Orange Tape on All 3-Pronged Electrical Tools & Extension Cords Today, 10/1/15!

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

We began a new quarter today, 10/1/15 for our Assured Grounding Program. We are to switch over our cords from the previous quarter's red tape to orange tape.  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 orange tape all extension cords and 3 pronged electrical tools.  All extension cords and tools 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 red electrical tape and install the orange electrical tape about 1" down from both plug ends. Your cord is now in compliance with our 4th quarter's Assured Grounding Program. The orange tape shall remain in place from 10/1/15 through 12/31/15. You are not quite done yet! All employees now need to visually inspect all electrical cords and tools on a daily basis and if any defects are found, the cord or tool 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!

Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting - Attendance, Etc. w/ Photos!

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

International Decorators held our 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting of 2015 on Saturday, 8/22/15 and the make-up safety meeting on Tuesday, 9/15/15.  The safety training topics were Powder Actuated Tools including operators licensing for all carpenters, framers, drywall hangers & acoustic carpenters and we provided Respirator Training and Fit Testing with all painters and tapers.  We again had an awesome turnout at our volunteer quarterly safety meeting as we had a total of 137 field employees in attendance which was a 77% show-up rate.  For our Safety Coordinators, we had 40 in attendance for a show-up rate of 83%!  We have the best employees!

We want to thank all of you who took time out of your busy lives to attend this volunteer safety meeting for the sake of yourselves, those working around you and for your loved ones. You are helping International Decorators 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."  Your volunteer attendance is what helps us to sustain our overall positive safety culture. We as a team are only as good as our weakest links so the more people involved at our volunteer quarterly safety meetings and the more involved with looking out for each other, the potential to have fewer employees sustaining injuries is much better. 

We also want to send out a huge thank you to our guest trainers who voluntarily gave us their time and expertise in helping us to prevent injuries and health hazards from occurring to our employees.  We couldn't do what we do without people like you!!!!! 
Carl Palm - ITW/Ramset, Jeremy Adorjan - Hilti, Steve Lefaver - Painters District Council #30 & Ozzy Nunez of 3M

Carl Palm - ITW/Ramset

Jeremy Adorjan - Hilti

Ozzy Nunez - 3M
 



Steve Lefaver - Painters District Council #30

Above left is I.D.I.'s Founder - Tony Pintozzi Sr. & Above right is Co-owner - Bill Preston



 

 

Have a Safe Day!

Final Reminder - Volunteer Quarterly Safety Make-up Meeting, Tuesday, 9/15/15 at 4:00pm!!!!!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees,

This is a final reminder that we are holding our volunteer quartlerly safety make-up meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, 9/15/15 at 4:00pm at the Barrington office. 

As you all know, we held our 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting of 2015 on Saturday, 8/22/15. 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 on Tuesday, 9/15/15 at 4:00pm at our Barrington office. We will be providing Powder Actuated Tool Safety Training for all carpenters, framers, drywall hangers and acoustic carpenters. As a separate group, we will be providing Respirator Training and Respirator Fit Testing for all painters and tapers. Our painters and some tapers already have a half mask and/or full mask respirator and we need for you to bring your respirators with you. All painters and tapers need to come to the meeting clean shaven on the areas of your face where the respirator seals to your face so that you can be fit tested on your respirators. So this means that you could have a mustache and/or a goatee type beard as long as the your facial hair does not interfere with the respirator seal. It is critical that you arrive at the meeting ready for fit testing. If you want to get a pretty good idea ahead of time as to where a respirator would come into contact with your face; just put a dust mask up to your face and that should help you to know where you cannot have facial hair. If you have any questions about facial hair and fit testing, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

We are asking everyone to help spread the word to all of our employees so they have the opportunity to attend.

Also if you are planning on attending, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham, no later than Monday, 9/14/15 at 5:00pm to let him know as we need an approximate head-count for the meeting as we have to prepare materials and for chair & table rental purposes. Peter can be reached by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com or text to (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Don't Leave Drywall on Drywall Carts Unattended!

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

We are just putting out a reminder to all of an I.D.I. best practice.  We cannot leave drywall on drywall carts unattended for long durations of time, such as overnight, as there is a risk of the drywall tipping and falling and seriously injuring someone.  You should only stack the amount of drywall on drywall carts that you will be using during your shift.  At the end of your shift, any drywall that is still on your drywall cart shall be removed from the drywall cart and stocked flat of the ground or on cribbing on the ground.  This doesn't only apply to drywall carts.  We cannot be leaving drywall stacked on its side leaning against walls, etc.  All drywall needs to be stacked flat on the ground or on cribbing on the ground when it is left unattended for long durations of time.  Lastly, if you are leaving drywall on a drywall cart for a short duration, for example (when going on lunch break), you should roll the drywall cart into an area where it is safe & secure and away from other contractors or the public so that the drywall isn't at risk falling on someone. 


