Monday Morning Minute: Sept. 12, 2022
INCIDENT ALERT
USW Local 731 – Pixelle – Chillicothe, OH
On August 28, 2022, a USW member was injured at Pixelle Specialty Solutions’ specialty paper mill located in Chillicothe, Ohio. The member’s foot was pulled into a winder and was amputated as a result of the incident. USW Health, Safety and Environment staffer Trish Creech is assisting the local and Robert Shrock is the ERT staffer assigned.
Union Work
From Domtar’s Newsroom – How to Make Sustainable Choices for Back-To-School
About half of back-to-school shoppers plan to make sustainable choices while buying supplies for the new year, according to a recent back-to-school survey from Deloitte. Among survey respondents who didn’t plan to buy with sustainability in mind, 20 percent said it’s difficult to identify genuinely sustainable products.
Whether you’re preparing children to return to school or helping young adults get ready for life on campus, here are a few tips for how you can make sustainable choices as you shop:
- Choose Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified school supplies – The FSC label makes it easy to identify products that support responsibly managed forests. Look for the FSC label when purchasing notebooks, printing paper, pencils, tissues, décor or even clothing and shoes.
- Prepare for productivity with a paper planner and calendar – Writing things down on paper increases one’s motivation to get things done and improves memory, and it’s easily recyclable. Seek out FSC-certified planners, look for planners made from recycled materials or print your own on recycled paper using templates from Microsoft, Google Docs, Google Sheets or How Life Unfolds – and don’t forget to recycle your used pages.
- Upcycle shipping, packing, packaging boxes, and clippings from old magazines and books – Paper packaging is among the most recyclable materials. It can be repurposed multiple times to organize files, make a drawer organizer, or send a care package to a college student. Clippings of words, phrases and images from magazines can be mounted onto poster board or cardboard to create collages, vision boards and other crafts. You can also use old books to make bookmarks, keepsake boxes and wall art.
Finally, remember to recycle used paper products. Community recycling programs are now available to most Americans, and paper products, including paper packaging, are among the items most accepted for curbside recycling, according to the American Forest & Paper Association’s 2021 recycling study.
Safety
American Society of Safety Professionals is Hosting a Free, Invite-Only Fall Protection and Restraint Training Event
The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) is hosting a series of free, specific trainings targeted toward workers from all private sector industries where working at height is a concern. Falls are one of the critical hazards that paper sector leadership and the critical hazards team have identified as a main fatality category in the industry and which the USW’s Making and Converting Paper Safely 10-Point Plan addresses.
The sessions were developed for OSHA under the Susan Harwood training grant and will be led by well-known industry experts. For this event, ASSP is looking for workers and end-users, like our members, to participate. The trainings are appropriate for workers in industries with high fatality rates and in high-hazard industries; in small or new businesses; and for temporary workers, minority or other hard-to-reach workers.
Courses include sessions on:
- Full body harnesses: Tuesday, September 20, 11:00 a.m. EST to 2:00 p.m. EST– Learn to identify the four main inspection areas (hardware, web, stitching, tags) and list modes of failure for each, identify the proper location of thigh and chest straps, along with proper tightness, as well as proper location for the dorsal D-ring, and identify various types of specialty harnesses, anchorage connectors and self-retracting devices.
- Anchorage connectors: Wednesday, September 28, 11:00 a.m. EST to 2:00 p.m. EST – Examine standards and regulations for anchorages, identify various types of anchorage connectors, and examine how to select strong structure(s) to install an anchorage connector and the conditions for when you should consult an expert; and,
- Self-retracting devices: Thursday, September 29, 11:00 a.m. EST to 2:00 p.m. EST – Examine the history, design and intended purpose of self-retracing devices (SRDs), identify the advantages and disadvantages of using SRDs as compared to lanyards, and recognize the steps for inspecting, installing and servicing SRDs.
To begin the registration process, fill out the following brief survey:OSHA Susan Hardwood Fall Protection Training (alchemer.com)
Safety Alert – Crosby Screw Pin Ankle Shackles
The Crosby Group has determined that certain screw pin anchor shackles may have a condition that can reduce the ultimate load capacity from the published catalog values. The shackle bow may have a previously undetected indication, and continued use may result in loss of load, property damage, severe injury or death.
It has been determined that the 1” 8.5t screw pin anchor shackles with PIC TXJ shown on the bow may have this condition. No other sizes or PICS are part of this safety notice. The potentially impacted products were shipped from Crosby between November 23, 2021 and January 28, 2022.
In the event your mill or converting site does have any 1” 8.5t shackles with PIC TXJ, it is requested that the impacted items are removed from service and arranged for return and replacement. To return these products, please contact your Crosby Distributor. For more information, contact Technical Support at 1-800-220-8509 or crosbytechsupport@thecrosbygroup.com.
Industry Update
Recent Harvard Study Found that Paper Catalogs are More Effective for Higher Priced Items
With the costs of digital advertising increasing and returns on those marketing strategies declining, more companies are turning to paper catalogs to reach consumers.
Harvard University recently conducted a study to investigate whether direct mail advertising benefits every retailer and when that analog marketing strategy works best for targeting consumers. The study tested whether all product categories are suitable for catalogs, how different shopping mediums impacted consumers’ preferences and decision-making style, and finally, what the optimal balance between images and text is for both eliciting strong emotions and providing valuable information in advertisements.
Field experiments were conducted with a department store that sells both utilitarian and more indulgent, high-end products. Results showed that catalogs featuring the high-end products have 120 percent higher marketing return on investment than those that are more practical. Findings also revealed through follow-up interviews with customers that, during the pandemic, they had more time to peruse catalogs and they welcomed the distraction from screens.
For e-commerce retailers without physical stores, catalogs can effectively mimic stores’ sensory experiences to enhance customer attraction. High-quality physical catalogs with nice imagery combined with compelling narratives can create a sensory experience that would be hard to replicate on a digital screen. These sensory experiences can then lead to long-lasting impressions and stronger relationships with customers and translate competitive advantage for the company.
Tell Us Your Stories!
Has your local done something amazing? Have you had a great solidarity action? Done something huge to help your community? Made significant connections with other labor groups? Is your Women of Steel or Next Gen committee making waves? Have you had success in bargaining, major accomplishments? We all stay so busy working to improve our workplaces and communities that we often do not take 5 minutes to reflect, share and celebrate our accomplishments.
Tell us your story so we can all be part of it! Contact Laura Donovan at ldonovan@usw.org, or at 412-562-2504.