M.S.D.S. Sheets - What Does Readily Available Mean?

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  You often hear that you must have the material safety data sheets (M.S.D.S.) available at your site for every product you are using or there could be big trouble.  For clarification, I called OSHA and discussed this topic.  OSHA informed me that M.S.D.S. must be readily available within 4 hours of request from OSHA.  We discussed this further and I was advised that it is o.k. to have a library of our M.S.D.S. in our computer as long as they could be on site within 4 hours of a request.  However, there are times when it is a requirement to have the M.S.D.S. on site.  The M.S.D.S. are required to be on site when required by the general contractor.  Also, if we are using a product that is harmful to one's health or could cause death, then we would be required to have the M.S.D.S. on site.  In general, for our drywall board, taping mud, metal studs, latex paints, fiberglass acoustic tile, and other non-hazardous materials that we use, it is O.K. to not have the M.S.D.S. on site.  If you are using a product that you are unfamiliar with, a highly corrosive product, a product that can harm your organs through inhalation or ingestion or severely harm you in any way, and if you don't have the M.S.D.S. on site for those products, you should contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham and he will get the M.S.D.S. to you.  Should you have any questions regarding material safety data sheets, working with chemicals, our hazard communication program, etc., please e-mail our Safety Director, Peter Graham at pgraham@4id.com.  Also, we do supply M.S.D.S. sheets to the projects we work at a majority of time.  Where it can be difficult to manage are the shorter-term tenant space jobs.

Have a Safe Day!

Reminder - Next Quarterly Safety Meeting on 11/5/11

Good morning 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!

Field Safety Committee Meeting Today at 3:00pm

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  We are having our bi-monthly Field Safety Committee meeting today at 3:00pm.  This is where our Safety Director gets together with representatives from each of our trades and we discuss safety.  We go over the recent injuries that occurred since we previously met and we develop corrective measures to help prevent reoccurrences to other employees.  We discuss our safety policies and procedures.  We discuss how our job sites are looking such as housekeeping, fall protection, electrical hazards, etc.  We discuss unsafe acts that have been occurring and many other topics.  We get together to help make your career and profession safer.  If you have any ideas, thoughts or suggestions for the safety committee to discuss, you can talk to the field representatives about it and ask them to bring it up at the safety committee so we can brainstorm the matter.  The field representatives are Joe Bellich - paint, Rafael Nunez - taping, James Millar - acoustic, and Matt Larson for framing and carpentry.  These guys are volunteering their time for 6 meetings for the year to help make your career with I.D.I. safer.  Please use these safety committee members as your mouth piece. 

Have a Safe Day!

303 Consecutive Days Since Our Last Lost-Time Injury

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  As of today, we are currently on a streak of 303 consecutive days worked since our last lost-time injury which occurred on 12/20/10.  That is a pretty darn good run, however, we are still over 100 days short of our record of 435 consecutive days worked between lost-time injuries.  This is a nice goal to shoot for which would be good for everyone in the company.  Our other shorter term goal is to finish out our current year with no more injuries.  Our year ends in 1 1/2 weeks on 10/31/11.  As you know from a previous article, we were at $0.31 cents injury cost per man hours worked and our goal is to be at $0.50 or better.  This would be our 1st time of exceeding this goal since we began tracking it 5 years ago.  As of today we have dropped another penny down to $0.30 injury cost per man hours worked.  We encourage you to stay focused on safety over the next week and a half to help us obtain and exceed this goal.  Reaching and exceeding this goal will enable I.D.I. to bid more competitively in the years to follow as this would help to reduce our insurance premiums.  Being able to bid more competitively can only help to get many of our family members back to work in this poor construction economy.  This will be discussed in further detail at our upcoming company wide quarterly safety meeting on 11/5/11.  Be safe for yourself and your loved ones as they count on it the most. 

Have a Safe Day!

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!