Where Are We At With Our Annual Safety Goals You Ask?

Good morning everyone,

As most of you know, we typically go over our annual safety goals and where we stand with them at our volunteer quarterly safety meetings.  Due to the safety meeting agendas, we didn't have time to go over the safety goals at the last 2 safety meetings. The following is an update as to where we stand in our current year which is for the period of 11/1/13 through 10/31/14. 

During our first 8 months of our current year (11/1/13 - today), we are doing terrific as far as meeting and/or surpassing our safety goals. 

Our #1 safety goal is to ensure that everyone went home alive:  We have had Zero work related fatalities and we haven't had one since Tony Pintozzi, Sr. opened the doors of I.D.I. in 1952.  This is something that Tony, Butch and Bill are very proud of and should give you and your loved ones confidence in that when you leave for work in the morning, that you will also be coming home to them after work at the end of the day. 

Our #2 safety goal is to have Zero Lost-Time Injuries:  So far this year we have had Zero lost-time injuries and in fact our previous lost-time injury occured 421 days ago back in May of 2013.  Our record for consecutive days worked between lost-time injuries over the past 15 years is 435 days.  To break that record, we would need to work up through July 25, 2014 without sustaining a lost-time injury.

Our #3 safety goal is to be at $0.50 cents or less injury cost per man hours worked or better:  This is calculated by taking our total cost of injuries including the medical bills, lost-time payments, expenses, etc. and dividing it by the total companies hours worked for the year.  Year-to-date we have spent $2,328.89 on injury costs and we have worked a total of 150,051 hours making our injury cost per man hours worked at $0.02 cents. 

Our #4 safety goal is to be at 1 injury for every 24,000 hours worked or better:  As of today we are at 1 injury for every 30,010.20 hours worked.  This means our injury frequency is lower this year than it has been over the past 5 years.   

Our #5 safety goal is to have no OSHA or EPA violations:  We have had Zero and in fact our last OSHA violation was in 1998.  OSHA and/or EPA violations come with high $ fines and they go on a companies record.  Many general contractors won't allow subcontractors to bid their work if they have OSHA violations on their record.  This is an important goal for all employees in our company in that if we have OSHA violations causing us to not bid certain general contractors work, there would be less job sites for our employees to be working at.  Not having OSHA violations will help enable I.D.I. to obtain more work to keep employees working to support themselves and their loved ones. 

As you can see from our safety goals mentioned above, we are having a terrific year when it comes to safety.  What does all of this mean to you?  It means that you can count on us in that we are doing everything in our power to help prevent an injury from occuring to you.  It means less pain caused to our employees.  It means that we would have an advantage over our competitors that are bidding the same work if they are not working as safe as we are.  It means that you are working for an employer that cares about you.  It means that you will be going home to your loved ones!

Lastly, we want to thank all of you for doing your part and working in a safe manner.  It is you that is making this happen.  It is in part because of your support at our volunteer quarterly safety meetings that helps us to sustain a pro-active and positive safety culture.  I.D.I. trains on safety, provides the safety equipment and resources to perform safely but it is our employees that are implementing safety and making it happen!  Please continue to work in the safest manner possible and to look out for each other. If you come across hazards at your job site, please report them to your lead field supervisor who should in turn report them to our Safety Director if help is needed in getting the hazard abated. 

Our Safety Mission Statement is: "Everyone Goes Home Alive and in the Same Condition as They Arrived; Your Loved Ones Count On It!"
We feel our safety mission statement is truly what your safety and well being is all about.

If you have any questions related to safety, please contact our Safety Director, Safety Pete at (847) 417-1689.

Have a Safe Day!

A Letter From a Daughter About Why She Wants Her Dad (Angel Flores) To Work Safe!

Below is a cute letter about why a daughter wants and needs for her Dad to work safe at International Decorators, Inc. This letter was written by 11 year old Adriana Flores in regards to her father, Angel Flores who is one of our outstanding carpenter/drywall hangers. Adriana's letter was one of the $100 gift card winners from a contest that we ran in March 2014 in which we asked our employee's loved ones to write a letter about why they want their loved one (I.D.I. employee) to work safe

Great job - Adriana!   You sure love your Dad.

