Reminder - Quarterly Safety Meeting, Saturday, 4/20/13 Painters & Tapers Only!

International Decorators put out a memo on 2/5/13 advising that we would no longer be holding volunteer quarterly safety meetings.  The reason being is that we were contacted by the Chicago Carpenters Union and they demanded that if we hold our meetings, we must pay our employees for attending these training sessions plus pay all contributions into the fringe benefit funds.  This makes our quarterly safety meetings cost prohibitive. 

We are currently working on plans to ensure that all of our employees continue to receive safety training.  In the meantime, we contacted District Council #30 & #14 (painters & tapers unions) and they have given us their permission to continue to offer our quarterly safety training meetings.  With that being said, we are holding our 1^st quarterly safety meeting for 2013 on April 20^th.  This meeting will be held for painters and tapers only. 

If you are a painter or taper employee for International Decorators, you are invited to attend our quarterly safety meeting on Saturday, April 20, 2013 from 7:00am to about 9:00am.  The safety meeting will be held at our office location in the warehouse at 28059 W. Commercial Ave., Barrington, IL 60010.  The meeting topics will be on respirator safety including fit testing and safe stilt usage.

Painters (and tapers that have a respirator for 3M Fire Dam applications) – please ensure that you come to the meeting clean shaven in the areas where the respirator seal comes into contact with your face.  Also, please ensure that you bring your ½ mask respirator with you and your full mask respirator if you have one as you will be fit tested on them. 

We look forward to seeing you on April 20th.  Should you have any questions regarding the upcoming meeting, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.  

Seven Common Causes of Incidents!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  The following is a toolbox talk from the Construction Safety Council's website in regards to the common causes of accidents and injuries.  This serves as a good reminder and as a tool to use in our battle against injuries.

Consider this statistic: 80 out of every 100 incidents are the fault of the person involved in the incident. Unsafe Acts cause four times as many incidents & injuries as unsafe conditions. Incidents occur for many reasons. In most industries people tend to look for "things" to blame when an incident happens, because it's easier than looking for "root causes," such as those listed below. Consider the underlying incident causes described. Have you been guilty of any of these attitudes or behaviors? If so, you may have not been injured; but next time you may not be so lucky.

• Taking Shortcuts: Every day we make decisions we hope will make the job faster and more efficient. But do time savers ever risk your own safety, or that of other crew members? Short cuts that reduce your safety on the job are not shortcuts, but an increased chance for injury.

• Being Over Confident: Confidence is a good thing. Overconfidence istoo much of a good thing. "It'll never happen to me" is an attitude that can lead to improper procedures, tools, or methods in your work. Any of these can lead to an injury.

• Starting a Task with Incomplete Instructions: To do the job safely and right the first time you need complete information. Have you ever seen a worker sent to do a job, having been given only a part of the job's instructions? Don't be shy about asking for explanations about work procedures and safety precautions. It isn't dumb to ask questions; it's dumb not to.

• Poor Housekeeping: When clients, managers or safety professionals walk through your work site, housekeeping is an accurate indicator of everyone's attitude about quality, production and safety. Poor housekeeping creates hazards of all types. A well maintained area sets a standard for others to follow. Good housekeeping involves both pride and safety.

• Ignoring Safety Procedures: Purposely failing to observe safety procedures can endanger you and your co-workers. You are being paid to follow the company safety policies-not to make your own rules. Being "casual" about safety can lead to a casualty!

• Mental Distractions from Work: Having a bad day at home and worrying about it at work is a hazardous combination. Dropping your 'mental' guard can pull your focus away from safe work procedures. You can also be distracted when you're busy working and a friend comes by to talk while you are trying to work. Don't become a statistic because you took your eyes off the machine "just for a minute."

• Failure to Pre-Plan the Work: There is a lot of talk today about Job Hazard Analysis. JHA's are an effective way to figure out the smartest ways to work safely and effectively. Being hasty in starting a task, or not thinking through the process can put you in harm’s way. Instead, Plan Your Work and then Work Your Plan!

"It is better to be careful 100 times than to get killed once." (Mark Twain)

Have a Safe Day!

Green Tape on Cords 4/1/13 - 6/30/13!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  We begin a new quarter on Monday, 4/1/13 for our Assured Grounding Program.  The Safety Coordinators will be supplied with green tape from your Superintendents. Just a reminder that we need for you to inspect, test and color-code with green 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 white electrical tape and install the green electrical tape about 1" down from both plug ends.  Your cord is now in compliance with our 2nd quarter's Assured Ground Program.  The green tape shall remain in place from 4/1/13 through 6/30/13.  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!

Texting and Driving – A Dangerous Combination!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  

Below is an article about the dangers of texting while driving.  You are one of our family members and we care about you when you are away from work as much as we do when you are working.  For the sake of yourself and your loved one's; please don't text while driving as there are statistics out there showing that texting while driving is now leading to more driving fatalities that driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.  

Any form of distraction while driving can lead to disastrous consequences. Texting while driving has become the #1 most dangerous distraction for drivers in the United States. It has gotten a lot of press lately but some drivers don’t seem to feel that it can affect them.

Many people consider themselves multi-taskers behind the wheel. Some people even brag about the ability to text, eat, shave and even put on makeup while driving. What these drivers do not realize is that they are essentially driving blind, and that taking their eyes off the road, even for just a few seconds, can take the life of a stranger or loved one.

