Company-Wide Quarterly Safety Meetings & Safety Training Incentives Are Back!!!!!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  We are extremely excited and happy to inform you that we have received the approval from the Chicago Carpenter's Union that we can get back to performing Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meetings with all carpenters, framers and drywall hangers.  This means that we can now get back to performing volunteer safety training with all employees and not just the painters, tapers, warehouse and office personnel. 

We also are bringing back the Safety Training Incentives of which you are eligible to receive. The 2014 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Plan will be sent out to you in your pay check envelope one week from now, which is the week of 12/23/13 to 12/29/13, so you know when to look for it.  The format is similar to the previous format in that you can earn points for each safety meeting/training session that you attend.  What is different about the new 2014 volunteeer safety training incentive plan is that you are now eligible to earn safety training incentive points for attending our I.D.I. quarterly safety meetings and/or for taking approved safety training courses outside of the company offered ones. Here are some of the incentive plan details.  For each approved safety course that an employee completes between the period of November 1, 2013 and October 31, 2014, the employee will be rewarded with points.  At the end of the year we will calculate each employee’s yearly point totals and mail each of you a catalog in December of 2014, for which you can use to redeem your points.  The catalog will contain work wearables, and many other items.  The wearables typically include items such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, pants, baseball caps, winter knit hats, and much more.  The wearables will contain the International Decorators logo on them. For each safety course you complete, you will be rewarded with 100 points per hour of the course.  For example, if you complete a 4-hour 1^st aid/C.P.R. course, you will have earned 400 points.  If you complete an OSHA 30-hour construction course, you would earn 3,000 points for that course.  If you attend a 2-hour long I.D.I. Quarterly Safety Meeting, you will earn 200 points. 

Where can these approved safety training courses be taken?  They are offered at your union training schools, the Construction Safety Council, Lake County Contractors Association, on-line internet course, International Decorators Inc., and many other locations. 

Below are a listing of suggested courses that would benefit both you and International Decorators:

I.D.I. quarterly safety meeting – (each meeting is typically 2 hours long)
OSHA 30-hour
1^st Aid/C.P.R.
Aerial Lifts
Fall Protection
Scaffolding
Global Harmonization System (G.H.S.) Hazcom course
Health Hazards
Respirator Training
Lead Safety
Asbestos Safety
Confined Space
Electrical Safety
Ergonomics
Material Handling
Crane Rigging and/or Signal Person

To obtain credit for a completed safety training course, you would need to provide our Safety Director, Peter Graham, with proof of training.  You will typically be provided with a training card, certificate or some sort of documentation showing that you completed a course.  You can then send in a copy of your proof of training to Peter Graham via e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com, mail in a copy, fax a copy to (847) 526-7444, etc.  Peter also would need to know how many hours long each course taken was. 

If you are enrolling in a safety course, you are encouraged to call Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689, ahead of time to ensure that the safety course is an approved course that you will get safety incentive credit for.   

Final note – at the end of the year you will receive a catalog along with a letter advising of your accumulated yearly incentive point total so you can redeem your points; please redeem as many points of your point total as you can as the points are not rolled over into the next year.  You will be mailed the incentive catalog even if you are no longer employed with I.D.I. as long as you took an approved safety training course during your employment with I.D.I.

Why are we offering this volunteer safety training incentive program?  Because we care about you!  Because of our Safety Mission Statement which is: “Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It.” 

This is exciting news as we all can get back to coming together under one roof to provide vital safety training to help keep you safe, to have team camaraderie and to help maintain and sustain a positive safety culture!

Our next volunteer company-wide quarterly safety meeting will be held on February 8^th, 2014.  We will be providing more details about the upcoming meeting in the near future. 

