Painters & Tapers Only - Quarterly Safety Meeting, Saturday, 9/28/13 at 7:00am

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  We just want to put out a meeting notice of our upcoming volunteer quarterly safety meeting which will be held on Saturday, September 28th 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. The safety training topic 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 and 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.  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. At the safety meeting, we will also discuss some injuries that occurred since we last met along with corrective measures to help prevent a reoccurrences. 

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.

Below are a few photos from our last safety meeting.

 

Have a Safe Day! 

Metal Stud Guardrails Must be 18 Gauge or Thicker!

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

It was brought to our attention by a well-known large general contractor that OSHA has been issuing citations to construction companies for installing metal stud guardrails that are made up of light gauge metal studs.  According to an OSHA interpretation letter that was sent to us by the general contractor, metal studs can be used as guardrails, however, they need to meet the OSHA requirements for guardrails.  The metal studs can't have sharp edges or corners which can cause lacerations and more importantly, they need to be able to withstand 200 lbs of outward and downward force on the top-rail and 150 lbs of outward and downward force on the mid-rail.  The big issue with light gauge metal studs is that they might not meet the outward and downward force requirement especially if there is a kink in the metal stud or if the light gauge metal stud is spanning a wide opening such as 4' feet or more.  A light gauge metal stud, especially one with a kink in it could fail causing a person to fall and sustain a serious injury or fatality.

Below is an actual photo of a light gauge metal stud guardrail that a company was issued an OSHA citation for.  The issues found in the photo are:  #1- on the right side of the photo, the top-rail is protruding out past the guardrail stanchion post as to where a worker could walk by and get snagged on it causing a laceration.  #2 - there are sharp corners (regardless of the top-rail protruding out) that would need to be bent downward/inward so the sharp corners are not exposed.  #3 - this is a light gauge stud which according to OSHA, may not keep a worker from falling as the top-rail may not be meeting the 200 lbs of outward and downward force OSHA requirement especially if the stud has a kink anywhere on it.

 

The following is what we would need to do if we are installing a guardrail.  We can you non-defective, wood 2 x 4's as our top-rail and mid-rail.  We can use metal studs, however, they must be 18 gauge or thicker, have no kinks or defects and we would be required to not allow the top and mid-rails to protrude out past the stanchion posts.  Lastly, we would need to bend the corners downward/inward so that no one is exposed to sharp edges which can cut them. 

 

Please keep this in mind the next time you are working around a metal stud guardrail or if you are installing a metal stud guardrail; for your protection and for those performing at your project.  Following these procedures will help keep us in line with 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, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at pgraham@4idi.com.

 

Have a Safe Day!

Extension Cord - Safety!

Good morning I.D.I. employees:
How are your extension cords looking?  For your safety, it is required that you inspect your extension cords everyday before use.  You should be looking for tears in the outer insulation, missing ground prongs and the cords should have no exposed copper wires.  If you find any defects with your extension cords such as the three items mentioned above, the cord would need to be removed from service and reported to your supervisor.  Also, all extension cords should be in compliance with our assured ground conductor program and should have red tape on them towards each end of the cord.  Please see a Safety Coordinator at your job sites as they have cord testers and red tape to help maintain compliance. Also, we don't want our extension cords to be a trip hazard to you or to others working around you.  Extension cords should not run along the floor across hallways and corridors.  They should be strung up overhead whenever possible.

If you have any questions regarding extension cord safety, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

These extension cords are in safe condition for use and in compliance with our assured grounding program!

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

Working In The Heat!  Summer is here and we are getting 90 plus degree weather this week.  This is a good time to put out another reminder of what too look for as for as heat exhaustion symptoms, prevention methods, etc.  Although summer heat is the largest cause of heat distress disorder, it may also occur when workers are exposed to confined areas such as pipelines, tanks and other spaces with limited ventilation, and any confined area involving welding or cutting.

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 should be 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.

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.

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!

July 20th Safety Meeting Postponed!!!!!

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

We are postponing our July, 20th quarterly safety meeting.  The meeting will most likely be held in September.

As we move closer to the 7/20/13 Saturday meeting date, we are coming to find out that we are going to have a large number of employees working on that Saturday during the meeting and they won't be able to be in attendance. We therefore are cancelling the meeting for now and we will reschedule it when the summer rush is over.

Please help to spread the word to our painters and tapers so that they don't show up at our office on Saturday, 7/20/13 as there will be no meeting on that date.

Once we have the new meeting date scheduled, we will ensure to advertise it and get meeting notices out to everyone ahead of the safety meeting date.

As always, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham with any questions.  He can be reached at (847) 417-1689 or by e-mail at pgraham@4idi.com.

Have a Safe Day!

Painters & Tapers Only - Quarterly Safety Meeting, Saturday, 7/20/13 at 7:00am

Good afternoon to all I.D.I. employees:  Just a reminder of our upcoming volunteer quarterly safety meeting which will be held on Saturday, July 20th 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 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.  At the safety meeting, we will discuss some injuries that occurred since we last met along with corrective measures to help prevent a reoccurrence, working in the heat, repetitive strain type injuries including job rotation and some other safety related items.

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.

Below are a few photos from our last quarterly safety meeting held in April, 2013.  

Have a Safe Day!

Red Tape on All 3-Pronged Electrical Tools & Extension Cords on 7/1/13!

Good morning to all I.D.I. employees:  All Safety Coordinators should have been provided a roll of red electrical tape.  We begin a new quarter on Monday, 7/1/13 for our Assured Grounding Program.  You are to 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 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 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 Ground Program.  The red tape shall remain in place from 7/1/13 through 9/30/13.  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!