JANUARY, 2013, NEWSLETTER

January

Birthdays and Anniversaries

OUR OWN CELEBRITIES Raymond Easley Perry Neal Victor King Donny Cook James Powell Chris Lawrence James Ballard Brandon Halsey Rene Villalba Josh Hogan Tori Harris Jamie Wright

OTHER CELEBRITIES Elvis Presley Eli Manning Nicolas Cage Alicia Keys Khleo Thomas Etta James

ANNIVERSARIES

1863 The Emancipation Proclamation

takes effect in Confederate territory.

1863 150th Anniversary of The Battle of

Arkansas Post.

1933 Construction of the Golden Gate

Bridge begins in San Francisco.

2001 10th Anniversary of OSU plane

crash.

ACTION UPCOMING EVENTS

APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING— March 9, 2013, Barling Office

SAFETY CREW OF THE MONTH! This month’s Safety Spotlight goes to

Jason Nauman and Crew! John Kennedy

Director of Risk Management

This Month's spotlight is shining on Jason Nauman and his crew. Jason runs our plumbing pre-fab shop and has had a perfect year when it comes to safety inspections. Jason understands the importance of safety and knows it has to be number one on all job sites. Jason and his crew is help-

ing Action achieve its goals in safety through hard work and determination to make safety the number one priori-ty while ensuring productivity. Congratulations for step-

ping up and taking charge of being one of the safest crews at Action!

SAFETY—IT’S THE

TOOL FOR LIFE

Consider the size and how you will use a home pressure washer

You can walk into a home improvement store and buy one, but that

doesn't mean that a pressure washer is harmless. Think of it in the same

category as chain saws, brush cutters and other commercial equipment.

Here are some of the psi ratings sold:

1,200-1,500 psi: An electric unit that's good for household and automotive cleaning jobs.

1,500-2,000 psi: A moderate strength unit used for jobs like deck cleaning. It comes in

gas or electric.

2,200 to 3,500 psi. A high pressure unit for jobs like cleaning concrete and siding, usu-

ally gas powered.

Higher ratings, up to 50,000 psi, are for industrial uses. The higher it is, the more

quickly a job can be done.

Safety recommendations

Always read the manufacturer's instructions before using the machine.

Wear protective clothing: goggles, boots, coveralls and ear plugs for high psi units.

Never wear a bathing suit.

If you will be using chemicals, wear a mask so you don't inhale them.

Before starting a job, check every part of the pressure washer to make sure everything

is in working order. Check the oil level and the electric cord.

Keep electrical connections out of the water.

Make sure nozzles, wands and spray tips are free of clogs. High pressure can propel

clogs, resulting in injuries or property damage.

Start the job at low pressure and increase it gradually.

Never point the nozzle at anyone.

Have someone working with you if you will be working on a

ladder. Or use a telescoping wand.

Clean the equipment after use. Run clear water through the

system if you used chemicals.

When using an extension cord with a pressure washer, keep

the connection dry with the help of a plastic bucket.

COLD WEATHER SAFETY

Dress in layers that can be easily added or removed as weather condi-tions change.

Beware of slippery surfaces (icy steps, sidewalks and driveways).

Avoid caffeinated beverages that can cause dehydration.

Recognize the symptoms of hypo-thermia: uncontrollable shivering, slurred speech, clumsy movements, confusion/disorientation and fatigue.

Moneywise

Credit score benefits decrease as score rises

The maximum FICO credit score is 850, but only 18 percent

of FICO's 200 million consumers were rated 800 or higher in

2011. People with a score of 780 may search for ways to get a

higher number. It's the new status symbol.

If you have a credit score between 620 and 690, there are

big benefits in doing all you can to increase it, such as paying

bills on time and reducing debt to keep your ratio of debt-to-

credit limit at 30 percent or less. Anything under 30 percent is a very good debt-to-limit ra-

tio.

With each 10 points your FICO score increases between 620 and 690, you get better loan

and mortgage interest rates, and lower car insurance premiums.

When your credit score reaches 750 to 760, there are fewer benefits to making it any

higher, because you are assumed to be a good credit risk. The national median credit score is

711.

“Without ME, it’s just AWESO…”

Q: What did one casket say to the sick casket? A: Is that you coughin'?

QUOTES AND JOKES

TEAR NEWSPAPERS VERTICALLY

You can only tear a piece of newspaper smoothly when you tear vertically

because the newsprint is made up of tiny wood fibers which line up in the

same direction, up and down, on the page. When you tear a newspaper

from top to bottom, it tears evenly because you are tearing in the direction

of the grain.

(Source: Unknown)

Action, Inc.

1308 Church Street

Barling, AR 72923

Phone: 479-452-5723

Fax: 479-452-5931

Action, Inc.

18 Collins Industrial Place

Maumelle, AR 72113

Phone: 501-753-3401

Fax: 501-753-3585

Action, Inc.

710 Industrial Road

Bristow, OK 74010

Phone: 918-367-5500

Fax: 918-367-5511

www.action-mechanical.com

Random Information

January is named after Janus, god of beginnings.

January is National 'Thank You' Month, national Blood Doner Month and National Soup Month.

1838 - Tennessee became the 1st state to prohibit alcohol.

1790 - George Washington gave the first 'State of the Union' message.

Who decided "Hotpoint" would be a good name for a company that sells refrigera-tors?

How do you know when it's time to tune your bagpipes?

1986 - Space Shuttle Challenger 10 ex-ploded 73 sec after liftoff, killing astro-nauts Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik and schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

You have to put up with negative email, but ...

Are you sure your own emails don't have negative tones?

When you speak to someone face-to-face, it's easy to determine whether your message is getting across and whether you need to say more or less on a subject.

When you speak to people on the telephone, you can judge how the communication is going by the tones and in-flections in their voices.

You have none of these advantages in an email. Usu-ally it's dashed off quickly, just giving the facts and opinions without much thought on how they will be received.

It happens that the sender doesn't even care. It's a one-sided communication and the person on the other end it just supposed to take it, regardless of the circumstances in-volved.

People often say they don't have time to really think about the tone of what they write. It seems to be a common line of thought. Email should also be an effective communica-tion. But sometimes when the writer is trying to be enthusi-astic, it sounds pushy, or so thought one CEO.

To help himself and others, he created a program called ToneCheck. It points out sentences, phrases and words in an email that give off a negative tone.

Businesses can purchase ToneCheck and create a company tone threshold, resulting in employees communi-cating in a more positive light. The program is free for now.

One thing it certainly does, according to Inc., is help people slow down and think about what they're writing. That's one of the best ways to create an email that works without ruffling anyone's feathers.

ToneCheck runs your written communications through a “sentiment analysis engine.” It determines the emotional tone of the text based on input from thousands of volunteers who rated text collected from across the Web.

It's like a spell checker for your emotions. Go to www.tonecheck.com and “check” it out!