Distracted driving is the #1 cause of death of teenagers in the United States. 500,000 people were injured and 5,000 people died in 2009 alone from distracted driving, and that number has continued to climb. The average time eyes are off the road when performing a single text is 5 seconds. 5 seconds on the freeway is enough time to travel the length of a football field. What seemed so far away when you started will soon be right in front of you.

If you text and drive, you are statistically 23 times more likely to get in a car crash than someone who has taken the pledge not to text and drive. Of all the fatal car accidents in America, 18% of them were caused from someone reading or writing a text.

Texting isn’t the only distraction that can cause accidents. Looking at Facebook, changing the music and playing games are also major factors too. Anything that causes you to look away, even for a second can lead to major disaster. Other non-phone related distractions are:

• Eating
• Changing the radio station or CDs
• Children in the back seat – quieting them down or feeding them
• Shaving, applying makeup, or doing your hair
• Daydreaming or sleeping

As you can see, there are many other distractions that can pull your eyes away from the road. The best plan of attack is to take care of these things BEFORE YOU GET INTO THE CAR. These things can wait.

Please remember our safety mission statement:   

"Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!"

Have a Safe Day!

Quarterly Safety Meeting, Saturday, 4/20/13 Painters & Tapers Only!

International Decorators put out a memo on 2/5/13 advising that we would no longer be holding volunteer quarterly safety meetings.  The reason being is that we were contacted by the Chicago Carpenters Union and they demanded that if we hold our meetings, we must pay our employees for attending these training sessions plus pay all contributions into the fringe benefit funds.  This makes our quarterly safety meetings cost prohibitive. 

We are currently working on plans to ensure that all of our employees continue to receive safety training.  In the meantime, we contacted District Council #30 & #14 (painters & tapers unions) and they have given us their permission to continue to offer our quarterly safety training meetings.  With that being said, we are holding our 1^st quarterly safety meeting for 2013 on April 20^th.  This meeting will be held for painters and tapers only. 

If you are a painter or taper employee for International Decorators, you are invited to attend our quarterly safety meeting on Saturday, April 20, 2013 from 7:00am to about 9:00am.  The safety meeting will be held at our office location in the warehouse at 28059 W. Commercial Ave., Barrington, IL 60010.  The meeting topics will be on respirator safety including fit testing and safe stilt usage.

Painters and (tapers that have a respirator for 3M Fire Dam applications) – please ensure that you come to the meeting clean shaven in the areas where the respirator seal comes into contact with your face.  Also, please ensure that you bring your ½ mask respirator with you and your full mask respirator if you have one as you will be fit tested on them. 

We look forward to seeing you on April 20th.  Should you have any questions regarding the upcoming meeting, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.  

OSHA Fatalities for Region 5 (2007 - 2011)

The below graphs are from OSHA for region 5 which is the region International Decorators is located in.  Region 5 consists of the following states:  Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. These graphs illustrate the causes of fatalities in region 5 for the five-year period of 2007 through 2011.  As you can see, falls account for the overall most fatalities during this time period followed by struck by and then electrocutions.  The 2nd graph below shows that most fatal falls were from ladders followed by scaffolding and then through skylights.  This is why over the years we have provided a tremendous amount of safety training on fall protection.  Falls are the leading killer in construction.  This is why we don't "wing it" when it comes to fall protection.  We plan fall protection needs into our projects, however, there are times when unforeseen fall protection issues arise.  

If you are exposed to falls of 6' or more to a lower level, you must use fall protection. Employees cannot work in unprotected areas where they are exposed to falls of 6' or more to lower levels.  You must have either guardrails protecting you from falls, personal fall arrest systems such as a safety harness, lanyard and choker secured to a 5,000 lb anchorage point and in some cases a warning line system.  

If you find that you are at a job site and there unprotected 6' fall exposures, notify your supervisor so we can ensure that we have a fall protection plan in place.  You can also call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.  

Have a Safe Day!

  

Acoustic Division - Hazard With 4' Tee's in Scissor Lifts!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:
We recently identified a hazard involving 4' acoustic Tee's being installed while in scissor lifts. When 4' Tee's are standing up vertically in scissor lifts on the platform floor, often times, the Tee's protrude up above the scissor lift safety rails which then exposes the acoustic carpenter's arms to the sharp edges of the Tee's. It was also identified that some acoustic carpenters have already foreseen the hazard and they were implementing various methods to reduce the exposure of sustaining a puncture or lacerations on their arms.

The photo below shows an example of the hazard.

The photo below shows the preferred method that we want to implement moving forward.  If you are an acoustic carpenter and you are installing 4' Tee's while in a scissor lift, the following is the method to be used to reduce your exposure to a laceration hazard:

Bring a box of 4' Tees's into the scissor lift and only cut the face of the box off leaving the back side, the sides, the top & the bottom of the box intact.  This way the box remains intact and you can still grab the Tee's from the front opening of the box. This method allows for the top portion of the cardboard box to be a protective barrier between your skin and the edge of the Tee's.

Acoustic carpenter, Rick Stierle was the employee observed using this method.  Great job Rick! - your method may prevent one of our employees from sustaining an injury!

Should  you have any questions relating to this method or anything safety related, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!