1. Mike Tautphaeus
1.1. September 2019
1.1.1. Safe Start
1.1.1.1. Topic: Safe Start principles • 4 states are: Rushing, Frustration, Fatigue, Complacency • 4 errors are: Eyes not on task, Mind not on Task, Line of Fire, Balance/Traction/Grip Earlier this year I was performing roof repairs on a family members home to stop leaks. The tools involved were an extension ladder, hammer, caulk gun, roofing cement and nails. The gutters were about 10' off the ground and the roof peak was approximately 16-18' high. I had already went up and down the ladder multiple times to get the appropriate tools to do the job. After completing the task, it was time to clean up and bring the tools with me. To avoid carrying all the tools, I tossed some off into the grass area, checking my line of fire first, but I still had to carry the caulk gun with me. Getting on the ladder was a chore in itself due to the pitch of roof so I set the caulk gun at the edge of the roof. After getting on the ladder, I grabbed the caulk gun before descending. While descending I was taking my time and focusing on holding the caulk gun and have 3 points of contact. About half way down I took a step down to the next rung. My step was not deep enough to get a solid footing and only had my toes on the rung. I quickly felt this and readjusted my footing before putting weight on it. If I had been rushing, the results would have been a lot different and I would have fell to the concrete driveway. Looking back on this experience and analyzing the states and errors, I am glad I was not rushing to be able to adjust quickly. The error I could have made was not having the proper balance on the rung. The one error I did make was my mind being on two tasks at once. I was focused on holding the ladder and the caulk gun but it took my mind directly off of stepping down. Even the smallest and most common tasks can have bad endings. It is always good to do a mental check, if by yourself, or a formal walk through with others of the scenario and obstacles on the job site.
1.2. March 2019
1.2.1. Injury Prevention Methods
1.2.1.1. Movement
1.2.1.1.1. Your core is not only the "6 pack" in front of your body, but the entire trunk area including the sides and back. I personally think we underestimate how important the core is for overall muscular skeletal health. The core and hips are the foundation for our bodies. A lack in core strength and proper hip mobility/stability can potentially lead to injury or pain over time in your back, knees, and shoulders. The core serves as a stabilizer for our entire bodies. The muscles should take over when we lift things over our heads, pick up heavy objects, and should be involved in most things we do period. Try to pick exercises that are more functional, or are applicable to real life movements. Doing crunches and sit ups do very little and are not as applicable. Here are a few examples.
1.2.1.2. Recovery
1.2.1.2.1. Recovery is an essential key in your overall health. It is often overlooked and thought to be as not as important. Try and imagine your overall health as a car. If you are constantly “on” and running without stopping, soon the car will give out on you. What do you do when your car is dead? You take the proper steps to ensure that it can be recovered. You check the engine (your body), give it some gas (water and food) make sure all the tires are functioning properly (movement! exercising your limbs). You make sure your car is washed and clean (bathing, hygiene). Thinking of our overall health as a car can help us understand what we need to do. We need to take care of ourselves just like cars if we want to run and function properly. Being constantly on the go may be a norm in today’s society, but in your life, it doesn’t have to be. You have the power to make a change and put your health first. Take a break and enjoy the moment! Give yourself time to relax. Not only do you need to recover physically, but also mentally. Below are some tips of things you can do to help your mind and body recover.
1.2.1.3. Nutrition
1.2.1.3.1. Food is really just fuel for your body and that is why it is so important that we are aware of what we are putting into it. For many people, changing what they eat has a huge impact on how they feel, look, and behave. It truly does matter what we eat, when we eat, and how we are eating. Do you notice that you might feel a bit sick after eating your food extremely fast and not chewing it up completely? These things can impact our health, mostly digestion. If we can't digest, we will not get the nourishment out of what we're eating. Instead, we should focus on eating fruits, vegetables, and protein to gain more energy, create a healthy metabolism, maintain muscle mass and to feel fuller longer. Below are a few examples of nutrient rich foods:
1.2.1.4. Mindset
1.2.1.4.1. A mantra is a word or phrase used to help calm the mind and can help get you through tough or stressful situations. One particular mantra that I prefer to repeat in difficult situations is "Just put one foot in front of the other" and what I mean by that is no matter how hard or bad a time or situation gets, just take it one step at a time. By doing this I can focus strictly on the task at hand rather than the big picture. Whenever you start to focus on the big picture, tasks become much more overwhelming and seem impossible, but if you can focus on one small task at a time it becomes much easier to accomplish. A mantra doesn’t just have to be for difficult times, for example you could have a mantra that you say before bed time to help fall asleep.
