10 Ways to Improve Manufacturing Safety

As an employer, it’s your responsibility to make sure your manufacturing facility is safe. Your employees have the right to a safe workplace free of hazards and health risks. That said, running an organization doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for you to be supervising the workplace to ensure that health and safety codes are always up to date and being followed diligently. Don’t let this keep you from implementing the necessary manufacturing safety protocols, and making sure there are trustworthy people in place to see that they are adhered to. Manufacturing safety ought to be at the top of your business strategy list to ensure that you are decreasing the liability and risk of your operation.

10 Ways to Improve Manufacturing Safety

1. Trustworthy Supervisors
   Make sure that every shift has respected supervisors who have rapport with all the workers. These leaders should be revered by everyone they work with, able to motivate and correct them in productive ways, and to uphold all manufacturing safety protocols, no matter how inconvenient they might be.
2. Education
   Provide frequent continuing education classes for these supervisors to keep them up to date on new health and safety standards, as well as new methods of updating and optimizing manufacturing safety practices.
3. Unite the Team
   Hold manufacturing safety meetings whenever a risk is brought to your attention to inform employees of the seriousness of hazards in the workplace. Unite the team around the common goal of doing work with excellence, which means it is as safe as possible.
4. Zero Tolerance
   Do not, under any circumstances, tolerate someone who is willfully ignoring manufacturing safety regulations. These individuals put more than just themselves at risk, but also your organization and its employees.
5. Frequent Monitoring
   While you are certainly busy running the operation, don’t withdraw your presence from the manufacturing site. The more your employees see and interact with you, the more they know you actually care about their health and safety, and not just covering your own back.
6. Checklist
   If you have protocols that can be tracked on a list by day and time, initialed by the person who completes them, this can be a great way to set up accountability among the team. This way you can both commend and reprimand employees for their performance and commitment to have a risk-free work environment.
7. Signage
   Good signs throughout your facility is a great way to remind employees of the manufacturing safety rules in place.
8. Waste Management
   Waste can be central to the safety and health hazards in manufacturing facility, and ought to be properly managed. Be sure that your waste cans are optimally placed throughout your workspace to both reduce waste and to ensure that they are emptied and cleaned frequently.
9. Build a Team
   If your supervisors are too busy managing the other aspects of manufacturing safety, have them designate teams of people in charge of making sure that waste is disposed of properly.
10. Buy a Trash Compactors
    Stainless steel trash compactors are an affordable way to improve the manufacturing safety of your workplace, not only reducing potential fire hazards and obstructions, but also reducing the cost of removal.

Call KenBay if you are ready to learn more about how waste management practices can increase manufacturing safety.