Gallegos is chairman of the board

by Paul V. Arnold

Joey Gallegos doesn’t keep safety under his hat.

This front-line worker at the Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream production facility in City of Commerce, Calif., goes out of his way to share ideas and solutions that improve safety on the 90,000-square-foot plant floor. One of his best ideas/solutions is the safety focus and action plan board that hangs inside the facility’s main meeting room, the site for daily pre-shift and monthly strategic planning meetings.

“When I and other DSLs (Designated Safety Leaders) found action items during safety audits and walk-throughs, we’d bring them to the engineers’ attention. However, their plates are full and many of these would go to the bottom of the list,” says Gallegos. “Things weren’t being logged or accounted for by anyone else.”

Seeing this as an opportunity for improvement, Gallegos found a large dry-erase board and began writing down all of the action items. The board was placed in plain view.

“It was a pretty crude board at the time,” he says. “With all of the safety issues that I had — everything from exposed cables to signs that were needed to lockout/tagout issues — it was cramped.”

The board evolved to where it currently lists the safety issue, the person who found it, the date it was found, the name of the DSL member responsible for making sure the issue is resolved, a quick-fix solution to the issue, a proposed long-term solution and the scheduled date to complete the project.

By publicly posting the items, employees realized that many of the issues didn’t have to go through a convoluted work order process and be addressed by an engineer or outside contractor.

“This really gave a platform for our front-liners to get involved,” says plant manager John Pritchard.

Says Gallegos, “In terms of ownership, we look at what is required. Is a particular skill set needed? If it’s a fairly simple fix, a front-liner takes care of it.”

If needed, that person can solicit the help of a DSL or coach.

“With the board, everything is visible for the team,” says safety coordinator Sly Williams. “In the pre-shift meeting, we use it to discuss projects, their status and when they’ll be completed. If you don’t know who is responsible or when it will be completed, it’s not going to get done.”

Since the board’s creation, 33 listed projects have been completed.

If Gallegos doesn’t keep safety under his hat, what does he keep there? Removing his hard hat reveals pictures of his three children.

“That’s my motivation to make it home safe every day,” he says.

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