2. Nickki Green
2.1. June 2019
2.1.1. Firework Safety
2.1.1.1. Earlier this week I was driving through Jefferson County and noticed all the Firework tents popping up and hurried home to tell my husband. Every year my husband and brother go in on buying a bunch of consumer fireworks and we take them down to the Lake of the Ozarks to shoot off with the family. Growing up, we always bought fireworks and would shoot off bottle rockets, roman candles, sparklers, etc. I never thought twice about doing this and I never got hurt luckily, but as I get older and have small children of my own I am definitely paying more attention to their safety and the rest of my family.
2.1.1.2. In the past couple years at the lake we have taken some steps in the right direction to be more safe during our fireworks display; however, after reading through the internet I realize we could do more. We always shoot the fireworks off away from the rest of the family, any trees, or buildings. We will only shoot off one at a time, quickly move away after lighting it, ensure it is completed before approaching the area again, and we have the hose ready nearby in case of fire. There are definitely some other precautions we could take, please see the below bullets and the attached PowerPoint for some great tips if you and your family plan to partake in any consumer firework display in the coming weeks.
2.1.1.3. • Never allow young children to play with or ignite fireworks. • Avoid buying fireworks that are packaged in brown paper because this is often a sign that the fireworks were made for professional displays and that they could pose a danger to consumers. • Always have an adult supervise fireworks activities. Parents don't realize that young children suffer injuries from sparklers. Sparklers burn at temperatures of about 2,000 degrees - hot enough to melt some metals. • Never place any part of your body directly over a fireworks device when lighting the fuse. Back up to a safe distance immediately after lighting fireworks. • Never try to re-light or pick up fireworks that have not ignited fully. • Never point or throw fireworks at another person. • Keep a bucket of water or a garden hose handy in case of fire or other mishap. • Light fireworks one at a time, then move back quickly. • Never carry fireworks in a pocket or shoot them off in metal or glass containers. • After fireworks complete their burning, douse the spent device with plenty of water from a bucket or hose before discarding it to prevent a trash fire. • Make sure fireworks are legal in your area before buying or using them
2.2. December 2019
2.2.1. Driving Safety
2.2.1.1. All, Happy Snowy Monday! I know it would be more appropriate to cover driving safety is snowy conditions given the weather outside but I am instead going to discuss food safety. Here is my story: Over the summer, I was enjoying a weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks with my family. My brother-in-law offered me some cashews. I love cashews and immediately started eating them. I have eaten cashews my entire life so I thought nothing about eating these at the lake. Very quickly after I ate the nuts I started to feel like my throat was itchy and then it felt like it was closing. I immediately panicked, but I was with my family and they rushed out to get my Benadryl and shortly after taking the Benadryl, I started to feel better and sleepy. My brother was there and he noted that he developed a nut allergy in his older age and that cashews also bothered him. I didn't think much about but decided I would never have cashews again, even though I loved them. Okay now fast forward to a few weeks ago. Since the lake incident, I had eaten a slice of Pecan Pie, almonds and peanuts with no issues. So one morning, Paul Hughes at work offered me some Pistachios to eat. I immediately said oh yeah sure, I love Pistachios. I hardly ever eat them though, just never have them around. Well I ate a handful and immediately that same itchy throat closing sensation returned. This time instead of immediately panicking, I calmly asked the folks around me if anyone had any Benadryl because for some reason, I hadn't learned my lesson and did not have any in my purse. Luckily, we have Benadryl at the SHO and I took 2 pretty quickly after I started experiencing the symptoms. Unfortunately this time, it took a lot longer to feel better. I experienced a lot of trouble swallowing, along with a long list of other issues. After a couple hours I started to get back to normal, just exhausted from the medicine and emotionally drained. Here is what I have learned from this experience, it is possible to develop an allergy as an adult. I was lactose intolerant as a child but grew out of it for the most part by adulthood, but I guess I have replaced it with a nut allergy. I have full intention to go at the start of the new year to my doctor to discuss this new issue. I also learned to carry Benedryl in my purse at all times. With the holidays upon us, upcoming Potluck lunches, holiday parties, etc. I will be paying a lot more attention to what is in each food item and staying clear of anything with nuts. I will also have no problem asking what is in a dish now to ensure I don't make this mistake again. I am afraid a 3rd time might be even worse. I would suggest for everyone else, always remain aware that is possible to develop allergies later in life. Never take anything for granted. Also I would suggest if you are preparing food for an event or party it's always good to know what is in it in case someone asks due to an allergy concern. Thanks for listening to my story and everyone have a safe Monday in this snowy weather.