 

Red Tape on All 3-Pronged Electrical Tools & Extension Cords on 7/1/14!

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 Tuesday, 7/1/14 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 7/1/14 through 9/30/14. 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!

The Correct Way to Plug in a GFCI Pigtail!

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

Did you know that it makes a huge difference in how you set up and use a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) pigtail?  There is the OSHA compliant way, which is the correct way to use them and offers the best protection to our employees and there is an incorrect way.  Below should hopefully explain the difference.   

When using a GFCI pigtail, the GFCI pigtail is required to be plugged into the power receptacle first and then your tools or extension cords gets plugged into the GFCI.  The photo below illustrates the correct way to set up the GFCI.

The incorrect way is to plug in an extension cord to the power receptacle first and then to plug your GFCI into the extension cord.  Doing it in this manner exposes your employer to an OSHA violation and more importantly, it is exposing employees to an electrical shock or electrocution hazard because the extension cord itself is not protected by the GFCI because the GFCI protection occurs after where the GFCI is plugged in. The photo below illustrates the incorrect GFCI set-up. 

Below are the GFCI use instructions on the GFCI pigtail which states - DO NOT USE EXTENSION CORD TO CONNECT GFCI TO POWER RECEPTACLE.

Hopefully eveyone understands this article.  If there is any confusion or if you need clarification, please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham.

 

Have a Safe Day!

400 Consecutive Days Since Our Last Lost-Time Injury!!!!!

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

Just to keep everyone in the loop - our consecutive days worked streak since our last lost-time injury remains in tact.  As of today, we have now worked 400 straight days since our last lost-time injury.  Our next safety milestone date is July 26th.  If we can continue our streak until July 26th, we will have broken our previous 15 year record of working 435 consecutive days between lost-time injuries.

Please continue to do your part and work safe!  If you see someone doing something unsafely, please stop them for their own safety and for the sake of their loved ones.

This is a win/win for everyone.  No lost-time injuries means that no one is having to go through the pain involved when a lost-time injury occurs. The true winners are our employees and their loved ones. 

We hope everyone has a terrific and safe weekend!

Have a Safe Day!

Captain Obvious - Weather Related Warning!

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

It's Captain Obvious here again to tell you that there is a potential for bad weather today.  If you have exterior work and if you see lightning, you need to seek shelter.  If you are on aerial lifts, on scaffolding, on roof tops, etc., you need to have an increased awareness of high winds.  Each job site location has different weather conditions and the winds speeds can vary at a job site itself depending on the side of the structure that you are working on.  If you are questioning whether or not you should continue to work due to poor weather conditions, then you should lean towards the side of caution and report the conditions to your lead field supervisor who should in turn report the conditions and potential work stoppage to their Superintendent.  Also, if you suspect or witness high wind speeds, please ensure that our exterior equipment and materials are secured so they cannot be displaced and injure someone; this is especially important at heights such as on scaffolding and roof tops.  If you have exterior scaffolding, you should remove the hooks planks from the scaffolding so they do not get loose or so they don't act like a sail causing the scaffold to tip.  Also, if the conditions are wet and if you have electric tools, you should be plugging into GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupters) and as always, ensure your electrical cords are in safe condition for use.  If at all possible, avoid using electric tools in wet conditions.

Please remember to communicate any weather related work stoppages with your Superintendent. 

Please contact our Safety Director, Peter Graham with any safety related questions. 

Have a Safe Day!

Family Video of Why 2 Daughters Want Their Dad To Work Safe!

Good morning everyone,

Back in March, we asked the loved ones of our employees to write a letter or to submit a video as to why it is important for their loved one (International Decorator's, employee) to work safe. We received in a total of 5 letters and 4 videos of which all were unique in their own way and really hit it on the head as to why it is so important for our employees and for their loved ones sake, to work safe. We read the letters and showed the videos at our volunteer quarterly safety meeting which was held on 5/31/14.  In case you were not present at the meeting, below is one of the videos which was submitted by the daughters of Reynaldo Lagunas.  The daughters are Aylin age 6 and Anahi age 3.  Anahi wants her Dad to come home safe because "he is so handsome."  These girls are too cute and they sure love their Dad!

Enjoy!

Have a Safe Day!