POLICY STATEMENT
Each employee at Hammond Lumber Company is responsible to prevent injuries to themselves and to help their co-workers do the same by following company safety policies. Failure to follow these policies could result in workplace injuries which impact the injured employee, their co-workers, the employee’s family and Hammond Lumber Company in ways that go well beyond the financial cost. Our corporate goal is to eliminate injuries for YOUR wellbeing and the wellbeing of the company.
How good we are at performing our daily tasks safely-EVERY DAY– reflects directly on the number of incidents, and near misses we have each year, and this impacts each of us directly. Unsafe Acts (our behavior) generally cause 75-90% of all accidents and incidents.
In 2019 we had 103 incidents reported and 56 of them were serious enough to require medical attention making it necessary to report them to OSHA and MEMIC. These numbers are almost identical to those we had in 2018. For the second year in a row our worst category of incidents was SLIPS, TRIPS, and FALLS with 27, this is 21% of all our incidents, and they resulted in 5 concussions! Our second worst category was STRUCK BY OR AGAINST AN OBJECT with 20 which is 19% of all our reported incidents. We need to target these two categories to improve and prevent our workers from injuring themselves and to do this we need to understand what caused them.
This is what the employees said caused their SLIP, TRIP AND FALL incidents:
I Slipped on ice walking in the parking lot between cars.
THESE AREAS CANNOT BE PLOWED ONCE THE PARKING LOT IS FULL SO WE SHOULD WALK IN AREAS THAT CAN BE PLOWED AND SANDED!
I tripped on the corner of a pallet. I tripped on the folded corner of a mat. I tripped on uneven flooring. I tripped going upstairs. I tripped going downstairs. I slipped on a wet floor.
WE NEED TO WATCH WHERE WE STEP, USE HANDRAILS ON STAIRS, AND REPORT VISIBLE HAZARDS SO THEY CAN BE FIXED BEFORE SOMEONE HAS A MISHAP.
I lost my grip while pulling and fell backwards. The strap I was pulling on broke causing me to fall.
WE SHOULD BE BRACING OURSELVES AND PREPARE FOR THE UNEXPECTED.
2 employees said they stepped on uneven ground; another one said my foot slipped on a step.
WE NEED TO WATCH WHERE WE STEP AND USE A PROPER 3-POINT DISMOUNT FROM ANY VEHICLE OR FORKLIFT.
2 employees said they slipped on snow in the parking lot; 5 said they slipped on ice, 4 more said they slipped on ice with snow on top of it.
WE NEED TO WATCH WHERE WE STEP, WEAR GOOD BOOTS, AND USE CREEPERS WHERE NEEDED.
This is what they said about their incidents involving being STRUCK BY OR AGAINST SOMETHING:
I bumped my knee on the truck. I stepped backwards into some boards. I didn’t grip the bottom of the box and the product fell out of it onto my foot. My sledgehammer glanced off my target and hit me. The product moved unexpectedly and hit my wrist. I removed the lumber tarp and the product fell over onto my leg.
WE NEED TO PAY BETTER ATTENTION TO WHAT WE ARE DOING.
I forgot to put the outriggers down and got launched into the metal cage on my forklift. I hit my finger with a hammer stapler.
CONCENTRATE ON THE TASK YOU ARE DOING AND USE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB.
The customer pushed product off the truck onto me. A vendor fell off the truck and landed on me. A vendor lost control of his aluminum cross bar and it hit me in the head.
WE NEED TO TAKE CHARGE AT THE WORKSITE AND BE AWARE OF WHAT IS GOING ON, COMMUNICATE.
Unsecured product fell from above and hit my head. Unsecured doors fell and hit my leg.
WE NEED TO SECURE PRODUCTS SO THEY CANNOT FALL.
3 employees, in different incidents, were hit in the head taking straps off the loads. An employee threw a strap over the truck and hit me in the head.
WE MUST USE THE PROPER PROCEDURE FOR THROWING STRAPS OVER VEHICLES AND PAY ATTENTION.
I lost my grip on a cement curb dropping it on my thumb. I lost my grip on the metal roofing and it hit my shin.
WE NEED TO MAKE SURE WE ARE USING THE CORRECT GLOVES.
Almost all our incidents are the result of some action or decision that we made that didn’t work out. Sometimes because we didn’t follow the procedure or policy other times because we didn’t think it through; often because we were in a hurry, we changed our original plan, or we took a short cut. This shows: Your brains will always be the most important piece of safety equipment.
Think of the consequences to you and your family and plan before you perform each task.
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SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETINGS
We have regular Monthly Safety Meetings; we begin at the manager’s meetings reviewing the previous months incidents and accidents and discussing the past months safety issues and current events in Safety. After this the managers and have a safety meeting at their locations and convey this information to the yard employees and drivers. When this is completed an outline of the discussion should be posted on the bulletin boards so everyone can review it.
Anyone can participate in this process if they choose, you can give suggestions to your supervisor so they can review them at the safety meetings, you can attend the meetings yourself or you can contact the safety director and let him know your ideas and thoughts on Safety. Your voice is critical to the improvement of the safety program so please pitch in.