Injury Free July Goal - Update (1 minor Injury)

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  As you know, we have been promoting going injury free in July as July happens to be our highest injury frequency month for the past 5 years.  I wanted to provide an update to everyone as we recently had an injury on 7/18/12. Fortunately for the injured worker and for I.D.I., the injury was a no lost-time injury.  The injury involved a drywall hanger who was fastening drywall when a drywall screw that he was fastening with broke and the drywall hanger got a piece of debris in his right eye.  The drywall hanger and lead supervisor believe that a piece of the screw struck the right eye.  They cleaned the eye out with eye wash and the drywall hanger then continued working.  His eye felt fine the rest of the day other than some minor irritation.  The next morning when he woke up, his eye was bloodshot and irritated.  The injured worker sought medical care.  The doctor flushed his eye out and did not find any metal in the eye, however, the doctor advised that his eye was irritated and the doctor gave the injured worker eye drops and some pain medication to help with the irritation.  The injured worker was released to full duty work and he has a follow up appointment on Monday.  This turned out to be a minor injury in the big scheme of things.  The injured worker was wearing safety glasses when the incident occurred.  Our company is looking into the fastener screws that were being used to see if there is a problem with them.

So, all that being said, we won't be going injury-free this July, however, we can still have a good safe month by not having more injuries on top of this one.  The goal remains the same.  Let's work together as a team to do whatever we can to help prevent any more occurrences.  At least in this case, the injured worker was wearing eye protection so there wasn't much more that he could have done to prevent this.  Thank goodness this eye injury wasn't any more serious than it was.

We will keep you updated as July moves along.

Have a Safe Day!

Injury-free July After 2 Weeks!

Below is a flyer that was inserted into everyone's paycheck envelope two weeks ago as July historically happens to be our highest injury frequency month.  After 2 weeks completed in July; so far, so good. We have had ZERO INJURIES - great job everyone on coming together as a team and making this happen. We still have 17 days to go in July so lets not let our guard down on the battle against injuries. Make everyday count and do whatever you can to help prevent yourself or a co-worker from being injured.  

I also need to mention how awesome we are currently doing on our injury cost goal. One of our safety goals is to be at $0.50 injury cost per man hours worked or better. We are currently at $0.25 injury cost per man hours worked which is terrific.  Keep in mind that we still have 3 1/2 months left in our current year, however, we are in position to have our safest year over the past 15 years.  

July historically happens to be our highest injury frequency month.  For the past 5 years, July has lead in this category.  This trend is most likely due to several factors.  Some of those factors are that we do get busier in July, extreme summer heat leading to fatigue and employees not focused on the task at hand due to their minds being on summer activities, family fun, etc.  

What can we do to combat this and reverse the trend?  As far as summer heat, I encourage you to read the article posted on our safety blog dated June 19^th, 2012.  The safety blog address is www.safetypete.blogspot.com.  As far as I.D.I. getting busier in July; that is true, we are very busy this month with several school projects, tenant work, etc., which means we have an increased work force working more hours which increases our injury risk.  To combat this, that means each individual should take it upon himself to focus on the task at hand and pre-plan safety into your task.  We are challenging everyone in the company to help us to reverse this negative trend and to help us reach our short term safety goal of having ZERO INJURIES IN JULY.  To reach this goal, we need your help.  Safety Coordinators play a big role in this effort.  Let's not just go through the motions in July in performing our toolbox talks.  Let's get the crews together and get serious about our Monday morning toolbox talk training.  Pick a topic that pertains to the type of task, equipment, job site conditions or hazards you are facing and read the toolbox talk to the crew. Then have a discussion about the topic so that everyone has a clear understanding and focus on safety. You can make a difference.  

If you need safety assistance at your project, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day & Safe July!

Red Tape on All 3-Pronged Electrical Tools & Extension Cords!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  All Safety Coordinators should have been provided a roll of red electrical tape.  We began a new quarter on 7/1/12 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 7/1/12 through 9/30/12.  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!

July - Historically Our Highest Injury Frequency Month

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  July historically happens to be our highest injury frequency month.  For the past 5 years, July has lead in this category.  This trend is most likely due to several factors.  Some of those factors are that we do get busier in July, extreme summer heat leading to fatigue and employees not focused on the task at hand due to their minds being on summer activities, family fun, etc.  What can we do to combat this and reverse the trend?  As far as summer heat, I encourage you to read the proceeding article on this blog. As far as I.D.I. getting busier in July; that is true, we are busy this month with several school projects, tenant work, etc., which means we have an increased work force working more hours which increases our injury risk.  To combat this, that means each individual should take it upon himself to focus on the task at hand and pre-plan safety into your task.  We are challenging everyone in the company to help us to reverse this negative trend and to help us reach our short term safety goal of having ZERO INJURIES IN JULY.  To reach this goal, we need your help.  Safety Coordinators play a big role in this effort.  Let's not just go through the motions in July in performing our toolbox talks.  Let's get the crews together and get serious about our Monday morning toolbox talk training.  Pick a topic that pertains to the type of task, equipment, job site conditions or hazards you are facing and read the toolbox talk to the crew.  Then have a discussion about the topic so that everyone has a clear understanding and focus on safety. You can make a difference.  If you need safety assistance at your project, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day & Safe July!

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!