Hello to all IDI employees,

International Decorators is a member of the Great Lakes Construction Association (GLCA). GLCA is hosting an awesome free event to all of their members.  The event is GLCA's 2021 Tailgate Cook-Off. There will be teams cooking burgers, sausage, seafood, chicken, pizza, ribs, pork, brisket and mixing bloody Mary's and Margaritas.  They currently have over 25 teams cooking and competing in the event. This is all free to you and your family!

This means that you and your families are invited to attend this free event which is being held on Saturday, 9/11/21 from 11:00am to 6:00pm.  GLCA had 1,200 people in attendance when they last held this event in 2019. (cancelled in 2020 due to Covid-19)  GLCA is advertising that they will have face painting, bounce houses, inflatable obstacles, family games, a terrific band, prizes and a few other activities. 

The location of the Tailgate Cook-Off is at the Lake County Fair Grounds located at 1060 East Peterson Road, Grayslake, IL. 60030.  

If you and/or your family want to attend this free event, you need to RSVP to Lorraine at events@greatlakesca.org or you can call Lorraine at GLCA at (847) 623-2345 and let her know you want to register for this event.  Just let Lorraine know you are an employee of International Decorators.

IDI participated in the cook-off when it was last held in 2019; we had a great turnout of employees and we all had a great time, however, this year, we will not be cooking at this event due to unforeseen circumstances.  Please see the flyer below for some additional info.

Have a Safe Day!

Our "In-Person" Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting is Cancelled? (Video/Quiz Format Instead)

Good morning to all IDI employees, 

As you know from previous e-blasts and posts on our safety blog, we were planning on holding our next or 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting in-person at our office on Saturday, 8/21/21.  Due to the Covid Delta variant rearing its ugly head and due to recent CDC guidelines, we will not be meeting together in-person.  This is very unfortunate as we were looking forward to getting together with everyone as we haven't been able to do so for the past 5 quarters. 

Instead, we will be doing our 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting in the same format as the previous 5 safety meetings which were a safety training video format along with a 10-question quiz.  

Please be on the lookout for an email over the next 2 weeks containing the information for our 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting and that email will contain a link to watch a safety training video and a link to take a quiz.  Your volunteer participation in our quarterly safety meeting training sessions is much, much appreciated and vital in helping to prevent injuries!

I also wanted to mention that most of you received a text from me this morning around 10:19am, that said: our "In-Person" volunteer quarterly safety meeting is cancelled due to Covid.  More info to follow.  Just letting you know that we are using a new service for sending mass text messages out to our employees.  We will be using this texting service to get short quick message alerts out and if needed, we will then provide more info in an email. 

If anyone has any questions about our 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting, please contact our Safety Director, Safety Pete.

Have a Safe Day!

Next Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting on 8/21/21 (In-Person!)

 Good afternoon to all IDI employees,

Just getting the word out that our next volunteer quarterly safety meeting is being held on Saturday, 8/21/21 from 7:00am to 9:00am.  At this time, we are planning on getting back to having our volunteer quarterly safety meetings in-person at our Barrington office location at 28059 W. Commercial Ave.

We will provide more details about this safety meeting as we get closer to the meeting date.  We provide safety training through our volunteer quarterly safety meetings because we care about you, your loved ones and the health of the company.  We provide this training because of our safety mission statement:  "Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!"

We look forward to finally getting back together as one team under the same roof as it will have been a year and a half since our last in-person volunteer quarterly safety meeting.  We hope to see you on August 21, 2021.  In the meantime, keep looking out for each other.  Take care of your brothers and sisters as we are all one family!

Have a Safe Day!

Red Tape on All 3-Pronged Electrical Tools & Extension Cords as of 7/1/21!

 Good afternoon to all IDI employees:

We begin a new quarter for our Assured Grounding Conductor Program on Thursday, 7/1/21.  We are to switch over our cords from green tape to red tape. To all Safety Advocates - please help keep our employees safe and help keep us OSHA compliant by following our assured grounding conductor program. Please inspect, test and color-code with red 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 field 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 is 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 field supervisor. If the cord passes the visual inspection and the cord tester test, you should then remove the previous quarter's green electrical tape and install the red electrical tape about 1" down from both plug ends. Your cord is now in compliance with our 3rd quarter's Assured Grounding Conductor Program. The red tape shall remain in place from 7/1/21 through 9/30/21. 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 Conductor Program, please call our Safety Director, Peter Graham, at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

Summer Heat - Drink Plenty of Water and Communicate With Your Supervisors!

 Good afternoon to all IDI employees:

Summer is upon us and the heat is getting turned up!  Just putting out a reminder of what to look for as far as heat exhaustion symptoms, prevention methods, etc.  We don't want our employees sustaining heat exhaustion type injuries as they are preventable.

Symptoms:
The symptoms of heat stress disorders are very slow to start, but increase in intensity if precautions are not taken. The onset of the initial symptoms are mild and usually involve headaches, thirst, tiredness and weakness. Heat stress can move to heat stroke, a life-threatening medical emergency, quickly when the body's natural cooling system breaks down and causes the body core temperature to rise and overheat the brain. Some of the symptoms of heat stroke are immense thirst, severe headaches, disorientation, dry/hot skin (no sweating) and possibly collapse.

