11/5/11 Quarterly Safety Meeting ....... 7:00am Safety Coordinators Only, 8:00am All Employees

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  As most of you know, our next quarterly safety meeting is on Saturday, 11/5/11 at our Barrington office location.  This meeting will be a little different than our typical quarterly safety meeting in that at 7:00am, we are going to perform Safety Coordinator training with the Safety Coordinators only.  We have invited the rest of our employees or non-Safety Coordinators to attend the meeting at 8:00am.  Starting around 8:10am, we will begin the 2nd half of the quarterly safety meeting with all employees and we plan on ending the meeting around 9:10am.  So, if you are a Safety Coordinator, you should arrive no later than 6:55am as we will start the meeting at 7:00am sharp.  We will then lock the doors to help keep the distractions to a minimum and we will re-open the doors at 8:00am at which time the rest of the employees should have arrived. 

The reason we are performing Safety Coordinator training is because over the past few years, we have promoted some employees into the Safety Coordinator role and we would like to get everyone on the same page as to what being a Safety Coordinator entails.  We are also doing the Safety Coordinator training to revive the Safety Coordinator program for the benefit of all employees in the battle against injuries. We will be distributing the Safety Coordinator manuals which contain the toolbox talks, weekly safety inspection forms, accident report forms, etc. to the Safety Coordinators at the meeting. 

If you are not sure if you should attend the 7:00am Safety Coordinator training portion or if you should arrive at 8:00am, you are advised to contact your Superintendent and he will let you know what time to arrive.  Should you have any questions about this meeting, you can also contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at pgraham@4idi.com. 

Have a Safe Day!

$0.31 Injury Cost Per Man Hours Worked!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  I just wanted to make everyone aware of some good news for everyone in the company.  As you all know, we have 7 major safety goals that we discuss at every quarterly safety meeting and throughout the year.  Some of our safety goals are lofty, however, they are lofty for a very important reason.  The goals are lofty for your safety.  One of the goals that I want to highlight today is our Injury Cost Per Man Hours Worked Goal which is to be at $0.50 injury cost per man hours worked or better.  Due to having zero injuries the past 2 months, due to having only 1 lost time injury during our current insurance policy year and due to all injured workers being fully healed, released to full duty and from medical care, we together as a team have driven our injury cost per man hours worked down to $0.31. 

First of all, great job to everyone in the company for all pulling on the same rope and in the same direction to make this happen.  We cannot let our guard down though.  We still have 3 1/2 weeks to go in our current insurance policy year which ends on 10/31/11.  Let's all do everything we can to go injury free over the next 3 1/2 weeks.  If we can do this, we will exceed this safety goal.  Again, this is good for every single person in the company as this can help to reduce our E.M.R. or insurance costs which can lead to helping us to bid more competitively.  The more competitively we can bid, the more work we can obtain, the more employees we can get back to work during this cruddy economy we are in.  Should you have any questions regarding this goal or safety in general, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham.  You can reach him by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com. 

Have a Safe Day!

Orange Tape on 3-Pronged Electrical Tools and Extension Cords

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  All Safety Coordinators should have been provided with a roll of orange tape  from your Superindendents.  We began a new quarter on 10/1/11 for our Assured Grounding Program.  You are to inspect, test and color-code with orange 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 your Foreman.  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 Foreman.  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 orange tape shall remain in place from 10/1/11 through 12/30/11.  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!

280 Consecutive Days Since Our Last Lost Time Injury!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  As of today we are currently on 280 consecutive days since our last lost time injury which occurred on 12/20/10.  That is a pretty good run but still along way off of our record of 435 consecutive days between lost time injuries.  We have approximately 5 weeks remaining in our current insurance policy year which ends on 10/31/11.  For our current year, the injury that occurred on 12/20/10 is our only lost time injury of the year.  Our goal is to never have any injuries, however, let's make it a short-term goal to finish the year with no more injuries.  Please do your part and work in a safe manner.  If you see others performing an unsafe act, please stop them.  If your job site conditions are poor, please bring this to your Superintendent's attention and/or call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689 so we can implement a plan to make the job site conditions safer.  You can make a difference - so be a "difference maker!"  Safety at I.D.I. is all about "Everyone Going Home Alive and in the Same Condition As They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!"

