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!

Monday Morning Toolbox Talks!

Good morning Safety Coordinators:  Today is Monday which means it's that time of the week to perform a weekly job site safety inspection and to perform a meaningful toolbox talk with our employees around 9:45am.  Let's start the week off on the right foot for the benefit of our employees.  Some time between 7:00am and 9:00am this morning, all Safety Coordinators should grab a safety inspection form from your Safety Coordinator manual and walk your job site and look for hazards.  Any hazards found should be documented on your safety inspection form and comments about the hazard and plan to protect our employees from the hazard should be documented.  Then after your morning break, at 9:45am, the Safety Coordinators should gather the crew and perform a toolbox talk that is pertinent and meaningful to the tasks being performed, the equipment being used or to something that pertains to safety at your job site.  Then after the toolbox talk has been completed, have all the employees at the project that participated in the toolbox talk sign the toolbox talk roster.  Finally, the Safety Coordinator should advise the employees of any hazards found during the walk around safety inspection and what our plan is to abate the hazard and to protect the employees from the hazard.  If a hazard is identified that cannot be abated immediately, you should then contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham, to discuss it so we can implement a plan to abate the hazard.  After the above is completed, please do your best to get the toolbox talk sign in roster & safety inspection form turned in to our Safety Department no later than Friday, 2/15/13.  Lets make it a goal to get 100% of the toolbox talks rosters and safety inspection forms turned in by Friday. If you have any questions, please contact our Safety Director, Peter at (847) 417-1689 or you can e-mail him at pgraham@4idi.com.

Thank you for helping us to prevent injuries to our employees.

Have a Safe Day!

OSHA's Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Safety Violations

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  As you all know, one of our company's annual safety goals is to have no OSHA violations.  Receiving an OSHA violation means that we either aren't working in a safe manner or we don't have safe procedures in place or being followed.  OSHA violations cost employers a lot of money and general contractors don't like hiring subcontractors that have a history of OSHA violations.  International Decorator's last OSHA violation was in 1998.  We have worked together as a team for the past 15 years with having ZERO OSHA violations. Great job - team!  We cannot let our guard down.  We need to keep at it everyday by performing our tasks in a safe manner and communicating among each other about job site hazards that do arise so we can protect ourselves from them.  

Below is the most recent list from OSHA of the top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety violations for fiscal year 2012.  Almost everyone of the topics listed below are safety topics that we are involved with in one way or another.  We have provided safety training on all of the topics below that are incorporated into the work we do.

This list is important as it shows what OSHA is looking for when they come on to our job sites and it shows the common hazards that they are finding.  

Have a Safe Day!

1. Fall Protection: 7,250 total violations

Frequently violated requirements included failure to protect open sides and edges, to prevent falls from roofs, and to cover holes.

2. Hazard Communication: 4,696 total violations

Commonly violated requirements included failure to have a written program, inadequate employee education and training, improper or no labels on containers, and no material safety data sheets or lack of access to them.

3. Scaffolding: 3,814 total violations

Violations included problems with scaffold construction, improper access to scaffolding surfaces and lack of guardrails.

4. Respiratory Protection: 2,371 total violations

Frequent violations included no written respiratory protection program, poor fit-test procedures, unsuitable respirator selection process and lack of procedures for voluntary use of respirators.

5. Ladders: 2,310 total violations

Violations included damaged side rails, use of the top ladder step, inappropriate ladder for the job and excessive loads on ladders.

6. Machine Guarding: 2,097 total violations

Violations included point-of-operation exposures, inadequate or no anchoring of fixed machinery, and exposure to blades.

7. Powered Industrial Trucks: 1,993 total violations

Common violations were inadequate operator training and refresher training, and poor conditions of trucks when returned to service after repair.

8. Electrical—Wiring: 1,744 total violations

Violations included problems with flexible cords and cables, boxes, and temporary wiring; poor use of extension cords, and using temporary wiring as permanent wiring.

9. Lockout/Tagout: 1,572 total violations

Frequent violations were poor or no energy control procedures, inadequate worker training and inspections not completed.

10. Electrical—General: 1,332 total violations

Common violations were related to electric shock and electrocution exposures.

