ENSURING EMPLOYEE SAFETY WITH A CALL-IN SYSTEM

Cut-To-Length Harvesting: efficiency/productivity

Feb. 2003
03-R-4

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INTRODUCTION: Ensuring that employees who work at widely separated and remote woodland work sites are safely out of the woods at the end of the workday is an important employer responsibility. Developing a simple but effective procedure to verify that employees are safely out of the woods can be a challenge.

GENERAL FEATURES: Packaging Corporation of America's Woodland Operations Department developed a safety call-in system to ensure employees were safely out of the woods at the end of each workday. The system has two major components: an answering machine dedicated to the call-in system and a job location board. Woods employees are required to call in at the end of the workday (4:45 PM) and to leave a message that they are on the way home. The PCA Woodlands staff takes turns checking the answering machine to be sure all employees have called in. A master listing includes all woods employee cell, office, mobile, and home phone numbers, as well as a defined procedure to follow if an employee has not made his call-in call by 5:00 PM. If a call has not been received, the staff person tries the individual on his or her mobile number first, then at a home phone. The job board is then checked to see where the individual was working that day. Either the staff person or someone in the area then goes to the job site to make sure the employee has left the site safely.

APPLICATION: The process, now in use for two years, also has had the unanticipated advantage of woods employees' leaving important work progress or work difficulty messages during the normal end of the workday call in. The job board is at the woodland shop, where the employees start their days. It has all operators' names, and the date and job name where each employee will be working. The supervisor updates the board daily.

For more information on this call-in safety system, please contact the author.

Darrell E. Pierson
Wood Operations Manager
Packaging Corporation of America
N9090 Country Road E.
Tomahawk, Wisconsin 54487
715/453-2131 x307
dpierson@packagingcorp.com

Forest Resources Association Inc.
600 Jefferson Plaza, Suite 350, Rockville, Maryland 20852
Phone: (301) 838-9385     Fax: (301) 838-9481