3. John Witte
3.1. May 2019
3.1.1. Behavior Based Safety
3.1.1.1. Behavior Based Safety/Life is basically making sure our values (family, health, friendship, etc.) always drive our actions and/or behaviors. The attached presentation show how the Master Model for Behavior Based Safety/Life is a process where our values drive our thinking/level of awareness which then drive our actions and/or behaviors which then drive the desired results. If we are in our intellectual thinking center with a high level of awareness our actions and/or behaviors should produce good results by way of staying safe or simply achieving a favorable outcome. Mark's story in his April safety message was a very good example of someone operating in their intellectual center with a creative level of awareness. Mark described the bad road conditions and mentioned that had he not been paying full attention (he was not in his emotional or moving center) his very minor accident could have been much worse. Mark was able to intellectually assess his sliding situation and creatively come up with an action that provided a safe and favorable outcome. Mark's values (his safety and the safety of others) drove his thinking/level of awareness which then drove his action which then produced the desired results (no injuries and only very minor damage to his vehicle). Mark's message was a focus on the Smith Driving System which requires the driver to be in their intellectual center with a high level of awareness. Mark, thanks for sharing your story with us. Another driving story that I would like to share is a situation that I have personally experienced several times when I commuted to the Sioux Energy Center on boring rural roads. What would happen is during the commute I would start thinking about a problem at work, space out and then come back to reality several miles down the road not remembering the drive. This was always very scary since a lot of actual driving (sharp turns, train tracks and a stop sign with right hand turn on to another road with no stop) took place between the last point I remember driving and when I came back to reality. In these situations I was definitely in my moving center with a very low level of awareness. My valves were not driving my behavior which could have produced very bad results. Lastly I would like to mention how Behavior Based Safety/Life can be applied to our normal daily life. There may be situations we encounter where we are in our emotional center with a low level of awareness. Fighting with our partner, yell at our kid, dealing with a sales person or a bad driver all have us in our emotional center. In these situations if we can move to our intellectual center with a higher level of awareness and allow our values to drive our actions and/or behaviors we should get much better results. I am not saying it is easy to do, especially in the heat of the moment, but if you keep working at it the process should get easier. Thanks, John
3.2. October 2019
3.2.1. Roadway Transporting Safety
3.2.1.1. All, My monthly (for last month) safety message is about Roadway Safety-Transporting Items or Driving Behind a Vehicle Transporting Items. We have all probably seen roadway debris while traveling on various highways. The attached presentation provides some additional insight into roadway safety regarding transporting items or driving behind a vehicle transporting items. A lot of the items I have seen over my years of drive appear to be personal in nature (bags a clothes, household belongings, furniture cushions, suitcases, etc.). I have always wonder what that person will do when they get to where they are going and find out that they have lost some of their couch cushions. It is not like it is that easy to replace the missing cushions. Not only is it a loss for the person transporting the items it is a huge hazard for other people driving on the highway. In general, based on the nature of the debris, these potentially dangerous situations are being created by normal people not professional truck drivers/transporters and can be easily avoided by properly securing their loads. Properly securing a load can range from simply using a rope to tie items down to using cargo netting/tarps to even using ratchet straps for big items. Good rules of thumb are that you can never secure a load too much and if in doubt let the professionals do it. A local radio station (Y98) keeps a yearly tally of roadway debris Ladders versus Mattresses. This year alone there have been over 100 ladders and over 100 mattresses reported along local roadways. That is over 200 opportunities where an accident and potentially a life changing event could have occurred. All of these instances could have been avoided by properly securing the load. Several years ago I was returning from dropping my sister and brother-in-law off at the airport when a pickup truck hauling a clothes dryer passed me on Highway 270. It