Longest Summer Day..A Safety Reminder

June 21st....known as Summer Solstice...the longest day of the year. Well it's not any "longer" than any other, it still has 24 hours. It's a day in which daylight lasts the "longest". Did you know that daylight will last just 4 minutes shy of 15 HOURS in some areas of the Northern Hemisphere and even longer as you get closer to the Arctic Circle? This could also be among the hottest days of summer.

With that being said, make sure you and others you are working with are drinking LOTS of fluids. Whether it is at work or play. Gatorade is a great choice. It even comes in individual packets so you don't have to mix gallons of the stuff. A place I worked at actually stocked gatorade in the storeroom. Many areas in the paper mill had those large, round coolers. You know, the type that you could stick your arm into until the cold , flavored water almost comes up to your armpit? Well, it DID come up to the armpit of one fellow. He decided on a quick and dirty method of mixing the gatorade WITHOUT using a mixing utensil. Aargh. After hearing this, we immediately did some research with the vendor that already provided the family size gatorade we were stocking and found that miniature, single serve packets were available. This not only kept everyone hydrated as they were working long hours in the heat (and in good health), but also kept the "hairy-one's" arm dry.

11/15/06-Disgruntled Foreman Writes Work Order to Tear Down Plant

Job Done Before Anyone Noticed

Workers at a northern Wisconsin paper mill were "shocked to arrive at work and find the plant torn down", a union spokesman said early Thursday. “Where do I punch in?” was the common lament among workers.

Darrell Kemp, a company representative said that a “disgruntled” production foreman had put a request into the recently computerized work order system, telling the maintenance technicians to tear the plant down.

“It appears the maintenance guys executed the work order before the error could be caught. The work order was marked as an emergency, so they went right to work.”, stated Kemp, visibly shaken.

Displaced production workers quickly went about finding the cafeteria, so they could get a cup of coffee to fend off the November chill.

It is unknown whether the plant will be rebuilt. “To do that, I would need to put in a work order, but at this point I can’t find my desk”, said a chief engineer, who asked to remain anonymous.

With Christmas approaching rapidly, the price of wrapping paper is expected to make a serious jump. The company is trying to move the production to other plants until the crisis is resolved. “This is not in our long range plan. We will have to come up with a strategy to deal with this.”, said Marvin Schlep, Director of Corporate Strategy.