5 Steps to a Safer Manufacturing Facility

A plant’s maintenance practices, attention to workplace safety and levels of employee morale and productivity are more closely linked than you might think.

A manufacturing facility can be a dangerous place, especially if management doesn’t enforce strict safety protocol and maintenance checks. In general terms, your facility should be stocked with equipment for quick action when a safety hazard is spotted. Your personnel should understand when to act on a perceived danger and when to stand down. Moreover, you should understand the importance of regular maintenance and inspections.

As Tom Bonine of National Metal Fabricators (nmfrings.com) notes, “Workplace safety is not only crucial for worker morale, it’s good for business.” He points to five simple steps you can take to help make your facility a safe place to work:

1. Identify unsafe areas. “That includes the usual suspects,” Bonine explains, “as well as seemingly safe spots that can become dangerous without regular maintenance.” Search the following areas:

Electrical outlets, panels and cords. Cracks, tears and exposed fibers can pose huge safety risks. They can result in electrocution (one of the leading cause of worker deaths in manufacturing) or fire.

Engines, welding areas and other fire hazards. Fire spreads quickly and can cause injuries, death and a significant amount of damage.

Gas lines. The symptoms of gas exposure can be subtle at first. When you notice them, it can be too late. Gas leaks are also the cause of some of the most dangerous and uncontrollable fires.

Confined spaces. Workers can become trapped or simply pass out from a lack of oxygen. You should look out for areas with poor ventilation or places where a worker can be out of sight for extended periods of time.

All machinery. Poorly maintained machinery can malfunction and seriously injure the operator or others in the vicinity.

To ensure that your staff is never in doubt with regard to safe practices, post safety checklists conspicuously throughout your facility.

2. Prioritize tasks. Once you’ve identified problem areas, you must decide what to do about them. If the problem poses an immediate danger—for example, an exposed wire or a gas leak—evacuate the area and remedy the problem immediately. If operations can continue adjacent to a less severe safety risk, make sure all workers understand the issue and are able to steer clear of the danger.

In general, high priority should be assigned to fire, gas and electrical problems. Likewise, if anyone has actually been injured, the problem should receive your immediate attention. Lower priorities, though they should be addressed as soon as possible, are those that do not pose an immediate safety risk to workers. This may involve equipment that can be temporarily taken off line or places that can be safely avoided without posing a risk (such as confined spaces).

3. Take action. If it can be fixed, fix it. Don’t hesitate. Still, Bonine cautions, it’s important to know your limitations. If you don’t have an expert on staff, contract with one to address the issue. If it is a machinery maintenance issue, contact the OEM rather than taking action into your own hands.

Make a checklist of repairs based on your identified safety priorities, and let your entire staff know when each problem has been addressed. “Communication with your workers,” Bonine emphasizes, “is absolutely crucial to help prevent workplace accidents.”

4. Establish a schedule for maintenance.
You should have two types of maintenance schedules, Bonine says:

• For larger machinery and structures, schedule regular maintenance checks. All equipment should be tested and repaired as necessary. This is also true for idle equipment that you might use later.
• For any piece of equipment used regularly by staff, be sure personnel are familiar with daily checklists to ensure the equipment operates properly. The ability to troubleshoot equipment problems is key. Workers should be trained on how to identify anything out of the ordinary within their environment. As the “boots on the ground,” they are your best shot at identifying safety hazards early.

5. Always follow up. According to Bonine, following up “boils down to checking and double-checking. If something is working properly today, make sure it’s still working properly tomorrow.”

For example, he says, if a machine is checked for malfunctions at the end of the day, have the morning shift check it before it’s fired up again. And if a problem is identified, be sure that the right people are notified and that the problem is fixed. Make a note that that particular piece of equipment had malfunctioned previously so your staff knows to watch for future malfunctions.

As noted, communicate all progress to your staff so they know when equipment is down for maintenance and should be avoided. Poor communication can be one of the biggest risks to the safety of personnel.

Bonine’s approach to these matters is straightforward: If you understand the risks associated with manufacturing and are prepared to respond, you can boost the confidence and productivity of your employees while keeping them safe. To that end, he says, “Know what to look for and how to respond, and always keep your staff fully informed.” MT

Tom Bonine is President of National Metal Fabricators. Established in 1944, this Chicago-area firm offers custom fabrication, angle rings, welding and bar milling services.