Friday, February 13, 2015

I.D.I. Forming New 2015 Field Safety Committee!

As you all know, International Decorators has 2 Safety Committees.  One consists of management personnel and the other consists of field personnel.  Our 2014 Field Safety Committee has concluded and we are seeking field personnel to fill the vacant positions.  We are looking for a framer, drywall hanger, taper, painter and an acoustic carpenter to serve a 1 year volunteer commitment as a Field Safety Committee member.  This committee meets once every other month with the Safety Director (Safety Pete) starting in March of 2015 meaning that you would serve for 6 meetings during a 1 year period.  The meetings are typically held on a weekday at our office from 3:00pm – 4:30pm.  The meeting agenda typically consists of:

ü  A review of our safety goals.

ü  Recent injuries discussion & prevention methods.

ü  Updating and developing safety policies.

ü  Safety hazards that have been identified in the field and what we as a company can do to eliminate them or reduce the risk.

ü  Future safety training needs, etc.

This is basically a safety brain storming session and we are looking for your input to help us to sustain and improve on our “Safety Culture.”  The main purpose of the Field Safety Committee is about ensuring that you and your fellow co-workers have a safe environment to work in.  If you are interested in making a difference and helping out yourself, your co-workers and your employer, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com.  Here’s a little carrot! – each meeting includes pizza, some comedy from Safety Pete and some end of the year recogntion.
Have a Safe Day!

Friday, February 6, 2015

First Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting of 2015 on Saturday, February 28th!

Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting Notice
You are invited to attend our 1st volunteer quarterly safety meeting of 2015. 

Who is invited?   All employees 
               
When is the meeting?   Saturday, February 28th at 7:00am

Where is the meeting?  At our Barrington Shop/Office at 28059 W. Commercial Ave., Barrington, IL

 What is the topic?  Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)!

Due to some recent happenings, we want to get back to the basics – We will be providing safety training on personal protective equipment (PPE), which is your last line of defense in the battle against injuries.  By attending this volunteer safety meeting, you will earn 400 safety incentive points towards our 2015 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Plan. You can also pick up your items that you ordered from last year’s volunteer safety incentive program as we will be distributing the items at this meeting. 

Should you have any questions, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689
Have a Safe Day!
____________________________________________

 
Voluntarios Reunión Trimestral de Seguridad
Usted está invitado a asistir a nuestra primera reunión de voluntarios de seguridad trimestral de 2015.
¿Quién está invitado?  todos los Empleados

¿Cuándo es la reunión?  Sábado, 28 de febrero a las 7:00 am.

¿Dónde es la reunión?  En nuestra Barrington tienda / oficina
                               (28059 W. Commercial Ave., Barrington, IL.)

¿Cuál es el tema?  Equipo de Protección Personal

Debido a algunos acontecimientos recientes, queremos volver a lo básico - Vamos a proporcionar
capacitación en seguridad el equipo de protección personal, que es su última línea de defensa en la
batalla contra las lesiones. Al asistir a esta reunión de seguridad voluntario, usted ganará 400 puntos
de incentivo de seguridad hacia nuestro Plan de Incentivos de Capacitación sobre Seguridad de
Voluntarios 2015. También puede recoger sus artículos que usted pidió de programa de
incentivos de seguridad voluntarios del año pasado como vamos a distribuir los artículos en
esta reunión.

Si tiene alguna pregunta, por favor póngase en contacto con nuestro Director de Seguridad,
Peter Graham en (847) 417-1689 o al pgraham@4idi.com

Nos vemos en la reunión!

 

Friday, January 30, 2015

610 Consecutive Days Worked Since Last Lost-Time Injury - Comes To An End!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:

As they say, "all good things must come to an end."  Our consecutive days worked record breaking streak ran up to 610 days in which we worked a total of 452,785 hours since our last lost-time injury.  As all of you know by now, this steak ended on 1/16/15 when one of our employees sustained a serious injury to his left eye.  That was then followed up by a 2nd lost-time injury a week later on 1/23/15 when an employee sustained a fracture to his left hand while moving a cart of drywall.  Due to the circumstances that both of these injuries were not reported timely and due to the serious nature of both injuries, I.D.I. directed our lead field supervisors to perform Safety Stand-Downs at their job sites on Monday morning, 1/26/15 before the start of work.  The purpose of the Safety Stand-Down was to take a timeout to get our overall safety back in focus.  It's to stop and take a breath and to recognize some safety concerns that we have been having.  To get back to the basics and ensuring everybody is wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for the tasks being performed and that the PPE is being worn correctly.  When wearing safety glasses, they must be worn as intended, which is up on the bridge of your nose so your eyes are protected.  The goal of the Safety Stand-Down was to get everybody aligned and on the same page with safety and addressing these safety concerns to prevent reoccurences and further injuries from happening. 

Please keep both of our employees in your thoughts and prayers for speedy and full recoveries.

We will discuss the circumstances of both injuries at our next volunteer quarterly safety meeting which will be taking place on Saturday, 2/28/15 at 7:00am.

It's now time to buckle down and get back our safety focus.  We are one big family so keep an eye on our family members when working side-by-side.  If you see a family member/co-worker doing something unsafe, do what ever you can to change their behavior. Tell them what is at risk.  If not for themselves or for I.D.I., encourage them to stop working unsafely for the sake of their loved ones.  If you have any questions in regards to safety, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.  Lastly, 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!
 

Friday, January 9, 2015

Last Chance to Turn in Your 2014 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Order Forms!

