Entries by Carol Cornelius

For a week or better now the wonderful employees of Richway have been puzzled by strange pictures by the time clock. These pictures wolud change daily but have one thing in common, they showed a silo with a red line drawn through it -- Yes, the type of silo we see so often standing lonley along the horizon.
We finally learned the meaning behind the silo pictures in our general meeting today.
Here we see Rich setting up "silos" in the sand. The silos are made out of ice.

This is a picture of Dana heating up the silos to show that alone they are vulnerable.

Here we see Dana and Rich with the silos. Notice how the big chunck of ice has not melted much.
Rich's point was this -- If we all work together towards a common goal we will be more sucessful and have an easier time working than if we all go at it alone.

Thanks to Josh for sending these to me!

Here is an article about the spreading bedbug problem. It tells how exterminators are having problems killing the bugs since the banning of DDT. Enjoy the article and don't let the bedbugs bite..... Ok there is another thing at the end of the article that bothered me - reconditioned mattresses - I have never heard of anything like this! (my father would then say "there's a lot you don't know little girl!") Do they recondition mattresses and sell them as new?
Bedbug Story from MSN

Here are some of Richway's best and brightest digging in on Wednesday (1/25/06). This is our first meal of 2006 and our first ever taco lunch.

This clover is the creation of Josh. He made the design and cut it out on the EDM. The quarter came from my pocket.

Here is Corey C. working out in our machine shop. Corey is our R & D Manager one of his claims to fame is "Frankenstein" a fondly named testing device. Corey has been with Richway for 11 years.


This is Shirlee! Shirlee is one of the friendly voices on the phone when you call. Shirlee is our Office Manager and has been with the company for 16 years.


Meet Julie! Julie is the other friendly voice on the other end of the phone. Julie takes care of the accounts payable and has been with us for 4 years. Shirlee and Julie are also masters of telling funny stories!


Last but not least -- this is Tony our Vice President. Tony is not afraid of getting his hands dirty and can often be found out in the machine shop or back in polymers. Tony has been with Richway since birth.

We will introduce more of the Richway family in the future

Sometimes Speedy taunts Taz

You know it has been a cold winter day when the chicken wants to be grilled.

Thank you to everyone that attended all of the safety meetings throughout the past week. To all of the non-Richwayians here is what you missed.....
We gave away all of our prizes.. Here are our lucky winners..
Kent won the personal CD player
Walt & Paul each won a fleece American flag jacket
Tim, Bill L., & John each won a fun baseball cap
Mick & Mark won some awesome t-shirts
Dave, Bill G., & Sue each won a 2006 calendar
and Jeremy was the big winner with the Palm tree nightlight
Congratulations to all who won and enjoy your prizes!!!

Monday was on Fire
We started out by discussing what to do in a fire drill or natural disaster. Kirsten explained how to use the fire escape maps posted in each area and we learned that emergency phone numbers are posted by each phone. The star of Mondays show was our very own Aaron -- He answered every question we had about fire extinguishers, when to fight a fire and the correct way to do it, and what not to use (water) on some types of fires. Aaron and helper Tim braved below zero temperatures to teach every employee the correct way to put out a fire and use an extinguisher. What a great way to kick off a week. Again Aaron, we can't thank you enough!!
Tuesday was Videos and Popcorn
I know safety videos are not the most exciting thing to watch however, We appreicate having your undivided attention and cooperation. I was also impressed at the participation we got from everyone in the post video discussion.
Wednesday was OSHA off the wall (or rather on the wall)
Hey! I was just pleased that no one made fun of my power point presentation!! OK seriously now-- We reviewed what the purpose of OSHA is and who it covers (everyone), lockout/tagout, right to know, how to read an MSDS and what all that information means, and how every Richway employee can strive to make safety a first on a daily basis.
First Aid Thursday
Look at how happy Ron, Sue, and Mick were to learn about bloodborne pathogens!! We started off Thursday by talking about our brand new first aid manuals and how they may be helpful in an emergency. Richway gave EVERY employee a 10 person first aid kit for their home/personal use -- Thank you for keeping us safe Richway!!! I talked about bloodborne pathogens and how all blood and bodily fluids should be treated as contaminated. We discussed our new blood cleanup buckets and the proper way to use them. To close out Thursday's meeting Kelli gave us a handout and demonstration on the proper way to lift an object so we would not hurt our backs. Job well done & thank you for helping Kelli!!
Finally Forklift FridayWe started forktruck training bright and early with a video and test and once again Aaron helped out by giving the driving tests to employees.

In the end we packed a lot of information into one week and we will be planning upcoming safety events for all of us to participate in. Thank you to everyone how helped out -- we couldn't have done it without you!

---- Carol

4 year old Leah Ristau was diagnosed with a type of liver cancer called hepatoblastoma in late November 2005. Leahs mother, Tina, has been posting on their blog the daily struggles and sucesses that have confronted them -- I have to admit it is very interesting! The Ristau family has a tie to Janesville because Tina used to teach second grade here (she had my daughter and Shirlee's grandson in class last year). Love for Leah is the name of the fundraiser for Leah -- you may have seen donation boxes around town. Please take a moment to read some of the blog posts - Tina does a great job with the site and has a lot of information about the chemo treatment and a candid look a their daily life.
http://ristaufamily.blogspot.com/