Safety Committee Tours Plant; Tackles Projects
The TRSA Safety Committee met recently at the Alsco Inc. plant in Kent, WA, near Seattle. The Oct. 6 session drew 11 attendees for a tour of the plant that opened last year, as well as discussions in the facility’s conference room of ongoing projects ranging from a driver best-practices manual to planning the 2016 Safety Summit.
“This was one of the most productive meetings we’ve had,” said Bill Mann, TRSA staff liaison to the committee that includes both safety specialists and company executives. He noted that every attendee contributed to the discussion.
Key topics included discussions of prospective speakers for panel and breakout sessions at next year’s Safety Summit, slated for May 11-12 in Kansas City, MO. The committee has also committed to develop and present two webinars in 2016. Other topics included developing training tools for improving driver safety, wellness awareness, the presence of a workplace “safety culture” in laundry operations, and more.
The committee members also discussed progress on their development of the Safety Best Practices that would focus on the specific needs of textile services companies. Currently, the committee is working on driver safety issues.
The tour of the Alsco/Kent plant was led by General Manager Steve Bivens. He described lockout/tagout procedures and other safety features in the 79,000-square-foot laundry that processes mainly food & beverage linens.
In addition to Mann, committee member attendees included:
Chair Russell Holt, Superior Linen Service Inc., Springdale, AR
Vice Chair Suzanne Pavel, Alsco Inc., Salt Lake City
Eric Davis, AmeriPride Services Inc., Minnetonka, MN
Terry Egger, G&K Services Inc., Minnetonka, MN
John Koduru, Washing Systems, Loveland, OH
Jim Moran, Pellerin Milnor Corp., Kenner, LA
Caleb Paige, Faultless Laundry Co., Kansas City, MO
Andrea Skilinski, Clarus Linen Systems, Buffalo, NY
Todd Spanish, Dempsey Linen & Uniform Supply, Jessup, PA
Pat Teague, Tingue, Brown & Co. Inc., Saddle Brook, NJ