If you have any questions about this at all, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

 

 

Safety is Like Butter, Because it's on a Roll!!!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  I just want to provide a little safety update about our injuries.  We are currently on a pretty good roll as far as our consecutive days worked since our last lost-time injury.  We have worked 203 consecutive days since the last lost-time injury occurred dating back to May 17, 2013.  We have a few milestones ahead of us.  Our next milestone goal would be 300 consecutve days, then the 1 full year mark of 365 days and if we can keep it rolling, the next milestone would be to break our record for the past 15 years which is 435 consecutive days worked between lost-time injuries. 

Lets keep this safety train rolling straight down the track and shoot for our upcoming milestones. 

To do this, we all need to be on the same page and looking out for one another.  If you observe someone not working in a safe manner, please reach out to them for their own well-being and on behalf of their loved ones and talk to them about stopping what they are doing unsafely.  It is in all of our best interest that all of us perform in a safe appropriate manner.  Injuries are no fun for anyone especially the injured employee and his family members.  Your loved ones depend on you to work safely and to come home to them in an injury-free and healthy manner.  The next time you catch yourself working unsafe, ask yourself why?  Why am I working unsafe?  It is because I feel I don't have time to go grab a pair of safety glasses?  Is it because I don't have time to go get safety rails for my scaffold because I have to get the job done?  The jobs always do get done and they get done in a more professional and appropriate manner when done safely.  If an injury occurs at a project, the job won't make any money.  Just like production, when it comes to safety, do it right and do it right the first time! 

Keep in mind I.D.I.'s 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!

Globally Hamonized System (GHS) Training Update

Good morning to all I.D.I. Safety Coordinators:  We want to provide you with a training update as to how the training is coming along on the new hazard communication program called the Globally Harmonized System or GHS.  We inserted a series of four toolbox talks into your safety coordinators manuals under the HAZCOM tab to help us roll out this OSHA mandatory training which is required to be done by December, 2013.  We have asked all Safety Coordinators to perform this series of toolbox talks over 4 consecutive Mondays which began on 11/11/13 starting with the first toolbox talk in the series which is named, "Training Requirements for the Revised Hazard Communication Standard" and it is numbered in your Safety Coordinator manual's index as HH2.  We have 48 Safety Coordinators and all 48 Safety Coordinators performed the HH2 toolbox talk and turned in their toolbox talk signature roster.  Awesome job Safety Coordinators as you got us started off on the right foot with this training.  The next toolbox talk in the series to be completed on Monday, 11/18/13 is named "Safety Data Sheet Sections" and it is listed as HH3 in your manuals.  So far this week we have obtained the HH3 toolbox talk signature rosters from 44 of the 48 Safety Coordinators.  This training and training documentation is extremely important to the company.  If you are one of the four Safety Coordinators who has not yet turned in your HH3 toolbox talk signature roster, please do so soon to help us get this 100% completed.  For next Monday, 11/25/13, the next toolbox talk in the series that we are asking all Safety Coordinators to train on is named, "Globally Harmonized System Label" and it is listed as HH4 in your manual.  This toolbox talk explains the new label format that product manufacturers will be required to follow.  Product manufacturers are required to be using this new label format by December 1st, 2015, however, employers are required to train on it now as many manufacturers are starting to implement the new label format already.  The new label format has 6 required elements that are to be on the label and you will learn what those elements are during the toolbox talk session.  This new format will bring consistency to all labels to help people to be able to read them easier.  They will also contain Pictograms which are symbols to help quickly identify the chemical's or product's health hazards and/or physical hazards.  This new label format will make it easier for people of all languages and for those that can't read to be able to understand the labels and the hazards associated with using the products.  The last toolbox talk in the series which is to be completed on Monday, 12/2/13, is named, "Hazard Communication Standardized Pictogram" and it is listed as HH5 in your manuals. 

This GHS toolbox talk series is basically helping us to kick-off the training.  It is to help get all of our employees at least familiar with the new hazcom program.  We will be providing more training on this subject through out the year. 

To All Safety Coordinators - Thank you for getting us off on the right foot with rolling out this mandatory safety training. If you have any questions at all about this training or about GHS in general, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham. 