Treatment/Prevention:
The following ideas may aid in combating heat stress disorders:
1. Employees accustomed to working in the heat are better candidates for job assignments where heat stress disorders may occur.
2. Until employees acclimate to the high temperatures, allow them for short frequent breaks to cool down.
3. If heat is affecting employees, it’s a good idea to rotate employees job tasks from the heat exposure area to a non-heat exposure area on a regular basis to help in avoiding heat stress symptoms.
4. Employees are encouraged to drink plenty of fluids (water, Gatorade, Powerade, etc.) to replace electrolytes. Water is actually the best choice. Employees should not drink any carbonated beverages (Coke, Pepsi, Energy drinks, etc.) as these only increase dehydration and give a false sense of being properly hydrated. Also, the use of alcohol the evening before the work shift, can lead to dehydration even before heat exposure.
4. Don't forget to protect your skin - wear sunscreen.

We need to keep an eye on each other and if an employee appears to be suffering from heat stress disorder, remove him or her from the heat and provide a cool, shaded place to rest and provide them with plenty of water. If the employee is disoriented or non-responsive, call for medical attention immediately, (911 in most areas). The goal is to recognize the hazards and symptoms of heat stress disorders and stop them before they occur. Remember, there is no better cure than prevention. Everybody working in the heat should be communicating and checking on each other

As always, if you are having to take extra breaks due to the extreme heat, you must notify your lead supervisor who in turn must contact your Superintendent.  

Should you have any questions regarding heat related stress, you are encouraged to call our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689. 

Have a Safe Day!

OSHA National Fall Prevention Safety Stand-Down Week! (5/3/21 - 5/7/21)

Good morning to all IDI employees,

Next Monday is the start of OSHA's National Fall Prevention Safety Stand-Down Week.  This is OSHA's 8th year of holding the Stand-Down and IDI has participated in this since it's inception.  OSHA's goal of the Stand-Down is to raise fall hazard awareness and prevent fall fatalities and injuries.  Falls are a leading cause of death for employees, accounting for 401 of the 1061 construction fatalities in the USA in 2019 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  IDI will be participating in the fall prevention stand-down again this year.  The founder of IDI, Tony Pintozzi Sr., opened the doors of the company in 1952 and ever since IDI was established, we have never had a fall related fatality.  In fact, IDI has never had a work related fatality and is something that Tony and the current leaders of the company, Butch Pintozzi, Bill Preston, Jim Gaszynski, Don Perrin and Matt Kiefer are very proud of!

The following is how IDI will be participating in the Stand-Down.  On Monday, 5/3/21, we need for our lead field supervisors & Safety Advocates to gather your crews together during your toolbox talk session and we want everyone performing the same toolbox talk from your manual.  The toolbox talk to perform is from the Fall Protection tab of your manual, topic # FP8 and the name of the topic is: What is Fall Protection?  During this session, advise our employees that the purpose of this toolbox talk session is for our participation in OSHA's National Fall Prevention Safety Stand-Down.  We are taking a time out for safety and recognizing that falls from elevations are a serious matter.  During this session, we are looking for all employees to participate.  Ask employees if they have ever witnessed a fall at a construction site, and if so, what was that like and what affect it had on them.  Ask if they know of anyone who has sustained a serious fall and again, discuss the affects it had on them, the affects it had on the victim's loved ones.  All employees should be sharing fall protection stories, safety tips and fall prevention related thoughts.  Also, many of the general contractors at the projects we are working at next week will be holding Fall Prevention Stand-Downs and we need for our employees to participate in those.

Falls from elevations are a serious matter and we need to take them seriously.  This Fall Prevention Stand-Down fits right in with our safety culture and our safety mission statement:  "Everyone Goes Home Alive And In The Same Condition As They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!  

We want to participate in this Stand-Down because we care about you!  You are part of the IDI family and family looks out for each other.  

If you have any questions about this Stand-Down, please contact our Safety Director, Safety Pete at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

2nd Volunteer Quarterly Safety Meeting of 2021 - Video Format & Quiz Coming Soon!

Good morning to all IDI employees, 

As you know, IDI typically hosts in-person volunteer quarterly safety training meetings for all employees for the past 2 plus decades.  Due to Covid-19, we have been unable to host in-person safety training meetings for large gatherings of employees so we have been having to do things a little different for a while.  

Our 2nd volunteer quarterly safety meeting of 2021, that we usually hold in early May, will be in the same format as our past 4 training meetings, which means it will be in a safety training video format and a 10 question quiz.  All of the information will be emailed to everyone most likely by 5/1/21, including links to watch 2 safety training videos and a link to complete a 10 question quiz.  There will be 2 safety training topics including Hazard Recognition and Fire Extinguisher Safety. 

We are hopeful that with the Covid-19 positivity rate being lower and with the increase in the population getting the vaccine, that we will be able to meet in-person towards the end of summer for our 3rd volunteer quarterly safety meeting.  

Please continue to do your part to help stop the spread of this nasty virus so we can all get together under one roof, including - washing your hands frequently, using hand sanitizer, disinfecting commonly touched surfaces, practicing 6' social distancing, wearing a face covering when within 6' of someone or when required by the job site and staying home when you aren't feeling well.  

We miss seeing everyone!  We miss the camaraderie that comes with everyone coming together.  Please keep on the lookout for future email blasts with more details about the 2nd volunteer quarterly safety meeting.  

In the meantime, keep doing what you have always been doing in keeping an eye on each other and looking out for your brothers and sisters.  Make your daily Task-Based Safety Awareness Huddles matter as your Loved Ones Count On It!

As always, if you aren't sure of something, stop, take a breather and discuss with your lead field supervisor or Superintendent.  You can also call our Safety Director, Safety Pete with any safety related questions.    

Have a Safe Day!