Summer Heat - Drink Plenty of Water and Communicate With Your Foreman!

Working In The Heat!  Summer is here and we are getting 90 plus degree weather this week.  This is a good time to put out another reminder of what too look for as for as heat exhaustion symptoms, prevention methods, etc.  Although summer heat is the largest cause of heat distress disorder, it may also occur when workers are exposed to confined areas such as pipelines, tanks and other spaces with limited ventilation, and any confined area involving welding or cutting.

Symptoms:
The symptoms of heat stress disorders are very slow to start, but increase in intensity if precautions are not taken. The onset of the initial symptoms are mild and usually involve headaches, thirst, and tiredness.
Heat stress can move to heat stroke, a life-threatening medical emergency, quickly when the body's natural cooling system breaks down and causes the body core temperature to rise and overheat the brain. Some of the symptoms of heat stroke are immense thirst, severe headaches, disorientation, dry/hot skin (no sweating) and possibly collapse.

Treatment/Prevention:
The following ideas may aid in combating heat stress disorders:
1. Employees accustomed to working in the heat are better candidates for job assignments where heat stress disorders may occur.
2. Until employees acclimate to the high temperatures, allow them for short frequent breaks to cool down.
3. If heat is affecting employees, it’s a good idea to rotate employees job tasks from the heat exposure area to a non-heat exposure area on a regular basis to help in avoiding heat stress symptoms.
4. Employees should be encouraged to drink plenty of fluids (water, Gatorade, Powerade, etc.) to replace electrolytes. Water is actually the best choice. Employees should not drink any carbonated beverages (Coke, Pepsi, Energy drinks, etc.) as these only increase dehydration and give a false sense of being properly hydrated. Also, the use of alcohol the evening before the work shift, can lead to dehydration even before heat exposure.

If an employee appears to be suffering from heat stress disorder, remove him or her from the heat and provide a cool, shaded place to rest and provide them with plenty of water. If the employee is disoriented or non-responsive, call for medical attention immediately. (911 in most areas)
The goal is to recognize the hazards and symptoms of heat stress disorders and stop them before they occur. Remember, there is no better cure than prevention.

As always, if you are having to take extra breaks due to the extreme heat, you must notify your lead supervisor who in turn must contact your Superintendent.  

Should you have any questions regarding heat related stress, you are encouraged to call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689. 

Have a Safe Day!

Quarterly Safety Make-up Meeting, Thursday, 6/14/12 at 4:00pm!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  As you all know, we had our 2nd quarterly safety meeting for 2012 on Saturday, 6/2/12.  The safety training topic was Scaffold Safety. Many of you worked on Saturday for I.D.I. during the meeting and others had called ahead advising they could not attend due to other obligations.  Here is your chance to attend the make-up safety meeting.  We have scheduled the make-up quarterly safety meeting for Thursday, 6/14/12 at 4:00pm.  The meeting will be held in our warehouse at our office location which is 28059 W. Commercial Ave. in Barrington Il.  If you plan on attending, please make sure you contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham via e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com or by phone at (847) 417-1689, on or before 6/13/12.  We need an accurate head count for the meeting as we will be having to rent chairs.  Should you have any questions regarding the make-up safety meeting, please contact Peter Graham.

Have a Safe Day!

Quarterly Safety Meeting on June 2nd!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  Just a reminder that all employees are invited to attend our 2nd quarterly safety meeting for 2012 which will be held on Saturday, June 2nd from 7:00am to about 9:00am.  The safety training topic will be on Scaffold Safety.  The meeting will be held at our office location in the warehouse at 28059 W. Commercial Ave., Barrington, IL 60010.  We last trained on scaffolding at our May, 2008 quarterly safety meeting so it’s time for a refresher for the veterans and maybe some new safety training for the new hires.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2.3 million people work on scaffolding annually.  There are over 10,000 scaffold related injuries on average per year.  There has been an average of 88 scaffold related fatalities over the past 5 years.  Scaffold ranks #2 as the most frequently cited construction OSHA standards with 7,069 citations being issued in 2010.  We want to provide scaffold safety training so that you don’t become one of these statistics.  We want for all of our employees to live up to our safety mission statement which is: “Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!”  And that is why we are providing scaffold safety training.   

We encourage everyone to attend for several reasons of which the most important reason is for your safety. 

We look forward to seeing you on June 2nd.  Should you have any questions regarding scaffold safety or the upcoming meeting, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.  

Have a Safe Day!

Our Industrial Paint Division is "Having a Blast!"