Should you have any questions about the above, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Volunteer Quarterly Safety "Make-Up" Meeting on Tuesday, 9/15/15 at 4:00pm

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

As you all know, we held our 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting of 2015 on Saturday, 8/22/15. 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 on Tuesday, 9/15/15 at 4:00pm at our Barrington office.  We will be providing Powder Actuated Tool Safety Training for all carpenters, framers, drywall hangers and acoustic carpenters.  As a separate group, we will be providing Respirator Training and Respirator Fit Testing for all painters and tapers.  Our painters and some tapers already have a half mask and/or full mask respirator and we need for you to bring your respirators with you.  All painters and tapers need to come to the meeting clean shaven on the areas of your face where the respirator seals to your face so that you can be fit tested on your respirators. So this means that you could have a mustache and/or a goatee type beard as long as the your facial hair does not interfere with the respirator seal. It is critical that you arrive at the meeting ready for fit testing. If you want to get a pretty good idea ahead of time as to where a respirator would come into contact with your face; just put a dust mask up to your face and that should help you to know where you cannot have facial hair. If you have any questions about facial hair and fit testing, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

We are asking everyone to help spread the word to all of our employees so they have the opportunity to attend.

Also if you are planning on attending, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham, no later than Monday, 9/14/15 at 5:00pm to let him know as we need an approximate head-count for the meeting as we have to prepare materials and for chair & table rental purposes. Peter can be reached by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com or text to (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Final Reminder - Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting, Saturday, 8/22/15 at 7:00am

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

Just sending out a final reminder that our next Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting will be held this Saturday, 8/22/15 at 7:00am at our Barrington office. This safety meeting will be a little different than our typical safety meeting as we will be breaking out into 4 separate groups.

We are going to be providing safety training on Hilti powder actuated tools and ITW Ramset powder actuated tools with all carpenters, framers, drywall hangers and acoustic carpenters. Half of the group will train for 45 minutes with Hilti and the other half will train for 45 minutes with ITW Ramset. Then we will take a 10 minute break and the groups will swap sessions. This way, we will get all employees in these sessions licensed on all the powder actuated tools that we use.

We will be providing respirator training and respirator fit testing with all painters and tapers. Our painters and some tapers already have a half mask and/or full mask respirator and we need for you to bring your respirators with you. The tapers that do not have a half mask respirator will be provided with one at the safety meeting. We will break the painters and tapers out into 2 groups also. One group will be provided with respirator training while the other half or other group is being fit tested on their respirators. We will then take a 10 minute break and the groups will swap sessions.

All painters and tapers need to come to the meeting clean shaven on the areas of your face where the respirator seals to your face so that you can be fit tested on your respirators. So this means that you could have a mustache and/or a goatee type beard as long as the your facial hair does not interfere with the respirator seal. It is critical that you arrive at the meeting ready for fit testing. If you want to get a pretty good idea ahead of time as to where a respirator would come into contact with your face; just put a dust mask up to your face and that should help you to know where you cannot have facial hair. If you have any questions about facial hair and fit testing, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

We will be mailing volunteer safety meeting notices to your homes next week. We will continue to advertise this safety meeting over the next month. Please help spread the word to all of our employees as we do not have every single employee's e-mail address.

Should you have any questions in regards to this upcoming volunteer safety meeting, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Safety - Back on Track!

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

Just letting you know that we have worked over 200 consecutive days since our last lost-time injury which occurred on 1/23/15.  During the past 200 days, we have worked a total of 206,698.00 hours.

We just want to keep everyone in the loop on the safety pulse and safety culture at I.D.I.  Great job everyone on looking out for eachother's well being and for performing each task that you do in a safe manner.  We want to put information out, such as this message, to help avoid complacency when it comes to your safety.  We cannot let our guard down against safety and we need to keep safety at the forefront of our minds with each task that we perform.  This is in part as to why we provide 4 volunteer quarterly safety meetings each year.  We believe that getting everyone together 4 times a year helps to keep us all on the same page with safety, helps keep safety at the forefront and helps sustain a positive overall safety culture at I.D.I.  And most importantly, we believe that it helps 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!"

Our 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting is being held at our Barrington office on Saturday, 8/22/15 from 7:00am to 9:00am.  We hope to see you at the meeting. In the meantime, have a Safe Day!