Have a Safe Day!

Mandatory Safety Training on the Globally Harmonized System (G.H.S.)

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. Safety Coordinators: 

OSHA has revised their hazard communication standard with the addition of a program called the “Globally Harmonized System” or G.H.S. This system is to help improve the communication of chemical hazards to the employees or workers that use them in a concise clear format.  Some reasons for the G.H.S. program are because chemicals are produced and shipped throughout the world and the chemical labels and Safety Data Sheets all come in different formats.  Under the new system, all labels and Safety Data Sheets must all be produced in English, be in the same consistent format and all contain the same elements on the labels and Safety Data Sheets.  The labels and S.D.S. sheets are to make it easier for people who are illiterate (can’t read) or for people of different languages to understand them.  They are also adding Pictograms to all labels and Safety Data Sheets.  Pictograms are simply symbols that represent either a physical hazard, a health hazard or environmental hazard.  It is mandatory that employers provide training on this new program by December 1^st, 2013.  This is where we need your help.  

There are 3 main components to the G.H.S. program:

1.       Hazard Classification
2.       Container Labels
3.       Safety Data Sheets  (formerly called Material Safety Data Sheets)  

We have inserted 4 new toolbox talks pertaining to the G.H.S. training into your new Safety Coordinator manuals of which you should have recently received over the past 2 weeks.  We need your help in getting this training done.  We are advising all Safety Coordinators to perform the same toolbox talk this coming Monday, 11/11/13 during your morning toolbox talk session.

All Safety Coordinators – on Monday, 11/11/13, please perform the toolbox talk under the Hazcom Tab which is listed as HH2.  This is a 2-page toolbox talk to help kick off the training as it provides an overview of the G.H.S. program.  On your toolbox talk signature roster, where it says: Topic Name and Number, please write  the following:  Revised Hazcom Standard 2013 G.H.S. – HH2.

After you read the toolbox talk to your crew, as always, please have them sign the roster and turn it in as usual.  

We will be sending out e-mails to all Safety Coordinators over the next 4 weeks providing instructions as to what toolbox talk to perform on the given Monday to help us get this training completed.

We thank you in advance for helping to get this necessary and mandatory training performed over the next few Mondays.

 

We will send out another e-mail this Friday, 11/15/13 with information about what toolbox talk everyone should perform on Monday, 11/18/13.  

If you have any questions at all, you are encouraged to call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.  

Have a Safe Day!

Upcoming Safety Training Items at I.D.I.

Happy Halloween to all I.D.I. employees:  We hope that everyone has an enjoyable and safe halloween.  We just want to mention a couple of upcoming safety training sessions to keep everyone in the loop.  We have increased our field safety supervision coverage as we appointed 3 employees to the role of Safety Coordinator for our upcoming new year which starts on November 1st.  These 3 employees have demonstrated safety leadership skills during their tenure with International Decorators and we believe they will benefit our employees in helping to prevent injuries by serving in the role as a Safety Coordinator.  The 3 employees are framer - Dwayne Arneson, framer - Jason Ondera and painter - Dennis Johnson.  We are holding a Safety Coordinator training session with them on Friday, 11/1/13 at 2:30pm.  Please congratulate them and respect their position when they are performing future toolbox talks and performing weekly job site safety inspections. 

We also want to mention that we had a terrific turnout at our 10/26/13 volunteer quarterly safety meeting which was held for tapers, painters, drivers, office and shop personnel.  The meeting topics were back injury prevention, lifting/handling equipment and materials and the new Hazard Communication Standard involving the new Globally Harmonized System (G.H.S.).  We will provide the actual attendance/show-up percentage rate after we have our make-up meeting for those that could not attend.  We truly appreciate the employees who took time out of their busy lives for the sake of their safety and for those working around them to help make themselves and our whole company better and safer by attending the volunteer meeting.  Your actions show what you are all about and that you care!

