Executive Housekeeping Today - May 2008 - (Page 6)

frugal housekeeper “On September 19, 1980, during routine maintenance in a Titan II silo, an Air Force repairman dropped a heavy wrench socket, which rolled off a work platform and fell toward the bottom of the silo. The socket bounced and struck the missile, causing a leak from a pressurized fuel tank. The missile complex and the surrounding area were evacuated and a team of specialists was called in from Little Rock Air Force Base, the missile’s main support base. About 8 1/2 hours after initial puncture, fuel vapors within the silo ignited and exploded. The explosion fatally injured one member of the team. Twenty-one other USAF personnel were injured. The missile’s re-entry vehicle, which contained a nuclear warhead, was recovered intact. There was no radioactive contamination. According to the Center for Defense Information (CDI), the explosion of volatile fuel blew off the 740 ton silo door of reinforced concrete and steel and catapulted the warhead 600 feet. It is estimated that Titan II ICBMs carry a 9 megaton warhead.” (Source: http://www.techbastard.com/missile/titan2/littlerockaccident.php) Silos can be dangerous places as demonstrated above! Many of the types of missile silos discussed in the article above have been decommissioned and many workers are no longer exposed to the dangers presented by these silos; however, many different silos are still in use—in fact, there are thousands of silos in use on farms around the world. These silos provide a o Lessons from Silos: Resolve Today What Can Explode Tomorrow by Alan S. Bigger and Linda B. Bigger viable form of storage and farmers have learned that these items should be treated with caution. Indeed, safety is such an issue in and around farm silos that there are innumerable Web pages addressing the issue of safety. Some of the safety warning statements are pretty severe such as: “Silos are an important part of many farming operations. However, they are also the cause of many accidents. These accidents include falls, electrocution, entanglement in augers, and silo gas inhalation. Silo gases are heavier than air and usually orange to yellow in color. They escape from the silo through chutes, cracks, and drains, usually within 48 hours of filling the silo, but may continue for three weeks or longer. The gases can kill birds, livestock, and humans. The silage is safe to use as feed because the gas lowers the nitrate level.” (Source: http:// www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001701d001800/d001741/d001741.html) The point to these examples of two types of silos is that both make it quite clear that silos can be very dangerous. However, these silos are tangible physical structures that one can touch and feel. There are silos that exist today that can be equally as dangerous to organizational health and productivity that are not “touchable,” yet they are very real. These are the silos that develop within organizations that can inhibit communications and adversely impact the productivity and effectiveness of individuals, as well as organizations. According to “How to break down the walls between departments” (www.casource.com), “Many organizations complain that they have silos—departments that do not cooperate with one another. Silos can exist between head office and a branch location; between office and factory; between union and salaried employees; and between sales and operations. These behaviors start at the top and filter down, throughout the organization.” If divisions, departments, management, and labor cannot communicate across organizational silos, the effectiveness of organizations will be severely limited. Dennis A. Romig in writing “Leading side by side to bust silos and cross-functional competitiveness” (www.sidebyside.com), provides some detailed information about organizational silos, and I dare say that many of us can relate to the following: “The phenomena of internal competition between departments inside organizations has been described as ‘empire building’ or ‘silo building.’ The description of a silo is ‘a tall, 20-foot or greater, sealed-off cylinder generally used for storing grain.’ Silo behavior often occurs between leaders and workers of one department toward the leaders and workers from other departments when: • Department information and knowledge are sealed off from other departments; • Workers do not talk to people outside their department; • The department does not offer help or share resources with other 6 Executive Housekeeping Today/May 2008 http://www.casource.com http://www.sidebyside.com http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001701-d001800/d001741/d001741.html http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001701-d001800/d001741/d001741.html http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001701-d001800/d001741/d001741.html http://www.techbastard.com/missile/titan2/littlerockaccident.php http://www.techbastard.com/missile/titan2/littlerockaccident.php

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Executive Housekeeping Today - May 2008

Executive Housekeeping Today - May 2008 Contents Executive Corner From Ivory Halls to Four-Star Resorts The Ten-Dollar Test Toward Customer Satisfaction Frugal Housekeeper How Green is Your Laundry Not All Microfiber is Created Equal Feature Article - I.E.H.A. Investigates: Issues in Hotel Housekeeping 2008 Candidate Information IHW Product Information The Green Scene 2008 Convention Information Product Highlights Inside the Industry New Members Joint IEHA/ISSA Members CEH/REH Members Advertisers' Index Calendar of Events Inside I.E.H.A. What I.E.H.A. Has Done For Me

Executive Housekeeping Today - May 2008

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