Monday Morning Toolbox Talks!

Good morning Safety Coordinators:  Today is Monday which means it's that time of the week to perform a weekly job site safety inspection and to perform a meaningful toolbox talk with our employees around 9:45am.  Let's start the week off on the right foot for the benefit of our employees.  Some time between 7:00am and 9:00am this morning, all Safety Coordinators should grab a safety inspection form from your Safety Coordinator manual and walk your job site and look for hazards.  Any hazards found should be documented on your safety inspection form and comments about the hazard and plan to protect our employees from the hazard should be documented.  Then after your morning break, at 9:45am, the Safety Coordinators should gather the crew and perform a toolbox talk that is pertinent and meaningful to the tasks being performed, the equipment being used or to something that pertains to safety at your job site.  Then after the toolbox talk has been completed, have all the employees at the project that participated in the toolbox talk sign the toolbox talk roster.  Finally, the Safety Coordinator should advise the employees of any hazards found during the walk around safety inspection and what our plan is to abate the hazard and to protect the employees from the hazard.  If a hazard is identified that cannot be abated immediately, you should then contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham, to discuss it so we can implement a plan to abate the hazard.  After the above is completed, please do your best to get the toolbox talk sign in roster & safety inspection form turned in to our Safety Department no later than Friday, 2/15/13.  Lets make it a goal to get 100% of the toolbox talks rosters and safety inspection forms turned in by Friday. If you have any questions, please contact our Safety Director, Peter at (847) 417-1689 or you can e-mail him at pgraham@4idi.com.

Thank you for helping us to prevent injuries to our employees.

Have a Safe Day!

OSHA's Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Safety Violations

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  As you all know, one of our company's annual safety goals is to have no OSHA violations.  Receiving an OSHA violation means that we either aren't working in a safe manner or we don't have safe procedures in place or being followed.  OSHA violations cost employers a lot of money and general contractors don't like hiring subcontractors that have a history of OSHA violations.  International Decorator's last OSHA violation was in 1998.  We have worked together as a team for the past 15 years with having ZERO OSHA violations. Great job - team!  We cannot let our guard down.  We need to keep at it everyday by performing our tasks in a safe manner and communicating among each other about job site hazards that do arise so we can protect ourselves from them.  

Below is the most recent list from OSHA of the top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety violations for fiscal year 2012.  Almost everyone of the topics listed below are safety topics that we are involved with in one way or another.  We have provided safety training on all of the topics below that are incorporated into the work we do.

This list is important as it shows what OSHA is looking for when they come on to our job sites and it shows the common hazards that they are finding.  

Have a Safe Day!

1. Fall Protection: 7,250 total violations

Frequently violated requirements included failure to protect open sides and edges, to prevent falls from roofs, and to cover holes.

2. Hazard Communication: 4,696 total violations

Commonly violated requirements included failure to have a written program, inadequate employee education and training, improper or no labels on containers, and no material safety data sheets or lack of access to them.

3. Scaffolding: 3,814 total violations

Violations included problems with scaffold construction, improper access to scaffolding surfaces and lack of guardrails.

4. Respiratory Protection: 2,371 total violations

Frequent violations included no written respiratory protection program, poor fit-test procedures, unsuitable respirator selection process and lack of procedures for voluntary use of respirators.

5. Ladders: 2,310 total violations

Violations included damaged side rails, use of the top ladder step, inappropriate ladder for the job and excessive loads on ladders.

6. Machine Guarding: 2,097 total violations

Violations included point-of-operation exposures, inadequate or no anchoring of fixed machinery, and exposure to blades.

7. Powered Industrial Trucks: 1,993 total violations

Common violations were inadequate operator training and refresher training, and poor conditions of trucks when returned to service after repair.

8. Electrical—Wiring: 1,744 total violations

Violations included problems with flexible cords and cables, boxes, and temporary wiring; poor use of extension cords, and using temporary wiring as permanent wiring.

9. Lockout/Tagout: 1,572 total violations

Frequent violations were poor or no energy control procedures, inadequate worker training and inspections not completed.

10. Electrical—General: 1,332 total violations

Common violations were related to electric shock and electrocution exposures.

From the "I Caught You" Series

At International Decorators, we have a habit of catching our employees working safely. Below are a few action shots of our employees being caught in action working in a safe manner.

Great job everyone!  You are helping us 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."

Mike Logisz was caught working safely on a 4' portable A-frame ladder while installing a Raco door frame system at 111 W. Jackson in Chicago!

Great job - Mike!

Jim Woods was caught doing the same thing as Mike while he was installing a door at 8430 W. Bryn Mawr in Chicago.  

You two are more alike than you think!

Great job - Jim!

The tapers at the College of Dupage led by Marcelo Ortega are using a rebar cap on the end of their mixing paddle for impalement protection. 

Great job Marcelo and the rest of our fine tapers!

Martin and Melchor Ortega working together at the College of Dupage installing drywall.  They are using safety rails and have the scaffold wheels locked. 

Great job gentlemen!

Framer, Jason Ondera was caught wearing a face shield in addition to safety glasses, gloves and a hard hit while cutting steel studs with a chop saw at the Rotary Club in Evanston.

Looking good Jason!  You perform almost as safe as your brother Chris!

A couple of I.D.I.'s finest moving drywall safely on a drywall cart at C.O.D. Their path of travel is clear and they are working in unison.  Both are wearing their hard hats, gloves, safety glasses, etc.  

Great job Praxedes and Reynaldo Lagunas!

