Executive Housekeeping Today - June 2008 - (Page 3)

It is reported that the great Vince Lombardi (head coach of the Green Bay Packers, 1959-67) would start his training sessions after a losing game with: “This is a football. It weighs 15 ounces. It is 11 inches long and 28 inches around.” He would then take his players through drills that they had not done since freshman year of high school. Although this may seem extreme, Lombardi understood that in order to be a great team, his players had to stick to the fundamentals. The same can be said regarding safety in custodial operations—in order to be a winning team, you must take a few moments to review the fundamentals of safety. Now is the perfect time to dust off your playbook (original safety plans) for the year and review it with a critical eye. Your plan should address key issues such as: When was the last time you performed a Safety Hazard Assessment that identifies current preventable risks? Have there been any preventable accidents or injuries this year? Have you re-trained your team in regards to the best practices focused on safe execution of all tasks? Have you reviewed OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogen Standard? Is all your documentation up-to-date? Hey coach—are you starting this quarter ahead or behind in the “Safety Bowl”? i The Fundamentals of Safety by John Poole, R.E.H. the coach will have to answer the by increasing comprehension and difficult questions asked by OSHA retention. or your insurance carrier. InvestiIt is also a good idea to form a gators will ask, “Where are your safety committee that can bring safety training records and when in key stakeholders to participate was the last time he/she had any and share their knowledge. Involve training?” Since safety training members of the HR staff, engineerand documentation is an annual ing staff, security staff, and at least requirement, your company should one person from upper managebe willing to support your efforts at ment. The safety committee should preventative training. Preventa- develop protocols for training staff tive training is far less expensive members in areas such as liftthan litigation, lawsuits, and bad ing, chemicals, equipment usage, publicity that will surely follow evacuation drills, proper use of a any major turnover (accident or in- fire extinguisher, and CPR. jury). As in football, once you have Safe and correct use of chemilost control of the ball, you run the cals is vital today in an age of risk of losing the game. sick building syndrome and IAQ Just like Lombardi did with (Indoor Air Quality) concerns. GRB_3.5 x football, sticking to the 4.875_4C Your staff must understand their funda- 3/4/08 9:42 AM Page 1 mentals of safety within your cus(continued on next page) todial operations is essential. Keep your pep talks and information simple—make sure to provide standard training methods that all staff members will be able to understand. Research the use of icons, diagrams, drawings, videos, and other visual aids to ULTRASON X reinforce key points, and SILENT, OUTDOOR BIRD CONTROL check with • State of the Art Ultrasonic Sound your vendors to see if they • Guaranteed to repels pigeons, sparrows, starlings, woodpeckers, gulls & more have readymade training 300 N. Elizabeth St. 800-662-5021 materials that Chicago, IL 60607 • Dept. EHT 312-BAN-BIRD are product- Fax 312-226-2480 WWW.BIRD-X.COM/EHT specific, thereTHE BIRD CONTROL “X-PERTS” SINCE 1964 Get Rid of Birds! Safety 101 Professional safety coaches (also known as managers) know that we have to take the time and expend the effort to stay safe and keep people from assuming everything is up-to-par, simply because there hasn’t been a major incident YET. Proactive, focused coaching is necessary. If a player is injured, June 2008/Executive Housekeeping Today 3 http://WWW.BIRD-X.COM/EHT

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

Executive Housekeeping Today - June 2008 Contents Executive Corner The Fundamentals of Safety Man vs. Machine: Equipment Safety in Professional Cleaning Operations Frugal Housekeeper Planning for Disaster Eliminating Bed Bugs 2008 Candidate Information Executive Profile IHW Product Information The Green Scene Spring Board Briefing 2008 Call to Convention 2008 Convention Information USGBC Green Tip Product Highlights 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 - June 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.