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

This is just a reminder to turn in your 2014 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Order Forms.  If you participated in this program last year by attending at least one of our volunteer quarterly safety meetings or by completing safety training outside the company and you turned in your training cards or training certificates to our Safety Director, Peter Graham; you should have therefore received a catalog, order form and instructions in the mail shortly before Christmas, 2014.  In the instructions letter, we had asked everyone to get their order forms turned in to Safety Pete no later than 1/7/15.  We mailed out the catalogs to 177 employees that participated in the program and so far we have received back 108 order forms.  We want for you to be rewarded for your involvement in our safety culture and for your time in attending the safety training courses.  We cannot keep this program open forever and our product supplier needs time to get the clothing items embroidered, etc.  So we are providing one last chance to get your order forms turned in.  Please have the the order forms turned in to Peter Graham by Friday, 1/16/15.  You can mail them in, you can fax them to (847) 526-7444, you can e-mail them to pgraham@4idi.com or you can hand your order form to a driver or superintendent.  Your points cannot be rolled over to the next year so if you don't use them, you lose them. 

If you have any questions regarding the above, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Monday, January 5, 2015

White Tape on All 3-Pronged Electrical Tools & Extension Cords on 1/1/15!

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

Happy New Year Everyone!

We began a new quarter on 1/1/15 for our Assured Grounding Program. We provided white tape for distribution to the Safety Coordinators at our volunteer quarterly safety meeting that was held on 12/6/14. To all Safety Coordinators - please help keep our employees safe and help keep us OSHA compliant by following our assured grounding program.  Please 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 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 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 Grounding Program. The white tape shall remain in place from 1/1/15 through 3/31/15. 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!

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

2015 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Plan!

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees: 
As most of you know from attending our final volunteer quarterly safety meeting of 2014 on Fall Protection in early December, we rolled out our 2015 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Plan.  In case you didn't grab this as a hand-out at the meeting, or in case you weren't in attendance at the meeting, below is our 2015 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Plan. 

I also want to mention that employees are encouraged to enroll in an OSHA Construction 30-hour course.  This is a 30 hour long course on construction safety for which each employee who successfully completes the course would earn 3,000 volunteer safety training incentive points for our 2015 incentive plan year.  Taking this course is a huge commitment and we know it.  Taking this course makes you more marketable as many general contractors that we bid to and work for often require that we supply manpower to their projects that have their OSHA Construction 30-hour card to enable them to work there.  Many of them require that the 30-hour card is current with in the past 3 years.  We currently have 23 employees with their 30-hour card that is current within the past 3 years.  This course is also very beneficial to the employee's well being as you are receiving 30 hours of safety training in regards to the hazards you may be faced with when performing construction activities.  You are taught how to avoid and abate those hazards, many other life saving and injury avoidance techniques. 

If you have any questions about our 2015 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Plan or about the OSHA Construction 30-hour course, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.
_______________________________________________________________________________

International Decorators, Inc.
2015 Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Plan

This Volunteer Safety Training Incentive Plan is in effect for 11/1/14 – 10/31/15.  You are not required to participate in this plan.  You’re participation is on a volunteer basis. The plan is geared towards incentivizing employees to increase their safety knowledge by taking safety courses that benefit both the employee and employer.  The goals of the safety training incentive plan are; fewer employees sustaining injuries and health hazards, fewer unsafe acts being committed, increased safety awareness and to keep safety at the forefront of everyone’s mind.  This is about making yourself better, more marketable and making you a safer employee.  Who really benefits from this?  You and your loved ones!

The following outlines what the safety training incentive plan entails.  For each approved safety course that an employee attends between the period of 11/1/14 and 10/31/15, 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 2015, for which you can use to redeem your points.  The catalog will contain work wearables, HD T.V.'s, watches, 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 1st 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. 

Because of the value we place on the safety training that we (International Decorator’s, Inc.) provide, we will double the incentive point value for each volunteer quarterly safety meeting that you attend.  Our typical volunteer quarterly safety meeting is 2 hours long and would therefore be worth 400 volunteer safety incentive points.  If you attend all 4 volunteer quarterly safety meetings at I.D.I., your incentive points for attending all 4 meetings would be doubled again.  An employee of I.D.I. could therefore earn a minimum of 3,200 volunteer safety incentive points just by attending all 4 of our volunteer quarterly safety meetings in 2015. 

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 is a listing of suggested courses that would benefit both you and International Decorators:
 
I.D.I. volunteer quarterly safety meeting – (each meeting is 2 hours and worth 400 points)
OSHA Construction 30-hour
1st 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 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. Redeem as many of your points 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 while employed by I.D.I.  

Why are we offering this 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.” 

If you have any questions about this Safety Training Incentive Program, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham. 

Have a Safe Day!

Monday, December 8, 2014

Volunteer Quarterly Safety "Make-Up" Meeting - This Thursday, 12/11/14 at 4:00pm

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees,

As you all know, we held our volunteer quarterly safety meeting this past Saturday, 12/6/14. We offer a volunteer make-up meeting for those that could not attend the regularly scheduled safety meeting either due to working for I.D.I. on the Saturday of the meeting or due to unforeseen circumstances, etc.

The volunteer quarterly safety make-up meeting is being held this Thursday, 12/11/14 at 4:00pm at our Barrington office. The main safety topic for this meeting is Fall Protection! 

Due to the short turnaround time of the make-up meeting, we are asking everyone who receives this e-mail to help spread the word to all of our employees. 

Safety Coordinators - could you please advise our employees during this morning's safety toolbox talk session of the volunteer quarterly safety make-up meeting being held this Thursday at 4:00pm.  Also ask them to notify me by Wednesday at 5:00pm if they are planning on attending so we know an approximate head-count for the meeting as we have to prepare materials and for chair rental purposes.

If you have any questions, please call Safety Pete at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!