Whenever the calendar flips at Edko, we close the books for the previous year and start off with a clean slate. That clean slate is an opportunity to kick-start new agendas and efficiencies, shed some bad habits and prepare your district for a successful 1st and 2nd quarter. Some of these items are:
 

Truck and Equipment Maintenance
• Make sure all of your equipment is prepared for Spring applications.
• A slowly leaking tire.
• A windshield crack in the driver’s sight line.
• Oil changes, for trucks and pump motors
• Fix and replace hose and replace and retape clamps.
• Replace pump diaphragms and any old or worn out gaskets
• Fix any additional items that need repair.
• Perform any regularly needed maintenance (alignments, oil changes, inspections.)
• Replace any expired or missing items in trucks (spill kits, first aid kits, hard hats, etc.)
 
Revisit Customer Compliance
• Ensure that your equipment meets all customer requirements (PPE, tools, name badges, etc.)
• Review job scope and any other customer-related specifics with your crews.
 
Safety Training
• Make sure all employees are up to date on eSafety.
• Ensure all additional safety training (i.e. AEP, Powersafe, etc.) is up to date.
• Revisit any Edko safety policies with your crews that you feel need to be revisited. One great place to start is to analyze common accidents in your district and strive to eliminate them going forward. Call me for insight.
 
Clean House and Shed Costs
• Clean your shop and trucks. Start the year off without last year’s trash and dirt.
• Condense and refine your inventory.
• Shed any unused assets (i.e. cell phones, computer equipment, etc.)
• Reevaluate staffing needs for the year.
 
While we can never fully prepare for future issues, it will be very frustrating to be help up by a problem a month from now that could have been avoided by doing something today. Consider this list to be a thought-starter for your district so that we can all strive to avoid the avoidable.