The volunteer quarterly safety make-up meeting for the tapers and painters is being held on Tuesday, 11/5/13 at 4:00pm and invitations have been sent out to the prospective attendees.  If you have any questions, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689 or by e-mail at peterg@4idi.com.

 

Have a Safe Day and Safe Halloween!

Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting, Saturday, 10/26/13 - Painters, Tapers & Shop Personnel Only!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees: Just a reminder that our next volunteer quarterly safety meeting is this coming Saturday, October 26th from 7:00am to about 9:00am. The meeting is being held for the painters and tapers only as far as field personnel and it is also offered to the drivers, warehouse and office personnel. We will be providing training on 2 safety topics.  The first hour will be on back & joint injury prevention, lifting techniques, pre-work stretching and it will be performed by our guest trainer, Loren Wolf. We feel this topic is very beneficial as everybody lifts equipment and materials on almost a daily basis. This training may just help you prevent against sustaining a back injury, strain type injuries and other types of injuries caused by lifting. The 2nd hour of safety training will be on the new Hazard Communication Standard know as G.H.S.  This training involves a new chemical labeling system, safety data sheets (formerly known as material safety data sheets) and pictograms.  This is a new OSHA standard that employers are required to train on to help make working around chemicals safer for our employees. 

We provide safety training as a benefit to our employees to help prevent you and our other family members from sustaining injuries. The quarterly safety meetings help us to sustain an overall positive safety culture and help steer us towards achieving our safety goals. As you all know, our #1 and #2 safety goals are to have No Fatalities and Zero Lost-Time Injuries. We are asking you to help us with these safety goals by voluntarily attending the safety meeting. We hold these safety meetings on a quarterly basis in order to help keep safety at the forefront of everyone's mind. 

The meeting will be held at our usual meeting location at our Barrington office located at 28059 W. Commercial Ave in Barrington, IL.

Please help spread the word!

As always, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham, with any questions. You can reach him by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com.

Have a Safe Day!

Chop Saw Safety!

Good morning I.D.I. employees: This article is about a common tool that is used almost everyday at one job site or another. Below contains our I.D.I. best safe practices to help prevent an injury while using a chop saw. 

Chop saws are used to cut a variety of materials, but we most commonly use a chop saw to cut metal studs and track. Chop saws are operated by manually lowering the saw blade into the material from an overhead, hinged position. Chop saw blades turn toward the operator from the top, and the blade can spin at thousands of revolutions per minute. The user must hold the stock/materials at times, creating an amputation hazard. Use holding devices if the saw was provided with them. Verify that hands, fingers and all body parts are out of the line of fire with the chop saw blade.

Never use a chop saw with a missing or defective blade guard as shown in the photo immediately below.

The photo below shows a crew that knows what they're doing.  The blade guard is in place, face shield protection, fire extinguisher and a spark wall.  Great job crew!

·         Use the correct blade for the materials being cut.

·         Ensure the blade has a higher R.P.M. rating than the chop saw does.

·         Ensure blade is not cracked as the blade can explode.

·         Always turn off and unplug the chop saw when performing maintenance or blade changes.

·         Always ensure the chop saw has a working non-defective blade guard.

·         Always wear safety glasses when using a chop saw or working nearby a chop saw.

·         A best practice is to use a face shield in addition to safety glasses for face protection against sparks and flying debris.  Required by many general contractors.

·         Wear hearing protection when using a chop saw more than 2 hours in an 8 hour shift.

·         Always where gloves when handling metal studs or track.

·         Always have a fire extinguisher in your cutting area.

·         Ensure the chop saw’s electrical cord is in safe condition for use.  No cuts in the outer insulation, no exposed wires, etc.

·         It’s best to use the chop saw up off the ground so you are placing your body in good posture and not bent over for long periods of time.

·         Don’t wear loose clothing or jewelry such as necklaces that can get tangled in the blade. 

·         Keep hands, fingers and all body parts out of the line of fire of the chop saw blade.