Our industrial paint division is in the process of beautifying a 6 million gallon steel water tank in the northern suburbs. This is the largest size potable water tank in the state of Illinois.  Our scope of work involves abrasive blasting of the interior steel of the tank and then coating the interior and exterior of the tank.  Our industrial paint crew is off to a great start with their safety performance. There is a lot that goes into the planning and implementation of safety on a project of this nature. Some of the safety aspects of the project involve ventilating the interior of the tank, monitoring the air, our crew wearing air-supplied helmet respirators, protective gloves, hearing protection, protective clothing, safety cables on all the blast hoses, a dust collector system, fall protection while working on the tank roof top, aerial lift safety, etc.  Below are a couple of photos & a video showing how it's done!  Great job crew; keep up the safety performance.    

Today’s Safety Topic: Communication & Job Rotation!

Communication among each other can prevent many injuries especially those of a repetitive nature.  All employees need to communicate with their supervisors if they are developing pain in their shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, back, etc., from performing a specific task over and over.  These types of problems can be prevented from turning into an injury.  If you are noticing signs that your body is getting fatigued from doing a repetitive task over and over, your body probably just needs a break from that specific task which is causing the pain.  The preventative measure in this case to alleviate the pain and to keep the pain from becoming an injury could be as simple as job rotation.  Once the employee reports to his/her lead supervisor that he/she is developing pain in a specific body part from performing a repetitive task, the lead supervisor should then discuss this with their Superintendent and develop a plan to change that employee’s duties for a period of time to give that body part a break.  This simple procedure of job rotation will typically prevent the pain from becoming an injury.  If a supervisor knows ahead of time of a repetitive task that will go on for a long period of time, an idea would be to have a couple of employees trained to perform the task and rotate the employees out every couple hours, days or as needed to help reduce the risk of an injury.    

  

If not for yourself, be safe for your family and loved ones.

  

Should you have any questions regarding this topic, you are encouraged to discuss this with your lead supervisor, Superintendent our call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

Stair Safety - Stair Treads (not filled in)!

You will eventually come across this at a job site.  You have work on multiple floors and the stairs are installed, however the treads are not filled in.  What should you do? 

First of all, you cannot walk on or use stairs in this condition.  The treads need to be appropriately filled in.  They should either be temporarily filled in usually with wood or sometimes Styrofoam or permanently filled in with concrete.  Either way, until the treads are filled in, they are a trip and fall hazard.  If the stairs are filled in with temporary measures, you need to ensure that the temporary fill is even and level and still does not pose a trip and fall hazard. 

If you come across a stairwell that has stair treads that are not filled in, you should do the following:  Notify your lead supervisor of the hazard.  The lead supervisor should in turn notify the general contractor of the hazard so that measures can be taken to fix the hazard.  All of our employees need to be made aware of the hazard and notified to not use the stairs until the treads are appropriately filled in and the stairs have been determined as safe to use.  The stairwell should then be closed down as soon as possible.  It is not necessarily your responsibility to close the stairwell, however, it is your responsibility to stay off the stairs and to notify your lead supervisor so that safety measures can be implemented.  “Stairwell Closed” signs and barricades shall be installed at all levels of access to the stairs.  Caution tape alone is not considered a good safety measure as many people tend to just walk under the caution tape and not pay much attention to it. 

Many employees may be tempted to use the unsafe stairs as they are right there in front of them.  They say to themselves, “I will only be on the stairs for a minute and no one will see me.”  This is why the stairs need to be closed down, so that no one is tempted to use them.  If an I.D.I. employee is found using stairs with the treads not filled in, that is an unsafe act and the employee shall be issued a written safety warning for his/her own safety. 

Also, all employees should be informed of how they should access the other floors.  Is there another set of stairs that have been completed?  Is there ladder access to the other floors? 

Next Quarterly Safety Meeting – June 2nd!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  All employees are invited to attend our 2nd quarterly safety meeting for 2012 which will be held on Saturday, June 2nd from 7:00am to about 9:00am.  The safety training topic will be on Supported Scaffold Safety.  The meeting will be held at our office location in the warehouse at 28059 W. Commercial Ave., Barrington, IL 60010.  We last trained on scaffolding at our May, 2008 quarterly safety meeting so it’s time for a refresher for the veterans and maybe some new safety training for the new hires.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2.3 million people work on scaffolding annually.  There are over 10,000 scaffold related injuries on average per year.  There has been an average of 88 scaffold related fatalities over the past 5 years.  Scaffold ranks #2 as the most frequently cited construction OSHA standards with 7,069 citations being issued in 2010.  We want to provide scaffold safety training so that you don’t become one of these statistics.  We want for all of our employees to live up to our safety mission statement which is: “Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!”  And that is why we are providing scaffold safety training.   

We encourage everyone to attend for several reasons of which the most important reason is for your safety. 

We look forward to seeing you on June 2nd.  Should you have any questions regarding scaffold safety or the upcoming meeting, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.  

Have a Safe Day!