Welcome to the Boone's new online newsletter!
The New Normal
Covid-19 has brought us many changes. Due to social distancing needs, gathering everyone in a small room for a meeting is not the best idea. As such, we are introducing the Leashless Times, Boone’s new employee newsletter/blog. The Times will keep you posted on various safety issues, company updates, and other pertinent information. We are hoping this format will offer a suitable replacement for the immediate future and may even offer some advantages as well.
Additionally, the tradition of the safety quiz will continue. We are asking each staff member to complete the quiz by following the link at the end of this post. This process helps keep us in compliance with ISO standards and keeps you informed on important safety and company issues. You may have already discovered that we have also launched the new Team Boone website. This website is where you will find regular updates, training videos, and can provide feedback to Boone leadership about things you care about. We hope these new tools are helpful and informative. (Helpful Tip: All the answers to the quiz are in contained in this post!)
Covid-19
We had all hoped the pandemic would be over by now. However, it appears that we are just settling in. The masks are annoying, wearing gloves while working is harder and tasks take longer, your hands are probably cracking from so much hand washing and sanitizer, and it's exhausting and fatiguing to keep up with everything Covid-19 brings. That said, it's critically important that we maintain cleaning and safety precautions. If you have a fever of over 99 degrees, you are not to be at work. If you have symptoms similar to Covid-19, go get tested instead of coming to work. Covid-19 survives on surfaces for varying lengths of time...
Plastic: 2-3 days. (ie machine surfaces, shopping cart handles)
Cardboard: 24 hours. (boxes, packaging)
Aerosol Droplets: 3 hours (the empty room or restroom you just walked into and took off your mask in)
Stainless Steel: 2-3 days (door handles, machine parts)
When washing your hands, its important to lather your hands for 20 seconds to breakdown the fatty membrane around the virus.
Cover your sneeze, and make sure those around you do as well. A sneeze can expel aerosols 19-25 feet and travel at speeds of over 100 mph.
Knowing all of this just means we have to stay on top of it! Thank you for doing your part.
Hazardous Waste
Both Goleta & Grover locations have had their Spill Containment materials restocked. For Goleta, you can find these items going from production to packaging on the right, below the Safety Materials sign. For Grover, they are by the wash-up sink against the wall between production and the offices. In the event of a spill, use the spill containment materials to contain the spill until it can be disposed of properly. If there is a spill, it's important to know what was spilled, how dangerous it is, and how to properly clean it up. To do this, you want to look at the Safety Data Sheets (SDS). The SDS are required to be supplied by chemical vendors for every hazardous chemical they distribute. The SDS provide brief guidance to help workers who handle hazardous chemicals become familiar with the contents and hazards of the chemical. This includes the proper way to handle, clean, and dispose of the product. In the event that someone needs to be transported to the hospital after coming in contact with the chemical. These are available in the SDS binder, and will tell you what the ‘ingredients’ of the material are, and the proper way to handle, clean, and dispose of the product. In the event that someone needs to be transported to the hospital after coming in contact with a chemical. Bring the SDS, it provides information necessary for the healthcare providers to administer the right treatment.
Directions and maps on how to get to the closest Occupational Medicine Urgent Care or Emergency Room are posted by your safety materials.
Once a material spill has been contained, dispose of the material and waste in properly labeled steel drums. The steel drums are what the hazardous disposal company uses to transport used materials for us.
Housekeeping
Just a reminder of the importance of cleaning up after yourself. If you use a dish, glass, fork, etc... please don't just toss it in the sink. You may think you are going to come back for it later but often dishes sit in the sink for days at a time causing our shared spaces to become dirty, cluttered, and sometimes smelly. Let's all be considerate that we are sharing this space.
Goleta - new area restrooms. Please do not use the new area restrooms yet. These restrooms have not been added to our cleaning contract and as such, they are not being cleaned. You are quite literally using the dirtiest restrooms in the building.
Garbage Disposal: Please, again, put all trash and food waste in the trash. Do not put things down the sink and depend on the disposal. We had a bill for $150 for "rice in the disposal and drain."
The Big Dog Award
The Big Dog Award is a company tradition where a team member can recognize another team member for their hard work and contribution to the team. Andrew and Dave have no input on who receives the award. The award was started because often team members go above and beyond and nobody knows this better than your co-workers. Each time the award is passed on the current holder adds some kind of "flourish" to it. And, as you can see it is mighty handsome!
The last Big Dog Award went to Todd. As the current holder of the award he has the honor of selecting who to give it to -- and he has selected Jaime. When we asked him why, Todd said... "He is our go to guy!" Congratulations Jaime!
Don't worry Grover - now that you are part of the Boone family it's only a matter of time before this incredibly handsome trophy makes its way into your orbit!