Safety Banners for Attitude and Teamwork in American industry.
                Safety Banners built in Memphis, Tennessee USA.
                                          Our Safety Banners encouraging Attitude and Teamwork are used by most of the Fortune 500 companies!
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A good attitude and employee teamwork are important in American industry! Safety Banners can help.

Good Attitude and worker Teamwork can help improve safety and quality.

Researchers have identified 10 teamwork processes that fall into three categories:

• Transition processes (between periods of action)
  • Mission analysis
  • Goal specification
  • Strategy formulation
• Action processes (when the team attempts to accomplish its goals and objectives)
  • Monitoring progress toward goals
  • Systems monitoring
  • Team monitoring and backup behavior
  • Coordination
• Interpersonal processes (present in both action periods and transition periods)
  • Conflict management
  • Motivation and confidence building
  • Affect management

Researchers have confirmed that performing teamwork works better when you are with a close person. This is due to a chemical called serotonin Hydroxytryptamine which helps an individual to communicate better and think more positively which. Serotonin is produced when an individual is in a situation where he/she is in comfortable environment. Sometime it just doesn't work. ^{What does this mean?}

Training to improve teamwork

As in a 2008 review, "team training promotes teamwork and enhances team performance". In specific, an analysis of several published and unpublished studies concluded that team training is "useful for improving cognitive outcomes, affective outcomes, teamwork processes, and performance outcomes.

Benefits

• Problems solving: A single brain can’t bounce different ideas off of each other. Each team member has a responsibility to contribute equally and offer their unique perspective on a problem to arrive at the best possible solution. Teamwork can lead to better decisions, products, or services. The quality of teamwork may be measured by analyzing the following six components of collaboration among team members: communication, coordination, balance of member contributions, mutual support, effort, and cohesion. In one study, teamwork quality as measured in this manner correlated with team performance in the areas of effectiveness (i.e., producing high quality work) and efficiency (i.e., meeting schedules and budgets). A recent analysis also found a relationship between teamwork and team effectiveness.
• Healthy competition: A healthy competition in groups can be used to motivate individuals and help the team excel.
• Developing relationships: A team that continues to work together will eventually develop an increased level of bonding. This can help people avoid unnecessary conflicts since they have become well acquainted with each other through team work. Team members’ ratings of their satisfaction with a team is correlated with the level of teamwork processes present.
• Everyone has unique qualities: Every team member can offer their unique knowledge and ability to help improve other team members. Through teamwork the sharing of these qualities will allow team members to be more productive in the future.

  Attitude: Daniel Katz classified attitudes into four different groups based on their functions

  1. Utilitarian: provides us with general approach or avoidance tendencies
  2. Knowledge: help people organize and interpret new information
  3. Ego-defensive: attitudes can help people protect their self-esteem
  4. Value-expressive: used to express central values or beliefs

  Utilitarian People adopt attitudes that are rewarding and that help them avoid punishment. In other words any attitude that is adopted in a person's own self-interest is considered to serve a utilitarian function. Consider you have a condo, people with condos pay property taxes, and as a result you don't want to pay more taxes. If those factors lead to your attitude that " Increases in property taxes are bad" you attitude is serving a utilitarian function.

  Knowledge People need to maintain an organized, meaningful, and stable view of the world. That being said important values and general principles can provide a framework for our knowledge. Attitudes achieve this goal by making things fit together and make sense. Example:

  • I believe that I am a good person.
  • I believe that good things happen to good people.
  • Something bad happens to Bob.
  • So I believe Bob must not be a good person.

  Ego-Defensive This function involves psychoanalytic principles where people use defense mechanisms to protect themselves from psychological harm. Mechanisms include:

  • Denial
  • Repression
  • Projection
  • Rationalization

  The ego-defensive notion correlates nicely with Downward Comparison Theory which holds the view that derogating a less fortunate other increases our own subjective well-being. We are more likely to use the ego-defensive function when we suffer a frustration or misfortune.

  Value-Expressive

  • Serves to express one's central values and self-concept.
  • Central values tend to establish our identity and gain us social approval thereby showing us who we are, and what we stand for.

Safety Banners for Proper Lifting and Lifting Techniques.
                Safety Banners built in Memphis, Tennessee USA.
                                          Our safety banners about lifting properly are used by most of the Fortune 500 companies

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Using proper lifting techniques prevents lifting back injuries! Safety Banners Can help.

Lifting properly is a very important aspect of preventing back problems. Preventing back injuries is a major challenge for employers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than one million workers suffer back injuries each year. Typically, back injuries account for 20% of all workplace injuries and illnesses, and one-fourth of all compensation claims are a result of back injuries. The pain and discomfort of back injuries can have a dramatic change in employee productivity.

A Bureau of Labor Statistics survey shows that four out of five back injuries were to the lower back, and that three out of four occurred while lifting. This survey shows the importance of reducing back injuries caused by lifting. Although no approach has completely eliminated such injuries, a substantial portion could be prevented by incorporating an effective control program along with an ergonomics analysis and design of work tasks.

OSHA has evaluated ways to help prevent lifting injuries. They specify two types of controls: engineering and administrative.

