down.  In 2012, 269 construction workers died due to falling at work and falls are the number one cause of fatalities in construction.  It's a good thing to call a time-out to get everyone on the same page to help ensure that none of our employees are ever killed due to a fall.  International Decorators has been in business since 1952 and we have never had a fall related fatality or any work related fatality.  This is something that everyone should be proud of and hopefully enables your loved ones to feel at ease while our employees are performing construction related tasks. 

We obtained a total of 76 employee signatures on the fall protection related toolbox talk training rosters.  Great job everyone!  We hope this Safety Stand-Down was of some value to you. 

In recognition of our participation, we have obtained a Certificate of Participation from OSHA.

Have a Safe Day!

Volunteer Quarterly Safety "Make-Up" Meeting, Thursday, June 12th at 4:00pm

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

As you all know, we held our volunteer quarterly safety meeting on Saturday, 5/31/14.  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 this Thursday, 6/12/14 at 4:00pm at our Barrington office.  The main safety topic for this meeting is Behavior Based Safety!

If you plan on attending, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689 or by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com, no later than Wednesday afternoon.  We need to know an approximate head-count for the meeting as we have to prepare materials and for chair rental purposes. 

If you have any questions, please call Peter at the above-mentioend phone number. 

Have a Safe Day!