From the "I Caught You" Series

At International Decorators, we have a habit of catching our employees working safely. Below are a few action shots of our employees being caught in action working in a safe manner.

Great job everyone!  You are helping 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."

Mike Logisz was caught working safely on a 4' portable A-frame ladder while installing a Raco door frame system at 111 W. Jackson in Chicago!

Great job - Mike!

Jim Woods was caught doing the same thing as Mike while he was installing a door at 8430 W. Bryn Mawr in Chicago.  

You two are more alike than you think!

Great job - Jim!

The tapers at the College of Dupage led by Marcelo Ortega are using a rebar cap on the end of their mixing paddle for impalement protection. 

Great job Marcelo and the rest of our fine tapers!

Martin and Melchor Ortega working together at the College of Dupage installing drywall.  They are using safety rails and have the scaffold wheels locked. 

Great job gentlemen!

Framer, Jason Ondera was caught wearing a face shield in addition to safety glasses, gloves and a hard hit while cutting steel studs with a chop saw at the Rotary Club in Evanston.

Looking good Jason!  You perform almost as safe as your brother Chris!

A couple of I.D.I.'s finest moving drywall safely on a drywall cart at C.O.D. Their path of travel is clear and they are working in unison.  Both are wearing their hard hats, gloves, safety glasses, etc.  

Great job Praxedes and Reynaldo Lagunas!

Carpenter, Kevin Cloe was battling the cold elements and a door frame at the Polmax project.  Kevin was caught wearing safety glasses, hard hat, knee pad & gloves.  Also, his electrical cords were in safe condition for use and in compliance with our assured grounding program.  Kevin is newer to the company, he was  working alone and he was doing things the right way.  

Great job Kevin!

Hard Hats Required 100%

As you are all aware, we have a 100% hard hat policy at International Decorators.  Some people, however, don't like wearing hard hats.  We have come up with a hard hat exemption program for those that don't want to wear a hard hat for various reasons.  Please see our hard hat exemption program below and if you qualify, you may be exempt from having to wear one:

HARDHAT “EXEMPTION” PROGRAM

In our continuing efforts to encourage a progressive safety program, we announce a unique policy benefiting everyone. It is a hardhat exemption program. If you are one of those hard-headed individuals that wants to let your hair blow in the breeze, who feels a hardhat shortens his/her neck, and that in general it is just a pain in the you-know-what, this program is for you. Every employee is required to wear a hardhat on the job. But, if you earn a certificate of exemption, you will be excused from this requirement.  

The program works like this. If your head meets the standards for head protection, you don't need a hardhat. Contact the company safety department to be scheduled for the testing at the earliest possible date. Upon successful completion of testing, you will receive a beautiful embossed certificate, suitable for framing, identifying your head as conforming to American National Standards Institute requirements (ANSI Z89.1 and Z89.2 classes A, B, C and D). You will also receive a wallet sized card that you must carry at all times. The tests include the following:  

You will undergo a 24-hour water immersion test. A maximum of permitted absorption is 0.5% by weight. Air will be provided for the 24 hours at no charge. 

Next, an impact test will be conducted. While lying horizontally, with your head resting on a steel plate, an 8-lb. steel ball will be dropped on it several times from a height of 5 feet. If your head is not damaged, you pass.

Next, your head will be subjected to the application of a variety of acids, solvents, oils, and industrial gasses. It must pass with no damage or deficiencies.

A propane torch will be used to determine if your head is fire resistant. If slow burning, you may only achieve a Class A or B rating. If there are any holes in your head, it will restrict you from a Class A rating. 

On the final test, you must sustain 2200 volts AC, 60 Hz, for three minutes with leakage currents not exceeding 9 milli-amperes. Breakdown threshold has been established at 30,000 volts.

All tests must be conducted at a variety of temperatures ranging from -20 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you don't feel you can qualify, don't despair. Although not as pretty as your hairdo, your hardhat does provide protection for your head from all the above. Remember that unless you receive an exemption certificate, you must continue wearing your hardhat. Not wearing one is a privilege that will be granted only to those with proper certification and designated as genuine HARD HEADS.

Obviously this is a joke, however, this is a reminder of our 100% hard hat policy and all the protection you are afforded by wearing one.  

Have a Safe Day!