Carpenter, Kevin Cloe was battling the cold elements and a door frame at the Polmax project.  Kevin was caught wearing safety glasses, hard hat, knee pad & gloves.  Also, his electrical cords were in safe condition for use and in compliance with our assured grounding program.  Kevin is newer to the company, he was  working alone and he was doing things the right way.  

Great job Kevin!

Hard Hats Required 100%

As you are all aware, we have a 100% hard hat policy at International Decorators.  Some people, however, don't like wearing hard hats.  We have come up with a hard hat exemption program for those that don't want to wear a hard hat for various reasons.  Please see our hard hat exemption program below and if you qualify, you may be exempt from having to wear one:

HARDHAT “EXEMPTION” PROGRAM

In our continuing efforts to encourage a progressive safety program, we announce a unique policy benefiting everyone. It is a hardhat exemption program. If you are one of those hard-headed individuals that wants to let your hair blow in the breeze, who feels a hardhat shortens his/her neck, and that in general it is just a pain in the you-know-what, this program is for you. Every employee is required to wear a hardhat on the job. But, if you earn a certificate of exemption, you will be excused from this requirement.  

The program works like this. If your head meets the standards for head protection, you don't need a hardhat. Contact the company safety department to be scheduled for the testing at the earliest possible date. Upon successful completion of testing, you will receive a beautiful embossed certificate, suitable for framing, identifying your head as conforming to American National Standards Institute requirements (ANSI Z89.1 and Z89.2 classes A, B, C and D). You will also receive a wallet sized card that you must carry at all times. The tests include the following:  

You will undergo a 24-hour water immersion test. A maximum of permitted absorption is 0.5% by weight. Air will be provided for the 24 hours at no charge. 

Next, an impact test will be conducted. While lying horizontally, with your head resting on a steel plate, an 8-lb. steel ball will be dropped on it several times from a height of 5 feet. If your head is not damaged, you pass.

Next, your head will be subjected to the application of a variety of acids, solvents, oils, and industrial gasses. It must pass with no damage or deficiencies.

A propane torch will be used to determine if your head is fire resistant. If slow burning, you may only achieve a Class A or B rating. If there are any holes in your head, it will restrict you from a Class A rating. 

On the final test, you must sustain 2200 volts AC, 60 Hz, for three minutes with leakage currents not exceeding 9 milli-amperes. Breakdown threshold has been established at 30,000 volts.

All tests must be conducted at a variety of temperatures ranging from -20 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you don't feel you can qualify, don't despair. Although not as pretty as your hairdo, your hardhat does provide protection for your head from all the above. Remember that unless you receive an exemption certificate, you must continue wearing your hardhat. Not wearing one is a privilege that will be granted only to those with proper certification and designated as genuine HARD HEADS.

Obviously this is a joke, however, this is a reminder of our 100% hard hat policy and all the protection you are afforded by wearing one.  

Have a Safe Day!

White Tape on Cords 1/1/13 - 3/31/13!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  We begin a new quarter on Tuesday, 1/1/13 for our Assured Grounding Program.  The Safety Coordinators will be supplied with white tape from your Superintendents. Just a reminder that we need for you are to inspect, test and color-code with white 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 lead supervisor.  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 outlet 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 supervisor.  If the cord passes the visual inspection and the cord tester test, you should then remove the previous quarter's orange electrical tape and install the white electrical tape about 1" down from both plug ends.  Your cord is now in compliance with our 1st quarter's Assured Ground Program.  The white tape shall remain in place from 1/1/13 through 3/31/13.  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!

How is the Housekeeping at Your Job Site?

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  As you all know, we recently completed our 4th and final quarterly safety meeting of 2012.  There was a total of 98 employees that attended our recent safety meeting of which the safety topic was "Slips, Trips & Falls - Housekeeping."  First of all, we want to thank the 98 employees that attended the safety meeting.  We hope that the meeting was beneficial to you in the battle against slip, trip and fall type injuries.  We had a lot of discussion at the meeting about poor housekeeping hazards and somethings that we as a team can do about them.  Please remember that if your job site is a mess and no one is helping to get the job site cleaned up, please discuss this with your Superintendent or with our Safety Director so we can assist in the matter.  What we don't want is for our employees to have to continue to work in cluttered areas that could lead to slip, trip and fall types of injuries as these type of injuries are preventable.  Sometimes it is just a matter of communication between our company and the general contractor to help get the place cleaned up.  If you are working at a cluttered job site, please don't just do nothing.  Be pro-active and communicate the problem to us.  Should you have any questions related to safety, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689 or you can e-mail him at pgraham@4idi.com.

Have a Safe Day!

Quarterly Safety Make-Up Meeting Wednesday, 12/12/12 at 4:00pm

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  As you all know, we had our 4th quarterly safety meeting of 2012 on Saturday, 12/1/12.  The safety topic was Slips, Trips & Falls and Poor Housekeeping.  We hope that the meeting was beneficial to you and provided you with some tips to help prevent you from sustaining a slip, trip and fall type injury.

We had 78 employees in attendance.  We want to thank all of you who attended.  This shows that you are a team player, that you care about your safety, the company and others working around you.

For those of you that could not attend, the quarterly safety make-up meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 12/12/12 at 4:00pm.  The meeting will be held at our office location at 28059 W. Commercial Ave. in Barrington, IL.  If you are planning on attending, you need to contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham, no later than Tuesday, 12/11/12 to notify him you are attending.  We need to know the head count ahead of time to help determine the room size, chair rental needs, etc. You can reach peter at (847) 526-7477 or by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com.

Hope to see you at the make-up meeting!

Have a Safe Day!