Have a Safe Day!

When Are Outriggers Required On My Baker Scaffold?

First of all, what are outiggers?  Outriggers are components that get attached to a scaffold base to help prevent it from tipping.  OSHA requirements call for outriggers or securing a scaffold whenever you are exceeding a 4 to 1 height to base width ratio.  This would mean that if you are on a 5' wide scaffold tower and your platform height is 20' or higher, you would then have to install outriggers on the scaffold or secure the scaffold to the structure to prevent the scaffold from possibly tipping.  Baker scaffolds are narrower than the heavy duty frame type scaffolds.  The baker type scaffolds that International Decorators owns are 29" wide.  Our baker scaffolds have a manufacturer requirement that is more stringent that the OSHA outrigger requirement for scaffolds used at construction sites.  Our baker scaffold manufacturer requirements call for outriggers to be used whenever you are double stacking or triple stacking sections to create a scaffold tower.  The highest you are allowed to erect a baker type scaffold tower is 3 sections high which is approximately 18' high.  So the next time you find that you are double stacking or triple stacking your baker scaffolds meaning that your platform height is going to exceed the 6' height, you are required to install outriggers or secure your scaffold to the structure. 
Do I need to install outriggers on all 4 sides of my baker scaffold?  You do if you are not close to a wall.  If your scaffold is out in the open area of a room or building and your scaffold could possibly tip in any direction, you would then be required to install outriggers on both sides of your scaffold meaning that you would need 4 outriggers.  If your scaffold is set up close to a wall, the wall will act as your outrigger and prevent you from tipping towards the wall, so in this case, you would just need to install 2 outriggers on the scaffold opposite of the side of the wall. 

Below is a photo showing carpenter, Kent Cutshall, using outriggers on his baker scaffold.  Kent's scaffold is not double stacked and his platform is below the 6' height, so outriggers would not be required.  However, Kent chose to install outriggers as a safety precaution since he is using force against the structure to drill holes in the structural steel.  Kent is also using safety rails to prevent falls and he appropriately has all 6 wheels locked.  Great job - Kent!

Next Quarterly Safety Meeting Will Be On 11/5/11

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  We have scheduled our 4th and final quarterly safety meeting for 2011.  The meeting will be held on Saturday, 11/5/11 at 7:00am at our Barrington office location.  Please mark your calendars.  The exact training topic has not yet been determined.  We will provide more information to everyone over the next couple of weeks.  Please plan on attending as your attendance is vital to sustaining our overall safety culture and in our battle against injuries.  As always, if you have any safety related questions, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689. 

Have a Safe Day!

Safety Coordinator Reports E-mailed Direct to Safety Coordinators

Good morning to all I.D.I. Safety Coordinators:  You should have all received an e-mail this morning from me explaining that we are now e-mailing our Safety Coordinator report to all of you.  That e-mail contained an attachment which is our Safety Coordinator spreadsheet.  If you are having any trouble opening the attachment or trouble understanding the spreadsheet, please contact your Superintendent or our Safety Director, Peter Graham, at (847) 417-1689 so we can help you with it. 
You will be receiving this report via e-mail from me every Monday morning unless I am not in the office on a particular Monday in which case I will e-mail the report the next business day that I am in the office.  The reason for e-mailing each of you this report is to help us to better manage obtaining the toolbox talks and safety inspection forms from you.  This report will also serve as a reminder if you are behind on getting your safety documents turned in and will also serve as a notice that if you turned one in and for some reason didn't get credit for it.  If you see any descrepancies on the spreadsheet, please give our Safety Director, Peter Graham a call at (847) 417-1689. 
Also, thank you for being a Safety Coordinator and helping us in the battle against injury prevention.  Performing your safety inspections and toolbox talks on Monday mornings is a vital and necessary part of our safety culture.  Please do your part and gather your crew for the safety talk; your actions may prevent a serious injury from occurring. 

Have a Safe Day!