was dark and rainy making it difficult to see but I noticed that the pickup truck did not have a tailgate. At the time I did not feel comfortable being behind the truck but due to the road conditions was unable/unwilling to try and get in front of them. I decided to slow down and put more distance between me and them. Several minutes later I saw the dryer slide out of the pickup truck's bed and land/come to rest on the highway. I was in the lane next to the dryer and only had to slowdown but the vehicle next to me had to execute an emergency avoidance procedure. After passing the dryer I call 911 to report the situation. This situation could have easily been avoided by simply securing the dryer in the pickup truck's bed. My daughter was with me at the time and it was a very good learning opportunity for her both on defensive driving and securing loads. Thanks, John
4. Earl Mason
4.1. November 2019
4.1.1. 5 Top Winter Driving Tips
4.1.1.1. 2019 Insane Winter Driving Accidents Compilation 1. Vehicle Thermometer ( You need to know when temperatures are approaching freezing) 2. Ice Forms first on the following a. Bridges and overpasses freeze 1st (Because they freeze from both the top and from the bottom) b. Areas of the road that lie in shadows (especially along wooded areas or cliffs) c. Low lying areas (Valleys or bottoms of hills because cold air is heavier than hot air it going to sit down there) d. Roadways that are close to bodies of water (air comes over the water, picks up the water and drops it on the road and it freezes there) 3. Clear snow and ice off your vehicle especially light ( People need to see you before you stop or turn this is your communication system) 4. Make sure windshield washer fluid it topped (When other vehicles throw snow and ice on your vehicle you have to be able to clean it off) i. Along with this without saying wiper Blades should be in good shape 5. Gentle movements on steering wheel and brakes ( Overuse of these controls will cause you to lose control quickly) a. Give yourself lots of time b. Don’t brake and steer at same time…..let me tell you from personal experience this doesn't work! My story: In I was driving up to Callaway nuclear plant and road conditions were terrible. I kept thinking the whole time I should stop, turn around and go back to my office in St. Louis, but I didn't… I pushed forward thinking I had to make it to this super important training. This is usually an hour and fifteen minute trip from home to the plant, but on this day it took me 2 hours just to get to the exit, which on a normal day would mean I still had an half an hour til I made it to the plant. So, as I started get off on the exit ramp…and the scary thing was I wasn't speeding or anything I was actually being pretty cautious….. my car hit ice and started to go sideways. I overcorrected and hit the exit sign that was between the highway and the exit ramp. The metal sign split the hood of my car in half as it spun my car in a 360 turn that left me facing oncoming traffic on the highway I literally …..thought that was done! I thru my hands up and said…s…….! My whole life flashed in front of my eyes….from being a kid….highschool football….graduating college…to seeing my tombstone….yes that's a real phenomenom and I experienced it. Only by the grace god traffic came to a stop with no other crashes and I came out of that crash without a scratch…Truly life changing experience. This one experience changed my driving behavior forever! Respect the road and the weather conditions rain, sleet or snow! It's not a game you can die on the road!
4.2. July 2019
4.2.1. Driving Range Safety
4.2.1.1. The Accident
4.2.1.1.1. When arriving at local driving range and get ready to hit some range balls myself I witnessed a dad accidently hit his 5 year son in the head with a golf club that resulted in 10 stitches
4.2.1.1.2. The young boy was hitting balls in the bay next to his dad and was trying to get his dad to pay attention to what his hitting balls....as the young boy had just figured out how to get the ball in the air a bit.
4.2.1.1.3. When the dad didn't come the young boy walked around the bay wall to get the dads attention as he was swinging the club back and hit his son in the head with his golf club as he was taking it back
4.2.1.2. Driving Range...Typical Safety
4.2.1.2.1. As a dad who has taken his kids to the driving range on many occasions a couple of key safety items stand out to me in terms of driving range safety
4.2.1.3. Safety Rec
4.2.1.3.1. Driving Range Safety recap:
5. Mark Hager
5.1. April 2019
5.1.1. SMITH DRIVING SYSTEM
5.1.1.1. My monthly safety message is a focus on the Smith System 5 Keys...To reiterate the points of the Smith Driving System, here is a screenshot of what this all entails and how we should incorporate this into our everyday habits, no matter the weather conditions. Thanks, for reading!
5.2. August 2019
5.2.1. Home Safety