Monthly Archives: November 2015
Community Outreach on the Other Side of the Border
During the weekend of November 6-8, AB&I team members Carlos Gonzalez, Enrique Ramirez, and Zeydi Gutierrez embarked on a community outreach project on the other side of the border. They headed toward an area of Ensenada where there is no running water or electricity to participate in building a loft house for a family in need.
Thirteen people participated in the build; eight were from the bay area. Carlos’s sister, Graciela, came from Mexico, D.F., to join the team along with his nephew, Mario. The pre-build took place in a parking lot during the week of October 17. Carlos participated in the pre-build along with approximately 70 people from all ages and walks of life.
Loft houses are prefabricated in church parking lots in the U.S. and assembled in Mexico in just one day. Though not luxurious by any definition, a loft house provides basic protection and shelter from the elements. A loft house is a 12-foot by 12-foot structure with 4 windows, a lockable door and a second story attic loft for sleeping that can be reached by an interior ladder. The kit-house consists of prefabbed panels made from simple building materials widely available at most home improvement warehouses: 2x4s, 2x6s, plywood, and tar paper roofing. The house has a raised wooden floor, covered with linoleum, and is built on concrete piers. One member of the team hauled the kit-house on a trailer all the way from Oakland to the work site.
This particular loft house went to a couple, Maria and Fidel. Maria is blind in one eye and going blind in the other. Both Marian and Fidel work picking tomatoes six days a week and have also worked alongside everyone else in building their new home. They were paying 1,000 pesos a month in rent and couldn’t wait to have a home of their own. Their excitement was overwhelming.
There were so many moments of closeness of community and joy while watching Maria and Fidel get the keys to their new home.
Thank you AB&I for sponsoring Carlos, Enrique, and Zeydi in this community endeavor.
Manchester Tank-Bedford Conducts Training on Causation of Incidents
As part of their ongoing continuous improvement initiative to reduce incidents at the Manchester Tank Bedford facility, the Manchester Tank team held a two-day training event on the Causation of Incidents and the newly implemented Accountability Program. Rex Blevins, Group Safety Director for the Manchester Tank group, conducted the training and provided all management personnel, members of the safety committee, and Union Leadership at the Bedford facility information on what causes accidents and the importance of pro-active initiatives to reduce the number of near misses and potential risks in the work environment and achieve a reduction in incident rates of up to 80%.
Those who attended the training found it to be very interesting and very beneficial. The facility will use the months of November and December to practice conducting team member observations, evaluating JSAs, and increasing management-team member contacts before their Accountability Program goes into full effect on January 1, 2016.
Safety department representatives from Manchester Tank Quincy, Elkhart, and Crossville also attended the event.
Meet McWane: Ajith Raveendran, McWane Gulf
Mike Keel and Ajith Raveendran
At the recent grand opening ceremony for the new McWane Gulf manufacturing facility in Abu Dhabi, Mike Keel was proud to recognize Ajith Raveendran for his performance in implementing all of the McWane EHS policies during the construction of the facility.
Ajith is the Senior Manager of EHS & Quality at McWane Gulf. He worked diligently to assure that they were accident-free during construction.
Congratulations, Ajith!
McWane, Inc. 