Engineering controls are used to redesign the workstation to minimize lifting hazards. Administrative controls include carefully selecting and training workers, so that they can perform their jobs safely.

Suggested administrative controls include:

Strength testing of existing workers: Studies have shown strength testing can prevent up to one-third of all work-related injuries. Through the strength-testing process, employers can discourage employees from performing tasks that exceed their strength capacities.

Physical conditioning or stretching programs - - These programs are implemented to reduce the risk of muscle strain.

Training - - Employees should be trained to utilize proper lifting techniques that place minimum stress on the lower back.

How To Lift Safety:

Before lifting, take a moment to think about what you are about to do. Examine the object for sharp corners, slippery spots or other potential hazards. Know your limit and do not try to exceed it. Ask for help if needed. Or if possible, divide the load to make it lighter. Know where you are going to set the item down and make sure the destination and your path are free of obstructions. Then follow these steps.

1. Stand close to the load with your feet spread shoulder width apart. One foot should be slightly in front of the other for balance.

2. Squat down bending at the knees (not your waist). Tuck your chin while keeping your back as vertical as possible.

3. Get a firm grasp of the object before beginning the lift.

4. Slowly begin straightening your legs, lifting slowly. Never twist your body during this step.

5. Once the lift is complete, keep the object as close to the body as possible. If the load's center of gravity moves away from your body, there is a dramatic increase in stress to the lumbar region of the back

Safety Banners for a Clean Workplace and Good Housekeeping.
                Safety Banners built in Memphis, Tennessee USA..
                                          Our Safety Banners for a Clean Workplace and Good housekeeping are used by most of the Fortune 500 companies!
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A clean workplace and good housekeeping contribute to higher productivity and better safety! Safety Banners can help!

Why should we pay attention to housekeeping at work?

Effective housekeeping can eliminate some workplace hazards and help get a job done safely and properly. Poor housekeeping can frequently contribute to accidents by hiding hazards that cause injuries. If the sight of paper, debris, clutter and spills is accepted as normal, then other more serious health and safety hazards may be taken for granted.

Housekeeping is not just cleanliness. It includes keeping work areas neat and orderly; maintaining halls and floors free of slip and trip hazards; and removing of waste materials (e.g., paper, cardboard) and other fire hazards from work areas. It also requires paying attention to important details such as the layout of the whole workplace, aisle marking, the adequacy of storage facilities, and maintenance. Good housekeeping is also a basic part of accident and fire prevention.

Effective housekeeping is an ongoing operation: it is not a hit-and-miss cleanup done occasionally. Periodic "panic" cleanups are costly and ineffective in reducing accidents.

What is the purpose of workplace housekeeping?

Poor housekeeping can be a cause of accidents, such as:

• tripping over loose objects on floors, stairs and platforms
• being hit by falling objects
• slipping on greasy, wet or dirty surfaces
• striking against projecting, poorly stacked items or misplaced material
• cutting, puncturing, or tearing the skin of hands or other parts of the body on projecting nails, wire or steel strapping

To avoid these hazards, a workplace must "maintain" order throughout a workday. Although this effort requires a great deal of management and planning, the benefits are many.

What are some benefits of good housekeeping practices?

Effective housekeeping results in:

• reduced handling to ease the flow of materials
• fewer tripping and slipping accidents in clutter-free and spill-free work areas
• decreased fire hazards
• lower worker exposures to hazardous substances (e.g. dusts, vapours)
• better control of tools and materials, including inventory and supplies
• more efficient equipment cleanup and maintenance
• better hygienic conditions leading to improved health
• more effective use of space
• reduced property damage by improving preventive maintenance
• less janitorial work
• improved morale
• improved productivity (tools and materials will be easy to find)

How do I plan a good housekeeping program?

A good housekeeping program plans and manages the orderly storage and movement of materials from point of entry to exit. It includes a material flow plan to ensure minimal handling. The plan also ensures that work areas are not used as storage areas by having workers move materials to and from work areas as needed. Part of the plan could include investing in extra bins and more frequent disposal.

The costs of this investment could be offset by the elimination of repeated handling of the same material and more effective use of the workers' time. Often, ineffective or insufficient storage planning results in materials being handled and stored in hazardous ways. Knowing the plant layout and the movement of materials throughout the workplace can help plan work procedures.

Worker training is an essential part of any good housekeeping program. Workers need to know how to work safely with the products they use. They also need to know how to protect other workers such as by posting signs (e.g., "Wet - Slippery Floor") and reporting any unusual conditions.

Housekeeping order is "maintained" not "achieved." Cleaning and organization must be done regularly, not just at the end of the shift. Integrating housekeeping into jobs can help ensure this is done. A good housekeeping program identifies and assigns responsibilities for the following:

• clean up during the shift
• day-to-day cleanup
• waste disposal
• removal of unused materials
• inspection to ensure cleanup is complete

Do not forget out-of-the-way places such as shelves, basements, sheds, and boiler rooms that would otherwise be overlooked. The orderly arrangement of operations, tools, equipment and supplies is an important part of a good housekeeping program.

The final addition to any housekeeping program is inspection. It is the only way to check for deficiencies in the program so that changes can be made. The documents on workplace inspection checklists provide a general guide and examples of checklists for inspecting offices and manufacturing facilities.