To:              Manager - Health, Safety, Environmental
From:        Bill, Manager - IT
Date:          April 1, 2010
Subject:    IT Safety Inspection

It's been another harrowing month in the Information Technology department.  Fortunately, no lives were lost in March due to unsafe practices, so we've got that going for us.

There was a loose network cable, which caused a number of lost packets.  If the packets are primarily zeros, there is little danger as they tend to roll into the corners.  The ones, however, have a tendency to fall pointy side up, which can be quite painful.  I was able to clean them up with an Ethernet.  I did consider blocking the area with a firewall, but a wall of fire in the workplace just didn't seem very safe.

There was a concern about the Conficker virus, so I wiped down all the servers with hand sanitizer.  This seems to have been effective, as no new virus infections have been reported.  It does make the servers a bit slippery, though.  That could be an issue for next month's inspection.

No server crashes were reported in March, though we kept our hard hats on, just in case.  I'll need to order new steel-toed boots, as the rack-mounted servers are harder to boot than servers sitting on the floor.  I've cautioned everyone in IT to stretch before attempting to boot the servers that are higher in the rack, as we don't want anyone to pull a hammy.

There were a couple of instances of CD-image burns, which were treated with ice.  No blistering was evident, but the CD drives did spark a bit as the ice melted.

It was suggested that alarms be installed on the servers to indicate when they are backing up.  We wouldn't want anyone hurt and the alarms should provide sufficient notice to get out of the way.  Flashing lights are already in place.

Respectfully submitted,

-Bill
Manager, Information Technology