Health assurance Ensuring safety through rnc es

By Donald R. Rung V.p.-Corporate Field Services Lumber Insurance Companies

ll ['ANY companies invest substanIYItial time and effort in establishing and funding "stand alone" safety incentive programs. In all too many cases, a year or more into the incentive journey, the company owners and managers are left dissatisfied with the impact-or lack of impact-that the program has had on their workers' compensation and safety experience.

Your salary

And Wage

adjustment process shou ld directly reflect those elements of job performance that you value the most.

employers and identifying what really "counts" and what is merely window dressing. Their most significant barometer in measuring what the employer really wants is looking at what the employer pays for and doesn't pay for.

of work and safety rules or who have been injured, especially if they have been injured as a result of unsafe behavior or failure to follow work and safety rules, should be specifically reminded of this during the review process. Their salary or wage increase-or lack of same-should be explained to them as specifically linked to safe job performance as well as the other elements you had identified to them as performance critical.

While a safety incentive program can be ineffective because it is improperly structured or communicated, many times the program struggles or fails because it is working at cross purposes with the company's salary or wage adjustment system.

Your salary and wage adjustment process should directly reflect those elements of job performance that you value the most. Unfortunately, many companies which are very vocal in their professed commitment to safe operations do not clearly or consistently reflect safe job performance or unsafe job performance in the annual adjustment in wage or salary. Employees are ultimately extremely perceptive in sorting through the flow of messages which come from their

It is critical to communicate to existing employees, management personnel, and potential and new hires what elements of their job performance are most important from your perspective. If your stated intention is to operate a facility with above average safety performance, you must make absolutely clear the impact that safe or unsafe job performance will have on continued employment, promotion and/or increase in salary or wage. You must then be willing to "walk the talk" and specifically reflect safe job performance in the performance review process for each ofyour employees.

Employees l'.,ho have received verbal or written warnings for violations

Employees who have worked safely, who have been supportive of the company's safety efforts and who have performed positively relative to the other performance critical elements should receive input which is just as specifically linked. It should be made very clear to them that one of the significant reasons for their salary or wage increase is the fact that they worked safely.

Supervision and/or management personnel should be held accountable for the overall safety performance of the personnel reporting to them. This should be made an overt part of their job description and their performance review should specifically address their performance relative to this goal. The most significant safety incentive mechanism available to you is already in place. Your salary and wage adjustment process can be a very effective safety management lool, once you realize that you get what you pay for.

Home Depot Purchases Delivery Firm

Home Depot has purchased Load n' Go, which provides do-it-yourself rental trucks exclusively for the chain's customers.

The deal includes Atlanta, Ga.based Load n' Go's assets, intellectual property and long-term leases on 336 modified GMC trucks. On Feb. l, most of its 47 workers became Depot employees, although c.e.o. Dave Lindenbaum and pres. Lester Pokorne left the company.

Pokorne developed the idea three years ago when a friend complained that he wished he had access to a pickup truck to haul purchases home after a visit to Home Depot. It took about six months for Pokorne to convince Depot to test the concept, which it tried out in mid-1995 at four Nashville stores. The program was rolled out to Atlanta stores, and now is offered at 265 stores.

"We're going to roll it out, as needed, nationally," said Home Depot spokesman Don Harrison. "Where there's a proliferation of pickup trucks, you probably don't need it."

Each week, about 4,000 customers rent the trucks, at $19 for the first 75 minutes and $5 for each additional 15 minutes.

Retail Sales Fuel Treated Plywood Explosion

Sales of treated plywood at lumber yards and home centers has more than quadrupled in the last twelve years, reports APA-The Engineered Wood Association.

Total demand for treated plywood reached a record 680 million sq. ft. 3/8" in 1996. a l4.5Vo increase from 1995. Annual growth over the last three years has been 157o.

Much of the increase is attributed to the wide-spread availability of treated plywood at most outlets throughout the U.S. Retail sales of treated plywood now account for over 70Vo of total demand. Boats, pernanent wood foundations and fire retardant treated plywood make up the remaining 30%.

"The home center and lumberyard segment of the treated plywood market is by far the largest," says Craig Adair, APA mgr. of market research. "Most home center chains now calry treated plywood in stock and some are reporting annual growth rates at lOVo to ZOVo;'

The do-it-yourselfer is the single largest customer of treated plywood flowing through distribution channels, accounting for 55Vo-6070 of sales. Another 25Vo-30Vo is sold to builders. remodeling contractors and other professionals. Common uses include outdoor sheds, decks, patios, planters, furniture, gazebos, porch roofs, docks, truck bed liners and subfloors in wet areas (laundry rooms and bathrooms).

Most individual home center and lumberyard outlets stock two SKUs of treated plywood, generally one grade in two thicknesses. Some offer a second grade, but rarely have more than two common thicknesses. Primary thicknesses are 314" and 112". While treated plywood grades vary slightly among individual lumberyards, most stock CDX, BC or CC.

APA predicts the growth to continue over the next few years, with total volume of treated plywood at l.l billion sq. ft. in the year 2001.